Focal Listen Professional Reviews

Astounding for the price you pay

After buying these headphones well over four years ago, I can say with confidence they are hands down the best I’ve come across for the money. Great sound across the board (especially in the lows and mids) and very stylish/comfortable to wear! Four years in and still working as they should be! Couldn’t recommend highly enough!

Exactly what I needed

Great headphones, I’ve been very happy with it and I strongly recommend it!

Almost brilliant...

These are great headphones but not amazing. My use case is mixing all kinds of music semi-professionally and these headphones are great across the spectrum EXCEPT in the low mids. I find them a little dishonest and regularly find a big disparity between what I'm hearing in the headphones and what comes out of my beautiful ADAM monitors, in particular when mixing the upper end of kick drums. They also get a little sweaty over long mix sessions. I think the price is fair bur I would prefer if they could fix that little dip they seem to have around 80-100hz.

BRILLIANT!

I was always an AKG Fan. Working long hours with closed headphones recently and my K271mk2 started to fatigue my head after a couple of hours... Was looking for something with higher comfort and oh man..higher comfort it is.. Very comfy! The sound is totally different than AKG... The middle is way more pronounced. More Bass. They are of course way louder too, so that can be a plus. I am still burning them in...

They are definitely not "problem solvers" but I think one can make great mixes with them as they sound more "Consumer HiFi" but with great detail, AKG is more analytical for sure but lacks the vibe. Listening to music in Focal is just FUN and does not fatigue the ears as the high end is a bit darker.

Great job Focal. Perfect solution for people looking for high comfort and detailed sound with a HIFI twist.

Recommand this headphone for Mixing!

The sound is pretty flat and honest for its price.

It takes a few weeks to get used to the sound of this headphone. But once you get to know these headphones you will be delighted with your mixes. You will also hear some faults in mixes of tracks that are on Spotify from some famous artists.

When I mix songs for my clients I always use these headphones after mixing on my speakers to check the mix and maybe finetune it.

These are great headphones, as for the sound, they sound for their money, I like that the wire is disconnected from these headphones, and there is a case!

Great quality headphones, Very Comfy

These are the best headphones I’ve ever had. Period. The balance, clarity, comfort, all the little extras like phone cable and box. This is an absolutely stellar creation.

I’ve been using them rigorously for over a year. They are absolutely great for studio work, and I’ve also used them on-set during film work, they can be driven quite loud whilst still maintaining clarity. They are very very comfortable, you can use them for longer than is recommended to use headphones in one sitting.

It also comes with a high quality case, as well as a curly cable for more professional applications (screw adapter for 1/4 inch), and a thinner, TRRS cellphone cable complete with microphone and button, great when you want to plug out of the mixing console and into your phone for referencing that last bounce.

Only con is that now after a year, the red outer cushioning has started to deteriorate and I can see the inside foam. Time to contact their customer support I guess, but this is also maybe an inevitability with such comfortable cups.

Overall a great product, I hope they keep them in their lineup for many years. Would replace if lost/broken.

Shows how bad your source is.

Built well, never leave your head no matter how intensive headbanging is.

You'll never lose transients if they're there. Not bass heavy, but it is what i expect from headphones - clarity with no excessive freq level out of nowhere. Lows ends with no rumble, no standing wave effect.

Sits great, no pressure, maybe i have appropriate ear form)).

Since i had no very expensive headphones Focals beats dt770, 7605 and my old K271.

AWESOOOOOME!

I dread using headphones and only do so when it is absolutely neccessary. However, I own a pair of those Focal Alpha 80 mixing monitors and these are an amazing companion.

PROS: I can get a similar vibe on a mix and now trust that when I use these phones that the mix will translate much better to my monitors than using other headphones.

Typically headphones result in a flat and very lackluster mix - these phones have given me much much better results in those regards. Finally I have no real issues to use headphones when I need - I trust them now.

In addition, they are cloth covered, not that fake leather sticker junk that peels off after 6 months.

Worth the extra expense when comparing to other mixing headphones.

It's Focal..

I won't go through everything, but the main points that got my attention:

Sound:

Sound is super clear, sharp, well balanced, the highs are sharp and nice BUT to me; the highs sounded a bit over compressed, I think I would love it more with 1dB or 2dB less at 5k-10k. It can be a personal taste.

Comfort:

Very good, but can be more comfortable.

I love Focal, I wanted to give it 5/5 but still, I think it can be better.

You won't regret buying it.

Mediocre sound; good for travelling

Spent quite some time researching this headphone, and knew the possible downsides of small ear cups, headband discomfort, but the majority of reviews rated high scores. Without a local distributor and access to demo unit, I trusted in the Focal sound and I would just tolerate minor issues for this headphones intended for my commuting and hands-free calls.

Despite the model name and product description for music production, the sound is quite muffled. My Focal Alpha 50 speakers, AKG K712 Pro and Beyerdynamics DT770 sound similar to each other but this Listen Professional is wayyy different. After reducing around 3dB at the 250 and 500 Hz node, then the sound becomes familiar. However I must say the original mid boost could be useful when on the metro to fight against the noise and rumble.

If you use this for commuting instead of studio, then it is a decent package. The mic and remote are so convenient, while the storage box and cables feel secure and premium. However, my skull top aches quite soon and the side clamp is a bit tight. The isolation is not as good as I imagined, but the harshness of rail screeches do indeed get reduced.

Excellent Studio Headphones

Really comfortable, yet a bit heavy. Excellent sound quality. Pretty good noise cancellation with comfortable ear patches.

Excellent closed back headphones, for more than just general use

Use : I'm using the Focal Listen Professional for both recording as well as mixing purposes. I lost my previous headphones, which literally fell apart from old age and extensive use, and with a recording and mixing job within three days of losing them, I needed a quick replacement. Luckily, I had already done my research, and pulled the trigger on these. It didn't disappoint.

Sound : After having been used to the sound of my old Sony V700DJ phones, I didn't know what to expect. What I got, was a pair of cans with a great sonic balance. The bass response, which often is too overbearing in closed back phones, is present and well defined. Mids are clear enough to judge mixes by, no mean feat for phones of this price range. And the highs are clear, articulate and never too shrill. The overall sound doesn't tire out my ears. On the contrary, it makes me eager to put them on and work with them. If I had to use one adjective to qualify the sound, it would be 'natural'. Closed back headphones design clearly has come a long way since I last bought a pair.

Comfort : Before ordering, I read in some reviews how the cups didn't quite fit people's ears. I'm happy to report that I'm not experiencing this discomfort. The cups fit my ears perfectly, and the whole thing sits comfortably on my head. The plastic used on the head rest feels a bit cheap, but it does its work well and never feels unpleasant, not even after long stretches of recording. And the overall build quality is much, much more superior to that of my old Sonys.

All in all, these headphones are an absolute sonic delight, which will see a lot of action and, because of their excellent build quality, will probably outlast my previous headphones by a long time.

Good sound with just a minor issue over comfort.

I'm just a keen music lover, I use the headphones at home with an Audiolab M-dac+ and a PC. I've been using these headphones for just over a month so far, and I'm enjoying them.

Pros,

Excellent sound

Good build quality

Stylish compact design

Nice storage case and two cables

Cons,

Can be a little uncomfortable to wear for longer periods if you have larger ears.

Build:

Build quality is excellent. These headphones look fantastic, are well put together, don't feel fragile, and all the visible parts are finished to a high standard. The case and cables are of the same high quality and they arrive beautifully packed with the phones and cables already in the case, packed inside a sturdy card outer box. - 5/5

Sound:

The sound is flat and uncoloured, just as you would want with studio headphones. I've been hearing lots of extra detail in music I'm familiar with, especially at low frequencies, and in particular, if an instrument or vocal has been recorded with distortion, I find it very noticeable with these phones. - 5/5

Comfort:

The ear cups are not the largest. The inside of the memory foam rings make an elliptical space about 50mm high and 40mm wide and my ears just squeeze into them, they get a little uncomfortable after an hour or so. They could have done with being 60mm by 45mm for me, but they do sit securely over my head without discomfort, and they give modest attenuation to ambient household noise. - 4/5

Summary:

Good sound with just a minor issue over comfort.