Hi all,
I am going to try to port over a review I had of my Focal Radiance. It was more of a reactionary commentary of another review but I am going to attempt to make it more of my own while getting my wording up to snuff to improve this and future write ups.
BACKGROUND, SIGNAL CHAIN, QUIRKS
Summary
I recently was looking for a replacement closed back for my portable and commuting needs. I was intrigued (and in love with the look) of the Celestee. But looking at reviews I know I could not do the small soundstage that it was plagued with. I made a “recommend me” post, got tons of recommendations, and after a slip into my DMs and with wanting to try a Focal I decided to look for a Radiance. I ended up snagging a basically unused set from a Head’Fier in the $800 range ($1,290 MSRP).
I have been pairing this with a Cowon Plenue S DAP, that makes light use of EQ and DSP. The Cowon is a bit flat without EQ/DSP no matter what cans you use and those features really are great and a highlight on the Cowon. I am yet to try it on my BF2+RNHP chain as the past few weeks I’ve been battling ear and sinus issues.
While proceeding please note some of my personal hearing quirks. Too much between 200-350Hz puts a pressure on my ears. This feels like you hit high altitude and you need to “yawn” to balance out the pressure, or you have congestion and a drip from your ears. I am only able to tolerate this for short periods and it can eventually lead to discomfort and sometimes pain.
FEATURES & BUILD
Cutting open the brown Focal delivery box immediately makes way for the true packaging of the Radiance. There sits a dark blue / black box that makes you question if it is actually cardboard and not a fake leather material while you lift the it and immediately realize how heavy it is. This is not your normal cardboard box, but instead is in line with what I would see the $100+ wine bottles packaged in when I worked at the local liquor store. It is thick, substantial, has tolerances that air has trouble passing through, and could easily take my 250lbs weight if I decided to stand on it. Sliding the box pieces apart shows the faux velvet inside with a bunch of promo material and the molded spot for the usually shaped Focal carrying case with headphones inside.
Opening this all up and reaching the Radiance reveals something much sharper than any promo picture of these cans have illustrated. The usual Focal shapes draped in black leathers and copper. I usually hate the “piano black” but the parts with it are so thin or small that it doesnt showcase the normal fingerprints or dirt that make it look cheap. The leather is extremely supple glove leather. If youre into higher end leather footwear you can tell it is decent stuff. It is a bit thin, and tends to keep wrinkles but is very nice feeling on the skin. Any plastics on the exterior feel substantial and do not detract from the high end feel.
Putting on the headphones I do wish the pads were deeper as when they compress my ears touch the inside driver area, but luckily, they do not get irritated from it. Weight is easily managed as the set compresses and sits solid on my head. Overall comfort is just short of my benchmark HD6xx. They sit well and are comfy enough for long hauls. When music was playing nothing leaked out but with music off I could hear the TV in my room decently easy. This is also from a glasses wearer and I will note the pads may need time to morph around my glasses frames.
My big gripe is the cable. It’s not horrific, but it is bare minimum and juxtaposes hard against the rest of the build. I was going to get another cable since I need a specific balanced plug for the Cowon but until then I will need to manage with the stock one doing what it wants and staying crinked forever.
SOUND
Sound Signature
“A detailed and warm composition built on excellent bass, great mids, and body moving dynamics” is your one sentence Radiance description. FR wise think of that square root bracket √ reversed. Bass has a nice few dBs of elevated shelf with an appreciated dip in the mid bass that recovers to just above flat in the mids before pulling back in the highs. I will say for a few minutes when I first put them on I did feel the 200-350Hz pressure but it faded rather quickly and set itself into a nice comfortable spot.
Bass
The bass is easily the star of the show. Paired with the Cowon Plenue S (which is known for its warmth) this may be the best bass I have heard to date from a headphone. I do warn, I do not have much experience with $1k plus cans to compare, but this had me addicted. Adding more db to bass frequencies in the EQ, the Radiance never once clipped or overstepped its place. Do I now love bass? Maybe. But there is no hiding the punch and feel the Radiance gives. At around 1:45 in Ratatat’s Seventeen Years the bass line cuts out then comes back in just punching and popping. Most headphones can tell you the bass is there, but only the Radiance and the dual 10" subs from my first car are able to let you feel it. It is addicting, dynamic and can be used as a reference in how to do bass and not have it bleed over anything else. Theyre still headphones though. They wont reach the visceral punch to the chest of a dedicated sub, but I swear it makes the shape of the bass kicks tangible.
Reference Track: Seventeen Years - YouTube
Midrange
As a daily HD6xx wearer I have no complaints regarding the mids. Everything sounds more correct and it takes a bit of a listen to hear where the timbre is behind the Senns. There is plenty of texture and details here for my tastes. It was real easy to hear and enjoy vocals and the natural echo in recordings. Male vocals from the grunge era hit with the feeling they should. Female vocals were also nice and smooth but before EQ were more average. (More on this in the Treble impressions) The mids sounded more open and spread out than on the HD6xx which allowed everything to be more easily seen in the auditory landscape that the Radiance paints. This was extremely enjoyable on acoustic tracks where instruments felt more like pillars of the song than just background vocal support.
Reference Track: Alice In Chains - Nutshell (MTV Unplugged - HD Video) - YouTube
Treble
The best way I can describe the treble is like this: Imagine you are trying to talk to your friend from down an empty hallway using your normal speaking voices. You can hear them and everything is clear but you can just tell they are way over there. To me, it is recessed in the literal sense of the word, just pushed to the back. I really like crispy airy treble so this initially did not wow me and seemed to adversely affect female vocals. A few DB in the EQ pulled those highs from down the hall to the state regulated 6ft distance. Unlike some other cans, nothing got more grainy or etched or harsh with the treble EQ adjustments, it just honestly felt like female vocals and the sizzly parts of the treble moved closer to you. Pre EQ it was weird listening to Adele and she wasn’t in the center stage of it all. I was a little sad that these cans did not have Focal’s famed beryllium drivers which are touted for their top end sparkle but the Radiance proves it does not matter. In the end I felt like nothing was missing from the highs but also nothing was overly presented.
Reference Track: Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Official Music Video) - YouTube
Resolution & Detail Retrieval
The resolution and details coming from the Radiance definitely reach above the mid-fi tier and sit well with it’s higher end pricing point. It is not the most detailed oriented in this price range, but it seems to know what details will make things sound more fun and interesting and gives those things a voice. I get the feeling it does this not by emphasizing the tiny specs, but by being more relaxed overall. The big pieces seem to lay back allowing the layers to be a bit closer and those background details more easily heard.
Any have said the Radiance has the resolution chops that cables, signal chains, and source material matters. This does hit home. I do not think that it will make bad recordings or low quality files unbearable but it does scale up. The jump from the R6 2020 to the Cowon Plenue S was extremely tangible and it showed off why the Cowon was $2k new. Both the DAP and Radiance seemed to scale up with this pairing. I need to try it on the BF2 + RNHP but I had a cold lately and the ears are always off when I am sick. I also have a new cable coming, either a Kimber or DHC so I will need to comment and update at a later date.
Spatial Presentation
This is my first Focal and I understand the spherical soundstage oft mentioned in reviews. It’s like being in one of those futuristic donut shaped rooms and you are the jelly in the middle. I haven’t had anything fully wrap behind me like my Ultrasones have (the first time I put them on I listened to a plane flyby and I legit turned around thinking a prop plane was about to buzz me!) But its real nice to have more than the isolated left, right, center blobs that the HD6xx sticks to. And while not huge, it also sets a wider, deeper stage than the HD6xx series. Overall there is some pleasant ambiguity to the stage size. It doesn’t feel like there are 4 walls or solid boundaries defining the area, but you also know its not a limitless space. Placement and presentation follow what the source material dictate but both lean more true and realistic.
Dynamics
Oof. OOOOOF! If the bass was the filet mignon this is your prime rib. Macrodynamics make this headphone an oxymoron. The excitement and engagement the dynamics provide get you hooked on the overall relaxed Radiance. There is so much life and depth provided here and it enhanced the more flat Cowon Plenue S. Microdynamics are also up to snuff but forgive me here as microdynamics are not my strongest suit. Nothing feels flat and pieces feel fleshed out within their spots. I cannot complain. A little bit of EQ really fed into this so pleasantly.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Man I really like these. I didn’t want to. Bleh to the “Bentley” part of it. Bleh to the recessed highs. Bleh to them not folding for travel. But man these proved me wrong. This is something that by description alone I would not really reach for, and if I read some other reviews before buying I probably would have written these off as not my preferred flavor.
I am soooooo glad that I had someone reach out and offer me a great price on what was basically a new set. I think it was worth every penny and at this time I wish I was traveling more as an excuse to use it. I feared too much warmth with the Cowon pairing but it has turned into a synergy heaven. The more you put into both the DAP and the Radiance the more they give back. They also take EQ like a beast. The sound will be way out of whack before the drivers clip or distort.
Detailed, spacious, lush, warm, thumping, lush, well behaved, lush, comfy, lush, lush, lush. If there was one word to describe the Radiance it has to be Luuuussshhh. The sound is lush, the feel is lush, the packaging is lush, the lush is Luuuussshhh.
Admin note: edited to include all focal headphones
