Focal - Hadenys

Hi, I received both the Hadenys & Azurys. I must say that the Hadenys is incredible and outstanding value. The Hadenys outshines my Sennheiser 800S without doubt as the sound signature is more dynamic, fun and the bass is present yet controlled, right and detailed. I think this is the best value headphone I have ever experienced. The Azurys are great too but I'd keep them for more noisy environments or on the go as they are inferior to the Hadenys but still amazing for a closed back and even more surprising for their low price point. If you're hesitant on the Hadenys, trust me they are crazy good and when you apply the Oratory1990 EQ, even better. I did not expect them to surprise me that much!

I’m a huge fan of the Focal Hadenys. They deserve to be in any conversation about the best sub-$1000 headphone. They’re not quite as detailed as the Arya Stealth (not many headphones are), but I suspect a lot of people will like them more because they’re a much more well-rounded headphone.

Now that I have them about a week, it is nuts I got this deal. First class in all ways. Beautiful to look at, very comfortable, and they sound is fantastic.

I tried the Hadenys in store and found they were quite nice but for *something* in the upper frequencies that did not play nice with my ears. Idk what it was, maybe the shifted ear-gain, maybe the 6kHz peak that Resolve mentioned can sometimes pop-up, or perhaps some other resonance? It made what was an otherwise neutral somewhat-warmish headphone sound bright. But the worst part was I had to extend the headband all the way to get them to sit right. And this particular headband design gives me nasty hotspots (saying that as a former owner of Bathys), so I can’t use the Capra strap with it. But otherwise, I agree they were supremely comfortable. Quite sad they didn’t work for me.

Interesting. I tried the Hadenys in a store for 20-25 minutes and compared them to my Clear OG, and I'd say the Hadenys was the "brighter" sounding headphone. The 6kHz peak might explain why. It was quite distracting and I was wondering why the heck these don't sound 'warm' like how other people described them.

I've owned the Focal Clear OG for about 2 years before I sold them. I now own the Hadenys and vastly prefer them, They superior tonality and timbre in my opinion. They Clears are more technically proficient with superior soundstage and detail but overall sound worse to me. I never tried the Azurys but I've been told by people who've tried both the Hadenys are superior. The Hadenys are just so damn enjoyable sounding to me are a fantastic pair to the Arya Organic.

I also prefer the Hadenys to the Clear (I've owned every Focal headphone, literally, Utopia was my main desktop headphone for the longest time). Hadenys are a better desktop headphone than Clear or Utopia, because they are WAY more comfortable. And they trade blows with the Clear for sound. They are imo the most underrated Focal headphone. Resolve was right, people underestimated them because of size and build quality, pure placebo.

Anything above $500 means preference is the deciding factor and it’s hard to give recommendations without at least some kind of baseline. For your specific usecase, I’d recommend either the focal hadenys with the topping dx5 II, or the arya stealth with the schiit magni unity if you want something more “technical/analytical.” The hadenys have the eargain region shifted a bit higher than it supposed to be, so you might consider eqing it back down if things sound “off.” No company is going to front a random consumer $20k worth of audio equipment without some kind of insurance. Your best bet is either a large audio store or going to a CanJam event.

Focal Hadenys. Pretty easy to drive from many sources, they are small enough to be portable, are made for music, and have a solid fit and finish and look distinguished.