Focal Hadenys
A warm, detailed, and spacious-sounding pair of open-backed headphones, the Focal Hadenys deliver a pleasant and enjoyable sound although if you favour an energetic performance to listen to music with, there are less expensive alternatives.
Pros
- Lightweight, super-comfortable design
- Stylish looks
- Warm but detailed sound
- Low impedance
Cons
- On the expensive side
- Outdone for energy
Key Features
- 40mm Aluminium / Magnesium speaker driverDesigned to produce a “naturally detailed warm and dynamic sound”
- Weight294g for a comfortable fit on the head
- TransportCarry case with 1.8m and 6.3mm adapter
Introduction
After jumping into wireless noise-cancelling headphones to great effect with its Bathys pair, Focal find itself on more familiar ground with the Hadenys over-ears.
They are open-backed, wired headphones with a name inspired by The Hadean, which was an eon in which the Earth was first formed.
Focal has a quirky way of naming its headphones, and while Hadenys sounds a little pompous, I care mainly about how they sound. If they’re anything as good as the Bathys were, then Focal is onto a winner.
Design
- Open-backed design
- Stylish looks
- Leather materials
The Hadenys come in one colour – earth shades of brown that reflect the origins of the Earth. I think it looks nice, and it’s the type of unusual colour choice Focal isn’t shy of. It’s at least a change from the black finishes that dominate headphones for the home.
The design is lightweight, which makes them very comfortable to wear – a prime reason if ever to purchase these headphones. There’s barely any tension in terms of the clamping force, plus there is plenty of room for my big ears to fit in.
The yoke – the connecting arm between the headband and earcup – incorporates magnesium to keep the weight down to 294g. There’s plenty of swivel action with the earcups to find a fit that cleaves to your head.
The honeycomb grille, a common design trait of Focal’s headphones, is not there just for the aesthetics. As the Hadenys are open-backed headphones, they allow sounds to pass-through the earcups’ membrane, and the grille is said to accentuate the openness and decompression of the driver.
The advantage is a bigger soundstage than closed-back wired cans – cover the earcups with your hands and you can hear the soundstage receding. What isn’t great is that the headphones leak sound to the outside world, and the Hadenys do sound loud when audio is playing, but these are made for the home and not public transport.
They use a combination of leather and breathable fabric for the headband, while it’s memory foam for the earpads, although the former of which won’t go down well with the vegans in the audiophile crowd. The headphones come with a carry case for transport that includes a 1.8m cable, which offers plenty of rope for plugging these headphones into hi-fi kit.
Specification
- Wide frequency response
- 1.8m cable
- Low impedance
The Focal feature an impedance of 26 ohms, which is surprisingly not all that much for a pair of headphones with this price tag. It means you shouldn’t encounter many, if any issues plugging these headphones into, say, a laptop. They aren’t too demanding in terms of the power they draw.
The frequency response covers 25Hz – 22kHz (although the Focal website says 20Hz to 22kHz), which is above the normal human listening range, but like with the Dyson OnTrac, it’s not about what you can’t hear but having that extended frequency response allows the headphones to exert more control over how they handle low and high frequencies.
Sensitivity is 100dB, which is around standard for wired headphones and indicates they can get relatively loud when pushed, and THD of 0.2% means there’s miniscule levels of noise in the signal. The 1.8m cable terminates in 3.5mm, but there’s a 6.3mm adapter to slot into other hi-fi equipment.
Sound Quality
- 40mm drivers
- Spacious performance
- Balanced, if not the most sprightly sound
The Hadenys feature 40mm aluminium M-shaped dome for the driver that’s become de rigueur for Focal headphones. The French audio brand describes the output as “precise, dynamic, and warm” and I’d tend to agree with that summation of the headphones’ personality.
Armed with the Chord Mojo 2 and Qobuz streaming service, listening to music through the Hadenys offers a wide soundstage, furnished with pleasing amounts of detail and clarity. They’re not the sharpest-sounding pair of headphones thanks to that warmth, but the smoothness of its sound sands off tracks that could sound sibilant or coarse. These headphones aren’t ‘rich’ in how they sound, adding a warm colour to music but not at the expense of too much detail.
The Hadenys go about their business in a delicate manner, so I wouldn’t describe them as powerful or forceful (at least not at the volume levels I was listening at), but there’s a nice, steady balance across the frequency range.
There’s a sense of cohesion and uniformity about the stereo image they create, though it is a little flat in terms of how it layers voices, instrumentation and background sounds. There is, however, a sense of poise about their performance that suggests control and an admirable tendency not to get flustered. Although personally, I’d like them to let loose a little.
The treble performance is a clean one that offers decent variation in the high frequency notes that pop in GoGo Penguin’s Ascent, especially as the high notes go up in register but compared to the less expensive Sony MDR-MV1 open-backed over-ears, the Focal aren’t as bright or as detailed to my ears, with the highs being more piercing on Sony’s offering.
With Faye Webster’s Sometimes there’s a sturdiness to the percussion though the warm colour of the Focal’s sound impedes the crispness and detail of the crashing cymbals. Again, when compared to the Sony, the MV1 offer more of a showcase for bass levels. Though both headphones put in a good performance with bass as far as open-backed headphones are concerned, there’s a richness and punch to the Sony pair that engages more.
The Focal feel a little laid back in comparison, so while they boast a good sense of rhythm with flowing tracks, they’re not the most energetic and explosive sounding pair. Perhaps you wouldn’t want to necessarily listen to rock ‘n’ roll or similar high tempo tracks.
They’re not the most overtly dynamic sounding pair either. There’s less of a sweep to Norah Jones’ inflection in Don’t Know Why, though it avoids the sibilance trap some headphones fall into with that track. It’s a similar result with System of a Down’s Chop Suey! or Joe Hisaishi’s Water Traveller as the thrust and expansion of the orchestra with the latter isn’t as forcefully communicated as it is on the MDR-MV1. Dynamism is on a slightly smaller scale with the Hadenys.
With vocals there’s a lovely sense of naturalism to voices whether it’s listening to Dominique Fils-Aimé’s Home, Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire or Hard Life’s Skeletons; though to be a stick in the mud, there’s not the same level of detail and nuance of the Sony pair, which also draw out a little more definition with the percussion in Chop Suey!
So while the Focal Hadenys are a consistently pleasant and enjoyable listen, they miss out on that zest and vitality that I enjoy about the Sony MDR-MV1. If a laid-back but still detailed and precise sound is what you’re hankering for, the Focal Hadenys will suit your tastes, but if you’re after more energy and spectacle to listen to your music library, there are alternatives that offer a similar if not slightly better performance that are less expensive.
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Should you buy it?
Buy if you enjoy a warm-sounding pair of headphones
They’re lacking the highest fidelity in terms of sharpness and detail, but if you prefer a warm sonic bath of a sound to listen to at home, the Hadenys fit the bill.
Don’t buy if you’re after a bit of zip and zest
Compared to the Sony MDR-MV1, they’re not the most energetic, which is not what the Hadenys are ultimately going for, but if you listen to thumping, dynamic tracks; they’re not quite the headphones for your tastes.
Final Thoughts
I feel as if I’ve been a bit harsh on the Focal Hadenys but it’s more that over the course of testing they feel as if they’re for a particular person who enjoys music delivered in a certain way and so I don’t think they’ll be for everyone.
The detailed, open sound is enjoyable in isolation, and they’re a comfortable and stylish pair for home use. The Sony MDR-MV1 headphones are for mixing and monitoring so aren’t a direct competitor, though they serve as a reminder of what else is out there in the open-backed wired market.
However, I do think the Focal are lacking in the energy and vitality department: less direct and with less of a flourish than what the best headphones offer. They’re entertaining, though I do think they’re on the expensive side but they get an endorsement from me. The Hadenys are a classy-looking and enjoyable pair of open-backed headphones for the home.
How we test
We test every set of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
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Tested across two months
Tested with real world use
Compared to alternative headphones
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FAQs
No, because they are open-backed headphones, the Focal Hadenys do not utilise ANC.
Full specs
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