Focal JMLab Listen Pro

For music lovers and professionals

Relatively new headphones from the French company Focal give exactly what they promise in the name — an honest and accurate sound that will equally please both the demanding music lover and the pro sound engineer who spends days on end in the studio.

Simple, neat, in French

Focal JMLab Listen Pro cost about $300, which is slightly more than popular monitor models from Sony and Beyerdynamic. It is felt that the French decided not to save on everything, but on the contrary, they invested a pretty penny for additional buns. The JMLab Listen Pro looks really cool with its minimalist headband, large logo and leather ear cushions. Simply, neatly, in French. The build quality leaves no less pleasant impression, you take these in your hands and you understand what “assembly for five” means: hinges are of high quality, a strong metal bracket folds up, which simplifies transportation, and moving parts fit each other so as not to creak even in front of your face armageddon.

Work in comfort

Another point of coolness lies in the convenience of these beauties. Many sound engineers prefer open headphones due to the fact that they do not tyre the ears as much as closed models. Focal JMLab Listen Pro in this regard is a pleasant surprise, in 3 hours of recording your back will get tired or your legs will numb rather than your ears will ache. Not the last role in this is played by the material of the ear pads, here they are made of microfibre, which fits nicely to the ears.

Flat frequency response

The 40mm drivers of these "Focals" produce a sound that can be described as maximally neutral. They have a minimum of blockages, humps and distortions in the frequency response. The sound is pleasant, without extra bass (but, nevertheless, with their obvious presence), detailed, even. Everything, as it should be for monitor headphones, which should not embellish the sound, but rather show the jambs made during recording and mixing. However, this does not mean that their patrimony is exclusively studio work. The main thing is to take care of the sound source if you plan to just listen to music in them. Despite the low resistance, they are quite demanding on their partner and with a conventional smartphone they will not play as brightly and openly as with a high-quality amplifier or sound card.