SoundStage! Solo | SoundStageSolo.com

Details: Written by: Geoffrey Morrison; Created: 01 March 2023

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When it comes to noise-canceling headphones, the big three come to mind: Bose, Sennheiser, and Sony. There are countless more, to be sure, but headphones from these three are the heavy hitters. At the very least, they’re the ones people should consider first, and then move outward from there if necessary. Each generation typically gets a little better, with sometimes subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle changes to the sound, and with the NC giving each a particular character.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 20 January 2023

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Reviewers' Choice What do you do after you’ve created the perfect audio product? Most audiophiles would counter that there is no perfect audio product, but I wonder. There are plenty of component categories—amplifiers, preamps, cables, and others—in which the best from 30 years ago are 100 percent sonically competitive with anything made today. And one possible definition of perfection is that your work can’t be improved upon. Focal’s original Utopia headphones, introduced in 2016, were probably as close as anyone’s come to perfection in headphones—but at the 2022 CanJam SoCal, Focal announced that it had improved on the Utopias. The new model is still named Utopia ($4999, all prices USD), but to distinguish it from the old model (which we’ll be referring to frequently), we’re going to refer to it in this review and the measurements as Utopia 2022.

Read more: Sivga Oriole Headphones

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 20 November 2022

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Looking at the Sundara Closed-Back headphones takes me back to the earliest days of my audio obsession: reading Stereo Review in my high-school library, ogling the top-of-line Realistic Mach One speakers in the RadioShack catalog, listening to the ample selection of headphones at the Burstein-Applebee store in my local mall, and dreaming of a day when I could afford snazzier gear. The Sundara Closed-Backs aren’t what I’d call retro, but their woody, earthy vibe wouldn’t have seemed out of place in Burstein-Applebee’s headphone display, and any pipe-smoking, Esquire-reading, 1970s suburban-sophisticate dad would have been proud to listen to his Dave Brubeck records on them. I, as a teenager with nothing but a paper route to fund my hobbies, could afford only a plasticky $17 set of Panasonics. Little did I know I’d someday be reviewing $3000 ’phones.

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Created: 10 November 2022

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I guess the high-end audio companies got sick of Bose and Sony owning the market for noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones. We’ve seen DALI jump in with the IO-6 headphones at $499, Mark Levinson with the N⁰ 5909s at $999, and now Focal with the Bathys headphones at $799 (all prices USD)—substantial price boosts over the $350 or so that Bose and Sony tend to charge. I’ll come right out and say it’s highly unlikely that the high-end guys are going to beat Bose and Sony at noise canceling. But they might beat them on sound quality, although Bose and Sony are no slouches at that, either.