Mellow submarine

Focal's first wireless over-ears with ANC are named after the 'bathyscaphe', an early submersible. Will they sink or swim?

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■ At 350g this is a heavy pair of headphones. The headband does a good job of distributing that weight over your head, clamping is fairly tight, and the earcups are sufficiently padded so they don’t become a literal pain in the neck.

■ There’s been no skimping on materials, as you’d expect given the price. The earcup yokes are milled from magnesium, the headband inner uses aluminium for sturdiness and flexibility, and the headband and cups are clad in real leather – sorry, vegans.

■ Feed them a hi-res source and the 40mm drivers inside don’t disappoint. Performance is engaging and brilliantly controlled, with a very well balanced bass presence, a spacious soundstage and great detail. They aren’t quite as dynamic as the B&W PX8s, but have them beat for refinement.

■ They aren’t quite so strong when it comes to active noise-cancelling, though. The low-end rumble of a train is effectively muted, but higher frequencies aren’t minimised anything like as well.