Grover Neville

Audio Technica has long been a major headphone manufacturer, though the true high-end, or ‘summit-fi’ of the headphone world has never seemed to look upon them particularly favorably.

CAF this year was awash with vinyl front ends, something which is a little bit unusual for headphone playback. I’ve seen it start to take more prominence in many headphone listeners rigs however, as LPs becomes more popular with audiophiles of the personal audio disposition.

The LTA headphone zone at CAF was full of some of the best headphones on the market, as well as some brand-new and prototype models. Among these were two new headphones from a company called Aurorus Audio.

One thing the Bluetooth and wireless headphone market nowadays isn’t lacking is choice. When I was sent a pair of Focal Stellia’s, my contacts at Focal also offered a pair of the Focal Sphear Wireless for review, and I figured this was a perfect opportunity to see what Focal has done with their more mainstream offerings in recent years.