Focal Hadenys Headphone Review: Open-Back, Easy-Going Sound

Focal Hadenys Introduction

Hadenys represents a new direction in Focal's passive headphone lineup and a departure from the brand's classic headphone designs. The open-back Hadenys and its closed-back sibling Azurys are smaller with a more compact fit and only weigh around 300-grams (just over a half-pound). Rather than introducing an entirely new platform the French audio company took what it learned from the award-winning Bathys wireless headphones to build its newest passive headphone designs. Hadenys is the compact open-back choice for home listening that brings Focal engineering at a lower price of entry into the company's premium "Made in France" headphone family. Hadenys may look like Bathys MG, but it performs more like Focal fan favorite open-back Clear for less than half the price of Clear MG. 

Sharing its platform with the closed-back Azurys, the Hadenys open-back design trades isolation for openness in a more spacious, natural presentation without sacrificing Focal’s legendary dynamics. You can think of Hadenys as Clear MG’s more accessible little brother that gets you into a new Focal open-back for under $700.

Azurys & Hadenys. Lighter and smaller with esthetic designs that are distinctively Focal.

Focal Hadenys Design & Comfort

Like Azurys, the Hadenys is built on a customized Bathys chassis, resulting in a noticeably more compact profile than the classic Focal headphone. At just 294 grams, it's among the lighter headphones in the company's lineup with memory foam wrapped in breathable woven-fabric over the earpads and headband to keep them comfortable and cool during extended listening sessions. The woven-fabric's breathability largely succeeds over marathon listening sessions, I found it just a little bit better than the original Bathys leatherette. While Focal's new designs make use of more plastic than its traditional headphones, the magnesium yokes gives Hadenys a rugged structure without adding much weight. Like Bathys, Hadenys feels secure with nicely balanced weight distribution on the head with only a moderate clamp force.

Hadenys takes esthetic cues from classics like Stellia and Clear MG, employing more of an earthy brown finish rather than an industrial design. The colors and name is inspired by the Hadean eon, the geological period during Earth's formation and gives the headphone a subdued, almost organic appearance. One might say Hadenys uses the original Earthy design color palette. The grey in the magnesium outer earcup and inner ring featuring the Focal flame gives Hadenys a fine sense of depth. If asked without seeing, I personally wouldn't choose brown as the primary color for a pair of headphones. But as usual Focal somehow pulls it off in another beautiful design.

Hadenys is another fine Focal design

Focal Hadenys Technology

At the heart of Hadenys' sound is Focal's legendary 40-mm Aluminum/Magnesium "M"-shaped dome dynamic driver designed and manufactured in France. Focal headphones benefit from the company's decades of experience building some of the finest loudspeakers in the world and many feature a similar Al/Mg M-shaped dome tweeter, like the Focal Aria Evo X No.4. As a full-range headphone driver, the 40-mm Al/Mg has been tuned for a variety of Focal's high-end line of headphones since 2016 because they strike the right balance between sensitivity and rigidity giving Focal headphones a knack for great dynamic range at a relatively low impedance. 

While the driver's core technology is shared with Azurys and other Focal headphones, its open-back architecture gives Hadenys a distinctly different sonic presentation than its closed-back sibling. The honeycomb grille on the outer earcup isn't simply decorative, it allows the rear wave to escape more freely, reducing internal reflections and contributing to the headphone's sense of sonic space. Its incredibly low 26-ohm impedance means Hadenys is easy to drive from portable DACs, desktop amplifiers and digital audio players. Like Azurys, you could use a cell-phone or computer's low-powered 3.5-mm headphone jack and would be just enough provide sound, but we wouldn’t recommend it. Higher-quality amplification even from a USB dongle DAC/Amp will reward listeners with better refinement and control.

Hadenys lies flat in-case with rubbery cable and quarter-inch adapter attached

Focal Hadenys Accessories

Focal includes a rigid carrying case and a detachable 1.8-m (6-foot) cable terminated in 3.5-mm with a quarter-inch or 6.35-mm adapter for home amplifiers. Like many Focal headphones, the case is great but the cable leaves much to be desired. Hadenys swivel earcup design makes it lie flat when zipped into its carrying case like a portable gem. Unlike Focal's classic headphone design, Hadenys case easily fits into a carrying bag. When laid flat it's just under 3-inches high with a 9.45-inch length and 8.27-inch width. 

The cable works well enough as a copper conductor once you get it plugged between earcup and source. But the dense rubber jacket retains memory of its coiled shipping position so you’re likely to find it constantly trying to wind itself back up as you use it. The solution should be to use an aftermarket cable, but my biggest gripe about both Azurys and Hadenys cable is Focal’s new platform doesn't use its classic Y-split, with two 3.5-mm connectors going to each earcup. Anyone who has bought a pair of Focal headphones likely picked-up an aftermarket "Focal" cable soon after, unfortunately the old Focal cables won't work for the company's new headphone platform, so make sure you're picking up a cable for the specific model you're after. 

Accessories for Focal's new passive headphone lineup are meant to be practical rather than luxurious. Even the unboxing of Hadenys (like Azurys and Bathys) is a simple cardboard package intended to reduce cost. Gone are the leather bound boxes shipped with Focal's classic designs. 

Hadenys in front of the cardboard box it arrives in

Focal Hadenys Subjective Sound Quality

I spent a lot of time listening to both Hadenys and Azurys around the same time connected to my primary headphone setup using the Cambridge Audio MXN10 streaming into an SMSL SU9-Pro DAC then the THX AAA 789 headphone amplifier, a combination that leans analytical but compliment Hadenys laid back warmth and engaging midrange. I found Hadenys sound profile doesn't chase exaggerated detail or an analytical presentation, instead the headphones present a warm openness that provides comfortable long-term listening sessions. They presented me with a natural, lifelike sound that excels at midrange and vocals with much less of Azurys lean toward bass. Focal’s M-shaped dome driver always delivers a punchy dynamic range and Hadenys is no exception as it brings steep musical contrasts in a surprisingly full-bodied package. Although Hadenys bass extension is eclipsed by Azurys, it remains perfectly capable down low reaching lower frequencies than expected for an open-back with satisfying weight without sacrificing the spaciousness and imaging.

Midrange is where Hadenys shines, giving vocals and acoustic instruments a convincing sense of body with a largely neutral coloration. Treble is generally smooth and controlled, revealing detail without long-term fatigue. I’d categorize Hadenys as a sonic generalist, succeeding at presenting a warm balance. You won’t find an expansive soundstage in Hadenys, but in true generalist fashion it brings an openness that’s heightened by its excellent imaging. Hadenys sound cloaks your head in a warm, subtle soundstage that delivers a relaxed tonality that comes through in any music selection, even when listening to hard hitting rock, metal or electronic music. 

For a music testing of an open-back I wanted to hear something that takes studio production to the next level from an artist that delivers a variety of sonic effects and can play across the frequency spectrum.

Steven Wilson: The Harmony Codex

After listening to some classic Rush while reviewing Azurys at the same time as Hadenys, I was hooked on the prog-rock theme and how the greats of the genre often played with effects in the studio. And yes, I do consider Rush a prog rock band at heart. One of today’s modern prog-rock masters is Steven Wilson and The Harmony Codex is Wilson’s 2023 experimental seventh album. In true prog-rock form “Codex” contains one track that runs almost 11-minutes, Impossible Tightrope. Wilson’s sonic experimentalism and studio perfectionism makes the perfect test of imaging and soundstage.

The Impossible Tightrope: This instrumental track is a surreal sonic journey that pushes the hi-fi capabilities of any system and begs to be heard on a great pair of open-backs. The track runs the gamut from gentle harmonic melancholia before swelling into a free-flow of disparate musical styles. Along the way you’ll hear unique variants of acid jazz and 90s-style electronica before slamming into a psychedelic rock jam session complete with radio-ready guitar hooks. The entire song employs brilliant stereophonic mixing with unique directional effects and timing that layers in interesting melodic patterns you just have to hear to believe. The studio mix makes this song so much more than the sum of its sheet music. Throughout the track, Hadenys sonic imaging and dynamics are an incredible asset as this song finds ways to occupy every inch of its suitable, if not especially wide soundstage. Hadenys doesn’t seem to try to place sounds across a wide span, but Wilson’s studio engineering plays with the headphone’s ability to place and move sounds around all 360-degrees of space around your head. 

From punchy bass rhythms to layered Pink Floyd-like dreamy segments, Hadenys put on a show in brilliant detail, missing none of the subtleties in this recording. This is one of those albums where you'll discover something new with every replay. 

After this 11-minute acoustic thrill-ride I learned two things. 

#1: This song is what happens when an autodidact audio engineer is also a neo-prog rocker, Wilson is truly a gift to hi-fi. 
#2:  Hadenys stereophonic imaging prowess gave me just a taste of what this track would sound like in full Dolby Atmos.

Focal Hadenys Conclusion

As much as I love Focal's larger classic headphones, I think Focal has found a sweet spot in its new chassis that's opened its passive headphones to a whole new audience that might otherwise see its larger designs as archaic. In Hadenys, rather than trying to build a scaled-down Clear or an affordable Utopia, Focal has created something with its own identity. Hadenys fits Focal's signature engineering into a lighter chassis, approachable price point and tuning that favors musical enjoyment over forensic analysis. I see Hadenys being perfect for someone discovering headphone hi-fi and looking for high-end sound without paying a high-end price. Hadenys gets you into Focal's sound without wearing a full pound of headphone. But don't let the new lineup built on Bathys chassis let you categorize either Hadenys or Azurys as mini-Focals. Yes, they're a little smaller than Focal's classics but in today's headphone market they're closer to average size and weight even among competing higher-end headphones. Their size is no disadvantage in sound. For an open-back that fits at-home listening, I fell in love with Focal Clear when I first tested them. While Hadenys is not a Clear, I'd be happy with it as an alternative to the now discontinued Clear that was replaced with Clear MG for almost triple the price. But honestly, if I had to choose between Azurys and Hadneys, my preference for closed-back headphones and Azurys stunning bass reproduction would be too compelling to pass up.   

For anyone looking for an open-back headphone that puts them into the Focal ecosystem without immediately climbing to the flagship models, the Hadenys will fill the bill. It delivers the craftsmanship, comfort and engaging sound that have become hallmarks of the French audio brand while carving out its own place in the lineup as a thoroughly modern open-back headphone.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.