Focal Clear (2017) vs Sennheiser HD558

The Focal Clear (2017) makes for a good, if unremarkable, Over-Ear Headphone for people with a $1,500 budget.

The Sennheiser HD558, however, is merely mediocre at its $247 asking price, when compared to similarly priced products, and won't satisfy the needs of most people.

In either case, we suggest that you first take a look at some other options at the $1,500 and $330 price points before committing to one of these - it's likely that you'll be able to find some better alternatives.

If you're still interested in learning more about the Focal Clear (2017) and Sennheiser HD558, however, we wrote a summary of what we could find about them:

While the Focal Clear (2017) wasn't able to make it to the very top of any roundups from sources that perform quality hands-on testing, it still got featured in a large number of them. Head-fi, SoundGuys, The Verge, Headphone Review, The Master Switch, HomeTheaterReview.com, and Tom's Guide have all deemed it worthy of a place on their respective shortlists.

As for the Sennheiser HD558, it wasn't able to earn a top spot in any roundups from trusted sources that conduct their own hands-on testing. Nevertheless, it managed to impress reviewers at Expert Reviews, Head-fi, and What Hi-Fi? enough to make it onto their respective shortlists.

When we thoroughly analyzed their review scores, we learned that all of the sources that tested both Over-Ear Headphones, including Head-fi, preferred the Focal Clear (2017) over the Sennheiser HD558.

We also took a look at which sources they managed to impress the most. The Focal Clear (2017) was liked best by TechHive, which gave it a score of 10, while the Sennheiser HD558 got its highest, 10, score from Expert Reviews.

Lastly, we averaged out all of the reviews scores that we could find on these two products and compared them to other Over-Ear Headphones on the market. We learned that both of them performed far better than most of their competitors - the overall review average earned by Over-Ear Headphones being 7.5 out of 10, whereas the Focal Clear (2017) and Sennheiser HD558 managed averages of 8.9 and 8.9 points, respectively.

Due to the difference in their prices, however, it's important to keep in mind that a direct Focal Clear (2017) vs. Sennheiser HD558 comparison might not be entirely fair - some sources don't take value for money into account when assigning their scores and therefore have a tendency to rate more premium products better.