Focal has a new… let’s call it… all-in-one system in the Mu-so Hekla, and having listened to it in a room at Caesars Palace during CES 2026, it is a beast of a music system.
Focal has (very) good recent form with its Diva Utopia speakers and the Diva Mezza Utopia. However, at £29,999 and £50,000 respectively, they’re well out of the range for many unless you’re a modern day oil baron.
The Mu-so Hekla at £3000 / $3600 / €3300 is still an expensive piece of kit but more within reach. Those with even a vague interest in home cinema and hi-fi should give this sound system a listen. It has the potential to knock your socks off.
Don’t call it a soundbar
The concept of a soundbar was arguably initiated by Yamaha with its YSP series. It came up with the idea of a black behemoth that sat beneath your TV and punched out a sound that was miles better than what your TV was capable, creating a whole industry of TV audio improvement in the process.
The Mu-so Hekla looks much like a soundbar, though Focal would prefer you refrain from calling it that. Focal doesn’t care for this classification one bit.
And having seen and listened to it, I’m inclined to agree with Focal. Soundbars have, traditionally, found it difficult to hop between home cinema and music. Despite what you might think, cinema and music dance to two different rhythms, and as a result, require different approaches.
Home cinema tends to be multi-channel: dense and with depth, with sounds that pan across the soundstage, as well as the need to handle dialogue with clarity, and in this modern age, height effects with the advent of immersive audio. Even for soundbars this isn’t easy.
Then there’s music: two-channel stereo with a focus of reproducing vocals as well everything between low and high frequencies while also capturing the natural timbre of instruments. Even for speakers, this isn’t easy.
Focal is aiming to cover both, which is why I can see this as more of an all-in-one immersive sound system, than a soundbar, which its main focus is to improve your TV’s sound.
The immersive aspect is also the reason why it’s called the Focal Mu-so, not the Naim Mu-so. I’ll admit I was worried about Naim’s presence with this latest ‘system’ given the name-change, but as Naim traditionally works in a two-channel set-up and Focal views itself more within the immersive space, the name (ahem) is the Focal Mu-so.
The Hekla’s size means its some space to operate (it’s not as wide as you might expect but is quite deep), and along with its streaming capabilities and audio format support; if Focal can get the Mu-so Hekla right, it might be the only sound system you need.
And it sounds good
I caught the tail-end of the home cinema demo having trekked through Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace (Las Vegas’ hotels are huge). I can’t speak to how well Top Gun: Maverick came across in Dolby Atmos, but listening to Dolby Atmos and stereo music through the Hekla Mu-so and I must admit, I was very impressed.
The soundstage was so much wider bigger than the system itself, and while there does seem to be a sweet spot in terms of the listening position, from where I was sitting, the sound stretched several feet away from the speaker itself.
This is a big-sounding speaker, and bodes well for its sense of scale; and with stereo music it can go deep with bass for a one-box system. It sounds dynamic and fluid but Focal/Naim’s processing still renders music as natural and not overly processed.
My one question mark does revolve around its immersive performance, as it’s the same one I have with all one-box systems – the lack of surround speakers.
I’ve moaned about this before but true immersive audio places sound in front, sides, above and behind you. In this context, the Mu-so Hekla still suffers from a front-heavy performance.
The only ‘soundbar’ I’ve heard that’s managed to produce a soundscape that stretches in front, to the sides, and behind you from one-box is the Sennheiser Ambeo Max Soundbar – and that’s ginormous.
It’s unlikely any other audio brand would try to replicate that – the Ambeo Max would need a horse and cart to deliver to your home – but the focus many audio brands have with ‘immersive audio’ doesn’t work if all the sound is in front of you.
These types of speakers, whether it’s a soundbar or one conceived of as an all-in-one, are packed with speakers. But I’d argue that the two most important ones for an immersive audio system, are the ones that’d sit behind you…
Wide suite of connections…
I find an all-in-one system a nebulous term with “all” often meaning “things we like to include” rather than “everything”. But, to be fair to the Focal Mu-so Hekla, it does get closer than some to encompassing the “all” in “all-in-one”.
You’ve got Wi-Fi and Bluetooth streaming, there’s HDMI input and optical output (the latter for hooking up Blu-ray and CD players), and a sub-out for connecting a subwoofer. Sure it’s not all-in-one but you can plug in what’s missing.
Streaming support includes the ‘Connect’ version of Spotify, Qobuz, and Tidal; it plumbs the depths to as low as MP3 and reaches as high as DSD128. There’s Dolby Atmos (through TrueHD and MAT formats) as well as Apple’s APAC format, a spatial audio format which is apparently supported by the KEF XIO.
You don’t get HDMI pass-through, or any DTS support – both of which would firm up its home cinema ambitions but the mention of the XIO is apt. The KEF is arguably Focal’s main challenger in the premium all-in-one market. And while it lacks HDMI pass-through, it does come with DTS:X, and is less expensive than the Mu-so Hekla.
Upset the established order
I can see why Focal doesn’t want to call the Mu-so Hekla a soundbar. It doesn’t want to play in that sandbox, instead it wants to set its own terms and not have boundaries imposed on them.
While I can’t give a firm view on the Focal Mu-so Hekla, the twenty or so minutes I heard did impress me. There are limitations but the Mu-so Hekla is all about convenience and reducing footprint of having multiple boxes and speakers.
We are seeing many more brands that aren’t commonly associated with home cinema doing more than just dabbling in it. From KEF to Marshall, Bang & Olufsen, Devialet and now Focal, hi-fi brands are bringing their music expertise to your living room table.
I for one am anticipating the Focal Mu-so Hekla rather keenly. We might be witnessing the evolution of the soundbar into something that can really do (almost) everything.
