This review is great. I got mines since the first day, and they are amazing. I've reached the same conclusion: purchased them as high-quality wireless, but my experience has shown these are incredible portable wired closed cans, that *in addition* sound incredible over Bluetooth and feature ANC. Question: I've noticed you can enable exclusive mode and passthrough MQA on TIDAL if wired via USB-C, however there's nothing in their docs about MQA. I guess their DAC is at least a decoder? Do you know anything about that?
There are at least three other high-end wireless ANC bluetooth headphones that outclass these, from Mark Levinson, T+A, and Dali. But any of those will cost you a LOT more than the Bathys....
The Sony wh-1000xm5, I presume does not sound as good as this focal, but when it comes to battery life and noise cancelling the Sony is better, plus the price is cheaper, Yet I still want to buy the Focal Bathys 🙃
I'll second that. I actually had the Bathys in for one night before I returned them. The XM5's are a generation ahead of the Bathys in noise canceling, both for the user and also filtering out noise for call recipients on the other side of a call or zoom. Also, I felt the Bathys has a strange music presentation. It's close to hifi but off. XM5's aren't hifi, but they're enjoyable and unoffensive. I didn't like classical music or minimal mic'd jazz combos on the Bathy's. The Bathys failed to reach noise canceling parity to my XM5's nor my Bose QC20 earbuds.
Edit - Battery life - It's a draw. Noise canceling - that goes to the XM5's. That being said, the noise canceling on the Bathys is still good. I'm using a pair in our noisy office environment now and they definitely do the job.
@@ListenUp both companies on there website claim 30h with ANC on, let's call that a draw since most people that use both of them or one of them don't disagree with the 30h claim.
@@spektrograf I think the issue is how much ANC can you have and retain Gigi performance. I have the impression that Focal is optimizing for sound quality over extreme ANC. That has always been the rub, ANC destroys fine details.
Just remember that not all forms of Bluetooth are created equal. iPhone / iOS devices support AAC and SBC, but they are missing out on all the new formats like AptX, AptX HD, or LDAC which work on Android. So Bluetooth may not sound as clean as USB or 3.5mm connections on iPhone.
@@darranmoore I've had the Bathys for 3 full days now. That's one of the first things I tried. I have a Qutest going into a JDS Atom+ that I normally use for IEMs in my office. I'm running Rune server on my laptop. It sounds fantastic with the Bathys. However, the headphones sound nearly as good over AptX. Focal did an amazing job optimizing performance, and the convenience of the multipoint connection to both my phone and laptop at the same time has me using Bluetooth most of the time.
@@darranmoore I have a pair and a nice external DAC/amp. The way these use the 3.5 mm jack means the external dac won't be an improvement over the USB dac in my opinion. With that said, the USB dac is very well suited for the headphones.
Honestly, we were all blown away by the Bathys Bluetooth sound on both iPhone / iOS Devices (Apple TV) and other devices with different codecs. Focal really did some amazing work with the Bathys. It's pretty awesome trying out different audio quality types and hearing a difference through Bluetooth on the Bathys (even on iOS).
@@darranmoore Better experience? Maybe. I'd like to think of it as a different experience more than anything. The thing to remember here is that Focal tuned the DAC built into the Bathys to the drivers in the Bathys. It's an amazing presentation by itself. We tried a few other DACs with the Bathys and while they did sound a bit different, the differences were objective. If you end up grabbing a pair, please let us know what you think!
best bt is hifiman ananda bt. it is new reality... tried today EQ-ed my bose QCE II and meze rai penta+fiio utws5 ,both easy outperformed focal bathys in details and clarity. even bose has far better ANC vs bathys. they both sounds tone similar to my focal stellia...stellia ,of course another class in every way and home use. but i have on road and trips my new mini 'stellias' bose QCE II and rai penta. bathys collecting dust now at home. maybe for watching tv movies will be ok. This may help:
Haven't landed a demo pair of those yet. Will update as soon as we do! From experience I would say that the sound is going to present differently between the two headphones. Focal's M shaped driver is a different sound experience when coming from traditional drivers. Both headphones will be great choices. The Focals are really playing in the Audiophile realm with the Bathys. The EQ on the app has been a blast too.
Great review! Can you comment on how these compare to the Focal Stellia and Elegia closed back models? I currently drive Elegias with a Chord mojo - poly combo but have thought about upgrading to the Stellia. If the Bathys is close to Stellia resolution and microdynamics, I might go with Bathys and ditch the wires.
Thanks! The Bathys have a sound signature similar to the Focal Radiance. I would say that the Elegias are still amazing and you can grab them for a deal, but the Bathys are the best bang for the buck here (again, the built-in DAC listening is a premium experience). The Stellias are in another class and really step up the sound in details and clarity. The Stellias will have better resolution (enough to notice) and the microdynamics are a step up as well. The Stellias are a premium at-home / in-office / sit down and listen listening experience. The Bathys are a premium portable experience.
Focal QC does concern me though. I've heard lots of reports about various issues - driver failure etc. In fact I have a pair of £5000 Focal hifi speakers and on one of the speakers the tweeter surround came with a lovely big scratch. How the hell did that get past inspection beggars belief.
We would say that the Bathys are more of a Hi-Fi experience with Focal's signature sound. The B&W PX8 are a solid pair of headphones with a lively and fun sound.
Signature Focal sound with the Bathys-detailed yet warm. It's been awhile since I've heard the 5909, which is a good bluetooth headphone, but overall I would say the Bathys have a slightly fuller presentation with more low end. They've been at it for quite a bit longer, so to be expected. Also, a few more functions with the Bathys-DAC, etc.
With current battery technology, you're looking at a few years with the Bathys. The best advice we can give on these is to keep them charged as much as possible (it helps with the lifespan of the batteries). With how good these sound, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a battery replacement option come out for the Bathys in the future.
