Focal - Bathys

I mean sure if you find the Px8’s more enjoyable then get them for cheaper but I honestly don’t find the Bathys to be neutral at all. Sure they’re tuned more neutral than the typical consumer headphones but they’re nowhere near of what I would say is neutral. Wonky mid range with uneven yet relaxed treble. If you’re finding the P 8’s more enjoyable, then perhaps getting into the higher end audio range is not for you. I’m not gonna say your taste is bad but I’d choose the Bathys over the Px8’s any day even with the Bathys’ somewhat uneven tonality compared to the more so Px8’s.

Stealth black Focal Bathys OG is what I have. They are amazing. Great sound quality in Bluetooth mode—and full lossless sound when I’m able to wire up and use the onboard DAC mode. I previously owned: Bose QC Ultras and AirPods Max. The Bose and AirPods have better ANC and way better transparency modes. No denying that. But the Bathys are more than enough on the noise cancellation front. I just used them for a 6 hour flight. All crying babies and engine noise was mitigated enough for me to enjoy my music.

Metal sounds great on the Bathys.

They’re not atp plain and simple. For the price of a new bathys mg, you can get a regular bathys and a pair of hifiman Aryas. They’re def an upgrade but not only is the price increase not worth upgrading if you have original bathys, unless you just HAVE to be that person with the newest, like I said buying bathys for ~600$ US and then literally doing anything else with the other 600$ is the best option.

Not many words just :). This couldn’t be a better compliment to each other. He1k for the details, empy 1 for more fun and bass heavy music. Also shoutout to the bathys, have had these headphones for a while and they have always sounded amazing, and the build is great for a wireless ANC, and when you wire it with the USB, it’s borderline a full closed back focal.

They really are great. The fact tou can get get them now for like 350-500 is great value if you want a headphone that’s fully on the go, and also very decent for desktop

Yea there isn’t, I think momentum 4 is very close. But the whole package you get on bathys is just a bit next level

I adore my OG Bathys. Understand that the MG's might sound better, even significantly better. But can I justify spending more than 2x the price? No, not really. Once the ear pads softened up a bit and fit my head correctly, I'm just in love with how beautiful they sound. I paid about $450 USD after using Amazon gift points and I don't think it's possible to get anything even close to the same quality at that price. I had B&W Px7 S2e before the Bathys and the Bathys just completely mog them in basically every respect. As far as ANC, that's not surprising. It's the same deal with the B&W's. They are smaller companies that focus exclusively on high-end audio and as a result they prioritize sound quality over ANC and battery life. I personally prefer the better audio quality than the ANC ( I originally started off with Momentum 4s and the ANC & battery life was far superior, but they don't sound anywhere close to as good as the B&W or Focals from an audio quality standpoint and the build quality is so much worse). If I suddenly won the lottery I suppose I would consider upgrading to the MGs but I don't have any interest in investing that much money at the moment. I've only heard the MGs briefly, and the extent to which breaking in the ear pads improved the sound on my pair means that I certainly didn't hear the MGs at their best but ultimately it's a lot of money. Too much money for my budget.

All things considered it's my Focal Bathys. Wireless is just so useful and they sound so damn good that if I had to choose just one it would be them.

Just bcz they can do both wireless and wired I would take my Focal Bathys over HD-600s.

Love my Bathys so much, don't think there's another wireless headphone that sounds better.

Interestingly enough I hated my Momentum 4s lol the ANC and battery life was elite but they broke from sweating at the gym. I do wish the Bathys didn't clamp so hard but it also turns out a tight seal around the cans is incredibly important to keeping the full range of volume. The only other complaint I have is that the button layout makes zero sense trying to use it to control media, but I always use my phone for that anyways so it's moot lol

I had two Bathys. First one was dead on arrival. Second one died after a year. There's exactly zero chance I spend more money on expensive Focal products, I don't care how good they sound.

FWIW, the Bathys has a EQ setting in their app that basically puts it at the Harman curve instead of the Focal house tuning. But the Dysons seem to be a good value now that the prices are dropping.

I have the Bathys, love the sound. Probably best bluetooth headphones I've heard, even without LDAC. But yeah, the ANC is mediocre compared to my old Sony's and they also bleed sound quite a lot, which can be a problem if you want to use them in a plane for example.

I listen to a mix of all kinds of EDM genres, indie- and folk rock and the bass on the Bathys is honestly one of its best features. The stock tuning is far too bloated, the Dynamic preset is very decent but with EQ it's fantastic. Are you using it with PEQ or are you just using the in-app EQ function? PEQ is much better because the app's EQ function isn't that great unfortunately. I do wear glasses which unfortunately diminishes the effectiveness of the ANC but it's not a huge deal for me. It's definitely more of an 'audio enthusiast' kind of headphone, especially with some tuning. But it's also kind of a one trick pony in that regard. It's not a great ANC headphone. It's a good headphone that has ANC. If you're looking for a proper ANC headphones there's several better options.

I have three of these and will give my opinions. Best for music is clearly the Focal Bathys with the onboard DAC. This rivals my DCA Noire and LCD-3 headphones for separation and clarity. Not as detailed as the LCD-3 but still clearly the best sound profile of the three. The ANC is the worst of the 3 especially for low dB noises. Microphone also worst of the 3. Comfort is ok but not phenomenal. Most comfortable with the best ANC for me is the Bose QC Ultra with the Sony right behind. Bose and Sony both need EQ and I don't see much of a difference between them for that. Sony has more bells and whistles with the APP with a better environment for adaptive sound control if that is of interest to you. And out of the box Sony sound better but for me still needs a lot of EQ to even out the low and high frequencies. Also I'm not a huge fan of the lack of deep cups for the WH1000X6 but that is just my preference for comfort. But agree just test all three by going to big box store or ordering and returning them. I also agree that the #2 for sound is the Sennheiser Momentum 4 which is the best deal of the four.

Are they $700-800 better than the Focal Bathys. I don't think so. But it really depends on what you will pay for a more neutral headphone that is slightly more comfortable and stylish. To me that isn't worth the cost but that is just me.