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.
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
imo no, but BT wise its acceptable. Utopias i havent heard.... so not like im one to judge the high end wired focals either. I only own the non-mg focal bathys and have heard sony, sennheisers wireless headphones and with that i think i would go MG.
With Hifiman wireless series releasing sooner or later that would be my move if sound quality is only priority.
imo no, but BT wise its acceptable. Utopias i havent heard.... so not like im one to judge the high end wired focals either. I only own the non-mg focal bathys and have heard sony, sennheisers wireless headphones and with that i think i would go MG.
With Hifiman wireless series releasing sooner or later that would be my move if sound quality is only priority.
It was funny seeing the Atrium Open drop from S, to B-tier since the last tier-list. Meanwhile Focal just absolutely swept this list, even the Bathys MG which is a terrible value headphone compared to most other ANC ones (including Bathyss OG).
I know their wireless headphones (Bathys, MG) are made in China. But honestly given Focal’s build quality track record I don’t think that’s too much of a downgrade.
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.
T+A Solitaire T in Hi-Fi mode are very impressive. Never tried them on an airplane, so I cannot comment on how ANC would be effective.
They can be used passively (wired), which is a plus IMO.
Bathys MG are very good also!
I have the OG Bathys and the B&W Px8. I like both a lot especially when using EQ. I've not used the others. And the Bathys are quite quiet for me in terms of sound leakage but I don't wear glasses. I think my dad's headphones on par or a bit better than the Bathys but not $1000 better.
I'm not sure I understand the premise. You are saying that the stock commercial sound out of the box doesn't meet your expectations. I'd say the same thing about the stock sound out of the box of the Audeze headphone line in general. That doesn't make them bad headphones. It means that what I like in my sonic presentation doesn't match the stock sound Audeze is going for. Thus, the reason for EQ. And I would argue pretty strongly that independent of the 360 abilities of their headphones that AirPod Max sound better than either of those two headphones as they don't to me. If you want to argue that having a 3-band EQ is a joke in 2026 that would justify the scorn at Bose. But both of those headphones sound pretty good with either the Sony EQ App or Wavelet if you use Android for Bose. And yes, I have the Bathys and they do sound crisper and cleaner in the lower end. But probably not $400 better.
Pretty easy to fix with Wavelet using Android. Bass not as tight or clean as Bathys but I have no issues with mid-range or treble. And built great and extremely comfortable to use.
We have the Focal Bathys, Bose QC Ultra II, Sony XM6, Bowers & Wilkins Px8 (not the new version) and the Apple AirPod Max (wife). Son has the Sennheiser Momentum 4. Of these, the best sounding is the Focal Bathys which is very responsive, detailed and not boomy at all. I use these most of the time. With proper EQ, I actually like the B&W which have very good ANC and a stock sound that is way too bass forward/muddy but for me cleans up with EQ. Of the rest, there are parts of each we really like. The ANC is best on the Sony and Bose and for me I can't tell a real difference although I like the comfort of the Bose better. AirPod Max is heavy, has surprising decent sound and ANC and is a decent but not optimal choice for folks committed to the Apple ecosystem. Our next choice after Focal and B&W with EQ is the Sennheiser which is a pretty decent all around headphone.
Top Headphones (Over / On Ear) on Reddit
1
Sennheiser
HD 560S
79% positive of 619 users
Budget gaming king with clear sound, but tight fit.
Some_Sector5089
