Audiophile wireless earpiece . Some ( mostly audiophiles ) would say that ’s an oxymoron . That ’s because Bluetooth is , by nature , a very minute tobacco pipe that was never project to expect the large amounts of data that candela - quality auditory sensation requires . That has forced the entire wireless phone manufacture to heavily press the audio it sends over Bluetooth , and if you start with a compromised signal , then everything else down the chain will also be compromise in some manner . drivel in , garbage out , right ?
Well , sure , there ’s some truth to that . There ’s no effective fashion to wangle your path up to CD - timbre from a lossy , flake - starved Bluetooth audio stream . But that does n’t mean that Bluetooth ca n’t vocalise good than it often does . That ’s the assumption behind theFocal Bathys headphone , the French audio outfit ’s first take at a wireless noise - invalidate headphone .
Focal ’s position is that , through the punctilious design and engineering of every component , and by carefully equilibrate participating noise canceling ( ANC ) and digital signaling processing ( DSP ) , it is potential to maximize the potential of Bluetooth audio frequency . In a conversation with Focal , I was told the company ’s aim was to develop wireless headphones that sounded as near to the company ’s vauntedCelestee headphonesas potential . I do n’t know how close Focal got to the Celestee ( which I loved ) , but I will say I ’m pretty thrilled with how the Bathys go .
When it total to loudspeaker and headphone pattern , business deal - offs and via media are bound to be involved , and so it is with the Bathys . They will by no mean value be all thing for all people — a goal which theSony WH-1000XM5strive to meet — but that is by pattern . More on that in a moment . Let ’s let the cat out of the bag about what you get when you expend $ 699 on the Focal Bathys , and whether they ’re deserving the investing .
What you get
At $ 800 , everything about the Focal Bathys should feel premium — and so it is . The carrying typesetter’s case is covered in a soft textile remindful of cashmere , and real leather is used on the headband and earcup padding ; hell , even the included headphone and USB cables feel premium . There ’s no carabiner included , but there is a seriously stout thread eyelet made for cut short the carrying character to a backpack . You ’ve got enough carabiners kick around anyway , do n’t you ?
In a ocean of recognizable Sony and Bose prat , the Bathys stand out
You ’ll also get just over 30 hours of battery life with ANC turned on , and a humongous 5 hours of living out of 15 minutes of quick charging . The Bathys support SBC , AAC , aptX , and aptX Adaptive , and a built - in DAC ( more contingent below ) delivers up to 24 - bit/192kHz resolution .
virtually as I can narrate , though , the Bathys do not have build - in vesture sensing element , as they do not pause euphony playback when removed from the headspring .
How they look
The Focal Bathys have a distinctive , premium look . When I wore them on a recent flight , I caught a few fellow passengers eyeballing the headphones as I wore them . The dimpled finish on the earcup exterior call receive attention to the headphones , while the optionally sort out Focal “ fire ” logo glows a coolheaded whiteness when the phone are power on . In a sea of recognizable Sony and Bose hind end , the Bathys stick out out in a posh , sophisticated way .
How they feel
No getting around it : The Bathys are a bit grueling , especially when weighed against theSony WH-1000XM5andBose QC45 . Then again , so are the Bang & Olufsen H95 andMaster & Dynamic MW75 . The lend system of weights is likely a byproduct of the premium materials in use , so in a way , I find it desirable as I contain the Bathys in my hired hand . But when I put them on my head , I directly like they were a bit light . By no mean value are the Bathys uncomfortable for short - term habiliment , but I did notice the weighting bearing down on my crown about three time of day into my late flight . The weight is fairly offset by carefully considered clamping force that I enjoy , but I have to block short of saying these are a traveler ’s delight . I was fine wearing them for two to three hours , but not five or six at a time . Of course , your mileage may vary .
How they work
The Bathys manage to be highly up to without being complicated . If all you want is to turn the headphones on , connect via Bluetooth , and start out listening , they ’ll do that . If you need to toggle between ANC and transparency style , there ’s a button for that , too .
If you favor a wired connection , you could go that path with a distinctive 1/8 - inch phone cable , but the Bathys also put up a direct digital audio connection via USB - C for even better sound quality . While iPhone owner will call for to purchase a Lightning - to - USB - coulomb adapter , Android owners can just plug the Bathys directly into their phone . In any compositor’s case , whether using a fluid machine or a personal computer , this direct digital link allows the Bathys to use its own top - tier DAC , rather than whatever DAC is built into your machine . This was a smart move , as the DAC make into most phones , laptops , and desktop PCs is unremarkably a very debile connexion in the audio mountain range .
Wired or radio receiver , the ramp up - in DAC is just the offset of what take the Bathys different from other headphones . Focal designs and build its own number one wood for the Bathys , just as it does for its other headphone models and its renowned speaker unit lineup . The party claims it has also implemented a powerful phone amplifier to force back those transducer . These measures on their own should aid contribute to excellent intelligent quality , but Focal exact the tough decisions it made around ANC execution and the pick to avoid heavy - handed DSP are central to how the Bathys are capable to sound better than their competition .
In a conversation with Focal , I was told that the troupe spend countless hours finding the right balance between ANC effectualness and reasoned quality . The more heavily - handed it was with the noise call off , the more the audio fidelity abide . When it operate too intemperately in the other centering , though , the ANC was n’t effective enough to call it a ware feature of speech . In the end , Focal strove for the cherubic situation , where noise - canceling was made just effective enough to keep ambient haphazardness from colly the phone , but not so much that it crushed the headphones ’ natural leaning toward premium audio quality .
How they sound
Since hold for sound timbre is highly immanent , I ’ll stop short of saying that the Bathys are the well - sound wireless headphone I ’ve ever tested . But I have no misgiving with enjoin that they are , by far , my personal favorites .
I do think it is significant to be decipherable on the point that the Bathys ’ noise - canceling art is nowhere nigh to the level offered by headphone like the Sony WH-1000XM5,Bose QC45orSennheiser Momentum Wireless 4 . As I ’ve just explain , that ’s by design . The Bathys ’ ANC is n’t designed to produce a covered stadium of silence around the listener , so they are n’t the best pick for traveling on an aeroplane or noisy train , but it is efficacious enough to appropriate the headphones ’ excellent faithfulness to radiate through . give this was Focal ’s goal , I ’d have to say that it was wildly successful .
The Bathys are profoundly hearty and extremely fun to listen to .
As I recoil between the Bathys , the Sony XM5 , and theBowers and Wilkins PX7 , all in wireless modality , I was chance upon by how much more undefendable , airy , and roomy the Bathys voice . By comparison , the Sony and B&W sounded closed in , almost claustrophobic , which is rummy because I ’ve never described either as sounding that way in the past . It took hearing the Bathys to reveal how much I ’d been escape after years of listening to wireless headphones with emphatic ANC and grave - handed DSP .
The Bathys also sound expertly balanced , with just a bit of added warmness in the bass , a totally sheer midrange , and some of the most articulate , accurate treble I ’ve heard from a set of wireless headphones . Honestly , it was hard to conceive I was listen via Bluetooth . But then I switch over to the pumped up digital connexion using the Bathys ’ onboard DAC , and I pull in just how much better the Bathys could sound , give a higher - timber signaling .
While double by no mean sound raspy or garbled in the way it does when listen to a low - quality mp3 file , I heard an straightaway improvement to high - frequency fidelity once I switched from wireless to digital wired connection . In the wireless mode , Vinnie Colaiuta ’s hi - hat and percussion work in the opening seconds of Sting’sSeven Daysheld together nicely , with a pleasant presence of shimmer and plan of attack not well audible on other wireless headphones . When I flip to the wired musical mode , however , I could hear more tone in the cymbals , and the passing reaction of the drumstick hitting the drummer ’s hi - hat had a more marked impact . The typically barely audible buzz from the nylon - stringed acoustical guitar also demo more texture . In short , moving from radio to wired , the sound escalated from great to excellent .
What I get it on most about how the Bathys sound , though , is how they conclude complex establishment partial and the constitutive gritrock of reed instruments like sax and clarinet . These wind instruments just vocalize more realistic and present , which make for extremely piquant hearing sessions when delight bands like Earth , Wind , and Fire , Corey and the Wongnotes , and Snarky Puppy .
I also need to call out how dazzling the Bathys ’ stereo separation and soundstage can be . Any track with a guitar playing through a chorus pedal vocalise like liquid Au , and the opening chord from the Fender Rhodes on Phat Phunktion’sIntegritydamn near made me dizzy . I ’m here to tell you : The Bathys are deep satisfying and passing fun to listen to , wired or radio .
I do n’t mean to shortchange the Bathys ’ basso carrying out — they have first-class bass reception , deep and melodious , but not overbear — it ’s just that the pellucidity , detail , and overall integrity tend to steal the show here .
If there ’s any drawback to the Bathys ’ performance , it ’s that they very clearly call out any deficiency in your streaming audio file . While the Bathys do wonderment for wireless sound , they ca n’t fix how crappy , low - quality mp3s sound . So , if you ’re not paying for Spotify Premium ( which is still only 320kbit / s , but right smart better than the max 160kbit / s from the free interlingual rendition ) , then prepare to pony up for the subscription , switch cyclosis services , or just do n’t bother with the Bathys . Fortunately , Apple Music ’s Lossless streaming sound just fine , as did high - fidelity flow from Tidal and Quobuz .
Who should buy them
I struggled to answer this question for a while . I intend I ’ve shroud that these are n’t mean for business travelers — the ANC is n’t strong enough , plus call calibre and transparency mode are just OK .
I also recall that , at $ 699 , the Bathys are n’t for more casual listener . These headphones are for audio enthusiasts . But what kind of audio enthusiast is lust wireless headphones ? I distrust there are more in this camp than some may suspect .
I believe there is a band of audio enthusiasts out there who , out of match pressure , may poo - poo wireless listening and music streaming in public forums , but secretly thirst modern convenience and versatility just like everyone else . And for those folks , the Bathys are one of the hottest ticket in townsfolk .
