Focal's Bathys Hi-Fi Bluetooth Headphones Review

[@aceofspades6667]

I use a set of focal Celestee + ifi go blu.. it’s a nice setup for me for a portable rig but it’s not quite as slick as the bathys being totally cable free. I enjoy the celesteee sound quality for what I paid for them.

[@razisn]

1. ANC is always active on these HPs so there's no way you could have used them without it. 2. The analog 3.5mm gets digitised, goes through their DSP and ANC , then converted back to analog by the internal DAC and amplified by the internal amp. So if a device offers USB output there is little point in using the 3.5mm analog input other than in the special case where one wants to use any DSP EQ features that an external DAC might offer.

[@erik-rw7ft]

Very dumb decision by them honestly could’ve made them work as normal headphones as well which would have been absolutely amazing

[@brandonburr4900]

I have always downplayed Bluetooth for listening to music until I bought a qudelix 5k dac/amp with built equalizer presets (or adjust your own. I bought this on a whim for under $100 to use with audeze isine 10 and audeze lcd i3 isine. I have been constantly surprised and pleased every time I use this magical wonder. It's so clean and powerful but not boring or analytical. I have been shocked how well it powers the lcd x which are very efficient. I was shocked again using the balanced output into my audeze lcd 4. Constantly shacking my head thinking this should not be possible with such a small device. It honestly puts my audioquest red (which I spent more $$$) to shame . It's even better than some of my centrance dac/amp combos. I know this little wonder came out couple years ago but nothing like it has come out since. I wish they offered a desktop version.

[@TheVeganVicar]

lcd is? That must be a new model. :/

[@MarsChan07]

Great review, Mine should arrive within a couple of days.

[@geraldlevin1383]

Brilliant review,i totally agree,i had the b&o h95,sent them back,bad bluetooth dropouts, replaced them with these beauty's,received them today,absolutely blown away,keep up the great work.

[@mirodomuzin5618]

Really?? Blown away the first day when you received em? I was soooo disappointed in a first run listening Yellow shark, the orchestral piece by Zappa. Same went for other genres for first 30-50h of listening when they started to open up. Have them running for some 150-200h now and I cannot express my amazement how beautifully they sound. Never heard better sounding headphones, especially plugged in USB, but even wireless is soo much fun.

[@dbean5174]

@@mirodomuzin5618yeah burn in definitely helps and also using the DAC just elevates the sound to another level

[@aj7347]

Thank you, I needed to find a previous owner of the B&O H95. Mine malfunctioned after living a 9 month charmed life. Now I will not replace them I will just buy the Focals instead.👍 kzbin.infogaming/emoji/7ff574f2/emoji_u1f44d.png

[@erik0954]

⁠@@aj7347I have the H95 for more than two years. Just using at home and have never had any issues with them.

[@turkertezal5514]

I listened to this review with my bathys headphones. :)

[@robmccall5017]

Same here! Love these Headphones!

[@robertnoblitt518]

I've had my Bathys a few days and am very impressed; so glad they don't have the Focal house sound that I have experienced with Focal in the past. I have some high frequency hearing loss and really like the benefit of the hearing test and sound personalization. I appreciate that the app allows you to adjust the degree to which the sound personalization is applied. Compared to my Sony XM5 headphones and earbuds, the Sonys have better noise cancelling, but the Focal has better sound quality.

[@HazletNJ]

I think I heard you say that I can connect my iPhone to the Bathys with a Lightening - USB-C cable and then listen in DAC mode, correct?

[@gabemartinez1012]

I got mine 5 days ago and they sound good. But I still want the celestee, do they sound better? I really dont care for the ANC or wireless.

[@bigmike5402]

What if you are in the apple ecosystem. Can you get the same quality sound ? If so, how?

[@razorree]

newest bluetooth can transfer 44kHz/16 bit sound (with lossless compression), so no reason BT headphones can't sound good. and in the future BT bandwidth will only increase. (now is around 1.5-2Mbps)

[@60beats44]

Thank you for this informative review. I am considering replacing my BOSE QC45 headphones with these Focal Bathys headphones, due to a consistent crackling in the left ear cup of my BOSE. The QC45's are not even 2 years old and BOSE is not responding to my Emails. How would these Focal headphones compare to the QC45's. Thank you in advance.

[@mirodomuzin5618]

I never heard Bose headphones sounding ok, all were terrible for listening music but were having better ANC. Same goes for Sony. In price range of Bose/Sony I would always opt for Sennheiser. Bathys are for me better than B&W from upper price range.

[@Lead_Foot]

When using a supported android phone you'll be using the aptx adaptive codec which is 660Kbps. It's pretty easy to sustain the full bitrate too. These days it's even possible to get a 1200Kbps bitrate from aptx lossless, which is good enough to stream CD quality flac. However hardly anything has licensed the codec and I doubt if it will be able to sustain the full bitrate.

[@jorgeluisfernandez2560]

Between this and px8 which one is better in terms of sound quality? Thanks

[@waiik76]

I bought one eind 2022. Nice review but it's two different categories. One focal bathys is with noice cancelling and wired/wireless. Hifiman Sundara is wired headphone (audiophile).

[@paradisefilmslanka]

I was wondering if there is a big difference in sound quality when using wired (DAC mode) and Bluetooth with High Res Audio files such as Flac.

[@3rdeye1983]

Yes absolutely

[@3rdeye1983]

Love my Bathys!

[@squidwerd1981]

Didn't know they came in a different color. Wish they had that when I bought mine

[@jonathanrahoens]

How do i use these in dac mode on an iphone 11?

[@bynnbonn2009]

You would need a lightning to usb-c otg cable for your use.

[@seanjoe1704]

How this compare to beoplay h95.. ?

[@waiik76]

B&o h95 is better and more expensive. But it's two different sound stage.

[@paulharvey7223]

The Bathys sound much better, more open, more detailed.

[@flowstatelabs]

I want to like these just think they should have gone full bluetooth no dac. Too heavy to wear for long periods. They look good but when worn look dumb as ruck

[@DroidLocks6971]

My Soundcore Q35 and Q45 sound better than the SONY XM5

[@vjdfl5]

I honestly have 0 clue why the xm5s get so much praise. They sound like garbage

[@TheVeganVicar]

5:00 Just IGNORE ninety-nine percent of the countries on earth, why don't you?

[@RobDelacruz-w6d]

Are "VEE-GUNS" always angry ??😮

[@TheVeganVicar]

@@RobDelacruz-w6d, kindly repeat that in ENGLISH, Miss.☝️ Incidentally, Slave, are you VEGAN? 🌱

[@SharinganNin]

I find the Dali IO-12s much better

[@the_benjamin_effect]

Of course reviews are personal and subjective. But having watched several on the Bathys I think that yours is well presented. In terms of my hearing, I have the typical good bass, slightly diminished mids and slightly more diminished high end that occurs with age. What does your audiogram look like?