[plakat]

Again, let me EQ the cans, and I’ll buy an APM2 tomorrow lol…

While personally I don't use EQ, a system-wide EQ on iOS would be a nice thing... and with the APM that setting could follow it around your devices like the pairing already does, so it would not even have to be stored on device. Which is the preferable variant otherwise.
Btw: is the Px8 EW setting stored on device? They should really add a more capable EQ...

 

[tyk103]

I also tried the H95 and wasn't impressed. Sibilance on female vocals, and overall performance comparable to airpods max from the 3 tracks I heard. For the price they may as well be taken off the shelves when Bathys & PX8 exist lol. Well that's my 2 cents anyway.

This was my impression as well. Returned them as they didn't sound like $900 headphones to me. I used the money and bought the Focal Clears instead.

 

[jainkjohn]

PX8 Vs Bathys What Hi Fi. https://www.whathifi.com/advice/foc...kins-px8-which-high-end-headphones-are-better

 

[Denkmal]

PX8 Vs Bathys What Hi Fi. https://www.whathifi.com/advice/foc...kins-px8-which-high-end-headphones-are-better

Well there are quite a few things I disagreed with in the review, not to mention the statement that PX8 would have a ”Limp sound at lower volumes”. That gives the impression that something is defect.
It has already been debated in this thread, but I think it is a gross excaggeration and possibly due to the PX8 getting a lot of its fun factor from the drive and energy in the mid range. Sure much of this goes away at lower levels, but they are not poor performers then either.

But then again, I may not be qualified to make such a statement. I didnt even understand the reviewers comment that Bathys has a ”greater fluidity in dynamics”…

I did like the Bathys too though. However the do not fly under the radar, whereas I dont think my wife has spotted my upgrade from PX7 yet

 

[plakat]

I did like the Bathys too though. However the do not fly under the radar, whereas I dont think my wife has spotted my upgrade from PX7 yet

So the comparison should award the higher SPAF (Spouse Acceptance Factor) to the Px8 then

I don't agree with most of those point by point comparisons with declaring a winner either, because obviously there's no absolute measure available and most comes down to personal preference. Which reminds me of that absurd review site (which should not even be allowed to call itself so) that only compared published measurements point by point and awarding the winery title to the higher/lower number... what? Rtings os something like that. What Hi-Fi at least wrote some prose...

 

[jthomp72]

Well there are quite a few things I disagreed with in the review, not to mention the statement that PX8 would have a ”Limp sound at lower volumes”. That gives the impression that something is defect.
It has already been debated in this thread, but I think it is a gross excaggeration and possibly due to the PX8 getting a lot of its fun factor from the drive and energy in the mid range. Sure much of this goes away at lower levels, but they are not poor performers then either.

But then again, I may not be qualified to make such a statement. I didnt even understand the reviewers comment that Bathys has a ”greater fluidity in dynamics”…

I did like the Bathys too though. However the do not fly under the radar, whereas I dont think my wife has spotted my upgrade from PX7 yet

I will say they do fly under the radar from a general population awareness standpoint…not a soul I know who’s not into hifi has even heard of focal lol much less the bathys. Not that B&W was much higher, but at least a couple people had heard the brand name.

 

[Denkmal]

I will say they do fly under the radar from a general population awareness standpoint…not a soul I know who’s not into hifi has even heard of focal lol much less the bathys. Not that B&W was much higher, but at least a couple people had heard the brand name.

Yeah, I mean most people think Bose represents the ultimate high end products in all hi fi categories…

 

[andlopper]

https://www.ecoustics.com/reviews/bowers-wilkins-px8/

I have PX8 since Friday October 14th. I am not going to make any comparison with Focal Bathys, I don't have them and I don't intend to invest more money in this type of headphones. The PX8 live up to my expectations and except for the proximity sensor (I hope B&W fixes it with an update) visually I like them more aesthetically than Bathys. Let everyone enjoy what they have and as I said at the beginning of this thread, thanks for your contributions and comments that make users like us get closer to good listening to music at the highest level.

 

[pbui44]

PX8 Vs Bathys What Hi Fi. https://www.whathifi.com/advice/foc...kins-px8-which-high-end-headphones-are-better

The Bathy’s “plasticky build” (in the article) really screams “this includes, but is not limited to, the headband”, which is a constant problem for at least the x>$898 Focal over-ears.

 

[jthomp72]

The Bathy’s “plasticky build” (in the article) really screams “this includes, but is not limited to, the headband”, which is a constant problem for at least the x>$898 Focal over-ears.

The fabric ish material on the underside of the headband does bug me on the Bathys. Also, this comparison bugs me because I would never describe the bathys as warm in any sense lol

 

[Denkmal]

Also, this comparison bugs me because I would never describe the bathys as warm in any sense lol

My thought as well. If anything, they are quite clinical and when compared with the B&W it is obvious how much warmer the Px8 is.

 

[evhvis]

My thought as well. If anything, they are quite clinical and when compared with the B&W it is obvious how much warmer the Px8 is.

The Bathys' signature depends too much on the codec used or if they are in DAC mode and if they are in Soft or Silent ANC mode while the PX8 has a fairly consistent signature across all modes and codecs with a little bit of variation. AAC is clinical on the Bathys, while aptX adaptive is quite a bit more dynamic and a bit warmer sound signature and definitely on the warm side of neutral. I would say the Bathys is more analytical, but not clinical, outside of when running on AAC. PX8 is definitely the warmer sounding headphone though.

 

[mainguy]

PX8 Vs Bathys What Hi Fi. https://www.whathifi.com/advice/foc...kins-px8-which-high-end-headphones-are-better

Interesting part:

'The Bathys retain the same warm, full-bodied tonal balance that Focal's wired headphones have perfected so successfully.'

As a bit of a Focal fanboy with three pairs in the house, this is very different to my impressions! Its so subjective anyway. But to me Focal headphones, especially the much loved Clear, feel far more ethereal and transparent than full bodied and warm.

But I guess it depends what those words mean to the writer? To me full bodied means the vocals and other things that live in the mid range have a real presence and 'big' place in the stage. For me this has always been the weak spot of both my Clear & Stellia, and is why I reach for the P9 or Solaris, literally because I'm craving a fuller vocal or thicker sounding electric guitar.

Anyway, just interesting how different takes can be on the same headphone.

 

[jthomp72]

Interesting part:

'The Bathys retain the same warm, full-bodied tonal balance that Focal's wired headphones have perfected so successfully.'

As a bit of a Focal fanboy with three pairs in the house, this is very different to my impressions! Its so subjective anyway. But to me Focal headphones, especially the much loved Clear, feel far more ethereal and transparent than full bodied and warm.

But I guess it depends what those words mean to the writer? To me full bodied means the vocals and other things that live in the mid range have a real presence and 'big' place in the stage. For me this has always been the weak spot of both my Clear & Stellia, and is why I reach for the P9 or Solaris, literally because I'm craving a fuller vocal or thicker sounding electric guitar.

Anyway, just interesting how different takes can be on the same headphone.

Nothing about the bathys screams warm to me. I love the sound, but warm it is not. To me (only my untrained peasant ears) it’s quite bright and cool. Treble comes forward, bass is full, but not thumpy. The soundstage is extremely wide by comparison though to the Px8.

 

[evhvis]

Finally got my PX8 headphone last week after a month of waiting. Overall I am quite happy so far. The sound is warm with a clean sounding midrange and slightly polite treble. My favorite part is definitely the mid-range is a joy to listen to, especially how it brings out nuances in voices. Dynamics is very good and the bass is punchy and detailed, even with ANC turned on. Most headphones with ANC suffer a lot in the bass impact when ANC is at max, but so far the PX8 has only had a minor drop in bass quality with ANC on. The difference between ANC on and off is small enough that I probably will just leave these in ANC mode.

The headphones definitely feel sculpted in their frequency response, but that is to be expected from B&W. Fortunately they are much more neutrally tuned than the PX7 with some boosts and dips. Kind of a safe and fun tuning, but probably not the headphones for someone who always wants a fairly neutral frequency response.

The bass is boosted and it feels like they boost it all the way up to 400-500hz (or possibly even higher) which impacts male vocals and can make some tracks feel slightly dark congested. My guess is that there is also a dips in the 2-3khz area along with a bit lower level in the upper treble. Should be noted that closed back headphones is generally very dependent on the wearer as the ears are part of the acoustical chamber and the volume of air in the cups varies from person to person. Open headphones are usually not that affected by this so what people experience is much more comparable. Will definitely be interesting to see measurements on these.

The implementation of AAC is very good on these headphones and the gap up to aptX-HD and aptX-adaptive isn't massive. You get a bit more space around instruments, better sound stages, harmonics from instruments and voices sound more nuanced with rounder transients (less of the compression distortion), but they aren't dr. jekyll and mr. hyde like the Focal Bathys between AAC and higher level codecs. DAC mode cleans up things quite a bit though and like the Bathys these are screaming for aptX lossless, LDAC 990 or similar. The new generation of "high-end" noise cancellers really show the limitaitons of the more common BT codecs, while aptX-HD has been plenty good for most older headphones.

I couldn't get it to run cabled to my iphone (too high powerdraw). Hopefully they will let us disable charging while on in the future so it can be used over USB from an iphone without adding extra power.

Haven't been able to try out the ANC in really challenging situations so far, but the passive isolation at higher frequencies seems quite good and it seems to handle lower frequencies quite decent. Like all boutique headphones it doesn't compete with the likes of Apple, Bose or Sony in the ANC department, but first impressions are that it should be quite serviceable as an ANC headphone.

The leather feels quite nice and avoids the sticky feeling I have with the Bathys. Overall comfort is slightly above average, but I do feel they could do with a bit more movements on the earcups and they aren't quite as secure on my head as I would have preferred. Not a major issue though and I have no issues wearing these for several hours.

Really disliked the app though. Account needed, always online and auto-launching whenever I connected my headphones. Deleted it fast as it served virtually no real purpose outside of providing EQ possibilities and it behaved much like spyware. Would much rather have an offline control app that can connect when you as it to do firmware updates when needed.