[roines1987]

Simlpy put. BATHYS are great!

 

[mdaps4shaz]

sony needs eq I can post settings later if you're interested

Yeah, I'd argue the Sony's without the EQ sound pretty rubbish. I've got an EQ that I'm happy with, but would be interested in seeing your settings to see if I can extract a bit more juice out of them.

 

[evhvis]

You are never going to get everything with a Bluetooth ANC headphone so you have to decide what's most important. ANC - Phone Calls - Music. None of them are perfect and ANC degrades sound no matter how you slice it. With a little EQ Sony's are great and much less than the Bathys. They have much better noise cancellation and look less Geeky if your wearing them out and about. They are also less heavy. It will also greatly depend on the kind of music you listen to. Many shops have 30 day returns so just go with your gut.

The Sony's are great at ANC, but sound quality is so so. I do have a pair of XM5s that I only use for flights and similar, but not much else. Only keep them for their amazing ANC ability as they are a life saver on a plane with very noisy people close by. IMO the XM5 are more like a 120-180$ wired headphone sound quality wise as long as they are powered on with DSP correcting for acoustical deficiencies.

Bathys is more comparable 400-600$ range wired headphone IMO when in DAC mode, but you are paying for ANC, DAC, AMP etc. with the Bathys so the price is fine. ANC is passable on the Bathys in that they drown out a good amount of low frequency rumble, but their passive isolation leaves a lot to be desired so they let through quite a bit of background noise in the midrange to lower treble.

 

[mainguy]

Bathys is more comparable 400-600$ range wired headphone IMO when in DAC mode, but you are paying for ANC, DAC, AMP etc. with the Bathys so the price is fine. ANC is passable on the Bathys in that they drown out a good amount of low frequency rumble, but their passive isolation leaves a lot to be desired so they let through quite a bit of background noise in the midrange to lower treble.

I'd defo say they're far from wired headphones in that price range. If you pickup an Elegia for $300 it will be noticable more detailed, have a wider soundstage and better instrument seperation than Bathys. Add Dekoni pads and it'll have a better tonality too.

These BT headphones just don't compete with the wired full sized passive sets imo, having tested them side by side in my personal opinion. But they're not meant to, and how could they? The limitaitons in the design are far greater from a physical standpoint.

 

[hanumanbob]

Get a pair of Sony for ANC and then get something for really listening to the music you enjoy. There is a lot of hype around the marketing of the Bathys but that is to be expected. And for some it is just great.

 

[Harvey100]

Get a pair of Sony for ANC and then get something for really listening to the music you enjoy. There is a lot of hype around the marketing of the Bathys but that is to be expected. And for some it is just great.

I always found the Sonys sounded muddy and somewhat boomy, especially after using the more detailed Bathys. The Bathys ANC is good enough and doesn’t seem to effect the sound quality as much as some headphones. However the Sonys are good value, but the Momentum 4’s sound better (to me) in that price range.

 

[JML]

Bluetooth headphones are in a totally separate category than wired headphones, and I wish people would stop comparing them. If you want wireless headphones or IEMs, then you have to put up with the bandwidth issues that are inherent in Bluetooth, let alone the various codecs used by sources and headphones. No Bluetooth headphone will ever yield the same sound quality as a wired unit with the same quality of build and spec. It's just impossible. Even if aptX lossless arrives, which will make everyone buy all new equipment, I bet it is still not the equivalent of wired connections. The wifi-enabled headphones released so far are few, and VERY expensive, so if you have the money to be a first-adopter, go right ahead, but $2-3K wifi headphones are out of the price range of most mortals.

The Bathys is the best sounding Bluetooth headphone I've tried, and I appreciate the USB-C DAC connection option. I don't fly regularly or wear headphones on a commute to work in public transportation, so I do not need the ultimate in noise reduction. I do not need the absolute noise cancellation of the Sonys, which I think sound congested, bass-heavy, and made cheaply. I refuse to buy anything from Bose. I love Apple products, but their inherent musical limitations and refusal to do anything that they didn't invent as far as music file quality goes probably make Steve Jobs, who was an audiophile, turn over in his grave. The Mark Levinson are just way too expensive, large, QC-challenged, and dorky looking - sorry. The Bathys are convenience headphones, like all other Bluetooth units. Yes, they're expensive. So compare the Bathys against other Bluetooth headphones, not against the other Focal headphones (I do have a Clear and my son has a Utopia) and not against other quality wired units. Different horses for different courses.

 

[Zdzichon]

Why? Even when I've had mostly wired headphones I still used them with BT dongles and amps because of the comfort. I like my hifi sound, but don't have bat ears and to be honest don't hear much difference between wired and wireless 95% of the time so why not compare?

 

[roines1987]

High end Bluetooth and high end wired is like night and day in difference.
Bluetooth headphones and wired headphones in the same price range, most definitely the wired ones will be better. Some wired headphones will need some power to get the most out of them. So connecting them to a phones 3.5mm jack might not be enough to get the best out of them

 

[mdaps4shaz]

I'm no expert. But to the people saying Bluetooth will never beat a wired connection: this has been the year that AI came of age (or at least a primitive form became ubiquitous to the public). Are you honestly saying that it's possible for humans to create a technology so advanced that it can surpass our pwn capabilities and even threaten our entire existence, but the concept of Bluetooth being comparable to wired is still in the realm of science fiction?

 

[mdaps4shaz]

Edit for double post: so here's another question for those who claim the difference in wired vs BT is night and day: for those of us who have yet to venture into open back wired headphones, what would you recommend as a set up that costs less than the 600 quid Bathys that will deliver twice the performance?

 

[JML]

but the concept of Bluetooth being comparable to wired is still in the realm of science fiction?

Not SciFi, but wishful thinking because of the limits inherent in the technology. Think of MP3 music vs. high-resolution music.

 

[Zdzichon]

High end Bluetooth and high end wired is like night and day in difference.
Bluetooth headphones and wired headphones in the same price range, most definitely the wired ones will be better. Some wired headphones will need some power to get the most out of them. So connecting them to a phones 3.5mm jack might not be enough to get the best out of them

But when you add the price of a good enough amp/DAC they're not in the same price range anymore, are they?

 

[roines1987]

T

I'm no expert. But to the people saying Bluetooth will never beat a wired connection: this has been the year that AI came of age (or at least a primitive form became ubiquitous to the public). Are you honestly saying that it's possible for humans to create a technology so advanced that it can surpass our pwn capabilities and even threaten our entire existence, but the concept of Bluetooth being comparable to wired is still in the realm of science fiction?

This day might come. But as of today we are very very far away when comparing BT vs wired in sound quality.

 

[Dragonmilenario]

In my case, I need closed-back headphones for street use and commute, ones that won’t make me long for the sound of the 109pro. The quality difference compared to the 99 classics is quite noticeable, and I want closed-back headphones that won’t leave me missing the sound I have at home – a clean, clear sound with good tonality. I’m not expecting the same quality (I know that’s impossible), but I’d like something that I can enjoy. Are the Bathys the right choice?