Focal Bathys Hi-Fi Bluetooth & ANC Headphones: Early Impressions

[angelom]

Thanks for the advice. I usually do try to do a morning demo.

On codecs, all I'll say is that different codecs can sound different on the same headphones. The Shure Aonic 50s performed better with Aptx-HD than LDAC (proving that higher bitrates alone don't equate to better sound). That's the point about implementation and why listening and forming one's own assessment of headphones is so important.

Yes, good implementation is important. Still, this isn't, in general, an excuse for the very strong reality of the placebo effect and people wanting believing that more high bitrates/codecs are necessarily really sounding (very) better. More strong even, possibly, is the influence of people using fancy audio terminology and making sweeping statements like wired is very more better than wireless. And more and more people keep repeating the same falsehoods and propagating BS.

 

[shiningg]

The congestion I sometimes hear in more busy passages of music with the Btahys MG isn't happening with the H100 where the instruments have more space for delineating/separating their sound and giving more natural breathing space to the music. This congestion in the sound of the Bathys can becoming a littler fatiguing.

My experience with OG Bathys is similar and I think this is where I was coming from when I said the sound felt physically ''bigger''. I felt the individual sounds took too much space in the stage, hence not much room for seperation.

An area where I saw many people complain with the OG Bathys is the sound leakage/bleeding. Have they fixed this issue with their new ear pads?

 

[angelom]

An area where I saw many people complain with the OG Bathys is the sound leakage/bleeding. Have they fixed this issue with their new ear pads?

I don't remember how much leakage is in the original Bathys (is a long time ago and I think I never testing this particular aspect), but I just testing now both headphones and the Bathys MG is definitely leaking more sound than the H100. Is this serious leakage? This probably depending in how loud you're actually listening to your music and how quiet is the environment where you're using this headphones. BUT, the difference is very immediately clear about the more high sound leakage in the MG.

 

[evhvis]

An area where I saw many people complain with the OG Bathys is the sound leakage/bleeding. Have they fixed this issue with their new ear pads?

Leakage outwards is around 3 dBA better on the Bathys MG with white noise based on my basic measurements. For reference the PX8 beats the old Bathys by 4 dBA and the Solitaire T beats the old Bathys by 5.5 dBA with the same measurement. Basically it is far from class leading, but quite a bit better than the old Bathys where it was a major weak point IMO.

I basically do it by setting the headphones to the same volume by using a dB meter with a piece of cardboard around the head of the dB meter and blocking of the rest of the opening and creating a seal. Then I put it on a headphone stand that is capable of creating a good seal and then put the DB meter a few centimeters away from the ear cup and measure in dBA. The seal is on parity with laying the ear cups flat on a table and applying a bit of force to create a seal.

No way to measure noise going in, but it felt like it is significantly better at blocking voices when I used them in the office. It also has the advantage that silent and soft ANC sounds almost identical. I wouldn't be surprised if most in this thread couldn't tell the difference between them on the Bathys MG.

 

[Zeppmeister]

Regarding the Focal Bathys, I would only ever wear such a garish design within the confines of my own home—an irony, considering the fundamental purpose of wireless headphones is portability.

I'm more than happy to wear them on an airplane. But I caught a glimpse of myself wearing them while in an airport bathroom ... yikes. They're just a big too big (ie, stick out pretty far). I love the look of the Dune (my version), but I'll admit they almost look like something the guys guiding planes out on the tarmac might wear.

I know this is probably in large part irrelevant in a forum/thread like this, but from a marketing perspective, from a customer point of view --specially seeing how much money Focal investing in advertising-- the packaging of the MG is a joke and/or an insult (see screenshots) when comparing the experience the customers have with the others 4 headphones I mentioning above.

It's pretty shocking. Joke and/or insult is exactly right.

 

[joe75]

To all.
I think it s just a matter of opinions...
1)When some people think the Focal Packaging is a joke I disagree... The packaging of the Focal Bathys is not meant to be kept...
I still have the boxes of my H100, Sennheiser HD800, Momentum 4 and Sony WH1000XM4., Shure 1540
Their Orignal packaging take a lot of place and I don't think I need them except the one from HD800 since there was no travel case which makes sense and the one for Shure since it contains 2 additional replacement earpads and other cables that won't fit in the case.

When I buy tumi bags they dont come in a packaging and I am not complaining.

For B&O I can sorta understand since the brzndn want to cater to the "luxury" crowd that would not understand not having a nice box... Even though i see it a bit useless... And they probably would not lower the price without packaging....
I did ditch the packaging of my B&O A1 speakers though..

2)when someone says the H100 is portable or compact.. Compared to what? I wish it could fold like B&O H95 and H100 case has the biggest footprint of all my Bluetooth headphones... Even bigger than the H95 case.
Also look is subjective but H100 give me a big head with that band..
I am not sure Focal is worse... Even though I don't like the way they look
3) as for sound it' s likely user preference between focal and other brands
I still think my Ie600 Sennheiser sound better than B&O H100.
I only heard the Focal Bathys in a store for a few minutes before wanting to try a different set of headphones. Like B&W PX8 or Sonos Ace
4) Has anyone seen the new Bowers Wilkins PX S3 they looks nice too and quite premium with metal hinge for their price

 

[angelom]

To all.
I think it s just a matter of opinions...

When somebody using the cliche phrase "is just a matter of opinion", the next comments almost always don't have value at all -- basically, is just an excuse for saying absolutely nothing. For example, an opinion that the super cheap (now about 150 EUR) and very muddy and bassy Sony XM3 is better than the prohibitive 60,000+ EUR Sennheiser HE 1 headphone -- "Where's DA bass in the HE 1, man?!!.....Hey, man, is only my opinion!"

1)When some people think the Focal Packaging is a joke I disagree... The packaging of the Focal Bathys is not meant to be kept...
I still have the boxes of my H100, Sennheiser HD800, Momentum 4 and Sony WH1000XM4., Shure 1540
Their Orignal packaging take a lot of place and I don't think I need them except the one from HD800 since there was no travel case which makes sense and the one for Shure since it contains 2 additional replacement earpads and other cables that won't fit in the case.

I saying already clearly in my comment about the packaging and unboxing of the Bathys MG that some or many people in this type of audio forums maybe think the MG type of packaging for a 1200 UER product is ok, but that for the average consumer (that isn't participating so much in this forums but want very good sounding BT/ANC headphones) --and apparently too, some people, like me, in this forum-- this is still a joke and/or an insult. This type of consumer will have a shock if he already coming from the packaging and unboxing of several 300-500 EUR headphones!

This isn't about the packaging taking space or not (maybe a good excuse for Focal), or if you live in a mansion/castle (where you can have 1000s of boxes), or if you live in a small room sharing a flat with 5 others people, but about the presentation of a very expensive/premium product where --in the world of headphones AND many earphones-- the unboxing experience is part of the experience of owning this type of product. Superficial or not, this is also showing the care the company taking in this aspect and the actual design going in this area (for example the H100 don't using any plastic in their luxurious packaging but Focal is using plastic).

The Momentum 4, Sony WH1000XM4 and Shure 1540 are not premium products, but even some/all of this products providing a different (better) unboxing experience.

When I buy tumi bags they dont come in a packaging and I am not complaining.

I have absolutely great admiration and jealousy for you for not complaining about this particular thing -- so admirable. BUT, possibly "tumi bags" don't need/require special packaging? What type of packaging Hermes use for their leather products? And what packaging do you have with a Ferrari, a Lamborghini or a Rolls Royce?? Maybe in this cases we are comparing apples and oranges.

For B&O I can sorta understand since the brzndn want to cater to the "luxury" crowd that would not understand not having a nice box... Even though i see it a bit useless... And they probably would not lower the price without packaging....
I did ditch the packaging of my B&O A1 speakers though..

The cheap A1 BT speaker don't require special packaging because isn't a premium product -- I also throwing away immediately the box after opening and testing the product for few weeks 6-8 years ago -- What you actually need with the A1 speaker is a cheap 10 EUR hard case (that I own) in case you want travelling with this product.

2)when someone says the H100 is portable or compact.. Compared to what? I wish it could fold like B&O H95 and H100 case has the biggest footprint of all my Bluetooth headphones... Even bigger than the H95 case.
Also look is subjective but H100 give me a big head with that band..
I am not sure Focal is worse... Even though I don't like the way they look

Portable not really in the sense of putting in a more small carry case, but in how big is and how is looking on a person's head. When you say that look is subjective ("jut matter of opinion", again), please read my first comment above. Of course everybody have their own opinion, but is very more common seeing people complaining about the design and look on person's head of the Bathys (and in less extent of the ML 5909) than of the H100. Fact.

And no, the H95 actually DON'T have more big footprint than the H95's case that is more thick and solid and is scratching very easily, by the way. The H100 isn't my ideal type of case, but is very more slim (but more long and thin) and more practical actually (I owning the H95 for a long time, by the way) -- I prefer having the H100 case than the H95 case personally.

3) as for sound it' s likely user preference between focal and other brands
I still think my Ie600 Sennheiser sound better than B&O H100.
I only heard the Focal Bathys in a store for a few minutes before wanting to try a different set of headphones. Like B&W PX8 or Sonos Ace

Again, saying that all is a matter of opinion is useless. Maybe Head-fi must not exist because at the end everything is a matter of opinion...including...well, ALL aspects...

 

[joe75]

Well.
Thanks for your input...
Also try not to take too personally what I am going to say
(I can also recognized when some people are overly biased over the H100 or in love with H100 which I am too but for other reasons)

Some people swear that Focal Bathys (not the MG but the older model) sounds better and is more detailed than H100...
Why would your opinion or mine than H100 are better sounding headphones should count more than them?

1) had the pleasure to spend almost
45 minutes(1 hour would have been pushing even if there was in fact no other customers) at the hotel Peninsula in Paris (yes no kidding) alone with the Sennheiser HE-1 and a supermodel(well just the hostess actually or appointed commercial by Sennheiser... But still very pretty).... I think I am fine with my HD800... I was not able to distinguish any substantial difference (maybe not helped by the fact that she only had regular engraved CD-R audio CD for demo) from memory... But I wont deny the He-1 is for looks alone the most luxury object..

I am glad to say I was strong enough to resist her charms and not signing for 60000 euros Headphones(which would have also made a hole in my pockets)

No joke I have the Sony XM4 headphones and I don't really ike how they sound but I wanted good enough ANC headphones and a change from Bose... And the Sennheiser (MB 660) was very uncomfortable (not big head approved)

2) Honestly I paid 1499 euros in a shop (B&O store In Le Printemps in Paris for H100 (and got a 10% discount for a next purchase(bought another tumi bag) ... But honestly if getting rid of the packaging would mean pay 50 or 100 euros less I would say yes!)
All of My tumi bags did come with a protective storage tissue bag which I am fine with it..

I don't have any Hermes bag.. But I have a few friends (lucky them) working at Louis Vuitton and could ask them what's the typical packaging for their (expensive) luxury bag..
If you are interested

3) I also have silicone cases (10 euros) for each of my A1 2nd gen in red, black and grey....
Yep indeed don't need the B&O packaging on those
4) My H95 case which I don't like particularly either has a lot of scratches but easily fits in a Tumy sling knight bag contrary to the H100 case which is much taller! But yes H100 case is more practical since you can put almost anything in it while with H95 case you can only put the H95 headphones.
But H95 folded would fit in the inside pocket of my coat.

Yes in the hand I préfer the H100 case even if there are at least 2 things that would greatly improve it and make my complaints disappear.

5) Well I suppose when (or if) LDAC is released on the H100.. Which you said numerous time it will not change sound quality and is useless... some people will swear that they will hear a huge difference between aac.. Some people will not ( yourself included) I suppose... I don't pretend either I will be able to hear a difference... But I do wan that LDAC upgrade in 2025!

(kind of reminds me of early January with android 15 release for Xperia 1 V from Sony... There was a new never before seen option in the display menu that let you choose 4k resolution all the time(Yes ladies and gentlemen that 6.5 " screen on a smartphone is a real 4K screen)..
Some people on reddit would swear it made a huge difference even posting macroshots revealing( according to them a difference). Now fostforward 3 months later Sony acknowledge it was a bug and that option never worked(snake oil)..
All that to say that in the end other people's opinion about sound is mostly that.. Opinions
That YouTuber who basically says that H100 sounds worse than Bose QC Ultra (or rather Bose sound better) or that Focal sound is much better, I don't think he is paid by Bose or Focal, so I will say it's it's subjective opinion...

 

[shiningg]

... But honestly if getting rid of the packaging would mean pay 50 or 100 euros less I would say yes!)
All of My tumi bags did come with a protective storage tissue bag which I am fine with it..

Unfortinately this is not the case here, with the headphones being priced nearly double the price of the original Bathys, at 1200EUR. Moreover, getting rid of packaging for a piece of electronics such as bluetooth headphones would, in my opinion, not be a wise decision, as it will only make things tougher when sending them in for a warranty procedure.

 

[joe75]

Unfortinately this is not the case here, with the headphones being priced nearly double the price of the original Bathys, at 1200EUR. Moreover, getting rid of packaging for a piece of electronics such as bluetooth headphones would, in my opinion, not be a wise decision, as it will only make things tougher when sending them in for a warranty procedure.

I am not sure I would send back the B&O H100 for repairs in its original packaging either... I would just send back the headphones without the accessories... But carefully wrapped and protected

 

[evhvis]

I’ve had the Bathys MG for a little over a week now and been able to use them for several days in the office along with quite a bit of testing and comparing them with other headphones as well. I feel I have had enough time with them to get a good impression of them and strengths and weaknesses. I’ve had around 30 hours of music time with these and let the driver break in when not listening so there shouldn’t be any changes to sound, from what I am listening to today, outside of EQ or firmware changes.

Comfort

The new pads feel much better for me and don’t feel sticky against the skin. They are soft and form a seal quite well. The earpad openings are similar to the Bathys and gives you lots of room for your ears. They would be a frontrunner for most comfortable ANC headphone for me if they had weighed in around 300g, but 350g does become noticeable over a day. Not had any warmth or sweat issues so far, but not used them above 24 or so degrees so will be interesting once summer really sets on.

Sound

The default sound signature is a warm tilt with a slight lift in the upper bass/lower mid-range, slightly polite upper midrange and treble. String instruments sound rich and vibrant and dynamics are very good. The MG has powerful and punchy bass that handles pitch changes well. The drivers seem well damped but not overdamped. Timing and rhythmic drive benefits a lot from how precise the drivers are. It is an exciting sound that conveys the timing in rhythmic pieces very well and tells you when the drummer or bass guitar is spot on or a bit off.

Soundstage has good separation and layering with good height, decent depth and quite good focus. Instruments get a bit of space around them instead of sounding like they are on top of each other. It is not a huge sound stage, but it is decent for a closed back, and good for an ANC headphone.

It doesn’t feel like it has major peaks or dips when listening to it, but it is a tuning that is warmer than Harman. It will make instruments and voices sound a little thicker and denser than Harman, which will not be to everyone’s taste. The warmer tuning also makes voices and instruments sound a bit larger than they would with a Harman tuning. The stock tuning is very much a sculpted tuning, but with a lot less audible peaks or dips than most ANC headphones.

The app hasn’t been updated yet, so no access to the dynamic mode that Resolve showed. I was able to play around a bit with the 5 band EQ to get a rough feel for how it would sound as a Harman tuned headphone, even if 5 bands is not fine grained enough. It responds well to EQ, so I believe dynamic mode will be very nice for those who want a Harman curve tuned headphone. Those wanting a more diffuse field tuning or a very bright tuning will probably have to look elsewhere or play around with the EQ.

The old Bathys had quite a big difference between soft and silent ANC modes. The Bathys MG has improved this to the point where difference is so small that most will just leave it in silent mode permanently.

Overall, the sound is smooth, warm with good dynamics, good resolution and a good soundstage. I am enjoying the sound of these a lot and for me these are possibly end game ANC headphones.


Headphone comparisons

Bathys

Tuning wise, I experienced the old Bathys as a bit more treble focused with good bass and and quite good treble, but the mids were a bit hollowed out for me. The dynamic mode tuning was quite preferable to the stock tuning for my tastes. The dynamics were good when in Soft mode but fell away quite a bit when you needed the Silent mode. The MG sound almost the same in both Soft mode and Silent mode. I would consider the Bathys stock tuning quite a bit brighter than Harman, due to mid-range suckout, so the MG might not be to your taste if you prefer the stock tuning over the dynamic tuning.

I feel there is not much competition when it comes to precision in transients and technical capability as the MG is quite far ahead.

I always felt the Bathys were a bit fuzzy in the imaging and had mid-range issues. Those issues where mitigated a bit with the dynamic mode. Sound stage and imaging on original Bathys is fairly wide, but a bit lacking in depth, height or separation between instruments. The staging on the MG is much improved with slightly more width and much better height, a bit more depth and more space around performers.

ANC was another weak spot which is much improved on the Bathys MG and I feel the MG fixes pretty much all the issues I had with the original Bathys. For me the MG is a major step up, though it does come with a significant price increase. For me it is no contest here.

Solitaire T

Solitaire T goes more for a diffuse field tuning in the treble, but with a large dip in the mid-treble which is noticeable when listening. The dip doesn’t bother me all that much, but that along with the diffuse field tuning on the rest of the treble makes it a slightly bright and a bit thinner sounding headphone than if it was Harman tuned. The MG is on the other side of the Harman tuning with a thicker and warmer sound.

They both have fairly good sound stage and image quite well, but the smoother presentation on the MG along with slightly better dynamic capability wins out in the sound comparison. Resolution is fairly similar, but I feel the MG edges a little bit ahead in this department.

I feel the MG wins out slightly on technical ability and it has a more even frequency response when comparing Silent mode on the MG to HQ mode on the Solitaire T. If you can use the HQ mode it becomes a lot about preferences, but as soon as you need ANC then it becomes a landslide win for MG with slightly better ANC and sound quality that is competitive with HQ mode on the ST. Overall I prefer the MG, but I can easily see someone preferring the ST over the MG though as they are tuned very differently.

PX8

I felt the PX8 was often a more enjoyable listen than the Bathys as it didn’t have the mid-range issues and was often more exiting and enjoyable to listen to on the go. It was also better at ANC, outside of low frequencies, which made it better in the office and in noisy environments. The Bathys MG stock tuning is kind of in the middle between the PX8 and the original Bathys, with a smoother smoother frequency response and a lot of the excitement and enjoyment that the PX8 brought. ANC is slightly better on the MG as well. This is another no contest for me.

Connectivity and codecs

The volume has more fine grained steps with 16 steps that are each approx. 3dB so I had no issues finding a volume I was happy to listen to. The original Bathsy had 5dB steps in the areas I wanted to listen so I constantly had slightly too loud or too quiet, but this is fixed for me with the MG.

These support SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX Adaptive. I do feel they should have supported aptX lossless as well, but my guess is that they re-used a lot of the platform from the old Bathys instead of starting from scratch, which made lossless off the table.

Using USB is the ideal mode, but you will mostly get the advantage when listening in a quiet environment. It will give a little bit more smoothness, nuance and spatial cues than you get through adaptive, but the difference isn’t night and day.

Wired 3.5mm works well, even if the headphones have to be active. No passive mode unfortunately. There are no BT artifacts in this mode, but it is a step behind USB with a little bit less clarity. It does convey the traits of the source well so some might prefer a certain changes to the sound that comes from using the 3.5mm from certain sources. This mode is a good replacement for USB when USB is not available so don’t overlook it just because the headphones need to be powered on.

AAC handling is much improved over the old Bathys and generally sounds fine. It has noticeably less fine detail than aptX Adaptive, but you probably won’t notice that much in a noisy environment when the ANC is working.

A good example of compression artifacts on AAC is “Rich Woman Blues” from the “Live In Amsterdam” by “Tony Joe White”. When listening over aptX Adaptive you can clearly hear the vibrations from the strings on the guitar and reverberation from the harmonica, this gets quite a bit more muted when moving to AAC. The difference gets slightly larger when comparing AAC to USB with DAC-mode.

Using aptX Adaptive is a decent step up from AAC and would be my preferred Bluetooth mode. It gives you most of the spatial cues and detail you get on USB, but there are some slight compression artifacts that you probably won’t notice if you never plug them in over USB. E.g. voices feels like they are being “modulated” a bit, reverberations in space aren’t quite as clear and some other minor details compared to when the Bathys MG is connected over USB.


ANC and leakage

The ANC performance and isolation is much improved from the Bathys. Voices were a bit of a problem when using the Bathys in the office and on public transportation. The MG blocks out voices much more efficiently and has been improved in the rest of the spectrum as well.

I did some quick measurements on sound leakage from the headphone and they were about 3dB better than the old Bathys, but about 1dB behind the px8 and about 2.5dB worse than the Solitaire T when all headphones were running the same volume.

I did a short comparison between Bathys, Bathys MG, PX8, Solitaire T and XM5 using music with lots of bass and vocals. The XM5 was the clear winner, as expected, but the MG got very close in the bass area. The clear loser was the original Bathys which was quite a bit behind the others, especially in the mid-range. The Bathys MG was the best of the rest. It is better in the bass than both the PX8 and the Solitaire T by a good margin. There are some areas of the midrange where it is slightly worse than the Solitaire T and the PX8, typically higher parts of the mid-range, but it is close and the MG equals or beats them slightly in the rest of the spectrum.

ANC is no longer a massive weak point and overall. I would rate them a bit better than both the PX8 and the Solitaire T. It won’t trouble something like the XM5 or top models from Boose etc. but it is very serviceable as an ANC headphone. I will still bring the XM5 for flights though.

There is still some hiss in Soft and Silent modes. I never noticed it when playing music, but it is noticeable when no music is playing and might be noticeable in quiet passages if you listen to classical music or similar.

 

[angelom]

The new pads feel much better for me and don’t feel sticky against the skin. They are soft and form a seal quite well.

Similar for me, except in my case is only probably better not "much" better.

They would be a frontrunner for most comfortable ANC headphone for me

I'm agree more or less, but I still think the Dali iO-12, the old Bose QC35/QC35 II and the Sony XM3 (not the XM4 and I don't know the XM5) are still more comfortable than the MG.

Not had any warmth or sweat issues so far, but not used them above 24 or so degrees so will be interesting once summer really sets on.

Here for me we have a clear difference. With only 22 degrees celsius, and after only about 20 minutes, my ears getting very warm and start sweating a little. The isn't happening with the vegan leather earpads of the Solitaire T, or the genuine leather of the iO-12 or H100.

Timing and rhythmic drive benefits a lot from how precise the drivers are. It is an exciting sound that conveys the timing in rhythmic pieces very well and tells you when the drummer or bass guitar is spot on or a bit off.

"...tells you when the drummer or bass guitar is spot on or a bit off"?? Please forgive me for thinking that this is an exaggeration, that the Bathys MG can telling you if the drummer or bass player is off??. Wow.

Soundstage has good separation and layering with good height, decent depth and quite good focus. Instruments get a bit of space around them instead of sounding like they are on top of each other. It is not a huge sound stage, but it is decent for a closed back, and good for an ANC headphone.

Maybe this is because I'm coming from the Dali iO-12 and H100, but "good separation" and "instruments get a bit of space around them instead of sounding like they are on top of each other" is NOT my experience with the MG. Like I saying before, in general I often hear surprising congestion in the music reproduction of the MG.

Tuning wise, I experienced the old Bathys as a bit more treble focused with good bass and and quite good treble, but the mids were a bit hollowed out for me.

This is also in general my opinion of the original Barthys.

I feel there is not much competition when it comes to precision in transients and technical capability as the MG is quite far ahead.

I'm sorry but I really think this is an exaggeration -- and, "quite far ahead"?? Wow.

The staging on the MG is much improved with slightly more width and much better height, a bit more depth and more space around performers.

"Much improved"?? I'm not agree here, and again I think the is an exaggeration -- maybe a little better, but definitely not, from my memory of the original Bathys, "much improved".

Solitaire T goes more for a diffuse field tuning in the treble, but with a large dip in the mid-treble which is noticeable when listening. The dip doesn’t bother me all that much, but that along with the diffuse field tuning on the rest of the treble makes it a slightly bright and a bit thinner sounding headphone than if it was Harman tuned.

Do you saying exactly the same thing about the treble of the Solitaire T in the ST thread? Or, like is happen soooo typically many times, people suddenly start hearing things only after a graph is published (in this case the very recent ST graph by Resolve). Here are your impressions of the ST after owning "for a little while": https://www.head-fi.org/threads/t-a-solitaire-t-wireless-headphone.964925/page-121#post-18060613

They both have fairly good sound stage and image quite well, but the smoother presentation on the MG along with slightly better dynamic capability wins out in the sound comparison. Resolution is fairly similar, but I feel the MG edges a little bit ahead in this department.

"Fairly good soundstage in the Solitaire T"??! -- I think the vast majority of ST owners (including me), even big fans, agree that the ST don't have a good soundstage.

I felt the PX8 was often a more enjoyable listen than the Bathys as it didn’t have the mid-range issues and was often more exiting and enjoyable to listen to on the go. It was also better at ANC, outside of low frequencies, which made it better in the office and in noisy environments.

The PX8 don't have the small dip in the mids of the original Bathys but the midrange of the PX8 is badly affected by the BIG boost in low frequencies that making the midrange unnaturally thick of og=ften sounding muddy, terrible for orchestral music and good masters from the 1970s and 1980s. If the voicing of the PX8 is exciting for you, that's fine, but I think the very majority of people that know both headphones will saying the original Bathys is a clearly better sounding headphone.

The Bathys MG stock tuning is kind of in the middle between the PX8 and the original Bathys, with a smoother smoother frequency response and a lot of the excitement and enjoyment that the PX8 brought.

I'm not sure if this is true or not because I don't hearing the original Bathys and PX8 for a long time, but probably you are correct from my memory of the others 2 headphones), and this is probably why the MG sound is surprising me in a negative way, specially for a headphone with not really significant changes that going from 800 EUR to 1200 EUR..

The volume has more fine grained steps with 16 steps that are each approx. 3dB so I had no issues finding a volume I was happy to listen to. The original Bathsy had 5dB steps in the areas I wanted to listen so I constantly had slightly too loud or too quiet, but this is fixed for me with the MG.

I saying this before: If, in theory, now is 3dB (and not 5dB) increments in the 16 steps, this is meaning that the headphone is 40% more quiet at max volume. This is not my experience and I have very similar problems from my memory of the original Bathys. Do you measure yourself all 16 steps?? Do you measure the max volume of both models??

AAC handling is much improved over the old Bathys and generally sounds fine. It has noticeably less fine detail than aptX Adaptive, but you probably won’t notice that much in a noisy environment when the ANC is working.

"AAC noticeably less fine detail than aptX Adaptive"-- again, forgive me for thinking that you're exaggerating one moire time. I see so often people exaggerating about codecs and bitrates for many years...that this isn't a surprise for me anymore.

A good example of compression artifacts on AAC is “Rich Woman Blues” from the “Live In Amsterdam” by “Tony Joe White”. When listening over aptX Adaptive you can clearly hear the vibrations from the strings on the guitar and reverberation from the harmonica, this gets quite a bit more muted when moving to AAC.

I'm very, very sceptical of your comment "this gets quite a bit more muted when moving to AAC" -- What is your source exactly??

Using aptX Adaptive is a decent step up from AAC and would be my preferred Bluetooth mode. It gives you most of the spatial cues and detail you get on USB, but there are some slight compression artifacts that you probably won’t notice if you never plug them in over USB

"A decent step up"? Again, I'm very sceptical. Sorry.

 

[evhvis]

Do you saying exactly the same thing about the treble of the Solitaire T in the ST thread? Or, like is happen soooo typically many times, people suddenly start hearing things only after a graph is published (in this case the very recent ST graph by Resolve). Here are your impressions of the ST after owning "for a little while": https://www.head-fi.org/threads/t-a-solitaire-t-wireless-headphone.964925/page-121#post-18060613

Do you know how diffuse field tuning differs from Harman? It has higher treble elevation and I said in the first paragraph that the ST is more of a diffuse field tuning, which implies it is brighter than Harman. I also mentioned the dip in parts of the treble in the text. I wrote the same thing here, so not sure if it is ignorance on your part or is it the annoyance that others like something you don't like?

 

[angelom]

Do you know how diffuse field tuning differs from Harman? It has higher treble elevation and I said in the first paragraph that the ST is more of a diffuse field tuning, which implies it is brighter than Harman. I also mentioned the dip in parts of the treble in the text. I wrote the same thing here, so not sure if it is ignorance on your part or is it the annoyance that others like something you don't like?

I own the Etymotic ER-4S so I know very, very well the Diffuse Flied curve (and I know the Harman curve very well too). Please quote the parts of your post in the ST thread where you criticise the ST's treble the way that you doing here.

 

[evhvis]

I own the Etymotic ER-4S so I know very, very well the Diffuse Flied curve (and I know the Harman curve very well too). Please quote the parts of your post in the ST thread where you criticise the ST's treble the way that you doing here.

You pointed to the text so you can read it for yourself. There is no inconsistency with what I wrote on the ST and the comparison I made here. Based on my experiences with you in other threads you will just try to argue and argue and argue to no end. E.g. you hated the PX8, but kept posting and posting and posting in that thread. Either you accept that other people have different experiences and values than you have or you can spend your time trying to get a reaction out of people in threads about headphones you don't like. I'm not going to waste my time arguing with someone that can't accept other peoples viewpoints and experiences while thriving on posting negative posts in a forum.