[tyk103]

48 hours later, these still impress me.

 

[vsg28]

I'll drop this here because it's the last piece of the puzzle I needed to start writing my review. I was trying to see why different people have different experiences with the Bathys and it's all down to the clamp experienced. The pads used on the Bathys are softer and squishier than usual with lots of wrinkles in the edges:

What this results in, combined with the drivers being directed at an angle towards the ear canals that themselves aren't uniform for everyone, is that the placement of the Bathys of your head will likely result in a different response than mine and also my measurement rigs. As such, it's not possible to have a representative frequency response measurement for the Bathys to tell you how they sound too. All I can tell you is your experience will be somewhere between the extreme scenarios of where the cups are deliberately pressed in and where the seal breaks from too loose a clamp force. The ear gain region and the dip at 900-1000 Hz change most here clearly, and so this in turn affects how punchy you feel the Bathys to be in the bass as well as whether vocals come off tame or shouty. I would like to see replacement pads for the Bathys that are not as soft at least, but either way something to be aware of when you see FRs as well as people's subjective reviews.

 

[redmonddad]

anyone notice a light static sound in the background of the music when using the USB-C?

Anyway, I'm not getting any wonky crazy volume issues with the USB-C DAC and my MacBook.

I haven’t noticed that yet, but I’ve only tried that interface option with iOS devices so far.

 

[Daryun1]

After trying the Focal and now trying the 5909, for my ears, the 5909 are simply amazing.
The Bathys are good but the Mark Levinson 5909 are One level above.
Sound clarity and separation is absolutely impressive, stage is wide, Bass is tight and accurate, treble and Mids are clear, ANC is efficient and they are very comfortable.
5909 Tested over Bluetooth with LDAC, and using passive connection with internal DAC.
Bathys were tested over Bluetooth with AptX and using USB connection with internal DAC.

 

[polymathic]

After trying the Focal and now trying the 5909, for my ears, the 5909 are simply amazing.
The Bathys are good but the Mark Levinson 5909 are One level above.
Sound clarity and separation is absolutely impressive, stage is wide, Bass is tight and accurate, treble and Mids are clear, ANC is efficient and they are very comfortable.
5909 Tested over Bluetooth with LDAC, and using passive connection with internal DAC.
Bathys were tested over Bluetooth with AptX and using USB connection with internal DAC.

That was my impression as well. I really wanted to like the Bathys, but for most of what I listened to the 5909 were just better.

 

[jagwap]

Right? That was my thought. There's no sensor of any kind.
It showed up after updating to the 1.4.x firmware. And, it only stopped playing if you lift the right ear cup. (i pulled it by the yoke to avoid hitting buttons.) By glitchy I meant that if I shook my head, or knocked the headphone a little, it would pause then resume playing.

So I went to check it out again just now to see if I can figure out if something is broken, and I'm somehow just maybe shorting it out by touching it and mistaking it for ear detection.

Except, none of my BT devices recognize it now.
I forgot the cans, reconnected them in the app and result: No ear detection!
So I checked the info in the app and voila, it's BACK on the old 1.3.5 firmware.
I'm trying to update now, but it's going to 100% and disconnecting the headphone, resulting in the headphone losing all settings/BT connections. I suspect part of the problem is the app is trying to do the pairing, and it should leave it to the operating system.

Aaand now I'm in a firmware install loop again.

***EDIT --------> 1.4.2 installed. It will 100% of the time pause the music if i remove the right ear cup.
. Headphone on head, remove left cup: Music continue
. Headphone on head, remove right cup: Music stop
> Put right cup back, music usually plays again.
. Headphone on head, remove right cup REALLY SLOW: music continues
> Pull right cup off semi-quickly: music stops
. Hit play while headphones off: Music plays
. Pull cup off head fast: Music stop. Put cup back on head fast: music go.
>>> >Put cup back on head slow: music remains stopped


. play headphones while off head. Lightly tap the ear pads to spike pressure inside the ear cup. Music stops. Tap it again. Music starts.
So the question is, is there some kind of short in the speaker causing the effect of head detection, or is there some really clever software trick using the driver here?



The software/firmware with these is truly an impressive train wreck. And I say that, having worked with systems/software my entire career. I wasn't expecting /great/ software. Or stuff that "just works easily" like Apple or Sony- but I did expect something that more or less works.

If there really isn't a sensor for this, they could be using the microphones inside the cup that are usually sensing the sound inside for the ANC. When it drastically changes it knows the cup is off the head. Of course this would be difficult to do accurately...

An interesting point: on all the PCBs all the designators are in English. If these were actually designed in France, there is NO-WAY this would happen. The French are fiercely protective of their language and fight to use it over English at every opportunity. The electronics hardware was definately designed somewhere else. It could be China, because China are the opposite, and will use English at every opportunity if they want to look like a high-end imported product.

 

[Maukey]

That was my impression as well. I really wanted to like the Bathys, but for most of what I listened to the 5909 were just better.

I guess I'm one of the select few that prefer the Bathys to the 5909. Don't get me wrong, I feel the 5909 are no question in the same class of sound as the Bathys. The 5909 to my ears are currently the most accurate and resolving wireless anc headphones on the market. They have one of the best soundstages in the class. However, while the Bathys aren't quite as accurate, I think it's a more musical listen with a better tuning if I'm using my words correctly. It pretty much matches the 5909 in soundstage and has a touch more bass and slightly smoother treble. To me it's in between the fun sound of the PX8, and the technically accurate sound of the 5909. You combine this with the fact that the Bathys get a good deal louder on iOS devices, it was a fairly easy choice for me to keep the Bathys and put my 5909 up for sale.

 

[polymathic]

I guess I'm one of the select few that prefer the Bathys to the 5909. Don't get me wrong, I feel the 5909 are no question in the same class of sound as the Bathys. The 5909 to my ears are currently the most accurate and resolving wireless anc headphones on the market. They have one of the best soundstages in the class. However, while the Bathys aren't quite as accurate, I think it's a more musical listen with a better tuning if I'm using my words correctly. It pretty much matches the 5909 in soundstage and has a touch more bass and slightly smoother treble. To me it's in between the fun sound of the PX8, and the technically accurate sound of the 5909. You combine this with the fact that the Bathys get a good deal louder on iOS devices, it was a fairly easy choice for me to keep the Bathys and put my 5909 up for sale.

I agree with this as well. If my music taste were a bit more on the electronic side than classical and acoustic jazz, and if I felt I needed more volume, the Bathys would be my preferred choice. Have yet to try the Px8... maybe it's a case where you want Px8 + ML 5909, or you can live with the Bathys for both.

 

[Maukey]

I agree with this as well. If my music taste were a bit more on the electronic side than classical and acoustic jazz, and if I felt I needed more volume, the Bathys would be my preferred choice. Have yet to try the Px8... maybe it's a case where you want Px8 + ML 5909, or you can live with the Bathys for both.

Yes, my taste is more toward electronic than classical. I do listen to a variety of music, but it typically does not include classical. My thinking when I first heard that the PX8 was being released was just what you stated, I would get the PX8 as a fun sounding headphone to pair with my 5909. Well, when I heard the Bathys were out, I had to try them. I had never heard a Focal headphone before. It blew me away to the point that I had to keep it. I prefer the combination of the Bathys and PX8. The Bathys are still closer to neutral and accurate than the PX8, so I don't mind that it's not quite to the accuracy level of the 5909 because I enjoy the Bathys a little more overall. Another thing that aided in my decision is that I also own the Master & Dynamic MW75 which has a similar beryllium-coated driver as the 5909. The tone of the two are pretty similar actually. The 5909 is just tuned to be a more accurate and resolving headphone, while the MW75 is tuned to be bigger, bolder, and more dynamic.

 

[Soundizer]

What about the HIFIMAN HE-R9 with BlueMini as Bluetooth headphones.
Surely it provides better sound quality then BATHYS, PX8, 5909?

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

My Bathys is arriving this week. Really excited!

 

[BWythani]

If there really isn't a sensor for this, they could be using the microphones inside the cup that are usually sensing the sound inside for the ANC. When it drastically changes it knows the cup is off the head. Of course this would be difficult to do accurately...

An interesting point: on all the PCBs all the designators are in English. If these were actually designed in France, there is NO-WAY this would happen. The French are fiercely protective of their language and fight to use it over English at every opportunity. The electronics hardware was definately designed somewhere else. It could be China, because China are the opposite, and will use English at every opportunity if they want to look like a high-end imported product.

so I confirmed it ONLY happened on updated firmware (which is why I thought feature) and only happened with a pressure change in the ear cup.
I confirmed with Focal that this is NOT expected behavior.
So I had a hardware/software problem with the headphones that would cause them to pause/play when pressure changes in the right ear cup (for example ,taking them off or putting them on.)
I have a replacement pair coming this week.


I've always felt Focal is an aggressively French company. Maybe some day they'll get rid of the BLOOP sounds and replace them with someone speaking.

 

[hudhawk]

For those looking for an all-in-one USB-C to Lightning cable for use with the Focal Bathys and the on-board DAC, I just verified today that this cable from "Meenova" on Amazon works for me: https://amzn.to/3TSY8sp

That said, the Meenova OTG cable does not fold that compactly, so it might actually be more travel friendly to carry the DDHifi TC-28i and the original cables. OTOH, going without cables completely is even more travel friendly

So wait, does that mean that you can connect the Bathys directly to the iphone without using a CCK? I’m deciding between the Bathys and the Mark Levinson‘s and this feels like a pretty big checkmark in the Bathys’ favor.

 

[polymathic]

So wait, does that mean that you can connect the Bathys directly to the iphone without using a CCK? I’m deciding between the Bathys and the Mark Levinson‘s and this feels like a pretty big checkmark in the Bathys’ favor.

Yes, I was able to connect the Bathys to my iPhone 13 Pro with just an OTG adapter, and no dongle. Worked fine.

 

[Tudorsound]

Sorry for numpty question but is the DAC mode for plugging it into an external dac only? When using my MacBook, for example, I would need to use the normal 3.5mm jack? Or can I also use the USB cable to connect to my MacBook and use it in DAC mode? What would be the difference in audio quality?