[WyattEarp]

Just picked one up earlier today at my local Audio46. Nice place BTW. Anyway, I haven’t owned a set of headphones in more than two decades. Played a few songs from both my DAP and iPhone once I got to work to test out the sound better (did so in the store also but needed to be in a more relaxed environment) and I must say that I am rather impressed. They can’t replace my Shure SE846 in terms of everyday portability but for lounging around at home and doing things like laundry this is my new setup.

 

[voicemaster]

I think the ANC on the Bathys is pretty adequate. It will eliminate most low end (engine hum, food processor, etc) sound. Since the Bathys already has pretty good passive noise isolation, once the music is playing, you will hardly hear noise from outside.

 

[NZtechfreak]

I auditioned these today at Addicted to Audio's Auckland store. Great sound for a wireless headphone, I have been waiting for a pair that sound this good for listening to music for a long time. I listen to a wide range of stuff and have never and will never be a person who has "this headphone for jazz, and this one for metal" etc - either everything sounds good to me or I don't buy it. Will be getting my own pair next week when they restock. Curious about 5909 of course, but I won't buy them without an audition and don't really have any way to try them out here in NZ, so Bathys it is.

 

[LifeAspect]

after about a week with the bathys, I am probably gonna return it. As much as I prefer the sound of the Bathys to other ANC headphones, I just can't justify its price for just office use and TV watching and I do notice some sibilance with some of my favourite songs while not excessive it still bothers me.

 

[Jacobien]

Hi!
I am new here and have been following with much interest this thread.
I got the Focal Bathys 2 weeks ago and I am wondering, if I got a faulty pair as a few weird things are happening:

1. When my battery was at 20%, I charged it again and the light indicating the loading process didn't flicker but was on the whole time. After a very short charging time (maybe 30 minutes), my app showed me a battery status of 100%. It is going down in 10% steps only and never shows something like 87%. Is that normal?

2. Without my doing, the LED turns on and I have to turn it off again.

3. When pressing the ANC button on the headphone, it only switches from transparency mode into full ANC, I can see that in the app. I can change it to all 3 modes only via the app, but not with the button on the headphone.

Did anyone experience some of these issues so far?

Maybe, my Bathys and the app are confused as I am switching back and forth between my laptop and my iPhone? Is it not possible to pair the Bathys with both devices at the same time?

For the rest, I really love the sound!
I got the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 here as well and keep comparing them to the Bathys, as I am not completely decided, which ones to keep.
I listen to a lot of jazz, progressive & avant-garde jazz, a lot of large ensembles, where a lot is going on, and I got the impression, that the Bathys is a little more detailed, also, saxophones sound kind of artificial sometimes on the PX8. Does anyone feel the same?
What bothers me a bit, is the large steps in volume on the Bathys. Do you think, a firmware update will fix this in the future?

I would really appreciate some comments on my observations to know, if I got a faulty pair, and to help me decide, which headphones I should keep. I really like to hear every detail in a song, and my guess is, that the Bathys do a better job on that. It depends on the music of course as I noticed a slight advantage for pop songs with the PX8.

Thanks!

 

[Jacobien]

Ah, ok, I figured 3. out myself. It's not working always, but, by pressing 2 sec on the button for ANC when in ANC silent mode, I can switch to ANC soft. When I then press short on the ANC button, it switches to transparent mode. When I press 2 sec on the ANC button, I switch to ANC silent mode. That really is a bit confusing and I have to get used to that....
What I noticed, though, is, that the ANC modes on my Bathys sometimes switch by themselves. Especially, when I turned the headphones off completely and then back on again. I might have a faulty pair after all....

 

[qba3d]

Hey!

after about a week with the bathys, I am probably gonna return it. As much as I prefer the sound of the Bathys to other ANC headphones, I just can't justify its price for just office use and TV watching and I do notice some sibilance with some of my favourite songs while not excessive it still bothers me.

To be honest, I heard some odd sibilance/sharpness on some tracks myself at the store, but I concluded that this could be some misbehavior of AAC or that these had roughly a 1h on them so far. I do remember that my Kanta 2 needed a few months (it's true ) to settle their beryllium tweeter, and Focal Clear needed a few days to get a little bit more organic. Though I made a comparison with ClearMG at the store, a pair used for around 20h and they did behave splendidly. But yeah it could be the case that Bathys misbehave... can I ask what was the source? USB? Bluetooth?

 

[LifeAspect]

Hey!


To be honest, I heard some odd sibilance/sharpness on some tracks myself at the store, but I concluded that this could be some misbehavior of AAC or that these had roughly a 1h on them so far. I do remember that my Kanta 2 needed a few months (it's true ) to settle their beryllium tweeter, and Focal Clear needed a few days to get a little bit more organic. Though I made a comparison with ClearMG at the store, a pair used for around 20h and they did behave splendidly. But yeah it could be the case that Bathys misbehave... can I ask what was the source? USB? Bluetooth?

Both Bluetooth and USB with specific tracks, altho I notice it less on USB albeit it's still there.
for instance on:

 

[LifeAspect]

Ah, ok, I figured 3. out myself. It's not working always, but, by pressing 2 sec on the button for ANC when in ANC silent mode, I can switch to ANC soft. When I then press short on the ANC button, it switches to transparent mode. When I press 2 sec on the ANC button, I switch to ANC silent mode. That really is a bit confusing and I have to get used to that....
What I noticed, though, is, that the ANC modes on my Bathys sometimes switch by themselves. Especially, when I turned the headphones off completely and then back on again. I might have a faulty pair after all....

it seems the headphone remembers the last used anc mode when you press the anc button. It's a bit confusing.

 

[LifeAspect]

Hi!
I am new here and have been following with much interest this thread.
I got the Focal Bathys 2 weeks ago and I am wondering, if I got a faulty pair as a few weird things are happening:

1. When my battery was at 20%, I charged it again and the light indicating the loading process didn't flicker but was on the whole time. After a very short charging time (maybe 30 minutes), my app showed me a battery status of 100%. It is going down in 10% steps only and never shows something like 87%. Is that normal?

2. Without my doing, the LED turns on and I have to turn it off again.

3. When pressing the ANC button on the headphone, it only switches from transparency mode into full ANC, I can see that in the app. I can change it to all 3 modes only via the app, but not with the button on the headphone.

Did anyone experience some of these issues so far?

Maybe, my Bathys and the app are confused as I am switching back and forth between my laptop and my iPhone? Is it not possible to pair the Bathys with both devices at the same time?

For the rest, I really love the sound!
I got the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 here as well and keep comparing them to the Bathys, as I am not completely decided, which ones to keep.
I listen to a lot of jazz, progressive & avant-garde jazz, a lot of large ensembles, where a lot is going on, and I got the impression, that the Bathys is a little more detailed, also, saxophones sound kind of artificial sometimes on the PX8. Does anyone feel the same?
What bothers me a bit, is the large steps in volume on the Bathys. Do you think, a firmware update will fix this in the future?

I would really appreciate some comments on my observations to know, if I got a faulty pair, and to help me decide, which headphones I should keep. I really like to hear every detail in a song, and my guess is, that the Bathys do a better job on that. It depends on the music of course as I noticed a slight advantage for pop songs with the PX8.

Thanks!

1: normally when you are charging the bathys, the led should flicker. At least it does for me. The battery percentage in the app seems pretty inaccurate and mostly goes in steps of 10%
2: if you use the headphone in dac mode, you can't control the LED and it will go back to default. I did have a bug at some point that the led did turn on again even tho I turned it off in the app before.
3: see comment above

The steps in volume is mostly an issue on iphone/android. If you use it in DAC mode on pc it goes up in steps of 2 which is just fine. If you are on iphone you could use Volume control pro which works wonders for precise volume control on Ios. Ios has the tendency to jump volume in steps of 4 for both bluetooth and airplay which is rather annoying.

 

[KjellinMusic]

Hey!


To be honest, I heard some odd sibilance/sharpness on some tracks myself at the store, but I concluded that this could be some misbehavior of AAC or that these had roughly a 1h on them so far. I do remember that my Kanta 2 needed a few months (it's true ) to settle their beryllium tweeter, and Focal Clear needed a few days to get a little bit more organic. Though I made a comparison with ClearMG at the store, a pair used for around 20h and they did behave splendidly. But yeah it could be the case that Bathys misbehave... can I ask what was the source? USB? Bluetooth?

Correct, Bathys need some burn in period. In my case 3-4 week. After this time they never sounds hash By the way like Kanta 2.

 

[Jacobien]

1: normally when you are charging the bathys, the led should flicker. At least it does for me. The battery percentage in the app seems pretty inaccurate and mostly goes in steps of 10%
2: if you use the headphone in dac mode, you can't control the LED and it will go back to default. I did have a bug at some point that the led did turn on again even tho I turned it off in the app before.
3: see comment above

The steps in volume is mostly an issue on iphone/android. If you use it in DAC mode on pc it goes up in steps of 2 which is just fine. If you are on iphone you could use Volume control pro which works wonders for precise volume control on Ios. Ios has the tendency to jump volume in steps of 4 for both bluetooth and airplay which is rather annoying.

Thanks @LifeAspect ,
I downloaded Volume Control Pro, but I still have the big jumps in volume, also when using that app. It goes in 5% steps, when I change the volume on the Bathys directly, it moves in 6% steps. So, no big difference here. But, it was worth a try
2: I didn't use my phones in DAC mode yet, so it seems that the LED has a life of its own in my Bathys
3: the Bathys should remember the last ANC mode, when you turn it off. But in my case, it doesn't always do that ;-(

 

[JelStIy]

Thanks @LifeAspect ,
I downloaded Volume Control Pro, but I still have the big jumps in volume, also when using that app. It goes in 5% steps, when I change the volume on the Bathys directly, it moves in 6% steps. So, no big difference here. But, it was worth a try
2: I didn't use my phones in DAC mode yet, so it seems that the LED has a life of its own in my Bathys
3: the Bathys should remember the last ANC mode, when you turn it off. But in my case, it doesn't always do that ;-(

For iOS, finer volume control can be achieved through the on-screen slider.

 

[Jacobien]

For iOS, finer volume control can be achieved through the on-screen slider.

Stupid me! Thanks @JelStIy , THAT is THE solution!

 

[Ansch]

Correct, Bathys need some burn in period. In my case 3-4 week. After this time they never sounds hash By the way like Kanta 2.

Dito that. Mine's sounding a lot smoother after just over a month of play. Also as earlier posts say, don't be shy to play around with the EQ. In these new generations of active wireless headphones, the DSP is always doing something, so you may as well make it do something that sounds good to you.