[dkdali]

Mine also makes a terrible noise in transparent mode. Really unbearable for me. In the other modes, a white noise is also present but much lower. I was surprised that my local store considers this as "normal"...

Exactly the same for me. Transparency mode is really bad and the others are tolerable in daytime. Unfortunately i usually use my headphones in the evening for audiobooks and here I can’t even use the on any of the modes.
I really like the sound when playing music but it cant be right there is so much noise that they can’t be used for quiet listening.
I am back with my old Sony set in the evening…

 

[Revelation Sound]

The PX8 gives the ability to turn off noise canceling so there is no hiss.

 

[luklak]

Exactly the same for me. Transparency mode is really bad and the others are tolerable in daytime. Unfortunately i usually use my headphones in the evening for audiobooks and here I can’t even use the on any of the modes.
I really like the sound when playing music but it cant be right there is so much noise that they can’t be used for quiet listening.
I am back with my old Sony set in the evening…

Same for me. I've already mentioned it earlier in this thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-bathys-wireless-anc-over-ear-headphone.965131/post-17287405

I tried to compare my unit to the demo units in two shops, but unfortunately both shops have quite loud environment, so I was not able to tell if the amount of hiss in demo unit is different. In the end I decided to keep them because of the sound quality, but it was a mistake, because the hiss is very annoying and impacts the listening experience. So now I'm listening mostly to my Momentum 4, which sound worse, but the ANC hiss is more tolerable. Also tried PX8, which has less hiss than Bathys and also ANC can be turned off, but sound signature is really not for me. I still hope that Focal will add the feature to turn off the ANC on Bathys in some firmware update.

It's possible that this hiss is present only on some units, because some users have this hiss and some claim that there is no hiss in ANC modes. I've also read at least one review that mentions the hiss, but some other reviews say there is no hiss. Or maybe some people are more sensitive to the hiss than others.

 

[Shonen84]

Wanted to report that Bluetooth 5.3 and AptX Adaptive makes a big difference. It's like LDAC, for real. Experiencing it with my Nura Bluetooth 5.3 Audio Transmitter, it's great!

About the hiss: I can confirm a loud hiss + electrostatic noise in transparency mode. In ANC "soft" mode there is also a hiss. The hiss is mostly gone in the "strong" ANC mode, it's similar to my Sony XM4. I'm currently working in the uni library with Qobuz Sublime+ on BT 5.3 and it's wonderful.

 

[GungJoe]

Since people are talking about ANC hiss again I spent a while listening to it. The easiest way to hear it is to have them on your head when turning them on and listen to the difference without music playing.

I don't hear a hiss sound, but I do hear a sort of hum that's very quiet. But I also hear this on active headphones without ANC like the Audeze Penrose and THX Panda. My thinking is that this is more to do with the amp/dac than ANC. There's a real voltage running through a device next to your earcups, and all electrical devices make a sound.

But it's like 2db or less, so it's completely inaudible most of the time.

 

[GungJoe]

Wanted to report that Bluetooth 5.3 and AptX Adaptive makes a big difference. It's like LDAC, for real. Experiencing it with my Nura Bluetooth 5.3 Audio Transmitter, it's great!

About the hiss: I can confirm a loud hiss + electrostatic noise in transparency mode. In ANC "soft" mode there is also a hiss. The hiss is mostly gone in the "strong" ANC mode, it's similar to my Sony XM4. I'm currently working in the uni library with Qobuz Sublime+ on BT 5.3 and it's wonderful.

This is cool. Do you have the Nura True Pro's also? I wonder how the Bathy's tonality compares to what you get out of those.

 

[dkdali]

Since people are talking about ANC hiss again I spent a while listening to it. The easiest way to hear it is to have them on your head when turning them on and listen to the difference without music playing.

I don't hear a hiss sound, but I do hear a sort of hum that's very quiet. But I also hear this on active headphones without ANC like the Audeze Penrose and THX Panda. My thinking is that this is more to do with the amp/dac than ANC. There's a real voltage running through a device next to your earcups, and all electrical devices make a sound.

But it's like 2db or less, so it's completely inaudible most of the time.

My set unfortunately has a very audible white noise many times higher than my Sony XM3’s that i have used for years. The Sony’s also have a very slight hum with ANC but never at a level where it bothered me. I cant use the Bathys for audiobooks or quiet evening listening like i have used the Sony’s - it constantly bothers me and I don’t enjoy the experience.
They are great on travel and in the office though and you get a lot of great HiFi for your money - especially considering how much you have to pay to get a significant upgrade…
Just such a shame about the white noise….

 

[Shonen84]

This is cool. Do you have the Nura True Pro's also? I wonder how the Bathy's tonality compares to what you get out of those.

Nura has major logistics issues - the BT transmitter was a freebie with my NuraTrue Pro order xD I hope to receive it sometime, I have very low expectations from Kickstarter and Nura.

 

[garethr]

Wanted to report that Bluetooth 5.3 and AptX Adaptive makes a big difference. It's like LDAC, for real. Experiencing it with my Nura Bluetooth 5.3 Audio Transmitter, it's great!

About the hiss: I can confirm a loud hiss + electrostatic noise in transparency mode. In ANC "soft" mode there is also a hiss. The hiss is mostly gone in the "strong" ANC mode, it's similar to my Sony XM4. I'm currently working in the uni library with Qobuz Sublime+ on BT 5.3 and it's wonderful.

Confused given the Qualcomm chipset (QCC 5127) in the Bathys is only compliant with BT5.1. That said the PX8 which uses the same chipset is certified (by the BT SIG) for BT5.2 despite the Qualcomm docs saying it only has 5.1 support

 

[Shonen84]

Confused given the Qualcomm chipset (QCC 5127) in the Bathys is only compliant with BT5.1. That said the PX8 which uses the same chipset is certified (by the BT SIG) for BT5.2 despite the Qualcomm docs saying it only has 5.1 support

I don't think the BT version as such matters, it's the AptX Adaptive codec. I have no device that supports this codec, except that Nura dongle. And I can really hear a difference : the "BT bass bloat" is gone and everything sounds significantly better

 

[garethr]

I don't think the BT version as such matters, it's the AptX Adaptive codec. I have no device that supports this codec, except that Nura dongle. And I can really hear a difference : the "BT bass bloat" is gone and everything sounds significantly better

Yeah, Windows default codec support is pretty hideous. In fact they’ve never really sorted proper BT support natively in Windows. Probably down to the lack of standardised HW integration like you’d get in Apple products I’d guess.

 

[Shonen84]

Yeah, Windows default codec support is pretty hideous. In fact they’ve never really sorted proper BT support natively in Windows. Probably down to the lack of standardised HW integration like you’d get in Apple products I’d guess.

The funny thing about SBC and AAC bluetooth is that it usually sounds pretty good..until you switch to LDAC or the higher AptX codecs. It's quite shocking. Similar to going from 128 kbps mp3 to lossless.

 

[garethr]

The funny thing about SBC and AAC bluetooth is that it usually sounds pretty good..until you switch to LDAC or the higher AptX codecs. It's quite shocking. Similar to going from 128 kbps mp3 to lossless.

Nothing wrong with AAC implemented well (in fact it's a technically very good codec, but more computationally complex than AptX), but it's only really Apple who are able to pull it off - especially if sourced from Apple Music because any transcoding will be transparent. Technically SBC isn't "that" bad either, its just sloppy implementations because its the lowest common denominator. Overall though the actual codecs themselves matter less than their implementations or other factors in the signal path.

 

[evhvis]

Same for me. I've already mentioned it earlier in this thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-bathys-wireless-anc-over-ear-headphone.965131/post-17287405

I tried to compare my unit to the demo units in two shops, but unfortunately both shops have quite loud environment, so I was not able to tell if the amount of hiss in demo unit is different. In the end I decided to keep them because of the sound quality, but it was a mistake, because the hiss is very annoying and impacts the listening experience. So now I'm listening mostly to my Momentum 4, which sound worse, but the ANC hiss is more tolerable. Also tried PX8, which has less hiss than Bathys and also ANC can be turned off, but sound signature is really not for me. I still hope that Focal will add the feature to turn off the ANC on Bathys in some firmware update.

It's possible that this hiss is present only on some units, because some users have this hiss and some claim that there is no hiss in ANC modes. I've also read at least one review that mentions the hiss, but some other reviews say there is no hiss. Or maybe some people are more sensitive to the hiss than others.

A lot of people have mentioned hiss so if some unit's have it and others do not, then I would say the unit to unit consistency is very poor. It is possible that some people are unable to hear the hiss, even if it is quite noticeable for a lot of people.

The hiss on mine is higher than on most other ANC headphones I've heard, but few if any ANC headphones are completely devoid of hiss when in ANC mode. I do not directly notice hiss when playing music in soft or silent modes, but it is quite noticeable when no music is playing. In transparent mode the hiss is much higher than in the other modes.

 

[ntemples1]

Same for me. I've already mentioned it earlier in this thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-bathys-wireless-anc-over-ear-headphone.965131/post-17287405

I tried to compare my unit to the demo units in two shops, but unfortunately both shops have quite loud environment, so I was not able to tell if the amount of hiss in demo unit is different. In the end I decided to keep them because of the sound quality, but it was a mistake, because the hiss is very annoying and impacts the listening experience. So now I'm listening mostly to my Momentum 4, which sound worse, but the ANC hiss is more tolerable. Also tried PX8, which has less hiss than Bathys and also ANC can be turned off, but sound signature is really not for me. I still hope that Focal will add the feature to turn off the ANC on Bathys in some firmware update.

It's possible that this hiss is present only on some units, because some users have this hiss and some claim that there is no hiss in ANC modes. I've also read at least one review that mentions the hiss, but some other reviews say there is no hiss. Or maybe some people are more sensitive to the hiss than others.

I actually have the Momentum 4's and the Focals, I am using both I used the Momentums for when I am out at work and the focals when I am at home or local, although the momentums sound a little worse they still sound great though, I have a bit of hiss also when in silent mode, but it's not enough to bother me really.