[Zoide]

Has anyone compared the Bathys to the Audeze Maxwell?

 

[crispytom]

A one month (of super heavy use) review of my Bathys

I bought Focal Bathys a month ago. For those who don't know they are a bluetooth over ear headphone from french Speaker mfg Focal. They are semi-unique in the bluetooth headphone space in that you can run them from your PC/Mac/Phone/Tablet directly with a USB cable. The sound gets to the headphones digitally via the cable instead of bluetooth, allowing higher bitrates and cleaner sound.

When I first got these, they sounded pretty good, then I upgraded the firmware and they sounded great. About 5 days ago the latest firmware came out and Focal has knocked it out of the park and out of Earth's gravity at this point. I've never heard a headphone where, no matter what I threw at it from techno to jazz to classical to country to rock to metal to hip hop it sounded just right. Never. Except for these. I don't understand how it's possible for these to sound as good as they do with the absolutely spectacular dynamics they have while running off a battery and weighing just over 300g-- and they're largely made of metal too, specifically magnesium and aluminum. The built in amplification is so perfectly implemented that they sound like they're running off a proper amp. But they're not. They're running off the phone in my pocket and I'm at 7-11 getting nachos. It's ridiculous.

Compared to pretty much any other ANC bluetooth full size headphone you want to talk about, forget about it. Not worth even considering anything else. I've listened to most of them at this point. NO comparison.

In an attempt to describe the sound, here are some tracks/albums I like with a description of the sound.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons- This is the best rendition I have heard outside of being at a HiFi shop listening to a $12,000 speaker setup I'll never afford. The dynamics... I've never heard dynamics like this in classical music on a headphone. If I turn the volume up I'm AT the symphony. Absolutely spectacular headphones for all classical music. The swelling sections of pieces sound incredible. Horns, drums, string instruments, all perfectly rendered and full sounding. Nothing sounds hollow. Very accurate and full bodied sound.

Allison Krauss: Baby, Now That I've Found You- Spectacularly musical and detailed. Here we see one of the few niggles I have with these headphones compared to a decent $500 class planar magnetic- the vocals aren't quite transparent. The vocals in this track on HE400i, HE400SE, KEF X300A, KEF Q series speakers, all transparent. You could reach out and put your arm through the vocals like smoke. Not on these Focals (or most dynamic cans under infinity billion $ IME). It sounds incredible- but the vocals are never transparent. That is literally the only thing I can knock these headphones for. If you're a Diana Krall addict, these are not for you.

Astrid S: F*ck Off- I picked this song for the dynamics in the bass and midbass to say that this is the thing that these headphones do better than anything I've ever heard. I don't know how they're doing this without a separate amp. I just don't. With tracks that have this level of dynamics in them the Bathys sound less like headphones and more like a very good very loud high end car stereo in a dynamatted car. Very nice.

INXS: New Sensation (Atmos Mix)- My device sadly does not support atmos but I still get the added dynamics in a stereo mix. Again, to push the point home, the level of punch the Bathys have in a track like this, no matter how loud you want it, is so insane without ever sounding even slightly boomy or out of control.

Niggles:

-There were some sibilance issues prior to the latest firmware. Harsh S sounds mostly in female vocals. That's been resolved.

-Call quality sadly is not as good as Sennheiser Momentum 4. Regular phone calls sound like facetime audio on Momentum 4. Not on these. However people have said my voice comes through "extremely clear" on the mic. Noice cancelling mic works well in low to moderate wind and people tell me they dont hear the wind.

-Vocals less transparent than if you took the $900 for the Bathys and threw it at LCD2C's instead but then you'd need an amp and you couldn't take the whole rig on the subway conveniently.

Overall: 9.9999/10 if the vocals were just a little bit more transparent they'd get an 11. Worth the price so so hard. In one sentence: EVERYTHING sounds good. These are true all-rounders. It doesn't matter what you want to listen to, it WILL sound good. Can't say that about many cans.

Hi there! Great review looking to maybe get these in the near future. Any issues with battery life? how long do they usually last after heavy use. Is it that big of a difference when its running directly via usb cable or Bluetooth? I prefer using these as bluetooth mainly and a big reason for me buying them is that factor (I hope its not that big of a drop-off) Thanks!

 

[gil2b]

Good morning.

no battery problem, it should work about 30 hours in bluetooth, a little more in wired.

Gil

 

[crispytom]

Good morning.

no battery problem, it should work about 30 hours in bluetooth, a little more in wired.

Gil

Thanks for the response! any idea about differences in sound when plugged in v bluetooth? hope its not too big of a difference

 

[gil2b]

with Iphone in bluetooth the sound is a little worse than with the DAC but I find it so much better than the Px 8 B&W that I tested at length.

 

[Zdzichon]

It depends from the listener. I can hear a chenge when jumping from AptX to USB, but it's minor enough that I don't bother with the cable at all (AptX Adaptive is even better, but my present phone doesn't have this codec). Also, I didn't buy BT headphones to listen them via a wire

 

[gil2b]

I generally find the Bathys well finished, reliable and with a very decent sound. I am very satisfied with it.

 

[BrokeAudiophileMan]

Hi there! Great review looking to maybe get these in the near future. Any issues with battery life? how long do they usually last after heavy use. Is it that big of a difference when its running directly via usb cable or Bluetooth? I prefer using these as bluetooth mainly and a big reason for me buying them is that factor (I hope its not that big of a drop-off) Thanks!

I personally find a big difference wired. More dynamic sound IMO. Battery life feels like it's been 25-35 hours usually depending on volume levels and wired/wireless. They're quite decent headphones. I'd buy again.

 

[vonBaron]

I must compare Bathys to Solitaire T

 

[crispytom]

I personally find a big difference wired. More dynamic sound IMO. Battery life feels like it's been 25-35 hours usually depending on volume levels and wired/wireless. They're quite decent headphones. I'd buy again.

Yeah i figured thats the case. Most wireless/bluetooth headphones have a big difference when wired or connected. Seems like its getting better though one day that wont be as bad hopefully.

 

[crispytom]

I must compare Bathys to Solitaire T

Which would you prefer? the Solitare T or Bathys?

 

[vonBaron]

I listen very short Solitarie T in store, first thing i notice was better ANC than in Bathys. ANC in ST is prerfect IMO. I must loan them to compare sound.

 

[evhvis]

Yeah i figured thats the case. Most wireless/bluetooth headphones have a big difference when wired or connected. Seems like its getting better though one day that wont be as bad hopefully.

Will be interesting if the Bathys gets LDAC support as LDAC 990 should be close to lossless, but with some resampling. To my knowledge the chipset in the Bathys is too old to handle aptX lossless when it arrives so our only hope is LDAC.

 

[evhvis]

I listen very short Solitarie T in store, first thing i notice was better ANC than in Bathys. ANC in ST is prerfect IMO. I must loan them to compare sound.

My understanding is that the Bathys is partially vented so they lack the passive isolation to have great ANC overall. They do a good job at removing rumble but parts of the midrange and treble have pretty poor noise attenuation. They work on public transportation, but they are not ideal. The Bathys is more suited for home or office use than very noisy environments.

 

[vonBaron]

I recommend changing the factory USB cable to a better one. I bought the Audioquest Forest myself and there is a clear improvement in the sound.