[Skeza]

Is there confirmation they will be including LDAC in the future? Really excited but I currently use a Samsung Fold 3

 

[frdtitan]

I use a Galaxy S22 Ultra and an iPad Pro as my main listening sources. Guess it's a lose/lose for codecs with me lol.

 

[evhvis]

These look promising. Expensive month with both the PX8 and the Bathys coming out. Hopefully get the Bathys this week or early next week and the PX8 looks like late October or early November.

 

[frdtitan]

These look promising. Expensive month with both the PX8 and the Bathys coming out. Hopefully get the Bathys this week or early next week and the PX8 looks like late October or early November.

Why so late for the PX8?

 

[starfly]

Why so late for the PX8?

Dude probably needs to wait for his next paycheck. Can only afford one headphone a month, poor guy.

 

[evhvis]

Why so late for the PX8?

Estimated availability date was around 20th of October when I pre-ordered. They might arrive sooner or they could arrive later. Upside is that the retailer for B&W in my country has 6 years warranty.

 

[evhvis]

Dude probably needs to wait for his next paycheck. Can only afford one headphone a month, poor guy.

Would be nice if the Bathys get here in October and PX8 in early November. Then it would be XM5 late September, Bathys mid october and PX8 early November. One headphone a month

 

[ST33L]

If they sound as good as they look, then these will be great wireless ANC cans.

 

[Qualitas]

The prices for Celestees dropes since the release of the Bathys. From 699 to 599 and now 579
Probably the new Elegia in terms of price in a few weeks. I think there need to be a price gap that the Celestee is interesting enough beside the Bathys.

What county / currency are you in? Here in the US I don’t think we’ve seen any change to the price of the Celestee. There is still a huge gap in price between the Celestee and Elegia ($350 USD for the Elegia and $1000 USD for Celestee).

 

[czalarenta]

I’m excited to see my favorite headphone company get into wireless, because I love to move to music, and wired setups often frustrate me as a result. It’s fantastic that Focal is diving into this market properly.

However, there are two issues I’d have with this first foray into wireless, and the main one is something that’s out of Focal’s hands.

First off, what Focal can control: replaceable batteries. Headphones can last quite a long time, which is a big part of the reason they can justify such high prices. There’s a hard limit on what I’m willing to spend on a device that’s only going to work for a few years due to battery death, and the Bathys is well over that. Also, having easily replaceable batteries would go a long way to add value to the Bathys, as that would not only present a big value add, it would signify a break from the “all tech is disposable” approach of their bigger competitors.

The bigger issue is out of Focal’s hands: BT codec evolution. As BT transducers have gotten more resolving, we’re now hitting a rather narrow ceiling of what most BT codecs can achieve. The codec is bottlenecking the transducer now. The problem is, there’s only a couple of ways to get CD-quality audio through BT. The only one of note is Aptx Lossless with BT 5.3 (the other one is entirely exclusive to Samsung’s buds on Samsung hardware, and it offers a clear difference even there), but the rollout of that has been slow. LDAC gets close, but the reception range can be pretty horrendous. Everything else out there has significant compromises.

I suspect that’s why Focal built a DAC into the headphone, because Focal’s drivers are capable of waaaaay more than BT can deliver currently. To me, the question isn’t if Focal can support an $800 headphone, but can Bluetooth support an $800 headphone?

 

[mainguy]

First off, what Focal can control: replaceable batteries. Headphones can last quite a long time, which is a big part of the reason they can justify such high prices. There’s a hard limit on what I’m willing to spend on a device that’s only going to work for a few years due to battery death, and the Bathys is well over that. Also, having easily replaceable batteries would go a long way to add value to the Bathys, as that would not only present a big value add, it would signify a break from the “all tech is disposable” approach of their bigger competitors.

The bigger issue is out of Focal’s hands: BT codec evolution. As BT transducers have gotten more resolving, we’re now hitting a rather narrow ceiling of what most BT codecs can achieve. The codec is bottlenecking the transducer now. The problem is, there’s only a couple of ways to get CD-quality audio through BT. The only one of note is Aptx Lossless with BT 5.3 (the other one is entirely exclusive to Samsung’s buds on Samsung hardware, and it offers a clear difference even there), but the rollout of that has been slow. LDAC gets close, but the reception range can be pretty horrendous. Everything else out there has significant compromises.

I suspect that’s why Focal built a DAC into the headphone, because Focal’s drivers are capable of waaaaay more than BT can deliver currently. To me, the question isn’t if Focal can support an $800 headphone, but can Bluetooth support an $800 headphone?

So for the BT bottleneck - total myth.
I have Stellia and an iFi Go blu, over AAC it absolutely sounds better than my Celestee wired to a Hugo. Because the drivers are better. BT is not a bottleneck, at present, drivers are. I strongly suggest people test this themselves as it is quite a shocking realisation, but not too suprising. People vastly overeestimate source quality, files, streaming services, and so on. Hook up a Sundara to FLAC files and a Chord Dave then wire a Clear into a ifi go blu red playing Spotify. The Clear will sound miles better.

As for batteries, it is a concern but not major. Most people still have their P7w from 2016, myself included, and it easily still lasts 14hours ish. So I dont see that being an issue.

 

[starfly]

So for the BT bottleneck - total myth.
I have Stellia and an iFi Go blu, over AAC it absolutely sounds better than my Celestee wired to a Hugo. Because the drivers are better. BT is not a bottleneck, at present, drivers are. I strongly suggest people test this themselves as it is quite a shocking realisation, but not too suprising. People vastly overeestimate source quality, files, streaming services, and so on. Hook up a Sundara to FLAC files and a Chord Dave then wire a Clear into a ifi go blu red playing Spotify. The Clear will sound miles better.

As for batteries, it is a concern but not major. Most people still have their P7w from 2016, myself included, and it easily still lasts 14hours ish. So I dont see that being an issue.

But that's not an apples to apples comparison. Compare the same headphones using different sources / BT codecs, etc. And only then can you somewhat definitively say whether it matters or not (and preferably in a double-blind test, or unconscious bias will ruin the comparison).

The one point you do make that I agree with is that the #1 differentiator for sound quality, by far, is the actual headphone or speaker. That's probably >95% of the difference right there.

 

[DDDYKI]

I'm also a little concerned about being tied to the built-in battery and what may happen if it goes. Not to say that I'm not ever concerned about it in my cheaper products, but it's a reminder that there's a built-in life expectancy of the product. But a TV backlight goes over time, too, as does a phone battery. It's just business as usual. Of course the ANC circuit needs a battery to operate.

 

[SlydZ]

I'm also a little concerned about being tied to the built-in battery and what may happen if it goes. Not to say that I'm not ever concerned about it in my cheaper products, but it's a reminder that there's a built-in life expectancy of the product. But a TV backlight goes over time, too, as does a phone battery. It's just business as usual. Of course the ANC circuit needs a battery to operate.

I can totally understand your point. I thought the same with my first smartphone with built-in battery. I think there will be more and more products with much shorter life-time. This is not a good development, but i think this is the future development. I think to buy a headphone like the Focal Bathys for 800Eur is the same like an smartphone. It won't last forever. Like you said the TV lifetime is relativley short (btw: My 60inch Sony TV is now 7 years old and still in nice condition). But could be that Focal has a battery change program like Apple. I have no illusions that I will still be using this headphones in 10 years, but the chance for 5 years would be nice.

 

[Death_Block]

I was lucky to get the chance to listen to the Bathys already and I am quite surprised by its great sound quality and flexibility. Do not be misled by the stock tonality of the Bathys. Out of the box, it may sounds close to the Radiance, with a clear emphasis on bass and lower mids. However its frequency response can be tuned to any taste. Overall sound quality is close to the Clear Mg and to the Elegia with the Celestee pads imo. The 5 eq bands, easily adjustable by App, are enough to alter the frequency response to one’s liking. To my ears there are no disturbing peaks in the frequency response which cannot be eq’ed out. The Bathys can be used with and without headphone cable, as well as with and without active noise cancelling. Active noise cancelling works very well, by the way.

I have ordered my Bathys already. It is a game changer imo and a perfect travel companion for those who (like me) do not like IEMs.

Cheers,
xxx1313

I do lovee lower mids