KjellinMusic
New Head-Fier
After 3 month I have to say that Bathys BT mode are for me most musical. DAC mode is little sterile. Use Tidal and files from 24/32
Good observations, we have to remember, many who use Bluetooth headphones are doing tasks while listening to music. If it's cleaning the kitchen, looking around while going for a walk or exercise, or traveling including watching YouTube on a exercise machine. We are not focusing on the music like we would in our home with hard wired headphones and are not doing any task. So we are focusing more on the details of the music. So why spend so much money on Bluetooth headphones? Sure you don't want low quality sound and comfort. Once you get to around $400 and higher, many sound good for their purpose. Once you jump over $800 many will feel its not worth it since you can get better sounding hardwired headphones that will sound better. Even the Beyerdynamic 1990's sound better than any Bluetooth headphones I ever heard.Doubt anyone has heard all of them. I own the Radiance and Elear (which I use with Elex pads) out of the full size ones and the bathys.
Radiance has slightly better passive isolation in the higher frequencies, but lacks ANC so lower frequencies are easily heard. Build quality is good on both, but materials quality and comfort is on another level on the radiance. The build quality on the Bathys look worse than it actually is due to the finish and design.
The Radiance is pretty close to harman curve, but is a bit subdued in the lower treble and upper midrange, which give a warmer and more relaxed sound (for some it will be too relaxed). The Bathys seems to be very dependent on the person's head and for me they are a bit too low level in the midrange with some peaks that are probably in the 4k to 7k area which can cause them to sound a bit bright and harsh on some material. Overall the midrange and timbre are strengths of the Radiance while they are the main weaknesses of the Bathys. The Radiance has more resolution, especially when it comes to small nuances from instruments, small pitch changes in voices, harmonics etc. They both have fairly good imaging, but only decent soundstage (fairly small).
If the Bathys had the sound quality of the Radiance, then I don't think the PX8 vs Bathys debate would even exist. Listening for 1-2 hours to the Radiance on decent amplification and then switching to the Bathys over USB makes me wonder what is wrong with the Bathys (disappointment). If I go a few hours without listening and then pick up the Bathys then they are fairly good sounding headphone, but with some flaws. It is important to A/B headphones directly after one another as sound memory can be very short term and you may remember something as better or worse than it actually is if you wait a few hours or days.
Basically I find the step down from the Radiance to Bathys to be quite significant, but the Bathys is fairly good as an overall package and priced fairly IMO. With the Bathys you get wireless and wired with a built in DAC of decent quality in one travel friendly package. Even my travel setup for the Radiance is more then twice the price of the Bathys due to needing a DAC with amp, adapters etc. and running a desktop setup makes the price ratio even worse.
As with everything there is no one answer. The Bathys can be for some people a one stop shop and it is a very good one accounting for cost and convenience. I don’t believe Focal ever intended for the Bathy’s to be in a consideration set with the Radiance (Bathys is my first Focal). I work from home and travel a bit but also have a need where I want to listen to music at night when my young kids are sleeping. The Bathy’s, for me, give me a audiophile grade sound on the go but also allow me to critically listen to music at night when otherwise I couldn‘t because of the sound leak from my open back Ananda’s.Good observations, we have to remember, many who use Bluetooth headphones are doing tasks while listening to music. If it's cleaning the kitchen, looking around while going for a walk or exercise, or traveling including watching YouTube on a exercise machine. We are not focusing on the music like we would in our home with hard wired headphones and are not doing any task. So we are focusing more on the details of the music. So why spend so much money on Bluetooth headphones? Sure you don't want low quality sound and comfort. Once you get to around $400 and higher, many sound good for their purpose. Once you jump over $800 many will feel its not worth it since you can get better sounding hardwired headphones that will sound better. Even the Beyerdynamic 1990's sound better than any Bluetooth headphones I ever heard.
Some people however want a pair of headphones to do it all well. So they don't want to use hardwired headphones. So for those people, the higher end Bluetooth headphones meet their needs the most
Good observations, we have to remember, many who use Bluetooth headphones are doing tasks while listening to music. If it's cleaning the kitchen, looking around while going for a walk or exercise, or traveling including watching YouTube on a exercise machine. We are not focusing on the music like we would in our home with hard wired headphones and are not doing any task. So we are focusing more on the details of the music. So why spend so much money on Bluetooth headphones? Sure you don't want low quality sound and comfort. Once you get to around $400 and higher, many sound good for their purpose. Once you jump over $800 many will feel its not worth it since you can get better sounding hardwired headphones that will sound better. Even the Beyerdynamic 1990's sound better than any Bluetooth headphones I ever heard.
Some people however want a pair of headphones to do it all well. So they don't want to use hardwired headphones. So for those people, the higher end Bluetooth headphones meet their needs the most
I think everyone is different. If I am thinking about issues at work while going for a walk with headphones, or my wife is mad at me for buying another pair of headphones, I am not focusing on the music as much. I am an audio engineer with a recording studio. When I sit down with headphones, I focus on the music. When I want to have some fun, the music is there to put me in a good mood as we focus on other tasks.I really disagree with this. I think that provided the tasks don't have domain overlap you can place focus on the sound, especially if one task is a motor task which becomes autonomous. There are two key factors that affect multi tasking performance
I often find myself focused on the sound when walking from A to B, not really thinking so much about my journey or the next step in front of me. In those moments I lose myself in the journey and the detail of it. Because the activity of walking is both automatic and does not involve executive functioning or any significant demand on working memory, it does not obstruct someone's ability to focus on the sound if they so wish.
- Domain specificity: do the two tasks overlap in terms of cognitive pathways. For instance do they both involve working memory? Executive functioning?
- Automaticity: Is the task performed automatically, without conscious thought? For instance, something like a motor skill like walking.
My background is cognitive neuroscience, but I must admit attention and multi tasking are not my research areas. Still I'm quite convinced someone can appreciate the detail while doing simple tasks such as walking.
Everyone has different goals, needs, and preferences. What is right for one person is not necessarily right for another. But that does not invalidate your experience or preferences. What works best for you, is what you should have. Perhaps some may like the Bathys over the Beyerdyanmic 1990's, but for me, the 1990's provide more detail and a bigger sound stage. Then of course is there heightened top end that they are known for. But if you want the connivence of Bluetooth as well, I think the Bathy's are one of the best to get without getting into headphones over $900. .As with everything there is no one answer. The Bathys can be for some people a one stop shop and it is a very good one accounting for cost and convenience. I don’t believe Focal ever intended for the Bathy’s to be in a consideration set with the Radiance (Bathys is my first Focal). I work from home and travel a bit but also have a need where I want to listen to music at night when my young kids are sleeping. The Bathy’s, for me, give me a audiophile grade sound on the go but also allow me to critically listen to music at night when otherwise I couldn‘t because of the sound leak from my open back Ananda’s.
I could be in the minority but think most people buying the Bathys are doing so to get as close to “audiophile” grade sound on the go / fill needs like mine.
I really disagree with this. I think that provided the tasks don't have domain overlap you can place focus on the sound, especially if one task is a motor task which becomes autonomous. There are two key factors that affect multi tasking performance
I often find myself focused on the sound when walking from A to B, not really thinking so much about my journey or the next step in front of me. In those moments I lose myself in the journey and the detail of it. Because the activity of walking is both automatic and does not involve executive functioning or any significant demand on working memory, it does not obstruct someone's ability to focus on the sound if they so wish.
- Domain specificity: do the two tasks overlap in terms of cognitive pathways. For instance do they both involve working memory? Executive functioning?
- Automaticity: Is the task performed automatically, without conscious thought? For instance, something like a motor skill like walking.
My background is cognitive neuroscience, but I must admit attention and multi tasking are not my research areas. Still I'm quite convinced someone can appreciate the detail while doing simple tasks such as walking.
I think everyone is different. If I am thinking about issues at work while going for a walk with headphones, or my wife is mad at me for buying another pair of headphones, I am not focusing on the music as much. I am an audio engineer with a recording studio. When I sit down with headphones, I focus on the music. When I want to have some fun, the music is there to put me in a good mood as we focus on other tasks.
Today I'm sending mine back, I did a A/B with AirPods Max also. APM Sounds better, looks better, has actual Noise Cancelling and Transparency mode which works. I find usb DAC function to be useless as well. Kinda still mad that they sell it for $699. Focal makes great headphones, just not wireless ones.
Here's my take on video:
Today I'm sending mine back, I did a A/B with AirPods Max also. APM Sounds better, looks better, has actual Noise Cancelling and Transparency mode which works. I find usb DAC function to be useless as well. Kinda still mad that they sell it for $699. Focal makes great headphones, just not wireless ones.
Here's my take on video: