wildemu
New Head-Fier
I have to give it a shot, the creative dongle comes with this microphone adapter that you can plug into the controller. I have to see if HFP mode is required, that would suck as sound quality takes a nosedive.
Focal Bathys - Wireless ANC Over-Ear Headphone
- Thread starter SlydZ
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wildemu
New Head-Fier
For what it's worth, I find the ear pads and clamp more comfortable than the airpods max, almost the same level as sony but not as flexible.
wildemu
New Head-Fier
the bathys mic only works on PS5 when in HFP mode, which makes the game audio terrible. The alternative is to stick the creative mic adapter into the controller and use that as the mic.
Luke Skywalker
Headphoneus Supremus
Mine don’t feel bulky but I do use a cloth headband cover to make them comfortable. I have a big head though
xxearvinxx
100+ Head-Fier
Thanks for checking that for me!
What is HFP mode?
wildemu
New Head-Fier
"HFP stands for Handsfree protocol and is a type of Bluetooth used to make voice calls.
In HFP mode, the Creative BT-W4 allows you to use your wireless headset for voice chat, but premium A2DP Bluetooth codecs (aptX Adaptive, aptX, and SBC) will not be available"
For the people asking about PS5 compatibility, there really are no good options for using the Bathys on PS5. You can't get the best audio quality out of the system because you're either connecting via bluetooth or via 3.5mm which is only going to offer decent quality if you're pushing it through another DAC like the iFi Zen Dac that I use with my PS5. But even then, you're putting it through 3 stages of D/A conversion which compromises the quality as compared to if you could just plug it in via the USB-C.
And that's just to get the audio working. Then you have to worry about a microphone. I use the Antlion Modmic Wireless clipped to my shirt when I have tried this, but as I say, it's unworthwhile overall.
And all of that, for audio that just isn't all that great for games anyway. The Bathy's sound nice enough but they're not that spacious, they don't represent the depth of a 3D space too well and while the imaging is decent, I have low budget gaming headphones with better imaging and sound stage. I enjoy the Philips Fidelio 2XR + V-Moda Boom Pro plugged into the controller more than the Focal Bathys for games. They're less detail orientated yes, but they're much more spatious and immersive while being more comfortable and less fatiguing for gaming sessions.
What I actually use for games is the LCD-GX through a iFi Zen Dac alongside the Ant Lion Modmic wireless. It's a good setup but I actually wouldn't recommend the Zen Dac as it's UAC1 mode is temperamental. They released an update a while back to enable the dac to recognise when it needs to be in UAC1 and support that configuration for compatibility with devices like the PS5, but it does not always work. Quite often I am switching the PS5 on and off again while plugging in the Zen DAC to get it to be recognised.
But, if you're really dead set on say, having the Bathys are your only headphone for everything then the absolute best setup is wired with a DAC and the antlion modmic wireless. I'd look into alternatives to the Zen DAC though, you want something with out of the box UAC1 compatibility. Bluetooth is another option with the modmic wireless too but I think the delay on Bluetooth audio is intolerable for games so that's not an area I would pursue personally.
And that's just to get the audio working. Then you have to worry about a microphone. I use the Antlion Modmic Wireless clipped to my shirt when I have tried this, but as I say, it's unworthwhile overall.
And all of that, for audio that just isn't all that great for games anyway. The Bathy's sound nice enough but they're not that spacious, they don't represent the depth of a 3D space too well and while the imaging is decent, I have low budget gaming headphones with better imaging and sound stage. I enjoy the Philips Fidelio 2XR + V-Moda Boom Pro plugged into the controller more than the Focal Bathys for games. They're less detail orientated yes, but they're much more spatious and immersive while being more comfortable and less fatiguing for gaming sessions.
What I actually use for games is the LCD-GX through a iFi Zen Dac alongside the Ant Lion Modmic wireless. It's a good setup but I actually wouldn't recommend the Zen Dac as it's UAC1 mode is temperamental. They released an update a while back to enable the dac to recognise when it needs to be in UAC1 and support that configuration for compatibility with devices like the PS5, but it does not always work. Quite often I am switching the PS5 on and off again while plugging in the Zen DAC to get it to be recognised.
But, if you're really dead set on say, having the Bathys are your only headphone for everything then the absolute best setup is wired with a DAC and the antlion modmic wireless. I'd look into alternatives to the Zen DAC though, you want something with out of the box UAC1 compatibility. Bluetooth is another option with the modmic wireless too but I think the delay on Bluetooth audio is intolerable for games so that's not an area I would pursue personally.
wildemu
New Head-Fier
I’ve been comparing it to the Audeze Penrose and it is holding up great, have played forbidden west and ragnarok so far to test it out. In adaptive aptX I don’t see the latency at all. I’m assuming a multiplayer shooter where you need to know the footstep locations is where you will see the difference?
The most noticable delay that I observe is actually on menus and things that are expected to have an extremely immediate response. I imagine you wouldn't be able to tell from footsteps in competitive shooters because the delay on the footstep feedback isn't aligned with a visual cue. As in, you can't see him so you can't see the time that the footsteps should occur.
People often complain about delay when it affects spoken diaogue when lips are visible, but I think the easiest to observe is on moments in games like where you strike something with a weapon or the movement of the cursor over items in a menu that are supposed to click, tap, or whatever as you move across them.
shuy
100+ Head-Fier
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Bit of a random question, but can I attach a mic to the Bathys, so I have an external mic? I have some echo when I take calls and want to explore having the mic further away from the speakers.
You can use a Vmoda book pro cable for wired mode or you can use one of the Antlion mics to add a usb mic.
I have an antlion mic but I would not clip it to this because the big silver notch that it grips to is a little ugly. I just clip the antlion wireless mic to my shirt and that works pretty well if I want to use it like that.
But I usually don’t bother, and I just use alternative headsets like the LCD GX at home while gaming.
Richiecass
New Head-Fier
Hi just read your very thorough review; excellent work. I just got the Bathys myself and tried them in 3.5 wired mode with an external dac/amp, my chord mojo 2. Thought it enhanced the sound and the mojo was definitely controlling the volume and amplification but got into a debate online whether the internal dac and dsp is over-riding an external one, even with the Bathys dac turned off. Any ideas if you really can use them wired with external amp/dac given they must be powered on and not truly passive? Again I’m not talking about the usbc dac mode. I thought they sounded great wired to the mojo.
Richiecass
New Head-Fier
I just got a usbc female otg to lightning adapter from b&h photo online waiting for it to arrive. It’s very hard to find but a few places have it.
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The internal DAC overrides anything external, any audio signal from the 3.5 mm cable goes through an analog to digital process before sending it to the internal DAC for digital to analog (with DSP) so there's not a lot of reason to use an external source unless you want to EQ on top of the DSP applied.
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