Focal Bathys Wireless ANC Headphones Review 2 – Flashy And Bold
Focal Bathys offer excellent premium solid build features with real leather earpads, a hearing app and excellent sound that makes the others feel like toys.
In this Article
INTRO
Having recently reviewed the excellent Hadenys and the Azurys, the Focal Bathys shares a similar design while offering an interesting take on what wireless ANC can be in relation to others. Focal has been a rock and has never deviated from their commitment to unwavering premium build and consistency.
Built solidly just as the others in the lineup, the heft and clamping with the leather earpads elevates these above standard affairs from Sony, Bose and Sennheiser Momentum series. In an attempt to maintain that premium build, it is like traveling in a suit jacket and slacks, a bit restrictive in order to maintain a look, while everyone else is shooting for more compact and lightweight designs.
Focal can own that, and there is nothing wrong with eschewing certain design concepts. It does eliminate the creaky plastic experience of the Sony WH-1000XM3/XM4, at the expense of a larger case and weight. There is no mistaking the Focal Bathys for mediocre peers.
If you have ever driven a Toyota vs a Lexus then you get the idea. For those unfamiliar with Focal, the naming caused some confusion with my Brother-in-law who asked me if they were headphones for the shower…mind you they are not pronounced in the American English vernacular but rather Ba-teeze.
TRAVELING
On a 3.5 hour flight between Chicago and LA, that weight was not as much of a factor as I anticipated. The case was more narrow at the top and allowed me to wedge it into the seat pocket and/or armreset against the window while juggling other technology for the family.
The ANC of the Focal Bathys is not class leading like the Sony, however I almost preferred it. A good friend of mine pointed out that he hates the pressurization feeling of most ANC algorithms, and he is not wrong. The Sony has a water in your ear feeling when turned on, which makes it superb at canceling lower frequency rumble. The Bathys take a different approach and merely reduce the levels and allow some upper frequency leakage as well making it more natural feeling.
The downside to this was increased listening volume to overcome this leakage. I do not know if allowing speech through is built into the algorithm, but announcements from the flight attendants came through with only muted volume.
I have to point out that there are three modes to the ANC that can be toggled with the Focal Naim App, or the button on the left earphone. Interestingly, there is no OFF mode, only Transparent, Silent and Soft and there is no alert mode that can allow voices through like Sony offers.
Switching it on and off was easy with the button, but I realized after I was home that the ANC toggle button only toggles between the set ANC mode and transparent. To set the ANC toggle mode, you have to hold the ANC button for a few seconds. Then it switches between the Soft and SIlent Modes. I believe for the majority of my inflight testing it was probably set to Soft.
One other suggestion I have for Focal is that I wish the ANC mode selection would announce the mode you are in when changed instead of having to guess if Soft or Silent was active. Transparent is easier to tell when active of course, no confusion at all there.
FEATURES
The bluetooth pairing button on the Focal Bathys offers play pause, and track forward and backwards controls. The power button doubles as the voice assistant which can be selected as either Amazon Alexa or Google using the Naim Focal App in addition to the voice assistant on the device (aka Siri).
For whatever reason, the Focal Bathys app does not always remember the device meaning you have to setup a new device every time you want to use it to make adjustments in the IOS app. The Android app seems to remember them. There is also no low latency mode available for the Focal Bathys, but it does offer multi-point connection between two devices.
Watching movies on the plane I could tell the audio was not completely synced with the movie, and although it has an adaptive apt-x mode that is supposed to be low latency for games and movies I could not figure out how to activate that mode. It is also not listed in the manual.
Using the Focal Naim app offers a unique Mimi hearing test of a select few unknown frequency bands starting from midrange to upper treble to determine your range of sensitivity and masking to those bands. It plays mature type noise, and introduces the tone and increases the volume until the user presses and holds the button, releasing it once the tone is masked. Everyone that I had try it, had delayed reactions to pressing and releasing the button, but overall it functioned well.
The result of the hearing test offered a non-labeled graph showing the uncertainty range and each band. The effect could be turned on or off along with a slider for intensity. I preferred the standard sound without the correction to higher frequencies, but it’s good to know that as you age it could be utilized.
I am still in mid-life so only minor hearing deviations are expected. If you decide to create a login, it can save your hearing tests and compare to past results, however I opted not to create a login since these are loaners.
Firmware was updated from 1.5.1 to 1.5.7 prior to my review. I know in some early reviews, there were complaints about the lighted logo. With the app version I was using, the logo brightness could be toggled to full, dim or off. I think there were early concerns that the lighting added some noise. I detected no such issue with my loaner pair.
There was a custom EQ preset with elevated bass and treble present prior to review. I set it back to none. EQ is pretty much standard on any wireless headphone with an app.
Lastly lets talk about the Focal Bathys battery life which is important given that they only function if turned on, even with the analog 3.5mm headphone cable connection. They can be charged fully in 1.5 hrs, or with a 2A quick charger 15 minutes will get you 5 hours of playtime. Other usage rates are listed at 32 hours in bluetooth mode, 35hrs with the 3.5mm cable, or 42 hours with the USB DAC mode.
COMFORTING THOUGHTS
The Focal Bathys exude premium build quality with solid construction with hefty weight and soft leather earpads that make the Sony earpads feel cheap. The Sonys also feel no different than their budget models, with lots of creaky plastic.
I liken this to driving a Lexus over a Toyota, the Sony will get you to and rom your music journey reliably while the Focal Bathys will elevate the experience and you will notice the feeling on your head.
Clamping force is also stronger with the Focal Bathys so between that and the weight, the premium feel, it might take a toll on comfort over longer periods. There isa 25% weight difference with the Focal Bathys at about 12oz and the Sony WH-1000XM3 at about 9oz.
SOUND
As noted by Loomis in his review, the Focal Bathys have to always be turned on to use meaning they are powered by their own internal amp. There is noticeable background dare I say hiss if nothing is playing. Its not so much as hiss but rather like putting your ear to a seashell and hearing the electronic noise of an amp ready to boogie.
The Focal Bathys provide level-headed taut bass, sharp treble with MiMi turned on, but a much softer smoother presentation, spacious midrange. Sony in comparison lacks definition through the midbass and lower midrange with a hollowness.
Treble is bright and sharp when needed with some of the bluetooth compression sometimes peaking out. Perhaps this is also a quick time to point out the Focal Bathys maximum codec level is the more universally adopted AAC and Apt-X, which means no LDAC support.
Focal Bathys provide lots of width and spacing that is not always something achieved with closed back headphones. Excellent depth portrayal with excellent layering skills. Resolution is as good as it gets for wireless ANC, and bests even midrange wired models like the Philips Fidelio X2HR.
For brighter music sources, there is a fine line if there is any sort of sibilance the Focal Bathys will not smooth it over, this is not the fault of the headphones. Just note that lower quality compressed sound sources or program material have nowhere to hide. I am actually quite surprised as these deviate slightly form the overall Focal house sound I am accustomed to with most of my experience being mobile audio products.
In addition to line input, and wireless connections Focal even adds in a switchable DAC mode through the USB cable for phones that no longer offer a 3.5mm connection. It sounds wonderful and with a warm accurate presentation and tightly controlled treble.
SENDING THE BATHYS HOME
Focal Bathys are for those that want a premium travel experience and are ready to graduate away from the Toyota Camry style of portable headphones and want a more luxurious experience. I wish Focal would add some more functions to the ANC side of things and polish the overall app experience, but the focus is towards premium sound quality and not so much gimmicks and features except one.
The personal hearing correction is unique and something Focal seems to be building into many of their other products as well. The sound experience delivers premium sound over big box brands, and despite the higher price tag offers excellent value for the quality sound and build. Bravo, these set the bar. Stay tuned to see how their new Bathys MG aim to take it even further.
Disclaimer: These were on loan from Naim/Focal and we thank them for allowing us the opportunity.
https://www.focal.com/products/bathys
SPECIFICATIONS
- Product type : Bluetooth closed headphones with active noise reduction
- Loudspeakers : 15/8″ (40mm) Aluminium/Magnesium ‘M’-shaped dome
- Frequency response (+/- 3dB) : 15 Hz – 22 kHz
- Harmonic distortion rate : <0.2 % @1kHz
- Autonomy :
- 30h in Bluetooth
- 35h with mini Jack connection
- 42h in USB-DAC mode
- Battery type : Lithium-ion 1060 mAH
- Charging time : 1.5 h
- Quick charge : Yes
- Bluetooth version : 5.1 Multipoint
- Bluetooth Codec : AAC, aptX™, aptX™ Adaptive, SBC
- Connector :
- Jack 3.5 mm, USB-C
- Microphones : 8
- Voice assistant : Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
DISCLAIMER
Our generic standard disclaimer.
