It’s been five years since Focal launched its first wireless headphones, namely Listen to Wireless. They were reasonable, for Focal, with a price tag of around NOK 3,000. With good and powerful sound, just a crisp touch. Active noise cancellation, on the other hand, was absent.
Listen Wireless was a solid addition to the big headphone jungle, but not a bigger success story than Focal that put wireless sound on hold afterwards. The focus of the French manufacture has instead turned to high-end wired watches for enthusiasts. Where success in return was indisputable.
But now Focal has cut the cables once again, giving us Bathys. Developed and manufactured in Focal’s factory in St. Etienne and with the valuable lessons learned from working with their most expensive watches.
Focal Bathys looks really cool! I have to admit, one of the most beautiful wireless headphones I’ve ever seen.
Premium noise-canceling watches
Focal Bathys has both active noise cancellation, Bluetooth 5.1 with multipoint connection (can be connected to two devices at the same time), and a separate DAC mode. This allows the watches to be connected to a PC or Mac with a USB cable, for true digitally uncompressed hi-fi sound directly into the watches. Up to 24bit / 192kHz. They can also be powered with a regular analog audio cable.
Bathys can be controlled with the Focal & Naim app, which, among other things, has an EQ function and lets you choose between two noise cancellation levels. And also ambient sound, where noise and other sounds from outside are let in, when you really want to hear the outside world. This function can also be used for listening (side tone) if you want to hear your voice during phone calls and video conferences.
Bathys also has its own buttons on the watches for answering calls, changing the noise mode and invoking the voice assistant. You can also fast forward and rewind songs and podcasts.
Selection of premium materials
Bathys are only partially foldable, which means that the bells can be rotated so that they lie flat against the floor, but not fully folded. A travel case is included and I would recommend using it to resist scratches and other unnecessary wear and tear.
Both the headband and the ear cushions are covered in genuine leather and light metals such as aluminum and magnesium have been used in the headband and yoke attachment of the bells. The integrated status lights indicate where the drivers are and in which direction the watches should be positioned. Fortunately, the lights can be dimmed or turned off completely via the app, because they break up a bit with the otherwise sleek design.
Top model memorabilia
Like its high-end wired siblings, the Bathys come with a 40mm driver with an M-shaped diaphragm.This is a dome with an extra neck on the outer edge, to give a shape that can resemble circular ripples. in water. The shape makes the dome noticeably stiffer, so it can be made thinner and lighter (= faster!) Without losing stiffness.
Like a pair of speakers?
The drivers are mounted diagonally towards the ears, to give a better and more precise stereo impression. It should give the experience of hearing a true dynamic speaker in a room, we believe Focal.
My experience is that angled elements have a certain function, but without the crosstalk between the left and right speakers that you get in a room, it will never be experienced as two speakers standing in front of you anyway.
You can still see the extreme channel separation as an advantage, it is no coincidence that some people buy balanced XLR cables for their watches. They have precisely the advantage that the left and right channels do not have to share a negative pole, which would otherwise lead to some contamination between the channels.
The acoustics have been thought of
The design of Bathys watches is taken from Focal’s high-end closed models. The push-pull wave from the back of the membrane is led out of the clock through an asymmetric Fibonnaci model, where each larger hole corresponds to the area of the next two measures combined. Similar sequence patterns repeat themselves in flowers, tree branches, snail shell structure and there are countless other examples.
Bathys has the Fibonacci pattern in common with the fantastic Heavenly. This should dampen the high frequency resonances as much as possible. The construction should also allow the membranes to move more freely within the bells, as they are not exposed to the same degree of compression that is otherwise achieved with closed headphones.
In shape
The fit is extremely good. Pillows are thick in the direction that matters most, which is the direction it builds from the head. The walls of the pillows, on the other hand, are thinner than normal, so that the bells can be quite compact, but still completely surround the ears. Offering excellent comfort.
A little bit of Bluetooth versus DAC sound
Bathys supports aptX Adaptive on Android phones, which provides slightly better sound quality than the AAC codec you have to settle for if you use an iPhone.
Get even better sound if you connect the watches to a PC with a USB cable. The uncompressed sound provides a little more air and more sound levels. However, you can’t turn off noise cancellation, just choose between two modes: Soft or Silent (or Transparent, which amplifies the noise). Soft dampens less and has less audible background noise produced by microphones than Silent, which dampens more.
But a very faint hiss is heard, which also reduces the differences between Bluetooth and digital cable. I wish you could turn mute off completely.
Good noise cancellation
A total of 8 microphones are used for the cancellation itself, for precise management of noise from the surrounding environment. The reason ANC is never turned off completely is that, according to Focal, it will give an uneven sound experience between the different modes.
What is at least certain is that Bathys removes noise very effectively. Soft-the mode removes some bass noise, but lets some high frequency noise through. Silent it suppresses the treble noise from the outside better, while the bass noise is even more displaced.
Sony WH-1000XM5 they have even better noise reduction, but they also give a more airtight feel when you wear them. Focal watches have a barely audible hiss from noise reduction, while Sony’s are end a little quieter, with its almost total silence. But you have to really focus to notice it on Focal too. On this point Focal is better than the vast majority, even Bose watches.
Noise cancellation is as effective as with Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, B&O Beoplay H95 And Black and white Px7 S2to name a few.
But it’s not mostly the noise cancellation that you pay extra for here. There is the quality of the materials, the details in the craftsmanship and, last but not least, the quality of the sound.
The best headphones from B&O
We were wondering when the high-end class would receive their first noise-canceling headphones. Obviously Bang & Olufsen are the first and Beoplay H95 adds more flavor!
The sound of Focal Bathys
The music rendered by Bathys sounds truly crystal clear. The highs are extremely detailed and distinct. Some of the clearest I’ve heard from wireless headphones, without being harsh. Namely, there are some hissing here and there, and the nasal singing voices can get too much. Steve Winwood is an example of singers who make you want to turn the volume down …
Fortunately, it can be easily fixed in the app’s 5-band equalizer. Lower 4 kHz by 4 dB, regain lost focus in the midrange by raising 3 dB at 1 kHz. So the sound remains clear, but a little softer in the lower treble.
The pool, on the other hand, is fabulous. It is both deep and delicious, without being bloated. It just adds the extra lower register that you miss from many others. Hear wacky percussion in Björk’s new song Atopo. Here, pulsating clarinets go hand in hand with heavy rhythms in a strange soundscape that only Björk would have invented, and Focal watches keep everything in perfect control. The pumping bass, amidst all the stingy details.
No less engaging is Tiëstos Boom, which thunders loose and massages the skull. And if you are not satisfied with the sound level Bathys offers, I have a trick for you: go back into the EQ and drag all frequencies up to the maximum level (6 dB). Except for 4 kHz, which you only drag 3 dB upwards, to limit sharpness.
You now have the extra gear you need to have a party in your head, or if you want to be able to boost the sound on lower average sounding recordings, like some classic tunes.
Extreme dynamics
The transient response is perhaps even the best I’ve heard from any wireless headset. What a kick in both snare and cymbals!
The sense of space is also in a different league than almost all other wireless headphones. Here you really feel that you have a large room around your head, where the music takes place.
Call quality just ok
The only real weakness of these headphones is the call quality during phone calls and video conferences. It’s perfectly fine and the other party hears me fine. Clear enough to be able to conduct conversations well. But the user’s voice is slightly closed and also a bit low in volume. Both the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 are significantly better here.
Conclusion
The Focal Bathys are a truly luxurious pair of headphones that exude quality and finesse. Yes, they cost money, but no shortcuts have been taken with cheap plastic or other cheap materials either.
The fit is exemplary, you can wear them for a long time without feeling discomfort. Noise cancellation is also very good, with a low hiss that is almost impossible to hear.
The sound is in a special class, especially in terms of transient response and dynamics, but the bass and mids are also some of the best you can imagine. The tweeter reproduction is also very good and in our ears it gets even better with a small EQ setting. To get rid of a slight harshness that occurs in some recordings.
Despite simply decent call quality, we find Focal Bathis to be a terrific overall package that goes beyond both. Apple AirPods Max And B&O Beoplay H95.
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