Are Bluetooth Headphones about to steal the show? The all-new Focal Bathys
/Here at Audio T Reading we’re still buzzing from the successful return of the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Britain’s biggest and best home and portable audio extravaganza. We loved our time at the show, and in a desperate ‘just one more’ moment to continue playing with alluring audio goodies, we decided to grab a clutch of Bluetooth headphones from the show for further amusement in our Reading shop. But, why Bluetooth headphones? Simple… it was easier to sneak out larger numbers of these than, say, bigger and bulkier amplifiers (erm, we snuck a couple of these out too, but it’d be rude not too hey?). Among our Brizzle (Bristol) headphone heist, there is one particular set of Bluetooth cans that has ironically stolen from us, stealing first our ears and then our hearts… So please make yourself comfy, we need to tell you more about the Focal Bathys…
Behold… THE BATHYS
BUT WAIT… ‘HI-FI’ BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES?
So why the excitement about a set of Bluetooth headphones? We all know that Bluetooth isn’t proper hi-fi don’t we (arms folded, take those things away)? Well, allow me (Rishi) to share a personal journey… Over the years I’ve owned a number of wired headphones, mostly Sennheiser’s, from the DJ’s favourite HD 25 (couldn’t resist the aluminium 25th year anniversary edition), to the HD 560S (perhaps the most transparent ‘phones at the price) as well as the largely coveted HD 660S (we now have the version two HD 660S2 in-store and they’re even better). But back in 2020, a year that certainly brought me perfect vision, I wanted to join the growing hordes of listeners experiencing sound without wires.
I had just downloaded the Tidal music streaming app to my phone, and I needed a simple, convenient, way to connect to my phone and listen both wirelessly AND in high-quality… surely a contradiction. Going on sound quality alone, everything I’d read at the time (and still read now) suggested that ditching the wires wasn’t the way to go. Fearing the worst, I researched endlessly into the somewhat limited wireless options available, and eventually I went for an unpopular Bluetooth headphone offering at the time, the Beyerdynamic Lagoon. Why the Lagoon? Firstly because of Beyer’s renowned sonic pedigree, and then because of the Lagoon’s promise to connect using Bluetooth codecs, such as AptX HD, that were among the highest-quality available at the time. Although I could only connect to my iPhone via the (supposedly) lesser quality AAC codec, my talented Bluesound Node 2i (the Swiss army knife of streamers) was packing AptX HD and had a rare ability to stream music to other devices, such as Bluetooth headphones, as well as receive Bluetooth streams from other devices, such as smartphones and laptops. So, what’s the point of this trip down memory lane? Well, the Beyerdynamic Lagoon did something quite unexpected… it impressed me with its seemingly high-fidelity sound! Even connecting via AAC to my iPhone, I couldn’t stop listening to music through them. In fact, I used them so much that they literally started to fall apart! I blame it on their extended battery life - this paved the way for longer back-to-back listening sessions without having to constantly reach for the charger.
EXUDING QUALITY - CHECK OUT THOSE YOKES, FOLKS
GETTING AU FAIT WITH THE FOCAL BATHYS
Back to 2023 and enter the Focal Bathys (all together now, bat-tees). It was mentioned before about the sonic pedigree of Beyerdynamic… well French outfit Focal are seasoned high-fidelity thoroughbreds in their own right. They know more than a thing or two about making highly accomplished, multiple award-winning, hi-fi headphones. With the Bathys, Focal have taken on a challenge that at best may be deemed audacious, but at worst will likely be dismissed as foolhardy – they have dared to release a set of premium, active noise cancelling (ANC), hi-fi quality, Bluetooth (surely not hi-fi?) headphones. The Brits will tell you, tongue-in-cheek of course, that their French neighbours are a bit mad. But in the case of our demo Focal Bathys, and while getting more au fait with them, there were attributes revealing themselves as much more mad-genius!
First of all, build quality on the Bathys is phenomenal, especially in the domain of currently available Bluetooth headphones. The yokes that attach each earcup to the headband are metal and incorporate magnesium, giving strength and lightness, and the design allows for the earcups to move freely in all planes. This bodes well for a comfortable fit on various different head shapes. Back into first-person for a moment… the reason I’m so drawn to this exemplary aspect of build-quality is because the yokes on many headphones that I’ve owned have been made from plastic, and with heavy-duty use (repeatedly putting the cans on and taking them off, throwing them on the table, dropping them on the floor, squeezing them into my jam-packed travel bag, etc.) some of those headphones have eventually ended-up breaking at one of their yokes. And when your ‘phones break there, no amount of DIY Sellotape repairs will make them feel great again.
BREATHTAKING DESIGN, FABULOUS FINISH - THE BATHYS
It's also hard not to notice the familiar Focal design cue of numerous circular holes punched into the ear cup covers, which surround the tornado looking Focal logo. This logo illuminates by the way, but can be unlit using the Focal & Naim app. And the way the logo is offset to the front of the earcups, a sweet design tweak by Focal, makes for a striking visual pattern of radiating concentric orbs that are smaller at the front and larger at the back. The Bathys could well be Focal’s prettiest headphones yet.
MARVEL AT THOSE ANGLED MAGNESIUM-ALUMINIUM DRIVERS
BUT HOW DO THE BEAUTIFUL BATHYS SOUND?
This brings us to the most exciting part and a big inspiration for this blog – How do the Bluetooth Bathys sound? Have Focal managed to pull off the unthinkable and produce, at their very first attempt, an audiophile grade set of Bluetooth headphones?
Through the most grit of teeth, even the most ardent of “wire-philes” may do well to concede that they’ve done just that. At this time of writing, compared to the vast majority of other wireless Bluetooth headphones out there, the Bathys are a noticeable step up in sonic performance. While many of the others can sound mid-to-hi-fi at best, these Bathys are genuinely hi-fi sounding, showing the virtues of being detailed throughout the entire frequency range, having the ability to clearly dissect and present the individual layers in the most complicated of tracks, and demonstrating a wide dynamic range that makes listening to many musical genres a joyful experience. Straight out of the box, our demo Bathys sounded bright and a tad tight, but after a week or two of regular play the hybrid magnesium-aluminium drivers opened up a treat, and for a closed-back pair of headphones the Bathys impress with a spacious presentation.
Via the Focal & Naim app, it’s possible to tweak the stock tuning of the Bathys via a 5-band equaliser. This adjustment is great if, say, you find the stock tuning leaning a bit bright, or perhaps want to eek out more sparkle for low level listening, etc. The Bathys’ high-quality drivers love to play loud too, showing great cleanliness at those higher decibels with little-to-no compression.
It’s worth noting that the ANC remains permanently engaged on the Bathys, which does a great job of creating a silent cocoon for listeners to enjoy their tunes even in the noisiest of environments. The ANC can also be switched to a lower strength setting, which works a treat if a lesser amount of ANC feels more suitable or comfortable.
CONNECT VIA THE DAC FOR HIGH RESOLUTION UP TO 24 BITs / 192 KHZ
LASTING IMPRESSIONS - THE FUTURE OF HIGH-END BLUETOOTH CANS
Given the strong showing of the Focal Bathys, the future of premium, truly hi-fi, wireless Bluetooth headphones is looking increasingly more exciting, and it’s clear that the Bathys has significantly raised the performance bar and may well have kicked-off a trend towards higher quality, perhaps even reference grade, Bluetooth headphones from a whole host of aspiring audio equipment manufacturers. For anyone thinking that wired headphones are still the holy grail for the best possible audio quality, well that still more-or-less holds true, and that very case is made here given that the performance of the Focal Bathys itself can be improved further by attaching a USB cable between it and a digital music source, courtesy of the Bathys’ inbuilt DAC mode. But the key takeaway here is that the difference between using the Bathys in wireless and wired mode isn’t cavernously huge. The gap between wired and wireless audio quality is closing all the time, and the Bathys in their Bluetooth mode are so admirably proficient that they could genuinely be preferred over a number of similarly priced wired designs. Throw in the Bathys’ stated 30 hours battery life, their grab-and-go convenience, and their ability to connect wirelessly to your mobile phone (most of which don’t sport a headphone jack anymore) all while sacrificing so little in the all-important sound quality department, and perhaps it won’t be all that long before the Focal Bathys’ chic charms steal your ears and heart too.
Rishi and Gareth – Audio T Reading – Thank you for reading.
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