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I was hoping so bad that these could be a game changer. I also really wanted to own a Focal headphone, so as soon as I saw these I immediately bought them. Sound was great (not 800€ great but still...) and I will not cover it here, but sooo many problems with ANC. First ANC was not that great at all, but for me it was ok, since I don't care that much about ANC. Then I noticed a hiss on the right cup, and I found out it was related to the Focal logo Led, if I turned off the Led the hiss would disappear, the hiss in transparency mode was definetly noticeable more than in the other modes. Also using the Bathys while riding my bike, the volume dropped really slightly everytime I ran over a pot hole, I think it could be caused due some type of compensation ANC was trying to achieve. It's a shame, I really think this is the right path for Focal but for me this product felt like an alpha version. And as much as I wanted to, I really wanted to keep them, I could not ignore those problems. Has anyone found these problems as well? Any opinion? Anyway now I'm thinking about a Focal Radiance + something like a Qudelix as a portable endgame.

Thank you for sharing. I’m kinda in the same boat, except I already own the Radiance and am looking for portable BT end-game set. I hoped the Bathys could be just that, but I’m leaning more towards PX8 as the complete package is just better (even though I really want this to be the Bathys).

As far as Radiance with a BT/portable DAC/AMP as a portable end-gam, I can chime in on that one. I’m dragging along my Radiance with an M17 currently, and while a Qudelix (or perhaps BTR7) would make it a bit more portable, it really isn’t. It is too bulky, cables need to be detached fron Radiance to be stored and it’s just too bulky to walk around with in my opinion.

Lol. The legendary Focal line continues its disappointment

I really want to try a pair of clears, but between the reliability issues and the complete lack of replacement parts basically necessitating the use of fugly headband covers, it just doesn't feel worth the risk.

I'd feel more inclined to take a chance with them if they were cheaper, but at basically a grand? Not so keen.

They are really punchy, i will say something.. if they don't fail on the first year of moderate use then you are golden

So if you can buy it with a warranty to match that then the clears are awesome

I'm sure they are... But I already own TH909s, and I'm trying to reign in the irresponsible spending on audio gear.

Is that T5.3 ?

T1.3

I admire your riding a bike listening to full size overear cans dgaf attitude.

None of these dedicated high end audio companies can make “whole package” headphones. The sound is good but the features never seem like a priority and are just there to tick boxes. Garbage ANC, terrible transparency modes, high noise floor, flakey bluetooth and app controls.

i own them takes heaps of time to burn in don’t give up !

I did the same. I returned mine a few days ago. To be honest, they were rather disappointing. I've loved prior Focal products but they sacrificed too much with these. They sounded anemic and they put an odd emphasis on the background. I decided to try the px8s for now, have a pair on order.

I keep kinda waiting for sony to throw something out there, since they are one of the kings of ANC and can make a good sounding headphone they are in a good spot where they can combine technology and don't have to invent their own ANC or buy it from someone else and try to make it work.

Those are technological problems. They won't burn in.

i’m very happy with mine 🤪

I would absolutely drop big money on something approaching Sony’s wired flagships with all their consumer digital features.

You mind tossing up a review, replying to this or sending me a PM once you give the px8's a try. I'm doing the same shopping i'm guessing you and OP are doing and want something wireless with ANC that works well.

If i didn't need ANC id probably just grab some closed back's that are not too hard to drive and DIY a wireless solution to them and call it a day.

I don't need it to be the Z1 either, id probably honestly prefer its baby cousin in terms of audio quality and that way once Sony adds on all the extra cost associated with doing wireless on it, and ANC and all the other features its not a $3k usd headphone.

I know id want to the ANC-Z1 out of the house and do daily activities with it because im sure it would be amazing I'm just not sure if want to take the risk of doing that with a 3k headphone and then treating it the way it would be treated as a daily beater headphone.

Id be much more inclined personally to buy and use one that sits around the $700-1.5kish mark.

Like what focal is doing but give me sony build and sony feature's. Ill pay a premium for that, so 1.5k id do.

That has literally nothing to do with the discussion.

Sure. If you don't hear from me for 2 weeks just hit me up. They should arrive this week.

In US they should cost around 730-830$ Open-Box with 5-year warranty I believe, so you are fine with this, the only part that warranty didn't cover it's headband, but it's really rare for them to break

I’m enjoying my AirPod Max set. No complaints

Ah, well you see, I'm not in the US, and even at that price I should really hold off (planning to upgrade my GPU soon, which is gonna sting, plus energy bills over winter are going to be pretty brutal).

it's not even the headband itself breaking, it's the fact that you can't get replacement padding... at all. I'm generally quite lucky in that my hair and skin doesn't seem to secrete whatever caustic substance makes other people's pleather disintegrate within no time... but still, I'd feel much happier knowing that I can swap out the padding if need be.

I still have my bathys. i had both the px8s and these and sent back the px8s. as for transparency, yes i agree on the noise floor when it's on, but it didn't bother me at all compared to the px8s. as for bluetooth connectivity, it's rock solid. and the noise floor in either of the ANC modes is extremely minimal compared to transparency. I'm not as active as you are. most of my use case is in my office working and monitoring things around me (dog, toddler). so i can't speak to activity related tasks. I know they purposefully didnt' go overboard on ANC to retain the best sound quality possible and it really shows on these cans compared to the px8s and for sure far beyond my ole trusty xm4s. everyone has a use case that's important to them of course.

I had both. I returned the PX8s. listening to them back to back was surprising based on what others have said. the px8s were dark and claustrophobic compared the bathys. also the transparency mode on the px8s was inferior (not that either are winning any awards). I also found i preferred the controls on the bathys more than the px8s thanks to a dedicated anc button, and a dedicated assistant button. I realize sound is subjective, but to me, the bathys were the clear winner here coming from someone who really loves open backed headphones (hifiman edition xs). from a looks perspective, i did prefer the px8s. but it's not like i'm staring at them when they're on my head so....

awesome thanks.

Sadly nowhere local that has both so cant really do a back to back test.

You should try the Mark Levinsons 5909.

yeah, it's tough. i just tossed them both on credit and returned what i didnt' like. i thought the the decision was going to take weeks to make a decision. it literally took a couple of days max. at one point, i just didnt' want to reach for the PX8s anymore. that's when i knew.

Deff an option, Id rather just not have to do it that way. I just got the QC45's in as bose had a pretty damn good deal on refurb pairs so might just go do comparison with each compared to the QC45 and see what i like the most.

Thought i needed the full anc of the qc45's but i dont think its the case anymore so wouldn't mind some better sound if possible.

The thing that made me crazy was not the noise floor, but it being only in one cup, and being related to the LED, that made me crazy. If the noise would be there in both cups, I could have deal with it, but being only in one cup made me felt like the headphone was broken. And also I find it very hironical that they could have just avoided to put the LED there in the first place and solved the problem, since nobody really want to use that led.

He’s sent them back you wizard

another person from a shit hole country 😂

so weird. i'm not currently experiencing what you're talking about. toggled it on and off like 10x to see if i can hear a difference in both ears. led on or off i don't hear any difference with transparency on. i wonder if you actually did have a dud.... i've never owned focals before, but from what i gather, aren't they prone to QA issues?

the qc45s would murder the bathys' in ANC. my sony's simply destroy them in that aspect. sound and soundstage wise for me it's no match.

Since ive got the QC45's in hand now I'm just going to go test the px8's and the bathy's vs the QC45 and see what one i prefer and see what i think of each's ANC.

I really don't think i need all of the qc45's ANC so gotta do some science, i could just order both pairs but i might as well go take the trip and oogle some other nice audio shit at the shops.

In some reviews I did read about hissing problem in transparency mode, and I texted few people here on reddit and they had this problem too. I though about a QC issue as well, but if it's so common I can't buy them until I have a working unit.

The hissing i don't refute. but the light associated with the hissing i can't replicate. the hissing is there regardless. i should also state that I don't think it's that bad.

For me the Bathys didn't have enough guts. I felt like when the song had a stirring moment, for example, when the cellos kick in on the Arrival song from the Transformers OST, the Bathys felt disappointing. Maybe they needed to be burned in more but I gave them a few longer listening sessions and found myself disappointed. I will grant you this was mostly over Bluetooth (AptX) but that's my primary use case so that's where I expect them to do well.

I have heard the PX8s have a narrow sound stage and that's not what the Bathys suffer from. The Bathys have a wide sound stage for sure and it feels like you can easily localize each instrument. I loved this aspect of them for sure. I just wish it didn't sound anemic at those higher energy moments. I think the way I would describe it would be at the point where the energy really kicks in it feels like the dynamic range cuts out a bit in the mid to low range. No amount of EQing changed this for me. When I'm listening while working I love those higher energy moments to keep my heart pumping and my heart just wasn't into these headphones.

I'm a bit afraid to find the same issues there.