Fantastic review, Andrew. Your honesty about the price-to-performance ratio is refreshing — especially given how inflated the MG’s MSRP feels.
I actually wrote to Focal about this. I’ve owned or demoed nearly every serious ANC contender on the market: the original Bathys, B&W PX8, Sony XM5, DALI IO-12, Bose QC Ultra, Meze 109 Pro (not ANC), Écoute Audio TH1, Noble FoKus Apollo, Apple AirPods Max (USB-C), Sony XM6. The Bathys OG gets astonishingly close to audiophile-tier clarity, especially in USB-DAC mode. It’s one of the only wireless headphones I’ve used that holds up in a critical listening session — other than the DALI IO-12, which is really worth the elite price tag.
But asking $1,499 for the MG variant — even with the driver upgrade — +$700 was a misstep in my view. No app improvements, no added ANC performance, no design changes. Just a different material driver and a huge price leap. That’s why the market isn’t biting, and why most enthusiasts (like me) are watching for sub-$1,000 open-box listings instead of buying new.
I told Focal that pricing the MG version so high without improving the core platform undermines the value of both models. And if they had priced it at $899–999? I’d probably already own it. As it is I’m saying goodbye to Focal as a discerning member of the consumer headphone market.