The PX8’s I returned because they made my ears ring; whereas, the Bathys sounded smooth in side by side listening. I liked the PX8 looks and comfort, but Bathys sound more smooth and natural. A review by Resolve(see the PX8 forum on headphones.com) later in 2022 that I saw, showed some regions that charted shouty so that must have been the sharpness that irritated my ears. Still ANC headohones cant compete against openbacks. So I only use the Bathys for noisey areas.
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Interestingly, I’ve managed to get 2 of my non-audiophile friends, who are well aware of my audiophile cred, interested in Bathys over the competing Bose, Sony, etc options. If Focal was looking to capture people who are not part of the audiophile world but might be casually interested in higher fidelity than the usual fare I would anecdotally suggest that they succeeded. 
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I have been using EQ with my other headphones, but only recently thought about it with the Focal Bathys. It makes a significant difference. The empirical proof is that I am reaching for the Bathys much more often.
Here is a link to suggested EQ settings:
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I can‘t open your link. Not with Safari and also not with chrome. Is there anyone else with this problem?
Ps.: It worked on my Laptop! Thanks
The app has an EQ option called Dynamic which is aligned to the harman curve. Looks like the tmarshl link leads to the oratory adjustment to achieve his target curve. Personally, the Dynamic EQ setting sounds like harman but seems to congest the sounds stage IMO. So I like the standard Bathy EQ setting for everything aside from low volume listening…in this case the loudness EQ setting sounds best.
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Concerning EQ I suggest you guys also check out Nomax‘ EQ adjustment that is talked about a lot on Head-fi:
In short: attenuate the bass, elevate the mids and highs 
I really dig his EQ (though I use, depending on genre, 0,5 more subbass)
Ps.:
For USB connection he suggests:
-2.0/62Hz
-1.5db/250 Hz
+1.5db/1kHz
+2db/4kHz
+1.5db/16kHz
@Resolve you still haven‘t shared your Bathys EQ (with the Focal app) … what do you think of Nomax‘ adjustments? Where would you deviate? (I am especially interrested in your thoughts about the EQ when listening with USB connection). Thanks!
I don’t use the app EQ really. I’d maybe make a slight adjustment to the upper mids but for the most part I leave it as is when using it portably.
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How do people find this on iPhone?
I use it with an iPhone 13 Pro, and think it’s great!
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Not for me. I received my Bathys earlier today and tried it with the lightning to USB 3 and the lightning to usb adapter Neither worked.
The Bathys are set to DAC. Any setting I’ve missed on the phones or the iPhone?
EDIT - I just tried plugging the Bathys into my Windows 11 computer - USB C to USB C. That worked. So there’s something in the Rube Goldberg connection to the iPhone that is wrong.
Please note - I have been using the CCK with my Dragonflies for at least 5 years without a hitch. iPhone is a model 12.
Further edit I got it to work. I just needed to use a USB 3 cable.
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iPhone 12 Pro chiming in: love the Bathys as well, apart from the sound that I really like, it also just works seamlessly. I am using Apple’s Music app / Marvis; no streaming; mp4, aac, and Apple lossless files)
It hasn’t been widely reported yet since the sale just happened but the Bathys’ official MSRP is now $699 putting it at the same price point as the B&W PX8.
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I looked up the Focal Bathys previous MSRP. It used to be $799.
Ok, so I got the Bathys for 20% off and … W. T. F?! The Bathys are stunning! If one doesn’t like the Bathys for $700, $800, or even at $1000 then I have no idea what you want, but for $700, OMG what a steal!
I have a long equip test list that I stream over Tidal to test all the new audio equip I get (not very much really, but enough) and I literally couldn’t find a track the Bathys didn’t knock out:
- Transparent mode in a fairly quiet room, some air purifier background noise
- No EQ, including “dynamic” which I honestly didn’t like AT ALL so I’m super glad they didn’t tune the Bathys to the harman curve
- Pixel 7 Pro via AptX
- I have a big head, so the clamp is def there
- These are right out of the box, so not broken in (which IME can be a thing)
I’m not comparing to the 5909 or T+A as I haven’t heard those and probably won’t for a few months as I want to savor the Bathys and I have the B&W P7 wireless which I understand are similar to the PX8 which, for me, means great for video/movies/podcasts but not music.
I started the wireless HP journey WAY back 15? years ago with the PSB M4U2 which sounded better than just about anything at the time and had very minor ANC. I upgraded to the P7s and have pretty much used those since even though they don’t have ANC since, when I need that, I’ve used Sonys, most recently the WF & WH XM4s.
For home setup I listen to my ZMF Eikons & Atticus out of various amps & dacs, nothing summit-fi, and the Eikons are nearly my perfect tuning if that helps anyone gauge my point of view.
If I had to have any niggle about the Bathys sound it would be that it does favor vocals in the mix more than other HPs I use so on some tracks … so let’s talk
SOUND
- Swimmers - Zero 7 Jem Cooke: The Bathys de.liv.er the electronic bass on this track and perfectly balance in the vocals, wow
- Program - DJ Krush: another wow, with the Bathys bringing in the sub-bass; definitely not the biggest out there, but I can’t see anyone complaining
- C’est si bon - Emilie-Claire Barlow: this is great example of the Bathys’ cabaret tuning where you feel like you’re sitting in front row and the vocalist if right there with the band behind
- Angry Eyes - Loggins & Messina: great 70s track with bass guitar and real drums & cymbals, listen @ 0:43 where the Bathys are great
- This Feeling - Miquel Migs: great Deep House track that’s the flip side to the drums in L&M, with tons of electronic percussion, cymbals that can get lost, lots of vocals, etc that the Bathys nail
- Elements, Orchestral Version - Lindsey Sterling: it sounds really good, but I will say this is track where, say, the ZMF Eikon can bring tears to your eyes, but not so here so I’ll be interested to test this one on the cable (I’ll be using an AQ carbon c>c)
- Dry Country - B52s: Historically, IME, this is tough one for headphones with the drums; e.g., on the Dan Clark Aeons there aren’t any and I suspect the 5909 may have trouble with this one too, but that’s to be confirmed. In any event, the Bathys kill it in that oh-crap-i’m-supposed-to-be-analyzing way.
- Wabash Blues - Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges: The minute the horns started up I just started laughing out loud the Bathys are so great here
- Barley - Lizz Wright: no headphones should escape being tested by this track due to the big enormous drum with TONS of sub-bass, and it’s a big pass for the Bathys. Again, though, with that cabaret tuning: the vocalist is right in front of you and the band behind them.
- Bad Guy - Billie Eilish: this is classic equip tester due to the insane bass and this is one track I’d say there’s room for improvement as I hear some bleed though, again, I’ll have to do some more listening on my ZMFs to see if I’m hearing what thing. with that, DAMN do these Bathys deliver DAT BASS
- On & On - Erykah Badu: this track trips up so many systems; either they can’t handle the bass or the knocky thing is ear splitting or the vocals disappear but the Bathys handled everything great
COMFORT
I have a big head, as in let out the ball cap almost all the way out, so these have some clamp, but in a firm & comfortable way so not bad, but you do feel it. The good news there is with many over-ear headphones I have trouble fitting my right ear as there’s usually a gap by my jaw but not so with the Bathys so I’ll take it!
They’re not uncomfortable over time and I can easily wear these for hours with no hot spots but they do get a little warm. As for weight, you do feel it a bit and they’re not as super light as the XM4s but I don’t really care so I’m fine with the size and weight and I’d wear them anywhere.
TRAVEL EASE / PORTABILITY
I travel a fair bit by car & air and have a fairly good packing setup, usually being a 40L carry-on backpack and a 26L shoulder bag that’s also my ‘personal item’ bag for flights. In there I usually carry all my in-flight stuff including the Sony WH/F XM4s which are my go-tos for flights (sometimes I’ll wear both!).
Anyway, I was expecting the Bathys case to be big, but it’s not, and not much larger than the XM4 case so while it’s never good to add more stuff to the underseat bag, given the capabilities of the Bathys they’ll easily get space in the bag along with the XM4s.
In short I’d say the Bathys are easily on the ‘portable’ side of the portable/transportable spectrum
APP
It’s a very cool looking app (on Android), but also very basic. That said, it does what it needs to do and while I might like to see a 10-band EQ I honestly wouldn’t use it so I’d say the app does everything I need it too. It’d be super cool if it could connect to and front-end Tidal, et al, but that’s dreaming. I really appreciate that Focal is putting time into update of both the app & firmware. GREAT JOB FOCAL!
TLDR
The Baths are a big no-brainer buy for audiophiles & extremely close to no compromises to my ear.
And I haven’t even done the burn-in or connected in DAC mode
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Great review! Highlighted the points when I love them so much.
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Question about the app. The only assistants that appear in the app are Siri and Alexa. The Google Assistant is not an option. From the literature, I thought the Google Assistant should be an available option.
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Google Assistant is available on my Pixel 7 Pro in the app … hmm, I wonder how the app finds the assistants …
I wonder if it’s only available on Android phones. Could someone on this thread who uses an iPhone check and see if the Google Assistant is available?
Another thing I just noticed. The Bathys volume control doesn’t work with my iPhone. Another Bathys user described this as a recent bug, perhaps caused by a recent update.