Review: Focal Bathys

Headphone nerds are a tough crowd, especially when you take away their precious cables. Ask anyone who regularly browses the r/headphones subreddit whether noise-canceling or wireless headphones are any good, and you’re likely to get a lot of folks telling you that they’re fine for reducing outside sound, but can’t approach what wired headphones can offer in terms of sound quality.

So far, those voices have mostly been right. With very few exceptions, wireless headphones sound worse than their wired counterparts. This has led countless listeners to tote around cumbersome wired headphones, portable headphone amps, and various accessories to get the best sound on the go.

Now a new generation of noise-canceling headphones from established audiophile brands like Mark Levinson, Bowers & Wilkins, and Focal are looking to challenge the long-established hierarchy, making it possible for audio nerds to use the same pair while easy wireless traveling as they might for wired at-home listening. Of the three brands’ flagship models, it’s the Focal Bathys that have impressed me the most.

I’ve spent a few months with the French audiophile brand’s superb noise-canceling over-ears, and they’ve become my favorite pair in recent memory. The gorgeous magnesium and aluminum cans borrow design cues and driver designs from Focal’s higher-end wired headphones, but include cutting-edge digital-to-analog conversion, and some of the most comfortable earpads I’ve ever worn.

If you’re a discerning listener who loves a bit of style you can’t do better on the go: Ditch the AirPods Max and go with these. It’s like trading up from a red Corvette to a Rosso Corsa Ferrari.

Photograph: Focal

Say it with me: Foh-Cal Bat-hees. This pair of expensive noise-canceling headphones, named after a spherical submersible from last century, look like something you’d pull from Poseidon’s desk. Spherical cutouts of varying shapes and sizes circle the tornado-shaped Focal “F” in the middle of each earcup, like a net surrounding a perilous whirlpool.

Thankfully, there are no finicky touch controls for new musical divers. On the bottom of the right earcup, you’ll find a power switch that lets you pick between off, on, and DAC mode (more on this later), as well as a simple three-button setup for volume up, down, and play/pause (long press for BT pairing). A single button on the left earcup lets you pick between ANC modes. I love the bezel-like wheel on the Airpods Max for novelty, but I wish all headphones were this easy to operate.

Turn them on, and a glorious white LED backlights the logo on each side, making you look like some sort of nautical Tony Stark. You can turn off the lights (and adjust EQ and ANC settings) in Focal’s app, if you don’t want everyone around you to know how much you spent on headphones.

After all, devices like these aren’t for others to enjoy; they’re to help well-heeled listeners maintain their golden-eared lifestyles outside of their usual listening situations. And boy, are they comfortable.

A soft, alcantara-like leather under the headband is coupled with supple leather earpads, allowing them to grip more up top but still stay cozy around your ears. The Bathys come in a very nice grey hard case with sections to easily store the included charging and 3.5 mm cables. They're easily stowed in a backpack or carry-on when you’re not listening—the included battery gets you about 30 hours between trips to the USB-C charger.

They’re not the lightest headphones I’ve ever tested, but they're lighter than AirPods Max at 350 grams. Their balance and the materials used made them perhaps my favorite pair to wear over the past few months. I’d often throw them on while watching shows on my iPad as I cooked, which was a massive upgrade from the iPad’s built-in speakers.

As you might expect from a brand that’s hand-building the drivers for these headphones in France, based on technology that has trickled down from more-expensive models that have been lauded by audiophiles (and myself) the world over: The Bathys sound amazing.

They’re buttery smooth from bottom to low-mid range, with a slight boost in the highs that dips slowly before you get to sibilance territory. It’s a nice EQ curve for a pair of drivers that can provide this much detail, allowing you to hear music with a clean, wide soundstage.

I like listening to music with a lot of instruments in the mid-range on these headphones: Big band jazz, stuff with multi-part harmonies, and Motown. Anything that needs a defined difference between bass and kick drum sounds excellent through these headphones.

Photograph: Focal

Noise-canceling isn’t as powerful as I’ve experienced from the latest models of Sony and Bose over-ears, but that’s not to say it’s bad by any means. I found the Focals’ reduction to be more than enough for commutes and for my noisy dogs, not to mention HVAC and other daily sounds. It’s also very transparent-sounding. You don’t feel like your ears are oddly plugged up like you sometimes can with bad ANC algorithms.

You’ll get Bluetooth 5.1 with codecs for  SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX adaptive, making them sound about as good as possible wirelessly (read: they sound excellent). But those who want to hear them with the ultimate fidelity will want to listen via the wired 3.5 mm jack on the bottom of the right earcup, or using DAC mode and a USB-C cable.

DAC (“digital-to-analog converter”) mode makes these headphones a sort of two-for-one solution for audio nerds. Most folks who do serious listening on the go bring a portable DAC/headphone amp to power their fancy wired headphones, because the chips inside typical consumer laptops/cell phones aren’t the best sounding. By including a mode that allows us to tap into the excellent processing inside the Bathys, Focal lets those who just want to plug straight into their cell phone have a fresh, excellent-sounding option, no external hardware required.

I liked listening in DAC mode when I was at my work desk, where I might otherwise pick through my stable of wired headphones and a traditional desktop digital-to-analog converter. Frankly, it’s pretty shocking how great these sound, even when compared to fully wired headphones that cost between $500 and $1,000. I'd compare these favorably to Focal's own more-expensive Celestee model, which retail for just under a grand.

Ultimately, there’s just very little I dislike about the Bathys other than the high price for the ANC category. But seeing as the brand that makes this pair of headphones is known for making headphones that are two or more times the price, it’s hard to really come at them for that, even.

If you’re a traveling audio nerd who wants the best-sounding, most convenient noise-canceling headphones, these are the creme de la creme. They’re easier to take with you than any high-end wired headphones, and they sound as good as many wired pairs I’ve tested that cost the same price. Just remember to turn off the lights if you’re as tall as I am. I might like French headphones, but nobody needs to feel like the Eiffel Tower.