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Focal Bathys
- Thread starter edahl
- Start date
Probably to save license fees. At MSRP 799.- a shame indeed.
From the TechHive review (https://www.techhive.com/article/1340629/focal-bathys-noise-cancelling-headphone-review.html):
"While the Bathys have been in development for more than three years, Montabonel told me the engineering team wasn’t able to implement LDAC support before the time came to freeze the electronics, but that Focal hopes to add the feature later."
Let's see.
"While the Bathys have been in development for more than three years, Montabonel told me the engineering team wasn’t able to implement LDAC support before the time came to freeze the electronics, but that Focal hopes to add the feature later."
Let's see.
someguyontheinternet
Active Member
In this korean review it's implied that loud volume behavior is better than other Focal headphones:
It's all subjective though and no numbers provided. The rest of the review doesn't provide much useful information from what I can tell. My korean is not the best though so I don't understand everything.
It's all subjective though and no numbers provided. The rest of the review doesn't provide much useful information from what I can tell. My korean is not the best though so I don't understand everything.
DEALUX
Active Member
Definitely get an expensive wireless headphone so that you can throw it in the trash when the batteries die in a few years.
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2019
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Yes, Resolve's squiggles - https://forum.headphones.com/t/focal-bathys-wireless-hifi-headphones-with-active-noise-cancellation-official-discussion-thread/18861/34
Here's it comparing to the ML 5909:
Here's it comparing to the ML 5909:
Hey, thanks for that - just one thing to note, I need to update the measurement of the ML 5909 because I think there may have been a firmware update since I did this one. So once I'm able to spend some more time doing a full ANC comparison I'll be sure to do that. For the version I heard at the time, the treble peak was quite intense and we gave that feedback to Sean as well so I hope they were able to implement some changes with firmware.Yes, Resolve's squiggles - https://forum.headphones.com/t/focal-bathys-wireless-hifi-headphones-with-active-noise-cancellation-official-discussion-thread/18861/34
Here's it comparing to the ML 5909:
Thanks for the graph. I'd love to learn more about the reason for the 800-900Hz dip (apparently a by-product of the ANC implementation if I understand the video well ?). Have you tested the Bathys under pad compression in passive and active mode ?
Re the 5909 - I believe that the last firmware update was months ago, or am I wrong ? Both units I listened to were quite stable on my head in terms of seatings to seatings variation, but under pad compression the trebles peaks shifted not just in magnitude but also in frequency, which could indicate that this feature is heavily reliant on coupling and in the end un-EQable (a caveat is that I am not superbly confident in blocked ear canal entrance measurements past 7-8kHz). I also don't really see how a firmware update can improve the coupling behaviour below and remedy the - IMO - flawed concept of trying to make a pair of ANC over-ears perform similarly in both passive and active modes.
For Focal Bathys can you compare freq resp measurement for: BT mode vs DAC mode vs "off" ?
I might be mistaken but I believe that the feedback circuit can't be switched off in all active modes, so only the wired, passive input could show the passive FR.
I don't understand this.
BT has already been measured.
You flip the switch to "DAC" mode and play test tones and measure what comes out of drivers
You flip switch to "off" and using external DAC + amp you play test tones and measure what comes out of drivers
charleski
Major Contributor
I wouldn’t hold your breath … If they haven’t got the licensing lined up to decode LDAC at launch it’s unlikely Sony will decide to play nice and let them add it later.
And never buy a product based on a hoped or promised future update.
I've seen many examples of angry customers when suggest hoped/promised updates never happen.
If someone really needs LDAC, don't buy it till it gets LDAC officially released
Not 100% sure of that though. Samsung (being the leading Android Smartphone manufacturer) currently only supports regular APTX as well as LDAC and their own Samsung proprietary codec ... By adding LDAC, Focal could potentially gain additional traction in the Samsung market ... (Here's hoping that someone at Focal reads this 
)
)
bloodshoteyed
Major Contributor
am i the only one, at least slightly, bothered by the name?
is it bath approved?
is it bath approved?
It's a stupid name
I'm also not 100% on what causes the 900hz dip, but I need to do more testing with the headphone in more modes. At the moment though, it seems all BT ANC modes have the same FR.
For the 5909, I think there's been at least one additional firmware change that affected the FR since I took that measurement - I could be mistaken there but I at least want to double check.
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