Focal Bathys

Focal Bathys Bluetooth active noise cancelling closed back headphones - Dune colorway

Probably upwards of 70 hours of use. Had to charge two or three times from a not completely dead battery, but pretty low, and the specs say 30 hrs battery on them. Not counting trickle discharge during down time. The charge still lasts a very long time during use and super long when dormant. 

Comes with semi hard carry case, 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm cable (special cable specifically for the Bathys), and with a USB-C to USB-C cable for putting it in DAC mode (using the onboard DAC by connecting to digital source like a phone). Will come in the original cardboard box with manuals and information cards. It is a very compact package.

Bought these as I was getting deep into Focal headphones because I wanted that sound wherever I went. The Bathys was a pretty good answer.

The Bathys sound pretty neutral overall out of the box. It has its own EQ setup you can try out and make presets with in the Focal and Naim app, which is pretty easy to use. The signature Focal traits are here - dynamic and engaging and 360 degree soundstage. I won't mention too much how the different frequency ranges compare since you can EQ until it sounds how you want it to, but its got great bass, neutral mids, and controlled treble out the box. I mostly left it as is because I found the tuning fine and pleasant enough for extended sessions like plane rides or waiting in an airport. Once in awhile I would enable the dynamic EQ preset to hear that Harman bass.

Active noise cancelling works pretty well and has two strength levels. Not exactly Bose level but good enough. For example, I would still be able to knock out on flights with the noise cancelling on and would only wake up if someone touched me or brushed past me.

Transparency mode works but is not comparable to how most earbuds do it. Still, good enough. If you really can't hear someone talking to you, it is as easy as moving the earcup to the side of your ear to continue the conversation. People seem to always want to talk when you have your headphones on so I don't doubt you'll find what works best for you with this function.

Controls on the headphone are intuitive once you do the initial learning and memorization of how everything works.

You can run them in DAC mode by connecting straight to a USB-C audio source (higher quality audio) and can run them passively by connecting the included 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm to an audio source, for example the movie screens on a plane.

You run firmware updates through the app. This is probably my one gripe with them - the updates can take a long time if you have bad connection and it asks you not to close the app the whole time so you're kinda stuck during an update. If you have good connection or wifi, for example, it probably takes 5 minutes at the most per update once it is at the most recent version.

The Bathys are quite comfortable if you aren't in too hot an environment. The pads are made of soft leather for what I assume is to create a good seal on the head. If you are in a hot environment, this can get warm on the head after awhile. This seal also gives brain shaking bass if you want it though. Stays on the head nicely once the pads warm up and it settles to your head shape.

Selling because I simply prefer ear buds for travelling. I am a very light traveller nowadays ever since going to Japan and although I totally dig these things, I prefer just throwing something in my pocket for music when traveling. Only bummer is i gotta use the crappy plane earphones to watch movies on flights since the earbuds i have don't do wired connections. Anyways, since i usually just grab my earbuds, these haven't gotten much use at all. Would prefer to pass them on to someone who could make better use of it. They're a lot of fun and pretty versatile as far as audiophile headphones go if you don't mind carrying headphones with you when you're on the move. And they sound pretty good, too. Please enjoy!