Focal Bathys: Exactly what I wanted, plus a great shipping experience!
With my company's recent RTO, I found myself in need of noise-cancelling headphones. I also wanted to get high-quality audio, but don't have enough disposable outcome to buy expensive Audiophile gear. After a couple days of online research, Focal Bathys sounded like the perfect fit. In the first two weeks that I've been using them, they're exactly what the other reviews claimed:
- The ANC doesn't block 100% of sound, but the vast majority of office din and background noise is blissfully absent. If you want full silence, this might not be the headphones for you.
- The audio quality is the best I've experienced yet. It's literally so good, that I could hear the compression from streaming music at the "normal" bitrate, and how Bluetooth's compression affected it further.
- For a full, over-the-ear headset, it's relatively light.
- It's comfortable enough for me to wear for 2-4 hour sessions during the workday
- It comes with its own protective travel case, and the presentation of the box itself was nice.
The only minor negatives are the periphery of the product, not the headset itself:
- The provided 3.5mm cable is far too short for my needs; had to use a longer one from a different headset. (cable connection sounds much better than Bluetooth, imo)
- Tapping the cans when adjusting the headset "tricks" the ANC, so the audio gets muted on one side for a half-second as the ANC over-corrects and then relents.
- The companion app from Focal & Naim is mid, and it only works when your phone is connected by Bluetooth. Irrelevant for my preferred usage of a 3.5mm cable.
My experience with Bloom Audio has been excellent, too! Free shipping, it arrived in only a couple of days, and I was pleasantly surprised with all of the extra stuff that came with it. A Christmas card from the team at Bloom, a "get to know me" about the person who packed and shipped my order, a Bloom sticker, a hand-written note, and a free candy bar! For a first-time customer, that went far above and beyond what I was expecting.
Overall review: 5 stars
- Focal Bathys: 10/10 for what I wanted
- Bloom Audio: 10/10
- Only minor nitpicks around the periphery, nothing wrong with the headset itself
