Focal Bathys vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8: which high-end headphones are better?

[What Hi-Fi?]

The B&W Px8 wowed us with their sound quality, only to be followed by another stellar high-end pair from Focal.

Focal Bathys vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8: which high-end headphones are better? : Read more

 

[jiminhno]

Pretty much what I thought, I already have the Focal Bathys, they are very good, the review is pretty spot on with the build quality the buttons being plastic is a tad bit of a let down, other than that the build is fantastic, the sound is more of a reference focals sound profile, very natural sounding, spacious, detailed.

I've also Pre-ordered the PX8, I should receive them by end of the week, my wireless headphones journey started with the B&W P7 Wireless, I still have them, I had other B&W PX headphone, also and absolutely hated its sound quality, compared to the P7 Wireless, so I'm hoping these PX8 are a successor to them rather than the later PX versions, in very much looking forward to testing these PX8 out vs the Focal Bathys, and my other favorite the Amiron Wireless.

 

[jiminhno]

Received the PX8 today been listening all day comparing them to the the Focal Bathys, the PX8s have a more exciting expressive engaging sound, especially with Bass, and those tracks that you expect a hit, in those certain music tracks, the bulld of the PX8 is better overall especially the button's which is a cheap looking on the Focal Bathys, the sound is totally different to that of the Focal Bathys, which are a more reference sound, more natural sounding, and more detailed, but it all will depend on the music your listening to, genres etc, personally the PX8s are more of what the major of folks will want in a wireless headphone, they have fantastic sound quality, especially the expressive bass, and are beautifully built, if you are after a more reference Focal sound get the Focal Bathys, if you want a more exciting engaging listening experience the PX8, why not get both 😂 like me

 

[Iulian]

Apples and oranges... to my ears, the sound quality of the wired Bathys is similar to what I hear through Sennheiser HD660s via IFI zen dac 2. So close, that I keep one tied to the Macbook Pro in the office and the other for mobile and home. Maybe the localization of the instruments in space is better on the Sennheiser, but the rest of the general feeling is that they are similar. Compared to Sony WH-1000XM5, the Focal Bathys is cleaner to my ears. After using one full month the Sony in the summer, I can say that they made my ears sweat a lot and I felt the contact point of the head band all the times. I had to constantly try to ease and move the headset to stopped being annoyed by the sensation of having something pressing the top of my head. The Focal does not produce this annoyance at all. I also wear glasses all the times and all of the three headsets are perfect for my type of user. I sold the Sony and kept the others. I am using the Bathys with Tidal (Samsung Android , Macbook Pro and Ipad Pro, both wired and wireless) and they sound excelent for EDM and Rock (my type of music). For meetings they are also great, as they are for movies and sports (when you are the only one in your family watching european football... you have to wear the headphones).