Review: Focal Bathys MG Noise-Canceling Headphones

You don't need anything more than a nice pair of headphones from Apple, Sony, or Bose to have an excellent portable listening experience by most people’s standards. But that's … not who the new $1,299 Focal Bathys MG are for. These gorgeous $1,300 wireless headphones are for true audio nerds with deep pockets, and they follow up their predecessor (9/10, WIRED Recommends) with a new pair of French-made magnesium drivers.

At least for me, the laser focus on traveling audiophiles has worked quite well: If price were no object, these would be my favorite daily headphones on the planet. If you can afford a pair, which you probably can't—even my review units have to go back to France here in a week or two—I highly recommend them. These are as close to a Platonic ideal of wireless over-ear headphones as exists in the world right now, and it's largely due to just how versatile they are.

With wired headphones, you get a reliable pair that will sound great for years, but you often forgo bells and whistles like noise canceling and multidevice pairing. Focal’s Bathys MG have 30 hours of battery life, a built-in DAC (“digital to analog conversion”) that allows you to decode digital audio from laptops and cell phones, and multipoint Bluetooth pairing that allows you to simultaneously connect them to your laptop and cell phone.

They can be used in wired or wireless mode, with a USB cable, or with a standard 3.5-mm cable. They’re the Leatherman of modern wireless headphones, but with French design flair. If you’re a wealthy investor or tech nerd who wants a premium pair of cans that will last you through the tariff years, these might be the ones to keep you company.

Salut!

The Bathys—ahem, “Bat-hees”—are nearly identical to their non-magnesium predecessors in the looks department, not that I’m complaining. They boast a gorgeous layered metal-and-leather look with a round hole motif that culminates in an LED-backlit Focal logo that resembles a tornado. It’s all very tasteful and stylish and French: Folks who see you wearing these will know they’re fancy, but they’ll also think you are classy for not having Bose.

Controls are simple and physical. On the right side you’ll find a power switch that lets you choose between wireless and DAC mode, a three-button volume and play/pause section, a button for a voice assistant, and USB-C and 3.5-mm ports. On the left, there is a single button that allows you to adjust ANC modes.

The ear cups are covered in the sort of supple leather you’d expect from a luxury car with massage seats, and a comfortable memory foam and Alcantara upper means they rest ever so delicately on your pampered hair. I like that they’re labeled clearly “L” and “R” on the inside of the extendable headband, making it easy to remember which way they go while you’re still getting used to them.

There are multiple ways to connect to the headphones, wired and wireless. The main way most folks will first connect is via Bluetooth, which allows you to connect them to your phone, laptop, or tablet at once and quickly swap between them. You can also use the headphones in DAC mode with a computer, which allows you to connect them via the USB-C port for even higher than wireless fidelity. Finally, you can connect the included 3.5-mm cable for passive listening. That means you can trust these headphones to work in every single listening circumstance imaginable, which is good considering their premium price.

The headphones come with a large zipped hard case that holds all the included cables and is easily stowed in a backpack or larger purse. You’ll get about 30 hours of battery life between trips to the USB-C outlet, which, like the controls and general look, matches the older version of the Focal Bathys we’ve previously reviewed.

New Sound

The important change inside the Focal Bathys MG is a pair of French-made magnesium drivers. With the new technology inside, these headphones sound bolder and more energetic than the previous model, truly raising the bar when it comes to audiophile-grade sound in a wireless package.

I am fully immersed in the tones of Jonathan Wilson’s stereo guitars on “Desert Raven,” practically able to hear the pick on each jangly strum. The stereo image is as wide as you can possibly expect from a pair of closed-back headphones. It’s still leaning out to each side more than fully spreading out into space like it might with speakers or open-backed headphones, but the gorgeous tonality of the reproduction never makes anything feel smaller than it should.

The ability to fully recreate the entire soundstage in warm and exacting detail is like a French chef making something simple with only the finest ingredients. These headphones don’t add a hi-fi Instagram-filter tonality to your favorite music; instead, they act like a beautiful Leica lens. Old favorites simply sound better when played through these headphones, especially in DAC mode.

Plugging into your laptop via USB-C and using DAC mode essentially lets you use these headphones as their own digital audio decoder—better than Bluetooth, and in the vast majority of cases better than using your laptop or tablet’s built-in 3.5-mm port, if the device even has one. By plugging straight into USB, you can enjoy full digital fidelity the likes of which you won’t get wirelessly, and it makes these a real treat to take with you for wired listening on the go.

Instead of having to bring a dedicated headphone amp like the Astell & Kern HC4 ($220), you can just bring these and a USB-C cable. The dongles I usually bring aren’t large, but I’ll take one less thing in my travel kit.

I loved cueing up old favorites like The Commodores’ “Easy,” to hear the difference between DAC mode and wireless listening. It’s particularly noticeable in the high end, where the hi-hats and cymbals just seem to shimmer a bit more when listening with the USB-C cable. That said, wireless playback is shockingly on par, which is telling to folks who continue to pooh-pooh any form of Bluetooth listening at the high end. I was able to deeply enjoy music both wired and wirelessly on the Bathys MG.

As a do-it-all audio accessory, you can think of this pair as something like Bentley or Rolls-Royce class, rather than a Ferrari. Sure, they’re not as sharp, shiny, or perfect as more premium wired models for true analog nerds (which Focal also makes), but this pair is the type that you really want to drive daily. They're comfortable, and they sound good enough that you can truly forget the mess that is the world around you for at least a song or two. Isn't that what money is for?