Focal Bathys MG Headphones: Testing Wireless Luxury

In October 2022, Focal made its entry into the competitive wireless headphones segment with its first “Bluetooth hi-fi” Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) design, named Bathys. Short after, it relaunched the design with new finishes and added support for Mimi personalization. More importantly, Focal understood that it needed to sell it as a “luxury” product considering the asking price of US $799 USD. It didn’t work very well. Now, Focal is introducing the Bathys MG, doubling down on the strategy, with an updated model priced at $1,299 USD.
 
You never know. It all depends on what consumers see as “premium,” “fashionable,” or “high-end” in such a fast-evolving category. Many esoteric products are priced above their perceived value precisely for that reason, creating a lucrative niche business for the brands. Focal knows this well from its Made in France Utopia-branded range and achieved significant recognition in the market. But can that “high-end” logic be applied to wireless headphones that ship with a Bluetooth 5.2 radio and are basically obsolete in less than two years?

Focal seems to be determined to test the market with these Bathys MG wireless headphones, which benefit from exclusive full-range drivers with a magnesium “M” shape dome, new MEMS microphones to optimize ANC and calls, comfort improvement thanks to new memory foam cushions and headband, and use of more refined materials, including a magnesium yoke, aluminum bracket, and real leather for the headband. In terms of finish, Focal also makes a bold choice, launching the headphones exclusively in chestnut color. And unlike the headphones, the packaging is now eco-friendly, made with bamboo pulp and sugar cane bagasse FSC-certified materials.
  Are these headphones high-end enough even for devoted followers of the brand? Focal will need to invest heavily to promote the concept as “fashionable,” even assuming they will measure according to the taste of the frequency response target critics. To make sure that these headphones are not criticized for being “hindered by Bluetooth,” Focal engineers also incorporated a USB-DAC wired mode with up to 24-bit/192kHz support and an analog jack cable in case there’s nothing else available (e.g. during flights). When in wireless, supported codecs are the good-old AAC, aptX, and aptX Adaptive flavors.

To detail the design logic, the French company says that the new Bathys MG are part of Focal’s range of “high-end headphones with a highly refined aesthetic,” with its “elegant Chestnut finish,” “enhanced by a backlit logo that adds a distinctive, modern signature.” Backlit logo? Hope that potential buyers like the idea of a backlit logo to compensate for the lower-than-average specifications for wireless headphones launched in 2025. A battery life of up to 30 hours in wireless mode, a new Focal & Naim app that allows users to EQ the sound, and a hearing test that actually adds personalization to each individual user are the only things that stand out but are hardly original.
A quick review of the recent “luxury” wireless headphones announcements places these Bathys MG exactly in the same price range as the DALI IO-12 headphones, below the higher-priced Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100, and at twice the price of the now-dated but still competitive Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones, which are far more elegant than any of these references (and no doubt will soon receive the same updated Qualcomm platforms as all these references). Maybe “luxury” is a bit of a stretch for this segment.
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