ESS HEADPHONES OF THE YEAR OVER $1000 HEADPHONES
Soo to our final headphone award: wireless noise-cancellers over $1000. There’s always a question asbut if you’re up for it, we might recommend a listen to the first wireless headphones ever to roll out of French firm Focal. They’re named Bathys after the Bathyscaphe, a deep-sea exploration submersible, Focal calling it “the embodiment of calm, depth and absolute silence,” which might suggest a prioritising of noise-cancelling over music production. In fact they’re better at the latter than the former: noise cancelling is good, but not up with that from Sony or Bose,. Yet the company has managed to retain the smooth warm and spacious tonal balance of its wired headphones. Their richness gives mids and lows in particular a welcome substance: bassline grooves can emerge profound and pacey. We like also that they contain a 24-bit/192kHz USB DAC which can thereby play high-res down a USB cable from a computer (cable supplied). Battery life varies from 25 hours to 42 depending on usage (highest is for USB use).
