Anyone else fully expecting Matthew, when testing the boom mic, to say, “ice, ice, icicle… pop, pop, popsicle… test, test, testicle…” No? Yeah… me neither… jk. Great review! The Apollo is REALLY on my radar. The Focal Bathys was awesome, except I am just not a huge fan of the Focal house sound.
I had to have my fun there 😂 was hoping someone would pick up on it. Yeah, it’s a great headphone. The versatility of it is seriously great. Thanks for checking out the review ✌️
Truth! LDAC is undoubtedly the best, I just don’t think it’s a make or break feature for me like other things are, but it’s undoubtedly the best quality a Bluetooth connection can offer.
@@MatthewDiFazio I literally just received my Apollo's yesterday, but already I'm blown away by the quality of the audio when they are connected to my A&K KANN MAX DAP over LDAC. This is uncharted ground, not just for wireless, but for mobile audio of any configuration (as a reference, I also own the Bathys and Sennheiser Momentum TW 4's). It makes a substantial difference. And just as a BTW - the Bathys support aptX Adaptive and BT 5.2 while the Apollo's support aptX HD and BT 5.3.
this is what I was looking for ..perfect review and comparison I was looking comparison with Focal. I got it, thanks for the video as I will go for Focal it suits my demands better espcially comfort and big ear cups thx
Mathew, how would you rank the ANC performance from best to worst between the Bathys, Apollo and the Air Pod Max? Seems like you preferred Bathys in this regard. But wanted to clarify. Thanks.
Great question! I would say AirPods Max probably has the best, but it also comes with the worst sound quality when enabled. I appreciate that Bathys and Apollo still maintain a very consistent and palatable sound signature when ANC is on, but in terms of total isolation, I would say 1. AirPods Max 2. Apollo 3. Bathys. Apollo and Bathys are super close (at least in my testing), so those two could swap out in my rankings pretty easily.
Thank you! Awesome question, and one I had to ask Noble myself - yes, the battery is replaceable! Pricing is still up in the air, but you’ll just ship it to Noble and they’ll replace the battery for you and ship it back. Hope this helps!
I own a Focal Bathys. In your comparison, you didn't mention the Bathys' Sound Personalization feature. This feature includes a hearing test, and the results of the hearing test can be applied to the EQ of the headphone. This is a unique feature that is extremely valuable to anyone who has even a bit of high frequency hearing loss. Bathys does not support LDAC, but does support aptX Adaptive. I think it's debatable which codec is most advanced. I'm using my Bathys with an iFi Zen Blue 3 in TX (transmission) mode. The Zen Blue 3 supports aptX Adaptive (including a low latency switch). These 2 products together sound so great that I'm happy to go wireless all the time. My headphone cables are sitting on a shelf. Comparing the appearance of Bathys and Apollo, eek, it's not even close. Bathys is a beautiful headphone. Sorry, but Apollo looks rather ordinary.
@@robertnoblitt518 thanks for bringing this to my attention! It definitely should’ve been mentioned, I just really wanted to go pure sound for sound here. But you’re right, it’s a very pivotal feature, and yes, those codecs are totally comparable. Thanks for checking out the review!
Hi, Thanks for your review of these! You mention in the review that you feel like the Apollo seems to be a bit more warm than the Bathys. Would you consider the Apollo to be more of a V shaped headphone? Or would it be a slightly warmer take on something like a Harman target.
Thanks for checking it out! I think a mild v shape could be a great description for these. I would say it leans more v shaped than just a warm Harman target, but it hits a little somewhere in between there (at least to my ears). I was really hoping to get a graph on these for the video, but it just didn’t work out. I’m interested to see it when more reviews and such are published on them!
I am looking for absurdly comfortable headphones (due to a fairly wide head, glasses and low pressure tolerance) with decent anc. Would apollo or Sonos Ace work better?
Sorry I’m late to this! I haven’t gotten my hands on Sonos Ace, but from everything I’ve read, it seems like Ace’s best quality trait is its ergonomics. If comfort is at the utmost importance for you, it may be worth considering. I would have to listen to both and wear both to make a final call on that, however. Sorry I couldn’t produce anything concrete here!
Great question - I actually ended up cutting out my take comparing the two in terms of soundstage, but Apollo had more moments where I felt like the staging was really just next level. Bathys definitely has some similar characteristics in the way it presents its soundstage, but it felt like Apollo was just slightly wider and had more “wow” moments when listening.
@@Hawk-ly9fi I wish I had these in for the comparison :-/ unfortunately, I’m unsure as of now, but I have those on my list to listen to as soon as I can!
@MatthewDiFazio Dude I would honestly love to hear your take on them when you get a chance to get them in. IMO I preferred the ML over the other two. It wasn't the absolute best in any one thing (though it might possibly have the best treble clarity), it took the dynamic punchiness and speed (Solitare T's strength) and the rich expansive soundstage (IO-12's strength) of the other two and blended them so well that it makes it hard to justify spending the extra $300-600 on the others. Plus to me it also sounded the best passively
They play loud. I never try to test the limits of full blast on any gear as I try to be as protective of my hearing as possible, but they should definitely reach volumes that suffice for short listening periods of max volume (or close to it.)
I found it most notable on Bluetooth. Wired connection definitely came with better performance. When I’m gaming, latency issues aren’t super important to me (although it can take me out of immersion with single player games), but for a competitive landscape, I’d 100% recommend a wired connection when gaming :-)
@@MatthewDiFazio So would you recommend it for single player games? I am using Audeze Maxwell wondering if this can is like 20%+ better in terms of sound quality then I will considering of buying it, thanks
@@jasonyau5666 There is no latency when wired. The latency is caused by Bluetooth and since Bluetooth is not used when listening wired, there is no latency.
@@jasonyau5666 good question, and tough for me to answer since I myself am sticking to Maxwell and not changing (as of yet.) I think if you’re looking for something that can really do it all, Apollo is the pick. If you’ve been enjoying what Maxwell brings to the table, and are already slightly on the fence, I’d probably just stick with what you got. But long answer short, I do recommend Apollo for single player games, and do think it does a lot of things really well.
At the risk of being totally pedantic - I believe the Focal's are pronounced "bah-TESE" (leave it to the French to be unnecessarily confusing). But kudos for nailing "timbre"! Kidding aside, I loved my Bathys so much, I finally let my beloved Stellia's go. No, the Bathys are NOT at the same level as the Stellia's, but I also own a pair of ZMF Verite C's, and the Bathys were "good enough" to let go of one of my go-to wired pairs . . . and use part of the proceeds to try out the Apollo's, primarily for the aptX HD and LDAC support.
@@gdubaz I realized in the editing phase that I was not pronouncing Bah-tese, and fully embraced that I would get a few comments saying I was wrong 😂 I hear you on making room in the collection - it’s crazy how versatile these wireless headphones can be, and just how good they’re getting! Thanks for checking out the video ✌️
Anyone else fully expecting Matthew, when testing the boom mic, to say, “ice, ice, icicle… pop, pop, popsicle… test, test, testicle…” No? Yeah… me neither… jk. Great review! The Apollo is REALLY on my radar. The Focal Bathys was awesome, except I am just not a huge fan of the Focal house sound.
YES
I had to have my fun there 😂 was hoping someone would pick up on it. Yeah, it’s a great headphone. The versatility of it is seriously great. Thanks for checking out the review ✌️
Matthew - excellent review as usual. A pleasure to watch ~ your pace and delivery are just always on point.
Thanks so much for this :-) Happy to be making these videos, and it means a great deal to me when folks enjoy them!
Loving that Fractal case my guy! oh, solid video as always!
Great spot! Their cases are so nice. Thanks as always for watching, brotha 😁
LDAC is important.
Truth! LDAC is undoubtedly the best, I just don’t think it’s a make or break feature for me like other things are, but it’s undoubtedly the best quality a Bluetooth connection can offer.
@@MatthewDiFazio I literally just received my Apollo's yesterday, but already I'm blown away by the quality of the audio when they are connected to my A&K KANN MAX DAP over LDAC. This is uncharted ground, not just for wireless, but for mobile audio of any configuration (as a reference, I also own the Bathys and Sennheiser Momentum TW 4's). It makes a substantial difference.
And just as a BTW - the Bathys support aptX Adaptive and BT 5.2 while the Apollo's support aptX HD and BT 5.3.
@@gdubaz awesome! I’m so glad you’re enjoying them and getting great performance out of LDAC :-) happy listening, and enjoy the music ✊
@@MatthewDiFazio forgot to mention the most important point - I bought them from you guys!
Best Hi-Fi Shop folks!
Appreciate you! Thanks for watching 😁
this is what I was looking for ..perfect review and comparison I was looking comparison with Focal. I got it, thanks for the video as I will go for Focal it suits my demands better espcially comfort and big ear cups thx
Edified Stax Spirit S5 also 80 hour battery life and planar with Bluetooth 5.4
I’d love to check this one out 👀 thanks for putting this on my radar!
Ordered the Edifier S5 few days ago not knowing the FoKus Apollo existed.. Hope I didn't make a mistake!
Mathew, how would you rank the ANC performance from best to worst between the Bathys, Apollo and the Air Pod Max? Seems like you preferred Bathys in this regard. But wanted to clarify. Thanks.
Great question! I would say AirPods Max probably has the best, but it also comes with the worst sound quality when enabled. I appreciate that Bathys and Apollo still maintain a very consistent and palatable sound signature when ANC is on, but in terms of total isolation, I would say 1. AirPods Max 2. Apollo 3. Bathys. Apollo and Bathys are super close (at least in my testing), so those two could swap out in my rankings pretty easily.
Your bedroom looks like a movie set. Can we get a setup tour?
Haha, appreciate that!! That would actually be pretty fun to do. Maybe a TH-cam short of that could be coming soon 🤔
Great thorough review - is battery replaceable at end of life?
Thank you! Awesome question, and one I had to ask Noble myself - yes, the battery is replaceable! Pricing is still up in the air, but you’ll just ship it to Noble and they’ll replace the battery for you and ship it back. Hope this helps!
Just got mine today 🎉
@@Doctafuzzsnapolis let’s go!!! Happy listening 😃
I own a Focal Bathys. In your comparison, you didn't mention the Bathys' Sound Personalization feature. This feature includes a hearing test, and the results of the hearing test can be applied to the EQ of the headphone. This is a unique feature that is extremely valuable to anyone who has even a bit of high frequency hearing loss. Bathys does not support LDAC, but does support aptX Adaptive. I think it's debatable which codec is most advanced. I'm using my Bathys with an iFi Zen Blue 3 in TX (transmission) mode. The Zen Blue 3 supports aptX Adaptive (including a low latency switch). These 2 products together sound so great that I'm happy to go wireless all the time. My headphone cables are sitting on a shelf. Comparing the appearance of Bathys and Apollo, eek, it's not even close. Bathys is a beautiful headphone. Sorry, but Apollo looks rather ordinary.
@@robertnoblitt518 thanks for bringing this to my attention! It definitely should’ve been mentioned, I just really wanted to go pure sound for sound here. But you’re right, it’s a very pivotal feature, and yes, those codecs are totally comparable. Thanks for checking out the review!
Hi, Thanks for your review of these! You mention in the review that you feel like the Apollo seems to be a bit more warm than the Bathys. Would you consider the Apollo to be more of a V shaped headphone? Or would it be a slightly warmer take on something like a Harman target.
Thanks for checking it out! I think a mild v shape could be a great description for these. I would say it leans more v shaped than just a warm Harman target, but it hits a little somewhere in between there (at least to my ears). I was really hoping to get a graph on these for the video, but it just didn’t work out. I’m interested to see it when more reviews and such are published on them!
I am looking for absurdly comfortable headphones (due to a fairly wide head, glasses and low pressure tolerance) with decent anc. Would apollo or Sonos Ace work better?
Sorry I’m late to this! I haven’t gotten my hands on Sonos Ace, but from everything I’ve read, it seems like Ace’s best quality trait is its ergonomics. If comfort is at the utmost importance for you, it may be worth considering. I would have to listen to both and wear both to make a final call on that, however. Sorry I couldn’t produce anything concrete here!
@@MatthewDiFazio thanks so much for the information!
Does anyone know what the volume are like on these?
Which has the bigger soundstage between the two?
Great question - I actually ended up cutting out my take comparing the two in terms of soundstage, but Apollo had more moments where I felt like the staging was really just next level. Bathys definitely has some similar characteristics in the way it presents its soundstage, but it felt like Apollo was just slightly wider and had more “wow” moments when listening.
How does it compare to the ML, the Solitaire T and the Dali io-12?
@@Hawk-ly9fi I wish I had these in for the comparison :-/ unfortunately, I’m unsure as of now, but I have those on my list to listen to as soon as I can!
@@MatthewDiFazio had the dali a while and they are not good...the stratospheric price is just a joke.
@MatthewDiFazio Dude I would honestly love to hear your take on them when you get a chance to get them in. IMO I preferred the ML over the other two. It wasn't the absolute best in any one thing (though it might possibly have the best treble clarity), it took the dynamic punchiness and speed (Solitare T's strength) and the rich expansive soundstage (IO-12's strength) of the other two and blended them so well that it makes it hard to justify spending the extra $300-600 on the others. Plus to me it also sounded the best passively
@@MrJ.31 I’d love to get the chance to hear them! Hopefully get a chance to in the future.
Do they play loud?Always an issue for me I like to play it loud from time to time.
They play loud. I never try to test the limits of full blast on any gear as I try to be as protective of my hearing as possible, but they should definitely reach volumes that suffice for short listening periods of max volume (or close to it.)
@@MatthewDiFazio thank you.
Is the latency on usb c wired or just wireless?
I found it most notable on Bluetooth. Wired connection definitely came with better performance. When I’m gaming, latency issues aren’t super important to me (although it can take me out of immersion with single player games), but for a competitive landscape, I’d 100% recommend a wired connection when gaming :-)
@@MatthewDiFazio So would you recommend it for single player games? I am using Audeze Maxwell wondering if this can is like 20%+ better in terms of sound quality then I will considering of buying it, thanks
@@jasonyau5666 There is no latency when wired. The latency is caused by Bluetooth and since Bluetooth is not used when listening wired, there is no latency.
@@jasonyau5666 good question, and tough for me to answer since I myself am sticking to Maxwell and not changing (as of yet.) I think if you’re looking for something that can really do it all, Apollo is the pick. If you’ve been enjoying what Maxwell brings to the table, and are already slightly on the fence, I’d probably just stick with what you got. But long answer short, I do recommend Apollo for single player games, and do think it does a lot of things really well.
At the risk of being totally pedantic - I believe the Focal's are pronounced "bah-TESE" (leave it to the French to be unnecessarily confusing). But kudos for nailing "timbre"! Kidding aside, I loved my Bathys so much, I finally let my beloved Stellia's go. No, the Bathys are NOT at the same level as the Stellia's, but I also own a pair of ZMF Verite C's, and the Bathys were "good enough" to let go of one of my go-to wired pairs . . . and use part of the proceeds to try out the Apollo's, primarily for the aptX HD and LDAC support.
@@gdubaz I realized in the editing phase that I was not pronouncing Bah-tese, and fully embraced that I would get a few comments saying I was wrong 😂 I hear you on making room in the collection - it’s crazy how versatile these wireless headphones can be, and just how good they’re getting! Thanks for checking out the video ✌️
Any comparison to B&W px8?
@@pricedm1 Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the chance to hear those yet :-/ somehow they’ve always managed to escape me at every CanJam I’ve been to.