Focal Bathys vs Sennheiser HD 620S

Focal Bathys

The Bathys is a closed-back wireless ANC over-ear built around a 40mm aluminium-magnesium M-shaped dome driver, and it is judged first on sound. The tuning follows a Harman-leaning philosophy: smooth and fairly dense, with a clean midrange called a standout in its class, vocals forward without shouting, and a top end that relaxes from about 4kHz so sparkle is limited while sibilance is effectively absent. Bass is where accounts split, between a lifted shelf peaking around 50Hz that reads as powerful and punchy, and a low end described as subdued, or as deep sub-bass rumble that reserves itself rather than dominating. Staging divides the same way, from among the best heard on a Bluetooth over-ear to a rounded, intimate space whose distance portrayal leaves something to be desired. Running the headphone over USB-DAC instead of Bluetooth tightens the low end, adds treble bite and enlarges the stage. Build draws less argument: magnesium yokes, an aluminium headband, leather and memory foam pads, 350g, and no creak in the articulation. Noise cancelling is strong below roughly 1-2kHz and lets more midrange and voice through, and it is placed behind the Sony, Bose and Apple flagships, with low-frequency attenuation measured close to 20dB. There is no LDAC and no passive mode, so a flat battery means silence. Price is the standing objection: it launched at $799, and one verdict is that less expensive alternatives cover most of the same ground.

Sennheiser HD 620S

The HD 620S is a closed-back headphone built on a 42mm dynamic driver, listed at $349.95, rated 150 ohms and 110 dB/Vrms, and easy enough to drive that reviewers report full volume from a phone, an Apple dongle or a game controller. Three points are settled across the coverage: passive isolation is unusually strong for a sealed passive design, out-of-box clamping force is high and eases with wear, and the bass you actually hear depends heavily on seal. Everything else splits. One camp hears a near-neutral, HD 600 adjacent tuning with clean mids and a wide, natural stage for a closed back. The other measures and hears an asymmetric W-shaped response: strong sub-bass, a trough near 200 Hz, a 400-800 Hz hump that reads as boxy, a lower-treble recess and a mid-treble lift that leaves the highs sounding disconnected. A measurement-led review scored it 6.5 out of 10 with a 2.9 predicted-quality mean and called the price hard to justify, while a measurement forum still placed it on its recommended list. Detail and dynamics divide the same way.