Dual Balanced Armature Earphones Brainwavz B2: ~$132 or ~$154 with FiiO E11 Amp

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  jv on 29/09/2011 - 17:35

  wow that's expensive… how do they compare to the ones selling for $7 from logitech?

  • 

    hweita on 29/09/2011 - 17:42

    LOL I got a $5 pair from COTD too, the question is, are these 26 times the earphones compare against the UE 200s? Quoting Joker from Head-Fi:

    "Personally, I find ‘Value’ a somewhat moot point of comparison when discussing an expensive earphone. Value is a relative quality by definition."

    And tbh theses are not THAT expensive… look at these:

    http://www.uniquemelody.com.au/products/index.html

    These custom UM Miracles are from $950…

  • 

    cwongtech on 29/09/2011 - 17:44

    I dont think the UE200s are even BA drivers, would most likely be dynamic drivers.

    • 

      hweita on 29/09/2011 - 17:52

      No they're not BA drivers, just dynamics. As Jaben said you have to pay $54 for the cheapest armature earphones worldwide:

      http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/50832

      LOL I can see someone saying you could get a 11 pack of the UE200's with spare change

  • 

    z10cvbnm on 29/09/2011 - 19:38

    once you've tried dual BA. you wont go back to UE200. :)

  • 

    RedSky on 29/09/2011 - 20:44

    Compared to ultra-cheepos, anything from the Koss KSC75s (~$30 on eBay) are immeasurably better. The difference is obvious and huge. For midrange like these, they'll probably do one thing well like tight bass or articulate highs or good ability to keep up with quick music but not everything. ~$200-300+ gets you just about everything if you pick right. After that there's customs and much more subtle improvements, and it becomes more a matter of personal taste.

    I'm still surprised that people here are unwilling to spend a moderate amount ($100-$150) on headphones. Especially for people who listen to them on a commute every other day, you're getting a huge amount of value out of that money. Instead everyone seems to either stick with apple earbuds or some equivalent and just buy new ones every time the cord breaks, wasting huge amounts of money while listening to tosh.

    • 

      jv on 29/09/2011 - 22:09

      Don't see how spending $150 on earphones is going to improve a 32kbps internet radio stream on my iPhone…

      • 

        cwongtech on 30/09/2011 - 00:09

        You will def not see improvement with radio stream, you will with normal MP3/AAC files though.

    • 

      AncientWisdom on 30/09/2011 - 13:47

      I think those compare well with $200-300 easily, read the reviews.

  • 

    mickeyjuiceman on 30/09/2011 - 06:56

    No, that's not expensive at all. Anyone who thinks they're expensive should stick to Apple headphones, they clearly don't have a clue.

    • 

      jv on 30/09/2011 - 12:07

      i don't use apple headphones, currently use Vsonic GR02's which i got for around half the price of the ones above… can't imagine the ones here are twice as good…

      • 

        hweita on 30/09/2011 - 12:29

        +2

        Well if you're into any sort audio equipment at all you'll know that diminishing returns are a given. Here's an example: say you give the earphones mentioned in this thread a rating out of 10:

        Ultimate Ears UE200: 3 - $5
        Vsonic GR02: 6 - $60
        Brainwavz B2: 8 - $130
        Westone UM3X: 9 - $280
        Unique Melody Miracles: 10 - $950

        Do the Vsonic's sound 12 times better than the UE200s?
        Are the Unique Melody's 16 times better than the Vsonic GR02s?

        So the logic of price / quality doesn't really work, better to compare earphones within a certain quality range and look at the prices.

        In my opinion, Braiwanvz B2 would slot into the range with the likes of Westone 2, Monster Turbine Pro, Earsonics SM2 etc., albeit with different sound signatures to each. Most of them would retail in the $200 - $300 range. Thus @ $132 this is a pretty good deal.

        Only caveat is that if you're a bass head, or hip-hop is your main genre, then probably don't get this, and stay away from most low to mid range BA earphones.

      • 

        Trance N Dance on 30/09/2011 - 20:31

        Where did you find UM3Xs for 280?

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  Tycn on 29/09/2011 - 18:10

  Good deal, especially the bundle.

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  sonicentropy on 29/09/2011 - 18:18

  Little point to these if you only listen mp3 and lossy aac like me.

  • 

    Trance N Dance on 29/09/2011 - 18:37

    +2

    You'd be surprised.
    I got Westone's UM3X and started out listening to 256kbps MP3s off my ipod and I could definitely tell the difference. Went to FLAC of my old Toshiba F20 and wow! Listening to a live album from Maroon 5 on the bus, I literally thought someone behind me was yelling out, turned out to be a crowd member caught on tape in the album.

    • 

      RedSky on 29/09/2011 - 20:38

      +2

      More sensitive headphones do pick up way more, but based on how much I've spent on headphones/amps I call bullshit on people being able to tell the difference between V0 and FLAC.

      • 

        AncientWisdom on 30/09/2011 - 13:49

        I also haven't managed to hear a difference but have never tried to pull an A/B blind test (can be done in Foobar)

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  justtoreply on 29/09/2011 - 18:44

  Whats that port on the back? Looks like an open circle…. are these things going to spew sound out on the train/bus etc?

  I bought some meelec A151's and they are so loud to people around me (even when the volume is turned down to reflect that the A151s have a higher peak volume that most headphones) that I am afraid to use them. I don't want another pair like that!

  • 

    Tycn on 29/09/2011 - 19:05

    It's a smoothed out area, not a port.

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  AncientWisdom on 29/09/2011 - 19:55

  Great IEMs at a great price!

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  RedSky on 29/09/2011 - 20:48

  Not that this is a bad deal or anything but buying a portable amp for use with a midrange headphone is stupid. I should qualify that by saying I used to be one of those stupid people. You can very easily find a good efficient headphone at that price range that doesn't need or benefit substantially from an amp.

  No matter what the people on head-fi say, portable headphones are about exactly that, being portable.

  In fact there's an excellent post about exactly this:

  http://www.head-fi.org/t/374155/leaving-portable-hifi-its-to…

  • 

    AncientWisdom on 30/09/2011 - 13:53

    I'm not disagreeing with you, but the B2 rate 40ohm/110db so should be absolutely fine with no amp.