Final B2

Practice

The B2’s modern design is completely straightforward and practical, while remaining robust and of a high quality. With a weight of 32 grams and a housing construction with three fixing points, they sit securely in your ear. A choice of five fit-adapters made of double-layer silicone ensure lasting comfort and excellent passive damping. A replaceable cable with MMCX connectors and a 3.5 mm angled jack connector can be used for connection; these headphones are in it for the long haul. The B2 are headphones purely for music and extras such as a built-in microphone are deliberately avoided.

Sound

The sound quality depends, as usual, on your choice of the right ear-mould. Bluetooth codecs are fortunately not an issue with wired systems. In principle, any resolution can be transmitted via the cable. The basic sound is powerful, balanced and rich in detail but I needed to up the levels a little bit to make the B2 fun to use, at least that was the case with my iPhone 8.

In the bass, the results appear tight, fast and without disturbing overemphasis. The tonality and dynamics are easy to understand, for example the creaking double bass in Holly Cole’s “I Can See Clearly Now”. Low bass is also present and clearly recognisable, although the small drivers reach their limits at explicitly high levels.

In the middle spectrum, voices are reproduced with clear contours, as are the tones and characters of acoustic instruments. Rock music comes through as wonderfully rich, while classical music or ballads like Nick Cave’s “Galleon Ship” sound pleasantly close. Orchestral works demonstrate the richness of detail specially well, along with the dynamics of the drivers, which sound slim rather than explicitly warm.

Finally, the high range also delivers good results. Here you will find a lot of details and the necessary speed for a separation of the instruments in the stereo panorama. The BA drivers do not sound superficial nor do they bite. Again, the basic tendency here is more analytical than warm and smooth. However, the B2 do not reach the silvery sound of more expensive open construction headphones.

Final classifies these headphones’ tuning as particularly suitable for the reproduction of spatial information, as you might find in classical orchestra recordings. In fact, the capture of the sound and its reproduction in panoramic stereo is quite convincing. However, I would not want to measure the quality of the spatial reproduction of this in-ear system against the capabilities of loudspeakers or open over-ear headphones. But one has to consider the price range that these headphones fall into. In summary, I would rate the sound tuning of the B2 as honest and universally suitable for music from classic to pop, and they are useful for mobile, stationary and even professional applications.