First off, thanks to MP4Nation and to an certain anonymous TE member for providing me a testing sample. 
This is one earphone that really needs a thorough burn-in before you can listen to it.
Just out of the box, I found the sound to be very harsh and sibilant and if I had not read Faheem's review here - http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-and-previews/review-beta-brainwavz-pro-iems-150976.html where he recommended a good 100 hour burn-in I would have probably thrown these earphones away.
So keeping Faheem's suggestion in mind, I played normal music continuously to burn them in. I don't have an exact estimate on the number of hours I have burned the earphones but its between 100 - 120 hours and true to what most users have said, the sound has improved quite a bit.
[BREAK=Specs]Specs.
Driver: 11mm CCAW (copper-clad aluminum wire) dynamic driver
Impedance: 24 Ohm (+/- 20%) @ 1kHz
Sensitivity: 110dB @ 1mW
Frequency response: 8Hz – 28kHz
Cable: 125cm, Y-style, 45° angled 3.5mm gold-plated plug
The specs seem rather optimistic. No one can hear anything below 20 hz and no one can either hear anything above 20 khz either ! (Unless you are a new born baby)
The high sensitivity rating of 110 db means these earphones are very easy to drive and don't require an amp to sound their best. Unfortunately the high sensitivity causes hiss in certain mp3 players and the player used for this test - Amp3 pro 2 caused a lot of hiss which was noticeable on any quiet passages in a song. Other mp3 players will produce a lot less hiss as the Amp3 is well known for causing hiss with high sensitivity earphones like the Beta Brainwavz.
[BREAK=Packaging and Accessories]Packaging and Accessories
Accessories: Silicon tips, foam tips, shirt clip, fishbone winder, screw-on filters, earguides, soft velvet pouch
Wow ! Lots and lots of ear-tips for a $29 earphone ! I am very happy with the amount of accessories given and would give it a 4.5/5 as I cannot think of anything missing other than a hard case. But the soft velvety pouch does a very good job so its no big loss.
The Beta Brainwavz came in a very nice retail box but unfortunately the local post office treated the package rather badly and I received a smashed up box so I cannot post a picture.
[BREAK=Build Quality]Build Quality
The build quality is very good for a $29 earphone. Better than my earlier earphones in the same price range (Soundmagic PL-30, Soundmagic PL-12, EP - 630).
The driver housing is made of some good quality plastic with an aluminum nozzle. There is an added filter to screw on the nozzle to make the sound less bright.
However the nozzle is elongated which makes fitting other eartips difficult. The traffic cone eartips wont fit any other earphone and fitting Soundmagic or EP-630 tips is very difficult.
The wire is very nice and doesn't tangle very easily. The jack is angled at about 45 degrees and seems to be well made. I can see these earphones lasting a long time despite my rather rough usage of earphones. :redface:
Here are some pictures of the earphones -
The earphones
Without metal filter
With metal filter
Inside metal mesh
[BREAK=Fit and Comfort]Fit and Comfort
This part of the review is highly subjective mainly because everybody has different sized ears. I use the double flanged tips and the single orange tips. Both tips give a very good seal. I did not use the foam tips as they generally get very dirty since my ears generate a lot of wax. :ashamed:
The comfort is above average and I can listen to the earphones for hours which is a testament to their comfort and fatigue free sound.
In any case given the large amount of tips, I am sure finding one that fits your ears perfectly wont be very difficult.
The cable unfortunately very micro-phonic, transmitting a lot of noise of the cable rubbing your shirt, pant etc to your ear-buds. However I used the ear-guides to wear the earphones 'over the ears'. Over the ears, micro-phonics is a non issue.
[BREAK=Sound Quality]Sound Quality
As mentioned above, a thorough burn-in is highly recommended before listening to them.
The source used was an Amp3 pro 2
The music used to test the earphones were
Queen - We are the champions
ABBA - Lay all your love on me
Westlife - Cant lose what you never had
Mr Mister - Broken wings
Eyes on me - Celine Dion
Roxette - Come back before you leave
Now using the earphones without the extra filter makes the sound very bright and rather harsh and I did not like it so the entire review was with the filter attached.
Bass - These earphones do not have an exaggerated bass nor are they bass light either. After hearing earphones with lots of bass like the Crossroads Woodie and the Hippo VB (both 3x the price of the Betas) the bass on the Betas doesn't extend as low. The bass had reasonable detail and had decent impact and punch which is commendable for budget earphones. Its very different from the boomy bass of the EP-630 that is in the same price range.
Mids - The mids were decent without being great. They wont fight it out with the lush mids on the Crossroads Woodie 2 but the slightly warm sound signature makes most voices smooth and easy to listen too. One nice aspect of this earphone is that it renders badly recorded tracks with gusto. Other than the test tracks which are either FLAC or 245 kbps VBR files, any 128 kbps music played sounds pretty good while my Head-direct RE1s would make those tracks impossible to listen too. It handles male vocals better than female vocals. Another thing to note is that most of the singers sound a bit 'nasal' compared to my other phones. (Something like how Himesh sounds !)
The Beta's have slight sibilance with some tracks. In the test tracks above only Mr Mister - Broken wings had a sibilance issue. That said the sibilance was not overpowering and I could still enjoy the track.On the other tracks, sibilance was not an issue.
The mids are slightly recessed leading to bit laid back sound as opposed to a forward sound (leading to a very energetic sound). This leads to a less engaging but fatigue free sound.
Treble The Betas don't have a rolled off treble like most earphones in this price range have. That said it does not extend as much as say the treble on the Soundmagic PL-30 (which is currently the class leader for budget IEMs). However the treble also does not sound very harsh after the burn-in so you can listen to music for hours without becoming fatigued.
Compared to my other earphones like the Hippo VB, the VBs treble is slightly harsh and after an hour my head starts ringing slightly. So I happy that these earphones don't cause fatigue. These are not very detailed earphones but they are very close to earphones that cost 2x the price which is very commendable since most budget earphones lack detail.
Soundstage There is a very noticeable soundstage but its more wide than it is deep. It competes very well with the Hippo VB and Crossroads Woodie 2 in this regard (both these earphones cost 3x the price). It was more than sufficient for me and compared well to the PL-30. The soundstage was much better than say the EP-630.
Overall sound A rather commendable performance. They have a rather balanced sound without any major weakness. Most budget earphones have one or maybe two weaknesses. For e.g. I found the Soundmagic PL-30 to be bass anemic and the PL-12 to have very little treble and detail even though it had decent bass and a nice midrange. The Betas however have decent punchy bass, a slightly warm smooth midrange and a decent treble without much harshness. i.e a rather balanced sound.
So if I had only $30 to spend would I buy these ? A definite Yes !
However now there are tons of good earphones at this price range that you could also check out like the Soundmagic PL-30 and others which have their own strengths and weaknesses.
These earphones are available directly via mp4nation.net or you can get them via Amarbir from Lynx India.
[BREAK=Conclusions]
So to sum up the Pros and Cons -
Pros :
- Rather balanced performance with no major weakness.
- Very good set of accessories
- Good build quality
- Very decent price
Cons :
- Recessed midrange makes for a less energetic sound
- Bass is not boomy enough for EP-630 fans !
- Some of the eartips wont fit other earphones and vice versa (Thanks to the elongated nozzle)
This is one earphone that really needs a thorough burn-in before you can listen to it.
Just out of the box, I found the sound to be very harsh and sibilant and if I had not read Faheem's review here - http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-and-previews/review-beta-brainwavz-pro-iems-150976.html where he recommended a good 100 hour burn-in I would have probably thrown these earphones away.
So keeping Faheem's suggestion in mind, I played normal music continuously to burn them in. I don't have an exact estimate on the number of hours I have burned the earphones but its between 100 - 120 hours and true to what most users have said, the sound has improved quite a bit.
[BREAK=Specs]Specs.
Driver: 11mm CCAW (copper-clad aluminum wire) dynamic driver
Impedance: 24 Ohm (+/- 20%) @ 1kHz
Sensitivity: 110dB @ 1mW
Frequency response: 8Hz – 28kHz
Cable: 125cm, Y-style, 45° angled 3.5mm gold-plated plug
The specs seem rather optimistic. No one can hear anything below 20 hz and no one can either hear anything above 20 khz either ! (Unless you are a new born baby)
The high sensitivity rating of 110 db means these earphones are very easy to drive and don't require an amp to sound their best. Unfortunately the high sensitivity causes hiss in certain mp3 players and the player used for this test - Amp3 pro 2 caused a lot of hiss which was noticeable on any quiet passages in a song. Other mp3 players will produce a lot less hiss as the Amp3 is well known for causing hiss with high sensitivity earphones like the Beta Brainwavz.
[BREAK=Packaging and Accessories]Packaging and Accessories
Accessories: Silicon tips, foam tips, shirt clip, fishbone winder, screw-on filters, earguides, soft velvet pouch
Wow ! Lots and lots of ear-tips for a $29 earphone ! I am very happy with the amount of accessories given and would give it a 4.5/5 as I cannot think of anything missing other than a hard case. But the soft velvety pouch does a very good job so its no big loss.
The Beta Brainwavz came in a very nice retail box but unfortunately the local post office treated the package rather badly and I received a smashed up box so I cannot post a picture.
[BREAK=Build Quality]Build Quality
The build quality is very good for a $29 earphone. Better than my earlier earphones in the same price range (Soundmagic PL-30, Soundmagic PL-12, EP - 630).
The driver housing is made of some good quality plastic with an aluminum nozzle. There is an added filter to screw on the nozzle to make the sound less bright.
However the nozzle is elongated which makes fitting other eartips difficult. The traffic cone eartips wont fit any other earphone and fitting Soundmagic or EP-630 tips is very difficult.
The wire is very nice and doesn't tangle very easily. The jack is angled at about 45 degrees and seems to be well made. I can see these earphones lasting a long time despite my rather rough usage of earphones. :redface:
Here are some pictures of the earphones -
The earphones
Without metal filter
With metal filter
Inside metal mesh
[BREAK=Fit and Comfort]Fit and Comfort
This part of the review is highly subjective mainly because everybody has different sized ears. I use the double flanged tips and the single orange tips. Both tips give a very good seal. I did not use the foam tips as they generally get very dirty since my ears generate a lot of wax. :ashamed:
The comfort is above average and I can listen to the earphones for hours which is a testament to their comfort and fatigue free sound.
In any case given the large amount of tips, I am sure finding one that fits your ears perfectly wont be very difficult.
The cable unfortunately very micro-phonic, transmitting a lot of noise of the cable rubbing your shirt, pant etc to your ear-buds. However I used the ear-guides to wear the earphones 'over the ears'. Over the ears, micro-phonics is a non issue.
[BREAK=Sound Quality]Sound Quality
As mentioned above, a thorough burn-in is highly recommended before listening to them.
The source used was an Amp3 pro 2
The music used to test the earphones were
Queen - We are the champions
ABBA - Lay all your love on me
Westlife - Cant lose what you never had
Mr Mister - Broken wings
Eyes on me - Celine Dion
Roxette - Come back before you leave
Now using the earphones without the extra filter makes the sound very bright and rather harsh and I did not like it so the entire review was with the filter attached.
Bass - These earphones do not have an exaggerated bass nor are they bass light either. After hearing earphones with lots of bass like the Crossroads Woodie and the Hippo VB (both 3x the price of the Betas) the bass on the Betas doesn't extend as low. The bass had reasonable detail and had decent impact and punch which is commendable for budget earphones. Its very different from the boomy bass of the EP-630 that is in the same price range.
Mids - The mids were decent without being great. They wont fight it out with the lush mids on the Crossroads Woodie 2 but the slightly warm sound signature makes most voices smooth and easy to listen too. One nice aspect of this earphone is that it renders badly recorded tracks with gusto. Other than the test tracks which are either FLAC or 245 kbps VBR files, any 128 kbps music played sounds pretty good while my Head-direct RE1s would make those tracks impossible to listen too. It handles male vocals better than female vocals. Another thing to note is that most of the singers sound a bit 'nasal' compared to my other phones. (Something like how Himesh sounds !)
The Beta's have slight sibilance with some tracks. In the test tracks above only Mr Mister - Broken wings had a sibilance issue. That said the sibilance was not overpowering and I could still enjoy the track.On the other tracks, sibilance was not an issue.
The mids are slightly recessed leading to bit laid back sound as opposed to a forward sound (leading to a very energetic sound). This leads to a less engaging but fatigue free sound.
Treble The Betas don't have a rolled off treble like most earphones in this price range have. That said it does not extend as much as say the treble on the Soundmagic PL-30 (which is currently the class leader for budget IEMs). However the treble also does not sound very harsh after the burn-in so you can listen to music for hours without becoming fatigued.
Compared to my other earphones like the Hippo VB, the VBs treble is slightly harsh and after an hour my head starts ringing slightly. So I happy that these earphones don't cause fatigue. These are not very detailed earphones but they are very close to earphones that cost 2x the price which is very commendable since most budget earphones lack detail.
Soundstage There is a very noticeable soundstage but its more wide than it is deep. It competes very well with the Hippo VB and Crossroads Woodie 2 in this regard (both these earphones cost 3x the price). It was more than sufficient for me and compared well to the PL-30. The soundstage was much better than say the EP-630.
Overall sound A rather commendable performance. They have a rather balanced sound without any major weakness. Most budget earphones have one or maybe two weaknesses. For e.g. I found the Soundmagic PL-30 to be bass anemic and the PL-12 to have very little treble and detail even though it had decent bass and a nice midrange. The Betas however have decent punchy bass, a slightly warm smooth midrange and a decent treble without much harshness. i.e a rather balanced sound.
So if I had only $30 to spend would I buy these ? A definite Yes !
However now there are tons of good earphones at this price range that you could also check out like the Soundmagic PL-30 and others which have their own strengths and weaknesses.
These earphones are available directly via mp4nation.net or you can get them via Amarbir from Lynx India.
[BREAK=Conclusions]
So to sum up the Pros and Cons -
Pros :
- Rather balanced performance with no major weakness.
- Very good set of accessories
- Good build quality
- Very decent price
Cons :
- Recessed midrange makes for a less energetic sound
- Bass is not boomy enough for EP-630 fans !
- Some of the eartips wont fit other earphones and vice versa (Thanks to the elongated nozzle)
.
