Sound
“The B200 is a audiophile grade, high performance earphone that is suitable for most genres of music.”
You might like it or you don’t, but the new Brainwavz B200 actually is tuned in a more neutral way where clarity is most important. If you’re looking for a bass heavy or warmer sounding IEM than you really should forget about the B200. Brainwavz really wants to show with this IEM that they can perfectly make a more audiophile tuned monitor without enhancing certain parts of the sound. Some of the Brainwavz fans, especially those who are in to bass, might not expect or like this.
With its double (woofer & treble) Balanced Armatures you get the typical BA sound with a fully black background, good detail and clarity most of all. The B200 has a more than average level of detail/resolution for the price it’s going for and it presents it in a non-boring, non-analytical but musical and slightly smooth kind of way. The sound stage level at this price point is good but neither the depth and width are exceptional. Again that is normal. You get a natural and correct sound. I wouldn’t say the B200 sounds intimate, it’s better than that with a coherent and natural spacing and separation. The low and top end aren’t the furthest extended however and as a result you get a more mid focused IEM.
The Brainwavz B200’s bass is tight and perfectly in line without any enhancements. The neutral bass has a clear and fast delivery with a natural punch to it. Bass is never too much and never too little, it blends in perfectly. Detail wise bass is very correct for the price level but bass is more focused to the mid bass: it doesn’t go really low and the layering is lacking a little.
The mids are clean, clear and uncolored. The lower mids perfectly flow from the bass without any boost. The upper mids have a little bit of focus on them making voices sound somewhat more forward. When I started listening to the B200 that sounded a bit special but my ears quickly adapted to the sound. Mid-section layering, especially with the E17K was very nice.
Treble is good and easy to like but it isn’t the most extended, detailed or layered. In that regard the B200 is very much like the bass part. Treble is clean, clear and dynamic enough to give the B200 an overall balanced presentation though. If Brainwavz would have tuned the treble further, I’m afraid it would have become a too treble focused monitor with the actual bass and mids and that certainly wasn’t what they had in mind. That does also mean that for some people, treble – just like the bass for the bass lovers – might not be energetic and extended enough as they are. Then again, when using the ALPEN 2 in example, really made the treble more energetic with good extension.
All in all, the tuning Brainwavz chose for the B200 works and the performance is surprisingly good at this price point, especially with the right amplification/source. It’s amazing what quality you can get nowadays from 2 BA drivers, and it just keeps getting better.
Hard to use?
No. If you’ve just read the specs you know the Brainwavz B200 is easy to drive. It sounds perfectly as described straight from your phone or any of the mini DAPs such as the Cayin N3 and Hidizs AP60. The B200 is dead silent at all times and you don’t need an extra powerful DAP like the AK KANN, to make it sound best. When hooking it up to a portable amplifier the B200 does scale up nicely.
On Fiio’s E17K ALPEN 2 the B200 is extremely musical and the especially the treble section sounds superb. Treble wise I found this to be the best pairing and actually it’s not just for treble. The B200 seems to be made for the E17K, resulting in good layering, lovely detail and great musicality. The best combination to my ears.
With ALO Audio’s CV5 portable tube amplifier you get a more spacious sound but treble is softer. I personally prefer the more energetic presentation of the Fiio than the softer and smoother presentation of the CV5. The B200 is dead silent on the CV5 though. With JDSLabs C5 amplifier I recommend not using the bass boost function, as it results in unnatural and bloated sounding bass. Sound wise the C5 is a mix of the ALPEN 2 (energy) and the CV5 (smoothness). Treble still is somewhat soft for my preference though.
From the Chord Mojo you get great energy and good speed. Mojo keeps everything tight and detailed with good extension. The B200 and Mojo pairing also is very good but I still prefer the more aggressive E17K from Fiio. Straight from my Samsung S6, the B200 has more than neutral bass and mid body but the layering is pretty good. You get a very musical sound with soft treble but the smooth voices are to die for. This might not be the best combo for technicalities, but it sure does win in the Fun category.
After testing the Brainwavz B200 on many amps(/sources) I can only say that the B200 really scales up. Its sound signature is easy to modify and my personal favs are the E17K and the S6, something I didn’t expect to say anytime soon.
Conclusion
I am pleasantly surprised with the performance of the Dual Balanced armature driven Brainwavz B200, especially from the point on I started using it in combination with external amplifiers. The good news is that you don’t need something expensive like the Duet or Vorzuge. A simple $99.99 costing Fiio E17K ALPEN 2 will make the B200 sound really really good. The bad news is that you’ll probably have a hard time going back to the B200 without amplification. It even happened to me going back to the AK KANN.
The Brainwavz B200 sounds really nice and as a result I now really look forward to that B300. Brainwavz might be leaving the budget market doing this, but if they keep delivering such good sound quality, that’s fine for me.
Specifications
- Drivers : Dual Balanced Armature
- Rated Impedance : 30 Ω
- Frequency Range : 12 Hz ~ 22 kHz
- Sensitivity : 110 dB at 1 mW
- Cable : 1.3 m Y-Cord, Over the ear, OFC Copper
- Plug : 3.5 mm, Gold plated
