Styled by Beetlejuice?
I’ll admit, Brainwavs isn’t a brand that I’ve heard of before, but after spending a week with the B2′s; I’m impressed.
Immediately the design screams “I’m not like all the others!”, the signal wires for both earpieces, plus the ground, are individually insulated and twisted together like rope.
Initially this looks strange, the kind of thing that Tim Burton might come up with if asked to design headphones for the day. Certainly my initial reaction was “why?” but after reading the blurb and then using them for a week the reason is obvious; it’s almost impossible to tangle them up.
I know it sounds strange, you would think that more wires would mean more tangling, but the clever weave means that the leads are incredibly flexible while somehow managing not to tie themselves in knots.
At the end of the leads are some pretty ordinary looking earbuds. Brainwavz provide you with a selection of rubberised tips to suit your ears, but I found that the standard size tips were pretty decent.
In terms of comfort, there are few earphones that I’ve been able to wear for as long without discomfort. Sessions lasting into multiple hours shouldn’t be a problem for most listeners.
At the same time, the tips do a pretty decent job of eliminating background noise. There’s no active noise cancellation, but passive noise isolation is impressive. They don’t completely drown out background noise; you can still make out voices and loud noises, but they do enough to make sure that your ears are focused on the sounds coming through the phones.
When it comes to sound, the B2′s continue to impress. Sounds are reproduced clearly throughout the spectrum (though I’d have preferred a little more bass). At the same time, the sound is incredibly crisp; percussion is well defined and stringed instruments have extra depth when compared to some other earphones I’ve tried in the same price range.
These phones are most impressive when used to listen to audio with high levels of mid and high frequencies, such as rock music, but they’re just as effective when listening to other types of music, or when watching movies and TV shows.
Conclusions.
To be honest, it’s hard to think of a reason not to buy these earphones.
Oh wait, there’s the price; at £100 they’re not cheap, but if you’re looking to spend that kind of money then the B2′s should definitely make your shortlist.
The lack of bass can be offset by changing your equaliser settings, and other than this minor flaw they’re a fantastic way to listen to your music.
As well as that, they look pretty snazzy and feel well built enough to last you a good long while. My only concern is with the, admittedly snazzy, twisted cables.
They’re tightly wound for now, but give them a few months of being wound around my hand and shoved in my pocket and they might not be. It’s a novel way to solve the never-ending tangling issue, I’m just not convinced that they’ll stay untangled in the long run.
Providing they do, though, I’d definitely consider shelling out my hard earned money on them, and so should you.
The Brainwavz B2 earphones are available now, priced at £99.