oh that PO ..people still read his crap??

second only to 6 moons reviews ?

> My concern w/ the mk1 is whether some girls might have too small of ear canal for the requisite insertion.

mk2 is smaller though

What?  B2 is the same size as the DBA-02 exactly.  DBA-02 mkII is the smaller and now it seems the R50 is the smallest.  The mk2 or R50 is what you recommend to people w/ smaller ear canals for deep fit.  Those people will never get a deep fit w/ a mk1 or B2, anatomically impossible. 


B2 peaks are mitigated w/ big ear canals, deep insertion and small bore tips like the Klipsch gels.  It becomes very flat.  Rin did measurements on tips effects for the B2 and my setup came up very neutral just as I hear them.  Big bore tips like complies will let the badness through.


What part of the bass is grainy?  Not the mid or upper bass.  The overall signature is pretty smooth and liquid, but not overly fake liquid like a Shure.

Would reshelling these retain the sound? Or would it be worse since the housing and the distance from the drivers to the ears change.

<IMO>
So , few months ago i got a chance to hear balanced armatures for the first time and it was DBA MKII. Having read nothing but praise for it i had high hopes. I tried to like it but the really thin and peaky upper mids are very apparent. The shell is really small and hence the drivers and it shows while listening. Tiny sound.
Overall sound is clean(dark grey background) but somewhat rounded and low on texture. Good for casual low volume listening. Not worth 150$ but then if HE400 can ask 400$ for it's terrible sound, DBA2 should be VFM
</IMO>

*** For sound and price evaluation: I have 2 modded vintage Yamahas. HP50A and HP1 that cost me 120$ and 150$ respectively***

To me the Brainwavz B2 aka DBA-02 Mk1 are still unrivalled in their price range. Period.

Agreed, I still have/use mine when I don't want to lose or damage my UERM.  People need to know that they have to be inserted extremely deep with the right tips and even then their personal ear canal size and shape will have a huge affect on whether they can hear them at their best.  That's just the way it is with those things.

For example Marv's ear canal is too small so it's impossible to insert the housing deep enough.  AS can get deep insertion but his ear canal is too long making the ideal reference plane too far away.