I received these Beats Tour 2.0 headphones as an impulse gift from my boss before Christmas a few years ago. I was waiting for him to purchase something at a Verizon store and commented that I needed some new headphones as my previous ones (Bose MIE2i) had been eaten by my Roomba vacuum cleaner. He said, "Pick something," and that's how I ended up with the Beats Tour 2.0s. I chose them because they had a flat cable and I was sick of tangles; because I thought Beats were decent headphones; because they had a number of tips and flange options and I've had difficulty getting earphones to stay in my ear in the past; because they had a decent style; and, because there wasn't much else to chose from in the category. Oh, and they were free, did I mention that?
Accessories, Comfort, & Isolation
Included accessories consist of a zippered soft-shell carrying case (which is quite nice), a shirt clip, and a range of tips (single and triple, S, M, L of each) and flanges (S, L), which is helpful to finding a better fit. However, for me, none of the tip/flange combinations ever felt right. If I could get a good seal with a tip, it wouldn't stay in my ear. If I'd use the flange to keep it in, I'd no longer get a good seal. This is a longstanding problem for me - earphones not fitting and staying in my ear. I finally read about Comply tips and ordered some for the Beats Tour 2.0. The Comply tips immediately solved both my fit issues - they would stay in my ear and provide a good seal. However, the Comply tips are not super comfortable to my ear (TSx-400s) which was disappointing, but it's only been a couple weeks, maybe they will improve with time, or my ears will get used to it.
With the stock tips I had to compromise isolation to get them to stay in my ear, and thus the isolation was very poor. The Comply tips provide much nicer isolation and, as discussed below, much better sound.
Build Quality & Design
This is probably the place the Tour 2.0s shine. The shells are made of a hard plastic, the cable is made of flat rubber, and the jack is a 90 degree small profile jack. I was, and still am, very impressed with the build quality. I am pretty hard on things and these have stood up to my abuse. I use these walking around, skiing, biking around town, mountain biking, etc... They are my on-the-go headphones and they've surpassed my expectations in the build quality area.
The cable is one of the best, and worst, parts of the Tour 2.0. I really enjoy the look and feel of the flat rubber cable, and it has never even come close to tangling. It rests nicely against a shirt and has a decent weight to it as well. The massive downside is that any movement of the cable you will hear in your ears, even more so with the Comply tips. The microphonics are alleviated somewhat by using the shirt clip, but because the cord cinch is below the remote/mic, there is still plenty of rustling in regular movement.
Speaking of, the remote & mic are also very nicely designed and built and perform well. I've never had any problems using the mic during calls and the remote functions as it should to control a phone.
The jack is worthy of a separate note here. The jack is very, very small, one of the smallest I've seen, and also very low-profile. This allows the headphones to be used in a variety of smartphone or DAP cases without an adapter. Further, the 90 degree bend makes the phone/DAP seem a little smaller in the pocket, and also limited exposure of the jack to snapping off.
I think, on the whole, these are a very well built and nicely designed set of earphones.
Sound Quality
With the stock tips, there is an overwhelming amount of forward, but muddy, bass. The low end completely drowns out the mids and highs, and utterly lacks detail. It is nice and forward though, you definitely feel it's there. But it distracts from every other area of the music, in my opinion, and I can't say much else beyond that.
With the Comply tips, and better isolation, the bass tightens up quite a bit, allowing the mids and highs to come forward a bit more. This is still, by all means, a bass heavy headphone, but with the Comply tips the bass is no longer totally overwhelming, and the mids and highs are allowed to resolve a bit more forward. Even more benefit can be had by EQing the bass slightly down, but then again, I am not a basshead. Even without EQing, one should be able to get much more detail from the mids and highs using the Comply tips that was simply lacking with the stock tips.
I found the soundstage to be slightly improved with the Comply tips as well, though still pretty small and definitely within the head.
Value
In the end I have kept these for awhile and will keep them going forward, but I'm glad I did not pay $149 for them. They make a fine earphone to walk around, do chores, work outside, and exercise with. But I have purchased some other earphones and will continue to look for improved sound and comfort. If you can find them for under $100 (I'd say $75 would be a nice price point for these) and you prefer a bass centric sound, they might do you well. But at $149, there are other earphones that will outperform these at that price point and sound signature (Vsonic GR07BE is one that is oft-recommended, though I have not heard them).
Because I'm new here and this is my first review, I couldn't post pictures, but pics can be found here:
https://flic.kr/p/r3eLUq
https://flic.kr/p/rGDrdE
https://flic.kr/p/rEUT6x
Accessories, Comfort, & Isolation
Included accessories consist of a zippered soft-shell carrying case (which is quite nice), a shirt clip, and a range of tips (single and triple, S, M, L of each) and flanges (S, L), which is helpful to finding a better fit. However, for me, none of the tip/flange combinations ever felt right. If I could get a good seal with a tip, it wouldn't stay in my ear. If I'd use the flange to keep it in, I'd no longer get a good seal. This is a longstanding problem for me - earphones not fitting and staying in my ear. I finally read about Comply tips and ordered some for the Beats Tour 2.0. The Comply tips immediately solved both my fit issues - they would stay in my ear and provide a good seal. However, the Comply tips are not super comfortable to my ear (TSx-400s) which was disappointing, but it's only been a couple weeks, maybe they will improve with time, or my ears will get used to it.
With the stock tips I had to compromise isolation to get them to stay in my ear, and thus the isolation was very poor. The Comply tips provide much nicer isolation and, as discussed below, much better sound.
Build Quality & Design
This is probably the place the Tour 2.0s shine. The shells are made of a hard plastic, the cable is made of flat rubber, and the jack is a 90 degree small profile jack. I was, and still am, very impressed with the build quality. I am pretty hard on things and these have stood up to my abuse. I use these walking around, skiing, biking around town, mountain biking, etc... They are my on-the-go headphones and they've surpassed my expectations in the build quality area.
The cable is one of the best, and worst, parts of the Tour 2.0. I really enjoy the look and feel of the flat rubber cable, and it has never even come close to tangling. It rests nicely against a shirt and has a decent weight to it as well. The massive downside is that any movement of the cable you will hear in your ears, even more so with the Comply tips. The microphonics are alleviated somewhat by using the shirt clip, but because the cord cinch is below the remote/mic, there is still plenty of rustling in regular movement.
Speaking of, the remote & mic are also very nicely designed and built and perform well. I've never had any problems using the mic during calls and the remote functions as it should to control a phone.
The jack is worthy of a separate note here. The jack is very, very small, one of the smallest I've seen, and also very low-profile. This allows the headphones to be used in a variety of smartphone or DAP cases without an adapter. Further, the 90 degree bend makes the phone/DAP seem a little smaller in the pocket, and also limited exposure of the jack to snapping off.
I think, on the whole, these are a very well built and nicely designed set of earphones.
Sound Quality
With the stock tips, there is an overwhelming amount of forward, but muddy, bass. The low end completely drowns out the mids and highs, and utterly lacks detail. It is nice and forward though, you definitely feel it's there. But it distracts from every other area of the music, in my opinion, and I can't say much else beyond that.
With the Comply tips, and better isolation, the bass tightens up quite a bit, allowing the mids and highs to come forward a bit more. This is still, by all means, a bass heavy headphone, but with the Comply tips the bass is no longer totally overwhelming, and the mids and highs are allowed to resolve a bit more forward. Even more benefit can be had by EQing the bass slightly down, but then again, I am not a basshead. Even without EQing, one should be able to get much more detail from the mids and highs using the Comply tips that was simply lacking with the stock tips.
I found the soundstage to be slightly improved with the Comply tips as well, though still pretty small and definitely within the head.
Value
In the end I have kept these for awhile and will keep them going forward, but I'm glad I did not pay $149 for them. They make a fine earphone to walk around, do chores, work outside, and exercise with. But I have purchased some other earphones and will continue to look for improved sound and comfort. If you can find them for under $100 (I'd say $75 would be a nice price point for these) and you prefer a bass centric sound, they might do you well. But at $149, there are other earphones that will outperform these at that price point and sound signature (Vsonic GR07BE is one that is oft-recommended, though I have not heard them).
Because I'm new here and this is my first review, I couldn't post pictures, but pics can be found here:
https://flic.kr/p/r3eLUq
https://flic.kr/p/rGDrdE
https://flic.kr/p/rEUT6x
