I wouldn’t worry about those comments. the person you responded to likes beyer iem. If you know anything about beyer, it’s that they are extremely colored. Some love the “beyer sound” some hate it, I personally hate it so there is that frame of reference. APP2 sounds fantastic to me (I already articulated its shortcomings in an easier post) with my personal HRTF enabled (without head tracking) and using Apple Music. HRTF changed timbre, upper midrange and soundstage for me for the better. Also running app2 off of MBP 2021 sounded better to me than iPhone and turn off ANC for less sound artifact.
I never said APP2 didn't sound great. For a bluetooth iem it sounds great. There are wired iems that sound leagues ahead of it, and for not much more.
My interest was in, have Apple closed the gap with wired iem performance, at the $300ish price category. They really could with the insane budget they have for the APP2. Sadly, technically, they have not closed that divide.
At the same time, the APP2 are, in my opinion, the best tws on the market for overall features and sound.
For me isn't a worry the comments, I seeing the intention of the post clearly. If he preferring the Xelento or other wired alternative, this is 100% OK for me, is his preference. And I know too the common signature of Beyer headphones. The peaks in the treble of Xelento, for example, are problematic for me, and similar peaks are usually giving impression of better resolution, etc.
For me the real problem is the different generalisations that maybe making others people, with less experience (many people buying APP 1 or 2 because they're popular and they don't know well real differences in audio products, codecs, etc.) believing this comments, comments that aren't often true, but are comments that are repeating by many people (like wired vs BT, lossy vs lossless, LDAC vs AAC or MP3, headphones are always better in sound than IEMs, etc.) and mentioning often (very) expensive alternatives. This is similar when many people saying that very expensive DAPs are many more better than the sound from a mobile phone, for example, or that expensive DAC is making tremendous big difference in sound. And this comments are coming often with exaggerations in the language, "A is killing B", "A is leaving B in dust", "A is blowing B out of the water", etc. and with addition of special audio terminology.
I'm not repeating comments. I very stringently test my iems with test tracks I know well, and I listen very carefully to the various parts of the FR curve, independently, to evaluate the iem. the APP2 are a great tws. They do not compete with a Xelento, which is not an expensive iem, check ebay, they are going for $300-400 used.
The APP2 don't even compete with an S12 technically. These are just facts, annoying ones, as I dearly want APP2 to replace my wired iem usage. I love the product. But if you sit down, carefully, with a good wired iem, and the APP2, you will notice considerable differences in the clarity of the sound and the imaging, even with a decent wired iem. Try a 7hz timeless, an S12, anything well received and you'll see.
If it makes your purchase feel better, then by all means turn a blind eye to the alternatives and enjoy what you have. But there's no need to devalue the opinions of others, which have been carefully arrived at, simply because they unsettle you. Or perhaps this thread should exist like a Techradar review, only to make favourable comparisons and to drum up our purchase with pure hype...
