| Brainwavz B2/Fischer Audio DBA-02 | Hifiman RE-400 |
|---|---|
| Deep fit for best sound | Shallow fit for best sound |
| Bent nozzle means only one type of wear is comfortable (over-the-ear for me) | Straight nozzle allows for comfortable wear over the ear and straight down |
| Small shell | Small shell |
| Cable doesn't harden | Cable might harden |
| V-shaped with some focus on highs | Neutral, balanced sound |
| Has some midbass boost (3 dB, 200 Hz central, wide) | (Maybe?) Has some low bass boost? |
| Low end rolloff starts at 70 Hz, gentle (3 dB/oct) | Low end rolloff starts maybe at 35 Hz, gentle (4 dB/oct?) |
| Medium speed bass | Fast bass |
| Smoothened bass | Neutral bass smoothness |
| Medium-low bass impact | High bass impact |
| Midrange cut (800-2kHz, central 1 kHz, 5 dB) | Neutral midrange |
| Midrange sounds slightly recessed. | Midrange sounds balanced |
| Highs sound presence-boosted, shimmering. May exaggerate sibilance if present. | Highs sound sometimes slightly crunchy. (a'la electric guitar) |
| Highs boost in presence region, (5-10kHz central 6.5 kHz, 6+ dB) | No highs boost |
| No upper end shelf. | Slight upper end shelf (2 dB?) |
| Upper end rolloff starts at 15.5 kHz, steep | No upper end rolloff. (19kHz+) |
| Medium decay in bass | Medium/fast decay in bass |
| Fast decay in mids | Medium decay in mids |
| Fast decay in highs | Medium/long decay in highs |
| Sounds dampened (a'la highly foam dampened room) | Sounds bit reverberated (a'la plate reverb/concrete walls) |
| No bass bleed | No bass bleed |
| Somewhat flattened soundstage | Correct soundstage depth |
| Good soundstage height rendition | Excellent soundstage height rendition |
| Slightly wider soundstage than perfect | Slightly narrower soundstage than perfect |
| Small center hole in left/right soundstaging | Perfect smoothness in left/right soundstaging |
| Slightly inversely arced soundstage (edges further than center) | "Linear" soundstage |
| "Surround" effect causes front/back confusion if highs are present | "Surround" effect only widens soundstage |
| Gets cold sounding when loud (odd order harmonic distortion) | Gets super-reverberant when loud (decay gets longer) |
| Gets more neutral with high output impedance amps | Output impedance does not affect sound |
| Medium-high sensitivity for IEMs (110 dB/mW, 40 Ohm) | Medium-low sensitivity for IEMs (102 dB/mW, 32 Ohm) |
| High isolation (~22 dB) | Medium isolation (~15 dB) |
| Hifiman RE-ZERO | Hifiman RE-400 |
|---|---|
| Bit nasal tonality (5k bump), too forward mids | Neutral tonality, mids neither forward nor recessed |
| Shimmer cut (8.5k null) | Neutral shimmer |
| Much more pronounced highest end shelf (6 dB) | Very slight if any high end shelf |
| Slow highest end rolloff (17kHz; better than B2, similar to GR07) | No highest end roll off (can hear up to 19.5k) |
| Somewhat gritty feel to the sound (mids distortion?) | Smooth sound with only a hint of extra crunch or midbass boost |
| Very long mids reverberation | Less reverberation in mids, more in highs |
| Very solid bass impact | Slightly softer bass impact, but felt more |
| Definitely rolled-off subbass, a bit wide-band boosted bass (2 dB) | No apparent subbass rolloff, perhaps even a neglible low bass boost |
| Best performance only with aftermarket tips (hard to get Fostex elliptic single flange for me) | Best performance with stock large biflange (crunch & reverb) or Comply Ts400 (midbass, non-reverbed, analytic) |
| Medium depth insertion (reference plane?), "just" achievable with single flanges | Shallow insertion (-3 mm?); deeper cuts highs, upper mids and boosts midbass a tiny bit |
| Somewhat uneven decay | Very even, smooth decay |
| Trapezoid soundstage (sides noticeably closer to head) with slight hole in the middle | Linear soundstage, superbly coherent |
| Decent soundstage height rendition | Very good soundstage height rendition |
| Uneven soundstage depth rendition - "in the face" vocals, bass sometimes in-head | Very good soundstageome depth rendition |
| Definitely hardened cable | Probably the same cable at the top |
| Flat wide minijack (not exactly Macbook friendly) | Tapered minijack |
| Balanced cable with adaptor | Normal unbalanced wiring |
| Does not work that well with Comply T400/Ts400 in any form Reduced "nasal" feeling, grittiness, and reverberation, but also much reduced bass impact and subbass amount | Works extremely well w/ Comply Ts400 normally mounted - faster bass impact, notably less reverb (almost like B2 anechoic room), no extra crunch, wider soundstage, warmer?, superbly extended subbass Generally way more analytic (not brighter!), but warmer |
| Not too sensitive wrt insertion depth, but picky about tips | Not picky about tips, but instead about insertion depth |
| Medium-high sensitivity for an IEM (100 dB/mW, 16 Ohm) | Generally half (-3 dB) as loud (102 dB/mW, 32 Ohm) |
