[buggalugs]

Got my BA200 as a Christmas gift. I've only got about a dozen hours on them and am still getting to terms with sound. They have an attractive full blooded and forthright sound from the mid range downwards but they seem to have a constricted treble which makes for a rather closed in delivery. Sibilants and aspirants are not portrayed correctly (often missing) when listening to massed voices. I'm beginning to think I might have received a faulty pair with one or possibly both treble units defective. I get best results with shure biflanges incidentally. I have 4 well regarded desk top amps to try from so this isn't the problem. My original PFEs sound much better "connected" and explicit. I'll report further when I get a lot more hours on the BAs but just at the moment am somewhat underwhelmed.

 

[tomscy2000]

I don't think these are meant to be analytical IEMs --- I don't treat them as such. I wouldn't be surprised that your PFEs sound more accurate.
 
The treble is definitely not up front and are tuned rather far away, especially with chimes and such. Breath sounds, and anything meant to be airy will sound further away, though it isn't really 'rolled off' per se. Also, sibilance and bite seem to be tuned away as a design choice.
 
I feel the strength of these IEMs is its ability to present sound in onion-like layers. It might not always be completely faithful to the recording, but it does instrumental separation in an interesting way. Details are still present, they're just not presented aggressively.
 
Quote:

they seem to have a constricted treble which makes for a rather closed in delivery. Sibilants and aspirants are not portrayed correctly (often missing) when listening to massed voices. I'm beginning to think I might have received a faulty pair with one or possibly both treble units defective.
 
My original PFEs sound much better "connected" and explicit. I'll report further when I get a lot more hours on the BAs but just at the moment am somewhat underwhelmed.

 

 

[tomscy2000]

I've been listening to some binaural recordings off the Ultrasone Test CD... the BA200 can throw sound cues pretty far, further than what the normal soundstage might suggest.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Got my BA200 as a Christmas gift. I've only got about a dozen hours on them and am still getting to terms with sound. They have an attractive full blooded and forthright sound from the mid range downwards but they seem to have a constricted treble which makes for a rather closed in delivery. Sibilants and aspirants are not portrayed correctly (often missing) when listening to massed voices. I'm beginning to think I might have received a faulty pair with one or possibly both treble units defective. I get best results with shure biflanges incidentally. I have 4 well regarded desk top amps to try from so this isn't the problem. My original PFEs sound much better "connected" and explicit. I'll report further when I get a lot more hours on the BAs but just at the moment am somewhat underwhelmed.

BA200 shares the same monitor tuning as most Westone UM series. It is warm, sweet and smooth most of the time. You will never get the PFE type of analytical sound in a monitor tuned IEM like the BA200. You are probably just too used to how the PFE sounds, IMHO.

 

[buggalugs]

Thanks for the reply ClieOS but I can't get too enthusiastic about any IEM where the top octave is rounded off. I kinda like to hear all the notes on my music collection.
I'll see if I can adjust but these IEMs are smoothed to soporific levels IMHO.   

 

[Inks]

Make sure you try different tips as well. The Phonak tips may work well with these because of their large opening.

 

[cute]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply ClieOS but I can't get too enthusiastic about any IEM where the top octave is rounded off. I kinda like to hear all the notes on my music collection.
I'll see if I can adjust but these IEMs are smoothed to soporific levels IMHO.   

That's not what I'm hearing!
 
 

 

[RealSlimSeto]

I thought their treble was pretty ok. Not really forward but not what you call rolled-off either. Still more sparkle than what you find on a SE535.

 

[tomscy2000]

What tips are you using with it?
 
Ever since I switched to the Ts-100, I really liked the ultra smooth presentation, but it did slightly drop the treble, and transform things in an odd way, and I started thinking, "hmm, maybe buggalugs has a point", but I switched back to the small bi-flanges, and just about all the treble and detail issues went away completely.
 
Certain instruments that I found got brought a bit too far back when I had the Comply on came back into the mix at a perfectly acceptable position. It has plenty of sparkle. It'll never be treble-forward, as it isn't tuned that way, but the treble should be perfectly acceptable for anyone seeking neutrality. As for the detailing, the Complys also smoothed away some of those. Artifacts that I always noticed with my DBA-02 and GR07 were sometimes missing when I had the Comply tips on, and came back with silicone tips. The BA200 is still a little more forgiving that both the DBA and the GR07, though.
 
I just listened to the Wiz Khalifa's 'Black and Yellow' instrumental with the silicone bi-flange tips; this is a track that has ridiculous amounts of bass and mid-bass that should completely obscure the treble in headphones with rolled-off treble, but at no point did I think the chimes punctuating the background were under pronounced in the BA200.
Quote:

I can't get too enthusiastic about any IEM where the top octave is rounded off. I kinda like to hear all the notes on my music collection. I'll see if I can adjust but these IEMs are smoothed to soporific levels IMHO.   

 

 

[buggalugs]

I seem to be at such a variance with you other guys on these that I'm still wondering whether I've received a faulty pair. I'm currently trying out all the various tips I've accumulated over the years and there are slight (but not night and day differences) in reproduction.
I'm also juggling around with the chipsets and output transistors in some of my amps (sort of slowly driving myself nuts). But I still come back to my main concern - things like brushed cymbal strokes, quiet triangle sounds, enunciation of high pitched vocalist's consanants, etc. etc. are pushed so far into the background as to be virtually missing unless the volume is cranked up to eye watering levels.
I don't experience any of this with my PFE's or my Linkwitz equalised ER4s or GRO7s which offer a level of treble detail clarity that these TDKs only hint at.
I know we all hear things differently and have different subjective preferences but these TDKs seem voiced for listeners who find the tinkly bits of their music irritating. I happen to really like the tinkly bits.

 

[tomscy2000]

Well, I have the GR07 and the DBA-02 (which should be just as treble-forward as the PFE and ER4); so does ClieOS.
 
I don't know what to say; yes, the BA200 isn't a treble forward IEM, but it can't possibly be only treble present at eye watering SPLs...
 
There is one slight thing though, and it may or may not be true; I saw a video with a European TDK representative that introduced the BA200 along with their other products, and he mentioned something about an 'impedance filter' in the cable, which I can only assume is some kind of RLC (or whatever) circuit built into that ginormous Y-split. TDK also mentions on its website that they took special care to make sure it sounds the same whether from a portable source or from a high powered source, (which I don't really think is true) but it may account for something if you're using an amp with complex load schema.

 

[ClieOS]

Impedance filter? I think it is more likely a crossover circuit of sort.

 

[tomscy2000]

I dunno, that's what the TDK guy said... he specifically said, "impedance filter" and "in the cable"... I'm just trying to think of a plausible reason why they'd have such a huge Y-split...
 
Anyways, here's the video, it's toward the end (around 5:29), when he's introducing the BA200:
 

 

[cute]

Quote:

I dunno, that's what the TDK guy said... he specifically said, "impedance filter" and "in the cable"... I'm just trying to think of a plausible reason why they'd have such a huge Y-split...
 

I don't know about "impedance filter", but I heard somthing about an "impotence filter", that can't be in the cable too? 

 
 

 

[buggalugs]

Interesting spot tomscy. I'll dust down a couple of my old DIY amps - one has an output impedance of 10 ohm the other 80 and see what effects I notice. The only amps I've tried have been sub 1 ohm incidentally. Can't see it'll make too much difference but then we all know what happens to the ER4p when it's loaded with 80 ohm in line resistors - we get ER4s with a completely different treble response.