General Forum

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

TWG — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:24:08 GMT

For my personal taste the A8 provides more than enough bass. But it is strongly recommended that you use the foam things (I actualy don't know the english word for it) ;-) to let the A8 sound good enough.

By the way: The A8 seem to be improved over the time. My 4-5 years old A8s where broken and I bought a new pair last week.
My new A8 play louder on the same volume level than my old ones and they have a richer bass than the old ones!

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

DoubleU — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:31:59 GMT

TWG:

I tried several of the supplied Shure in-ear-adapters but it was a pain to wear for me. The A8 was much more comfortable and for my ears the A8 sounded as good as the Shure E3. Perhaps the highs had a little more "pressure" due to the Shures construction... but I can't wear them comfortable; so I switched back to the A8 and I'm very happy with it!

Fair enough, TWG. I can understand not everyone is comfortable with in-ears. But the A8 leaks too much bass for me, as I like to listen to electronic music where bass is important. I probarly would have bought the BS6, if the A8 was optional.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

Stan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:07:34 GMT

To continue on the off-topic sub-thread: I also prefer the A8s to the Sure E3s. I own and use both. I use the E3s on flights and the A8s pretty much everywhere else... The E3s have better bass, but don't "sparkle" to my ears like the A8s.

Oh yeah, I also vote for the BS2 (it's everything I need and nothing that I don't and ruggedly constructed). No "plop" on mine. There is a small bit a white noise that I hear when between songs.

Stan

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

TWG — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:29:53 GMT

The_Beonic_Man:

Sorry Trip... I am with TWG as my BS2 behaved exactly the same. It would be interesting to know when you bought yours TWG as I purchased mine as soon as they were released, so if you did too, then perhaps the earlier original models suffered with this problem? I bought mine in Greece. I am sure by now they have identified and ironed out any glitches, as they have with the top part of the BS3 for example.

With regards to the original poster's question, well up until owning a Serenata I would definitly have backed the BS2 as the sound quality is superb. However, the sound reproduction on the Serenata is very impressive. I am still going to sell mine on as the phone part of it is useless to me - texting and general dialing etc is fiddly - I only bought it as a temporary measure while my Serene was being repaired. Don't discount it though and do make sure you have a proper listen to it with lossless or high bit rate music playing.

All the best,
Simon.

Hey Simon, yes, my Beosound 2 is one of the first ones... perhaps they changed the electrical circuit in later units!?
Would you sell your Serenata? Then I'm interested as you had a good deal ;-) More via PN.

@DoubleU:

Comparison was easy: Same track, same volume, same audio device and then I compared the Shure E3 to my A8 headphones.
I tried several of the supplied Shure in-ear-adapters but it was a pain to wear for me. The A8 was much more comfortable and for my ears the A8 sounded as good as the Shure E3. Perhaps the highs had a little more "pressure" due to the Shures construction... but I can't wear them comfortable; so I switched back to the A8 and I'm very happy with it!

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

DoubleU — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:21:50 GMT

TWG:

My personal opinion: The Bang & Olufsen A8 do sound as good as the Shure E3 in the <200 Euro headphone class.

How can you compare an isolating earphone with an A8, and say "sound as good".

Shure FTW!

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

The_Beonic_Man — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:25:17 GMT

Sorry Trip... I am with TWG as my BS2 behaved exactly the same. It would be interesting to know when you bought yours TWG as I purchased mine as soon as they were released, so if you did too, then perhaps the earlier original models suffered with this problem? I bought mine in Greece. I am sure by now they have identified and ironed out any glitches, as they have with the top part of the BS3 for example.

With regards to the original poster's question, well up until owning a Serenata I would definitly have backed the BS2 as the sound quality is superb. However, the sound reproduction on the Serenata is very impressive. I am still going to sell mine on as the phone part of it is useless to me - texting and general dialing etc is fiddly - I only bought it as a temporary measure while my Serene was being repaired. Don't discount it though and do make sure you have a proper listen to it with lossless or high bit rate music playing.

All the best,
Simon.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

TWG — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:27:49 GMT

@Trip:
Thanks for testing. I'm gonna have a visit to my dealer :-)

@PentaIII:
The actual Sony Walkman series for the european and US market does NOT support ATRAC anymore. They are all multiple format (MP3, AAC etc.) Audio and Videoplayers that work like a charm on Mac and PC via Drag&Drop (Music, Videos, Photos) with absolutely great sound quality!

My personal opinion: The Bang & Olufsen A8 do sound as good as the Shure E3 in the <200 Euro headphone class.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

PentaIII — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:15:52 GMT

I would also recommend any current Sony product if your main concern is sound quality. I usually stay right away from anything proprietary from Sony but ATRAC was just amazing and I kind of wish it went mainstream. Also, if you were serious about sound the A8's shouldn't even be mentioned.

B&O make some high end headphone gear please!!!

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

TripEnglish — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:25:35 GMT

TWG:

Trip, according to your comment it is NOT the way the Beosound 2 is intended to operate? This is an error/malfunction?
That would be good to hear/know.

TWG, I have two at home and a few laying around the shop. I know that my personal units don't do it and I checked our main display unit and it also didn't do it. Sounds like you have a gremlin. I'd bring it back to the shop and see what they can do for you.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

Peter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:51:52 GMT

I am afraid that I don't agree. If sound quality is the real issue, the Sony is the way to go. Shame that the ATRAC system is no more as this really was good. having said that, I wouldn't really describe any 'MP3' player as audiophile. Very useful when walking the dog though! BS2 has the advantage of being able to be operated without taking your hands out of your pockets!

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

Chrisreunion — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:10:10 GMT

If sound quality is your priority, I would go for BeoSound 2; however, BeoSound 6 in comparison is a real bargain, since it offers, twice the storage capacity (4 Gb instead of 2), can playback MP3 and WMA files at higher bitrates, has more than twice the playback time (40 hours), comes with a display with cover art, and has all connections via a single USB cable..and the sound was quite good too, I think. The data transfer speed is unfortunately as slow as on BS2.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

11048437 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:49:55 GMT

facing the same decision few weeks ago. My choices were: Sony, Ipod, Beosound 6 and 2.

However guess what i have at home now : a NIB Beosound 2 bought from my dealer. I had one before (bought on Ebay) and sold it after few months and I regretted that.

Beosound 2 is a classic and the quality of the materials, sound and his beauty put him apart from any MP3 on the market..

regards

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

TWG — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:47:50 GMT

TripEnglish:

TWG:

The Beosound 2 is only well manufactured but poor designed in electrical terms: When you switch it on you hear a "plop" noise through the headphones - an absolute NO GO for a MP3 player in this class! My Beosound 2 is sitting lonely on my desk since I got the Sony.

I think it should be pointed out that TWG's experience with this anomalous noise is an isolated incident. Regrettable, but isolated.

Trip, according to your comment it is NOT the way the Beosound 2 is intended to operate? This is an error/malfunction?
That would be good to hear/know.

But as an actual choice I can not recommend it anymore. It's only ok when you have - let's say - 2-3 CDs as MP3 on it; if more navigation is simply a pain :-)

So my personal choice and reference is the Sony S63x and the new X-Series in combination with the A8 headphones from B&O.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

TripEnglish — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:22:44 GMT

TWG:

The Beosound 2 is only well manufactured but poor designed in electrical terms: When you switch it on you hear a "plop" noise through the headphones - an absolute NO GO for a MP3 player in this class! My Beosound 2 is sitting lonely on my desk since I got the Sony.

I think it should be pointed out that TWG's experience with this anomalous noise is an isolated incident. Regrettable, but isolated.

Re: Beosound 2 or Beosound 6?

Peter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:49:47 GMT

The Sony is good I agree but I have my iPod classic 160Gb model. Lots of space (though it is full) so I can have high bit rate recordings. I record using AAC these days and the sound quality at 320kbps is fine - I use Sennheisser HD600s for more serious listening. The BS2 is just not good enough now and has a built in loudness circuit that you cannot disable. The BS6 was a joke.