BEO!
I've had an eye cocked at these BEO earphones for ages. The first time I saw them was nearly 4 years ago, on a flight back home, from the UK. The semi-drunk in the next seat had a nice exponential relationship between "being haapppyyy", flight time and altitude. So at some point he, naturally, whipped out his credit card to buy some "duty-free" maal, specifically a pair of uber-cool Beo A8 earphones. And, yep you guessed it, he gave them to me to play with. It certainly made the in-flight fare more palatable. But, I digress. I fell in love in with the cool design and sharp sound reproduction and I've wanted a pair since.
Of course, the problem has been that I haven't been flush enough to grab me a pair. I mean, come on, these things cost _a_lot_more_ than a Sony for the same spec. That is until recently >:) So, having made the strange discovery that I can actually afford stuff now (very disconcerting), I headed off to the local Apple Store (why not Beo store? It was on the upper level of the mall). There, I checked out the A8 on an iPod (Nano). As with all things desired for a long time, it was a bit of a disappointment. The treble range was pretty good. And they fit quite comfortably. But the bass range was just too small, and they didn't seem to reproduce sound as well as I recall. Just as my dreams were shattered, I remembered the Form2 headphones by Beo. Checked them out on an iPod. And the shattered glass was put back together.
The treble range, bass range and voice reproduction are just amazing. After getting home, I ripped open the packet immediately and listened to Dire Straits and a live version of Sultans, and I'm hearing stuff that I didn't hear before. Finally, I can hear the jazz swing in the background, something that I couldn't discern on my standard issue iPod earphones. Then onto Dream Theater. The guitaring came out just stunning; this was with Home, from Scenes From A Memory. The bass range is really amazing too, with some pretty deep bass guitar notes being picked up, especially on the Sultans track. All this and it's $60 bucks cheaper than the A8! I like the oldie-70's design, gives it a cool retro look much like a Mini Cooper :) Cons? My ears aren't used to the fuzzy sponge material on the speakers, so I need to adjust them now and then to give my ears a break. All in all, a wait well worth the $$.