Im torn crazily between Focal Elegia and Dusks now. It was a done deal , portable audiophile level up from my trusty WH XM3… Elegias were that until someone said “you know there are more portable options than Elegias and its called Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk and it does the Elegia things better”… Im almost relieved but im still trying to make sure that Dusk soundstage is spaciois enough that i would be disappointed not to get the Focals…
My work has this health credit of $400 usable for gym memberships, etc. Well this year they randomly added other categories eligible for reimbursement, like music streaming subscription services, and… headphones! No way! Any pair of headphones you’d work out with are eligible. I would definitely weight train in the garage with a hefty pair of IEMs.
Ordered the B2:D, sent in the expense report… approved! They covered the cost. The package arrives looks like sometime next week or so. Blown away and stoked out of my mind. This annual credit thing may get addicting lol.
I’m upgrading from a pair of Dunu Titan S which I really, really like. The titans are a bit bright for me, and a bit lean bass wise, but I don’t care because they have that toe tapping musical quality that makes everything, especially rock, sound awesome. I honestly still am pretty happy with them yet here I am getting an upgrade.
Any other Titan S owners out there that switched to B2:D have commentary on the sonic difference?
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Did you finally decide? I own the Elegia. I would say this decision comes heavily down to what supporting gear / software you will buy, and whether you’re open to EQing your headphones. From what I’ve read B2:D have an excellent stock FR. Elegia on the other hand IMO are just terrible, like HD650 mid-centric gone horribly wrong. Yet the Elegia easily outperform other HP in their price class with resolution, sound dampening, decay and soundstage. Oh and bass is honestly great on the Elegia as well. Who knew! You get there with a good EQ.
BUT the FR is so totally screwy that messing with your own EQ on Elegia will prolly end in frustration. I got a little Qudelix 5k for IEMs, tried out the oratory1990 parametric EQ preset (no tuning from me), and it fixed all the FR issues I personally had. Bass presence is back and wonderful. It makes these HP the total package. Comfort, looks, resolution, tuning… all you need is a good replacement cable and my guess is you’d be a happy camper. With Qudelix 5k in particular you can use it in Desktop DAC mode, get another EQ on your machine, and use dual EQ with Qudelix 5k “fixing” the FR and your own EQ on your machine fine-tuning anything extra you’d like to add/subtract. That’s how I use it on Mac, works beautifully. Alternatively, there are parametric EQ software options for a desktop / laptop machine that you can purchase with oratory1990 preset available.
So, if you don’t want the IEM in ear thing going on for long listening sessions, Elegia is a no brainer if you’re up for EQing. If you don’t want to EQ, my guess is you’ll be straight up unhappy with Elegia.
My B2:D arrived in the mail today. Any former Dunu Titan S owners upgrade to these? Love the Titan S’s toe tapping fun sound for rock - B2Ds are way more resolving but lack some of that fun excitement. Would love to hear thoughts on how to EQ more of that in.
First impressions after using B2:D for a few days:
Wow, clear and sweet sound, detail, non fatiguing, epic mids and dynamics. Bass is already at a good level as it is. Highs needed some boosting for me to bring some excitement, but still not sibilance or harshness. The timbre really is something special, every sound be it digital or harsher instruments sound just right, so much character and yet zero unpleasantries coming out of these things.
One thing I miss once again is the toe tapping excitement of the Dunu Titan S. However, Titan S are fatiguing and don’t shine nearly as well on soundtracks and classical. Their sound works best for rock. B2:D are the exact opposite, sound amazing for soundtracks and classical. So much that I don’t really want to listen to rock much at all!
Throwing Attack on Titan all seasons soundtracks from Spotify on these via the Qudelix 5k just sounds astonishingly good, and pleasant to boot. I’m enjoying whole genres of music my other audio gear all tend to fatigue me on quickly, now for hours at a time on the B2:D. Unbelievable.
One thing I don’t like: lack of punch or visceral slam on the BA driver bass. Sounds too friendly, round and “nice”. Definitely tight in the sense that it is very controlled, but the visceral “D” noise made by a kick drum of a purely DD IEM is gone, attack is soft and round.
Still, for the genres these things shine in, it just isn’t missed. I would recommend anyone get these for rock or pop or visceral sound, but for everything else you’d be hard pressed to find better.
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The B3 is coming soon. Hope they improve the highs this time.
I can get behind that, would be great for them to roll out a more exciting retune. Personally I’m not in the “never EQ” camp, I EQ pretty much every piece of audio gear I own to a small degree, what bugs me is when EQ can’t actually make a pleasant end result. B2:D are great in this respect, add all the highs you like, they will bring a lot of air and detail and still no harshness.
Me too, Timeless takes eq really well and if given enough power IMO.