This is one of the headphones made by the renowned German audio equipment manufacturer, and the XP2 is also one of the three Asian exclusive earphones. I’m lucky enough to have my hands on one of these earphones – the Beyerdynamic XP2. I came across a set of this baby and well, why not do a review and share my opinions and findings?
When I first looked at the packaging, it doesn’t look promising at all – in fact, the packaging yells cheap and the price tag seems to be misleading. But we shouldn’t judge anything by its cover. At its back, the same white-orange design continues to show its simplicity and has its specs listed clearly in the plainness.
- Frequency range : 20 – 22000Hz
- Impedance : 16 Ohm
- Sensitivity : 98dB
- Cable length : 1.4m
- Connector : 3.5mm jack plug
Proceeding to opening the package, it just continues to show how simple the packaging is. This might have show some misconception and prejudice against its performance as the first impression is not really that great. Of course, true audio fans wouldn’t bother about the packaging design much; it’s the sound quality that matters after all.
[nextpage title=”In the package”]At a glance, we can see that there is a green velvet pouch alongside with the earphones itself embedded in some sort of foam. Simplicity is again, at its best here.
Taking everything out and opening the pouch, we see some other accessories included in it.
There is an airplane audio jack and also a bunch of ear tip sizes. Here are some of the sizes.
There are actually five ear tips given in the packet, which one of them is in use while taking this photo. There are four sizes of the single-flanged eartips included, with one size of double-flanged ear tip included with the earphone.
With the double-flanged ear tip, it does offer more noise cancellation as compared to the single-flanged. The size however is assumed to fit nicely into all sizes of ears, and its comfort is questionable for many.
[nextpage title=”Extra features”]
While changing the ear tips, we get to know that the left and right side of the earphone is colour coded with anodized colours to give a quick and fast differentiation of which side is which by just a quick glance through. A neat feature and definitely my first time encountering such a thing.
The earphones also has a flat cable as shown in the pictures above – the anti-tangle cables where it doesn’t cause a messy spaghetti whenever you take it out of your pocket after some time of walking about and whatnot. As shown in the picture above, the earpieces are angled and it offers a lot of comfort and also has its weight supported by the ear pinna.
The 3.5mm audio jack is also gold plated and has a cable zipper if you want the Y shape of the splitter to be a little higher.
It’s a little sad to see that the earphones really did came with bare minimum features – not even music control or a microphone is included. I wouldn’t blame them if they’re purely focusing on a very generic and universal usage of the XP-series of earphones, which we’ll be the one to judge for now.
[nextpage title=”Testing”]With the earphones described, let’s take it out for testing! Besides of testing it indoors, I also took it outdoors to test its noise cancellation and also how comfortable it is to wear it while walking. With a variety of the songs in different genres being played over and compared between situations, the results are as below. The comparisons are made between the XP2 and also many audio products ranging from home theater systems to stereo 2.1 desktop speakers to multiple headphones and earphones that I have and had used in the past.
In a controlled test, we take an average from my Nexus 4, my laptop and also through my home multimedia system’s amplifier, all with flat equalizer.
Adventure Time – Rogue (Monster 010 – Conquest) [FLAC]
- Lows : Packs a great punch in the bass
- Mids : Decent enough, distinct
- Highs : Not as high as it should be
Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper (Bioshock Infinite Soundtrack) [320kbps MP3]
- Lows : Punchy even on softer volumes
- Mids : Very clear, vocals are definitely crisp
- Highs : Higher pitched sounds are not good
Orpheus Of The Underworld – Adya (Adya Classic 2) [215 kbps MP3]
- Lows : Clear and crisp, plays oscillating low frequencies with a sense of joy
- Mids : Very well played from the earphones
- Highs : During the electric guitar part, the highs should have been higher
An Accent Beyond – Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory (Portal 2: Songs to Test By) [320kbps MP3]
- Lows : Packed in very heavy punches
- Mids : Not very distinctive from the lows
- Highs : At the beginning part, the highs aren’t quite there
Rosen aus dem Suden, op. 388 – Orchestra Of The Viennese Volksoper (Great Strauss Waltz, Polkas & Marches) [320kbps MP3]
- Lows : Clear and not overwhelming
- Mids : Crisp and distinctive
- Highs : Couldn’t get to the highs much (wink!)
Salome – The Johann Strauss Orchestra & Andre Rieu (Andre Rieu In Wonderland) [320kbps MP3]
- Lows : A little too much
- Mids : Clear enough but and did not overlap with the lows
- Highs : It didn’t really played well at during the beginning part of the song
The Entertainer – Scott Joplin (The Entertainer – The Very Best of Scott Joplin) [320kbps MP3]
- Lows : Very great at the low tones
- Mids : Not such a good performer here; goes too low
- Highs : Very clear and distinct
Skyliner – The BBC Big Band (The Age Of Swing, Volume 1) [FLAC]
- Lows : The low octaves of the piano packs a very sensible taste of vibrations at every keystroke
- Mids : Saxophone sound appears to be very distinct and clear
- Highs : Trumpets didn’t go as high as it should have been
After testing the Beyerdynamic XP2 from electronic music to some oldies, remixed and original classical and even waltz, we can pretty much conclude that the XP2 is a very bassy piece of earphone.
It is also very comfortable to be worn for long hours and even to walk around in the university campus with – the earphone just don’t fall off as it is designed to be supported by the ear pinna. The audio reproduction however doesn’t really live up to its name of being the “balance edition” as it still is biased too much to the bass instead of treble.
During the tests, we also found out that the ear tips come out pretty easily even when knocked over slightly. It might not be a big deal for most but is is annoying; just make sure you knew where it fell and hopefully not into an abyss or a dirty drain.
[nextpage title=”Wrap up”]With much time spent with the Beyerdynamic XP2, I conclude that the XP2 is indeed comfortable in the ears even for long hours, to a point that it feels very natural to have it in the ears. The anti-tangle flat cable and the gold-plated audio jack are also nice additions to the XP2. The earpieces are angled and has a ball to have its weight supported by the ear pinna, along with the anodized colour code to different between the left and right earpiece.
There are a total of 4 sizes of single-flanged eartips, and a single double-flanged ear tip for extra noise cancellation. Though the size is assumed to be universal for the double –flanged ear tip, it does fit comfortably in my ear ear but tends to loosen up with a slight movement.
Performance wise, the Beyerdynamic XP2 has a misleading name of “balanced edition” which it is really is pretty biased to the bassy side. The mids are great and mostly distinctive and clear in most cases, but the highs are mostly not as great as other audio products.
Priced at RM199, the XP2 has great audio performance for casual bass seekers who wants to listen a little more bass compared to treble. Though it is a bummer that it doesn’t come with the audio controller, I think that the price for the Beyerdynamic XP2 performs exceptionally well for earphones in this price range, and as said before, this is mostly suitable for those who seek a little more bass.
Rating :
I would give it a solid 8/10. Though the Beyerdynamic XP2 is a very comfy fit, giving it the name “Clear Edition” is a little misleading but nonetheless offers great bass with decent amount of treble, not extremely expensive for its performance.
Like our Facebook Page here at NasiLemakTech.com for more news and in-depth reviews! Also, join our Facebook Group for insightful information and memes!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel too!
In ears always seem to overcompensate for lack of bass I find. especially now when they are competing against ridiculous headphones like Beats, which don’t represent any frequency correctly. it’s just loud for loads sake and to hell with clarity! Great review though Really thorough.
Thanks for the feedback!
For the XP2 though, it is however a little too bassy as I would say.
I would like to point out that you did make a slight mistake at the end of your review. You said [giving it the name “Clear Edition” is a little misleading] but clearly you are reviewing the Balanced Edition, not the Clear Edition. Other than that wonderful review, would love to see see more coming.
Oh girls just wanna have fun~
Good for checking your mix …