Κυριακή 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2017

B25 Betron: Very good ear phones!

A bit long ago ,around four  months,   my Sansa in-ears are being very close  to collapse .I ve used them for 12 years . They are  part of an old Sansa 512 MB  mp3 player ,defunct by strong  usage and looong time , that included SD memory socket extension of up to 2GB RAM maximum  . For this reason i decided  to look into a newer performer via Amazon that can reach the quality of my   K512 studio headphones I use in my computer.

I am very satisfied with the fidelity of 512.It as a crystal clear audio with my mp3 collection. A sound technician informed me that most AKG models offer a natural sound. For much time   was searching via the Amazon site with various in-ears or mid sized models with sound close or similar to this AKG model.
Based on my search preferences Amazon sends me nearly everyday recommendation emails with various similar models to what I ve looked. There were a Sennheiser model and also several models from a new (?) British company called Barton. I was  amused that many  Betron models  are top sellers as the RK300 with  around 2800  reviewers  and the  B25 with around 4500 reviewers as of mid May 17 .Quite many don’t you think ?

As jobless I have quite limited budget to make gadget purchases and just keep looking at models that can suit to my money requirements unless I collect some of my   monthly portions to make an 'important' purchase. Some of you I think know my story when I was working in the uni until two-three years ago. It has been posted that time in ipernity.com .I tried then many times to be hired but due to my age and low 'specifications' none can 'buy' me for work. Companies are even decreasing by day due to austerity reasons and high taxing .More than 50000 people have committed suicide in these 8 years of austerity.

Back to the story.  Betron's prices in Amazon are lower comparing to EBay or even much lower to the company’s site. For example the model B25 is offered for 11 GBP (12, 5 Euro) out of 30GBP (36Eu) normal RRP price (?? regular retail price?)  As referred in Amazon. EBay at 15 Eu is nominal price among various sellers .I don’t know if this just an advert trick to promote it via Amazon but I think that the price is good if the model has proper specifications.  Shipping cost is good at 5 GBP (6Eu) via Amazon and quite high at 11.8 Eu via eBay. Amazon's prices surely are lower and lead to a total cost of  GBP16 or 20 Eu which is marginally sufficient  time ,  a little cheaper than  the prices of several Sony in-ear  models in the local market (at ard 25 Eu) Still quite good offer  I think.
B25 has been ordered on April 26th 2017 and was supposed to arrive on May 12 based on Amazon's calculations. I was much surprised to receive it on May 5th just 10 days!


Unfortunately the case   has been dropped immediately after I removed the earphones and by chance it has been jagged by a ..shoe. Anyway I didn't use it except for this photo. There is a nice typical carrying earphone case with some accessories   included. Unplugging from its case is very easy and does not tear the cable. It happened to me many years ago by manufacturer's fault to tear the cable because it was very stiffly hung inside its box base.



The design is impressive. The color is "gun metal" as noticed in the rear of the case that seems as like it is a metal base with a rough jagged plastic part in the middle. This is what I thought. I was wrong! Just put a magnet near that. YOU will observe that the base or something inside is metal and can be dragged easily by a magnet. I had a communication with the company. Betron's contact person advised me that nearly all models use metal base.
The cable has a metallic colored tigray surface over it and a plastic surface across its length. Each bud has its own cable of 1 mm thinness of ca 30 cm length connected via a nice 'metallic' 1 inch splitter, around 90 cm of 1.2 mm cable that leads to a 1.2 cm long 'metallic' base of 3.9 stereo plug. The magnet does not affect these surfaces; it can possibly mean it is aluminum made.
Rate: 5/5 you can feel a much more expensive model from its design at a very modest price. 



The earphones are accompanied with a carrying case an impressive set of 13-14 pads of various sizes with black color and one clip to support the cable over your dress. There are three sizes. The provided over the buds are the medium sized ones. As someone referred in a review on another model (RK300) every size offers a different fidelity  sound the  smaller offering a bit more trebles over the fatter  .I have not tested so far but it is  possible but I do not intend to  check it for now . The buds fit properly in my ear canals.

Ear Fitting

My ear canals are a bit different sized. The left ear canal is s a bit wider than the right. Once I had to change the one pad in my Sansa earphones and put with a fatter so that the bud cannot fall from the ear. 
In contrast to another set I have form 12 years ago (and still operating, from a defunct Sansa mini mp3player)
Prior to that their ear pads fit perfectly to my ear canals, though they are a bit tiring after short time but later the one of them was torn and replaced .Of course it depends on how deep they fit inside the ear canal. However as deeper are they become bassier. Once if move my head across the time of listening their cables giving trickling send. 
These sounds do not happen using the Betron earphones. Betron’s set is a bit annoying to my ears.
rate :4/5



Operation /Sound

The  buds are quite loud as most in ear models, louder than any other earphones for the same volume level.
I used a 1:2  audio splitter to connect both earphones to a mini analog  Bolong radio. This is the one with the best though quite trebly audio in FM band. I checked with it several FM stations for comparison. One station transmits Greek folks and Sunshine FM with ambient music with the clearest audio among the local FM stations.
Parallel using with the Scandisk:  Sansa earphones show near identical volume. Both have very trebly sounds compared to other earphones as like removing Dolby in older cassette players.   Sansa shows quite bassier sound while B25 shows a bit higher top band trebles. Both have very clear sound.
Parallel Comparison with AKG model 512 over  Bolong radio  : Sunshine FM  sounds nearly identical to studio quality  with AKG headphones .Betron's  sound is sharper with nearly little richer and deeper  bass as AKG (only if earphones are deep  inside the canal)  but above middles and high frequencies are quite shaper to annoy my ears . In contrast Sansa earphones show the same with much bass that annoys my ears!
Rate: 4/5 Sansa ca Betron

Noise canceling:

Buds are very simple plastic buds with surely low noise cancellation. For higher cancellation I think the buds should have a spongy surface in between the lips and the base to absorb more noise.
As they are advertised 'noise canceling' I could expect a higher anti-noise design by some technical way. Company just follows the old motto   "in ear models are noise canceling" from the time of the Sansa model. Now after 12 and more years I think that this motto is surely outdated and becomes misleading
I use the phones  in quite low levels , just above the mp3's or radio's  threshold and  still hear my wife’s talks and shouts by a  little lower level ! This can possibly mean I have to raise the volume higher until it covers external noise! 
Rate: 3/5


In result: 


Nearly 12 years after, ethnology seems to change much but sound tech not so much. Sansa was easier to wear though trickling sounds from the cable once you move are annoying your ear. Betron B25 on the other side offers good quality with the same depth as middle grade studio headphones (AKG models) with very high trebles .Their noise cancellation is rather poor comparing to what I expected .I think that the ear buds have to be redesigned for this reason   .
Unfortunately after writing this report my old Sansa in-ears was unexpectedly died. Now B25 is my only in-ear-phone!
Overall: 4/5
 
 
Addition  2021
Later these earphones have been archived in the drawer after i bought a few cheap and the Soundmagic E10 (or SM10 below) that is since 1019 my top performer. Together with AKG model  have used them offering more time esp in the nights to listen to good quality music with the Ruizu player a replacement of a 15+ yeas old  Muvi 18 which memory was suddenly damaged

In short  SM10 is my standard audio performer with nearly linear sound . 
I was to give the B25 to my daughter earlier this year (April 21) but finally after retesting that  once again preferred to keep that for myself . The reason is shown below.
Both earphones have been tested together on Summer 2021. SM10 has linear and very board spectrum while the B25 has a U curve with a limited span . By adding T400 ultra wide tips the sound is even bassier that mitigates its sibilance to a better listening.
Finally B25 under this setup can be used well with radio and audio gear that needs some treble enhancement
There are two mini problems: the cable nearby the one earphone has been cut  in the silicone part.I  m unsure if in a sudden it was cut by my 12 yo daughters use . Even using the wide tips the earphones are easily dropped out of the ear Do i need to replace them with sponge ie Comply type for better fitting?

Rating : audio 3.5/5 B25 vs SM10 , usage 3/5