Audio enthusiasts on a budget have never had it this good. Today, there are quite literally dozens of options available in all possible form factors and at all price points. Over the ears, on-ears, in-ears and even earbuds are making a comeback. With Chinese hi-fi options become a real threat, we’re seeing newer options from industry leaders. German giant, Beyerdynamic, too has recently announced a range of affordable audio products. The entry-level model in this is the Beat BYRD. We’ve been testing it out for a few weeks and here’s what we think.
Design
The Beat BYRD sports the all-new design language and logos revealed by Beyerdynamic. Representing a modern evolution of the legendary audio product manufacturer, the BYRD is very discrete. The entire earphone/driver unit sits snug inside your ear and the flat outer shell ensures that it has an extremely low profile.
You can comfortably wear it while lying down on your bed or under a beanie if you sport one. Weighing a mere 5 grams, the earphones simply vanish when you’re wearing them and are very comfortable. Noise isolation isn’t absolute but with the volume set to 60% or so, you can drown out most ambient audio. A 1.2m rubberised cable can be observed alongside a Y splitter in the middle. There’s no control module or in-line mic here so if you’re looking for something to make calls on, you’ll have to look elsewhere. At the other end is a straight jack.
Sound
The sound profile of the Beat BYRD is balanced for the most part with a very slight treble extension. These won’t please bass heads but what they miss out on low-end extension, they make up in quality of bass. Bass is anything but bloated. The 9mm drivers do a good job of sonic representation across the 15Hz to 21KHz range frequency range.
Coming to the mids, the Beat BYRD excels at acoustic representation. Vocals shine on tracks like Second Hand News by Fleetwood Mac. The excellent soundstage plays a big role in enhancing the sonic reproduction. The separation here is amongst the best I’ve heard amongst entry level headphones with guitars, drums and vocals being distinctly discernible. Blasting them at full volume does muddy up vocals a bit but I wouldn’t recommend doing that anyway.
The very slight treble extension makes the earphones a bit bright. I’m a fan of warmer signatures but the BYRD really does well to extract details at its price point. I could not make out any sibilance.
Conclusion
Beyerdynamic has done a great job with the Beat BYRD earphones and these are some of my favourites in the entry-level segment. The earphones are comfortable and sound great. These won’t appeal to bass heads but for everyone else, the Beyerdynamic Beat BYRD is a great option priced at Rs. 2,199.