I've seen numerous commentators say something like " I would never buy anything from a company with such a foul, or scatological, or vulgar, (pick your adjective) name," and actually saw one comment saying "...if somebody asked for the company name I'd be too embarrassed to say it," a comment I found too embarrassing for words, but there you go.

I would be satisfied with a fraction of the gear I have acquired. It is a cliche but true, at least in my case, that it is really about the music. I have always preferred to have more, value-oriented gear rather than less choices of totl stuff. The diminishing returns hit pretty hard over 500.00/component. Other than my primary dac (Gungnir Multibit A2), i haven't spent over 700.00 on any component, including my 2 channel rig. But I like having choices. And I don't have anything with which I am not satisfied.

I have the er4xr, and I would not say the bass is "less than neutral," in fact those are a little boosted compared to what I would call neutral. I would call the xr4sr neutral in the bass.

Clarity is actually one of the areas that the b2 are better than the s12, but the latter are no slouch either. And I think treble detail is pretty close between them. Detail in the mids is definitely better w/ the b2, but the mids are less recessed w/ the b2, so that would be expected. The s12 has a more v-shaped or u-shaped fr, and the b2 is more neutral. But to my ears, the bass response on the s12 is better both qualitatively and quantitatively. Faster, punchier, and more detailand better texture. Your call.

I have both the b2 and the s12. They really are so different that I don't think one could replace the other. They are complementary. The s12 has more of a "consumer-centric" signature, and are more comfortable than the b2. But I don't expect to ever part with either.