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I just wondering if anyone has any experience with these horns. How do they play/sound? How does it compare to other MW tubas like the Baer?

The 2165 in my experience is harder to play than the Baer because it is bigger and a little heavier.

Just some of my thoughts on the 2165, having owned one and played three others.

It’s important to remember that the 2165 was designed for Warren Deck to use in the New York Philharmonic in the 1990’s. If you listen to recordings from that era you’ll get a good sense of what this instrument is designed to do. Namely, to create an enormous foundation for the one of the loudest orchestral brass sections. Warren was an incredibly strong player and consequently his instruments were designed to handle his fairly unique set of parameters.

The 2165 is a very large tuba. It’s a good bit bigger in the body than a 6/4 York copy such as a Nirschl/Eastman/Yamaha. The stock leadpipe is very large and the tuba is overall quite heavy. This facilitates a large dynamic range. For a really strong player, the 2165 will keep taking more sound from the player without breaking or pushing back. It’s designed to make the most of what Warren Deck could do. The 2165 driven by the right player sounds absolutely incredible. Compared to a York-style 6/4 it’s capable of an even bigger, broader, core sound with more capacity in the upper dynamics.

However, for mere mortals (and I’ll refer to myself) the 2165 tends to be too much horn than our ability can cope with. The tendency is to sound dull, woofy and colourless. For example, the Fountains of Rome excerpt is very challenging on such a large tuba as the 2165. Creating a sustained line with clarity, musicality, dynamics and lighting up the sound is a big challenge. Far too much challenge for me. It eats me for Breakfast.

The 2165 is a fantastic instrument for the right kind of player.
Hope it helps!

I've owned a 2165 for about 20 yrs and I love the horn. Has a nice dark sound that can sound like a string bass in very quiet passages and can very quickly turn into a tidal wave of sound for the loud brass sections. There are numerous versions of the 2165, small valves versus big valves, tone ring vs no tone ring, lightweight bell vs heavy bell, stock lead pipe vs the 45lp lead pipe. My version has the big valves, no tone ring, heavy bell, 45lp lead pipe, and a Dillon adjustable mouthpiece receiver. I believe the Baer is the current, updated, and improved version on the 2165. Some people like/love them others don't. If you get a chance try one of these versions out and see if its for you.