Sennheiser IE8 Appreciation Thread - Page 38

I found the IE8 to have more bass, and also more controlled than UM2. Details wise I think UM2 is better.

But nowhere near my ER-4

I have been testing my IE8 for about 5 days now and am very impressed by its sound balance, clarity, stage, and by its excellent build quality and comfort.

These 'phones demonstrated to me how important the right fit is, because when following the user manual's recommendation, the sound quality was abysmal (too muddy or bright depending on eartip) and my ears began to ache after just a short while.
Of course, I was very disappointed at first, but after trying different methods, they truly began to show their potential. It literally was if I were listening to completely different 'phones.
Now, I can wear them for more than 4 hours without any discomfort and the sound - especially the sound stage - is great!

The bass adjuster, however, is a useless gimmick to me as the bass is already sufficient at the lowest level, and anything above is unnatural.
The burn-in for ~ 60 h (white & pink noise, freq. sweeps) didn't make any noticeable difference to me, but maybe my memory deludes me (I have no way to measure).

The bass after more than 100 hours of usage is noticeably much lesser in quantity at the lowest bass setting. Soundstage got wider and it's very natural.

I would actually really like to turn bass down, so, yes, bass adjuster is absolutely useless...

It didn't for me either. The same huge bass, same too soft hights.

The IE8 with custom mold

Hmm...interesting. Like to hear impressions with custom tips from you. Oh yeah, nice pic too

Finallly I got my IE8. Got an email from UPS today saying they left it "UNDER THE DOOR". I thought the delivery date was changed to next Monday. Anyway, So I drove home during lunch break and found it indeed just infront of my door.

After 3 hours "burning" I couldn't resist and put it on. The initial thoughts is compared to sony Ex90 which I use everyday, I'll compare it to UE sf 5pro when i got home. So far i'm quite happy and a bit surprised by how much better it can be than the ex90. Bass is kinda too boomy though, but the whole stage is quite clear. Separation is awesome. I even noticed some background instruments i didn't really notice before (I'm mainly listening to Pop songs anyway..). The linkin park tracks are much better than ex90. But maybe not as good as my UE sf5pro from memory. I need to compare later.

Comport wise: the cable is the best i've seen. 100 times more convenient than the UE's over thick and hard ones. I didn't use the ear-hook thing, just wrapped the cable over the ear, seems easy & comfort enough. I'm just using the default medium size tips for now, and i found it be awkward 'coz my right ear canal seems to be a bit bigger than my left so while the left ear is perfect fit the right one is always feeling a bit not sealing that well.

Tried lots of the current chart songs. and the killers & linkin parks. and some trance tracks. I can feel it's a bit dark, but the whole stage does feel very wide. This is definitely a very interesting pair of earphones and I'm sure I'm gonna love it

For now i'm using the sony A729. I'll be using it a lot in the next week and more testing with my other players (sony S739, RH1 and iPod touch 2G) too. I'll see how it goes.

Please post your impressions compared to sf 5pro. For me IE8 are too dark and too boomy, totally lacking transparency. It would be interesting to compare with sf 5pro.

Perhaps the IE7 would be an interesting choice too based on soozieq's experience with hers.

hey, lelek45
how long did you burn in your senn ie8 for
it should not be boomy or lacking in transparency i have custom 3, the senn ie-8 is more open and resolved then my custom 3. i think you probably need to burn in about 150 to 200 hrs on senn ie-8

about 30 hours. But since I didn't notice any significant changes so far, I assume that burn-in will not affect the sound. As a side note, I don't believe in burn-in much. My K701 sounded excellent from the beginning, and didn't change the sound. My Ultrasones were crap, and remained to be...

Regarding custom 3 - thank you for the comparison, for me it means that Klipcsh is not what I should look for.... it's all relative...

I've been good and left my IE8 running for two days and then started my 2nd time comparing this morning: with ex90 and UE sf 5pro.

First thing i have to say is, I spent about an hour to test all the tips that come with IE8 and I found the different tips really changes the sound A LOT. So it definitely worth it to spend some time to find ur best fit and favorite sound.

The weird tips that was in Darkkopi's post(on the right in the front row), sounds very "ATH-like" to me. I mean the ATH CMxxx earbuds: the bass is so much reduced and highs sounds so different.

For myself, in the end i found the medium sized tips from my EX90 fits the best with IE8 to me, and i like that sound the most too. I always like deep bass but not "strong" or "boomy" bass. (that's why i dont adjust the bass twist on IE8, coz they seems to only stronger the bass, not deeper it). For deep bass I have to use the large silicon tips comes with IE8, but it seems to be a bit too strong and they are too soft. So a little bit twist while wearing the earphone can break the seal, which makes it harder to adjust. I might try to get some Ex700s' tips according to the suggestions a few pages ago

Now come to the comparing:
1. The bass on Ex90 sounds better to me. They are just deeper while not "harder". For example in kylie's song "All I see" i can clearly hear the difference between each beats. one in every 8 beats is deeper and lasts a while in the deep state, u can feel the slow vibration lasts. Using IE8, the volume of the bass is the same, just that deep part is missing. I can just notice the difference if i pay attention, but the magic deep feeling is not there.

2. All other things about IE8 beats Ex90:
* comfortness are pretty much the same while ex90 is easier to wear: only 2 secs for me. IE8 i have to adjust a bit. But once fit IE8 is more steady, hardly feel a thing, no microphonic effects. And isolation is better too (anything can beats ex90's isolation).
* sound stage is clearer and wider. lots small parts of the music is more presentable and noticeable. separation is better too.
* ex90 just sounds a bit "shrink-ed" compared to IE8. all voice are "narrowed" to a certain part in front of ur head, especially the vocals sounds closer to me (and weaker.. kinda like lost in the music)
* though I still feel IE8 is a bit dark, but comparing to Ex90, it's a no doubt winner, except for the bass part mentioned before, but that's just my personal liking. I know there are more ppl there like the bass to be "tighter" and don't like the slow vibration thing.
* as mentioned at the beginning, if you like open-up sounds, definitely try the "weird tips" they changed the sound signature totally to me, and not dark any more at all.

3. Compared to UE sf 5pro, I kinda find they are pretty similar, while:
* the bass on IE8 is richer. To get the similar effect, I need to add up the ClearBass level on my sony player for 5pro.
* the mids on 5pro is louder. and the vocals sounds, i dunno, closer, maybe becoz of this. This is one of the reason why i use ex90 more than the 5pro, to me it's kinda too loud. my ears end up tired more easily and always have the urge to turn volume down all the time while listening (but i'll feel the volume is not enough if really turn it down ..).
* linkin park tracks sounds still better on 5pro while i dont have any complains on IE8 too. they all sounds passionate without any distortion of any messy feelings. I just love it.
* 5pro really don't sound dark compared to IE8. this is interesting coz i dont feel the sound stage of 5pro is any better. it does sounds more "open-aired". after careful switching test, I'd say the positions of instruments on both phones are similar, they are not the reason of this difference. And i think it's actually because IE8 and richer bass so make it sound more "closed".

So I'm really happy with the IE8, though it's much more expensive than 5pro and ex90. 5pro is quite nice to me already, but the mids really gives me headache and pitty it doesn't do bass to my liking (to my it's a typical "harder" drummer not deeper drummer). If you ask me does it worth it to pay that much more to get this difference, i'll say it's totally up to urself. for me I just can't feel the bass excitement with my 5pro. Now i can keep all the similar good parts of 5pro and also keep the bass excitement with my IE8 -- that's not priceless but as long as i can still afford it, i'll go for it!

U meant the mid on super.fi5pro is too forward? Many complained it's too recessed, sort of being sucked out.

Hmmm I dont have any other high end earphones so I dont know if the mids on 5pro is recessed or not. They are just too LOUD for me. louder than the bass to me at least. or is it that i want too much bass?? lol