Has burn-in changed your IE8? - Page 9

It's becoming clear that "I know what I know" and other tautologies are all that's forthcoming from the burn-in advocates. I would have expected better on Head-Fi.

I got my IE8’s 9 days ago and I suppose have about 45 or so hours on them so far. Prior to purchase I did my homework (many thanks Head-fi) so I was pretty well aware of what to expect out of the box.

I listen mostly to mainstream acoustic Jazz (piano, base and drums) with a little classical as a change. I go to concerts not as often as I would like, but think that I know what live an un-amplified music sounds like, either at a small Jazz venue or a concert hall.

Out of the box using a HiFiMan 801 or a Cowon D2 and MiniBox E+ the IE8’s sounded perfectly reasonable, with a seemingly well balanced frequency response. Perhaps not sounding as good as they should have for the money, they did though easily demonstrate the improved depth of bass and soundstage of the 801 over the slightly colder D2 combination. Surprisingly they showed no sign of the celebrated mid bass hump. I do have a pair of CX300’s and these do have a very obvious excess of bass (as demonstrated by the graphs on the Headroom site). They can sound reasonable ‘in the field’ with an average source (in my case a smartphone) but while having perhaps a similar sennheiser ‘house sound’ they are no cheap IE8. I tried all the various plugs and bungs supplied with the IE8 kit and settled on the larger versions of what came fitted to the phones.

In comparison to my HD650’s (Equinox cable no foam) the IE8’s had some similarities. Yes the IE8’s did seem to have the celebrated soundstage, perhaps not as deep as the 650’s but obviously there. The bass was a bit muted and needed turning up 2 notches, but the main difference seemed to be a lack of refinement in the midrange and a somewhat muted treble. Piano and female vocal are my favourite ‘instruments’ and I usually listen on the 650’s or a Stax Lambda Signature system , or a pair of Quad ELS57’s electrostatic loudspeakers. Compared to these transducers the only criticisms I have so far with the IE8’s is that they have a slightly forward midrange which tends to put female vocalists in your face (!) and their lack of midrange refinement prevents them from extracting enough harmonics from piano to make it sound convincing.

However, I must agree that over time these earphones do seem to be improving noticeably. The treble has become more refined and has possibly increased by a few dBs, this is because I have had to increased the bass control by another notch (perhaps that’s why Sennheiser made them adjustable), soundstage seems bigger and even the piano is sounding more like the real thing. It’s as if these IEMS are increasing in quality with use.

A week ago when putting on the IE8’s at the start of a listening session I would have a fairly depressing feeling that these should be sounding a lot better for the money (and another chunk of dosh down the Hi-Fi drain). But now I am starting to enjoy or even respect them. Compared to the Lambda Signatures and it is still chalk and cheese (and so it should be for the relative cost involved), but comparing them now to the HD650’s and it is becoming more of a difference in flavour. So not all the ‘improvement’ would seem to be just my ears getting used to the IE8 sound signature. Also last week my Stax Sr001 Mk2's sounded better than the IE8's now the reverse seems to be the case.

With cable ‘burn in’ I find it difficult to imagine what processes are at work here and people can only say what they hear. But with something like a small transducer with a significant proportion of its surface area serving as suspension, as used in the IE8 it seems reasonably obvious that the diaphragm having been moulded in something light but rigid will need quite some time for the surround portion to de-stress and ‘loosen up’. In loudspeakers the surround is also important to terminate and damp resonances in the diaphragm. Earphones don’t have this luxury, so one might suppose that the de-stressing (which I suppose is actually the fatiguing of the plastic) of the IE8 driver suspension will increase the diaphragm’s ability to move air (less mechanical resistance) but also improve its damping qualities as the suspension in effect softens, and so lower resonances and possibly smooth the HF response.

Not that I'm a "tautologies lover", but sometimes, it's just like stats :
I take the normal distrbution and remove the extrems.

My traduction is : most of IE8 users experience a shift (major or not) in sound distribution over time.

My knowledge tells me that there is a possibility that the membrane, how small may it be, could benefit from a burn in.

My experience tells me that ears are a fabulous engine that get used to its environnement. The same for your nose, all your senses. It takes time to change your perception of the sound.

Senneheiser even if I'm not a great fan has produced a number of top notch portable audio product (HD 6x,HD 800, IE8...). My pragmatism tells me that such a serious company would not build a product that require 800 hours of use to deliver a correct sound.

From my social experience, passionate are always looking for something new and better and makes "experiment".

Another true biological argument is that we all have different earing capabilities. Some of us have perfect or near perfect ear, some hve more common ears, some have audition issues.

From my childhood, I remember that we do not all listen to the same music, with the same sound quality. Some have been listening music since they were babies, some have discovered music at the age of 30.

I'm just here to share though and my hobby. As far as I'm concerned, my life won't changed because some believe that a given IEM needs a 3 full moon cycle burn in, that a cable needs a burn in.

What i deeply regret is that such a constant exageration is discrediting audiophiles.

I need a bit more soundstage. I got these refurb'd and they sound really good. Only thing I want now is to bring out the bass a bit and a slightly wider soundstage. From what I know, these were not used long at all. I feel like the mids can also be brought out ever so slightly. Otherwise, I approve!

well I have heard the ie8s need an insane amount of burn in time before accurate judging, like 100 hours. So give them time and you some time to get used to them. Also people seem to really like to eq the ie8s to tune them properly. Finally try a wide verity of tips and different ways to fit them in your ears- Like a wide ue tip will give more soundstage

Thanks for the help! Should I burn in through listening or is there a safe way to burn in by leaving it playing overnight?

If you follow the links in my signature they point to two burnin files you can download. The P-W-B-P-W uses more pink and white noise, the B-P-B-W-B uses more brown noise. They both have a 10 minute rest period built in to them. The first file will push upper midrange and treble more than lower midrange and bass, the second will do the opposite. I would suggest starting with the first since the IE8 already has deep bass and the "midbass hump"., or download both and just set them to loop as this will likely give your IEM's a nice balanced workout. To set the volume for playing the files listen to some music and set it to just higher than what you find comfortable for the volume then switch to the burnin files, set them to loop and leave over night and then have a listen. If you like what your hearing then let them continue, if not adjust which files your using for the burnin (ie if you using only the 1st file maybe switch to the 2nd, if using both try switching to just one etc.) and check after another 12hrs. Once your happy with how they are progressing turn up the volume a bit louder than where you started and let them burnin for another 12-24hrs, have a listen and continue. After the initial 24-48hrs I found I was able to start to listen to the IE8 during the day and let them burnin at night and enjoyed hearing the sonic changes they had as they broke in.

 

I have no proof of burnin in regards to graphs and such with the IE8 but did try to produce such information when I burned in several different sets of Monster Turbine Pro Copper's (search for "a tale of two IEM's") and was able to show some actual recordable differences albiet with very poor tools. So I do think dynamic based IEM's change as they burn in (some more than others). In any case my logic is simple, if burnin exists then doing it with a purpose can only help make your IEM's better, and if it doesn't exist the burnin process only wastes some time, so no harm no foul.

Thanks! I'll try it out starting ASAP.

Pulled by IE8's out of the packaging yesterday, and out of the box (coming from SE530 to these) they didn't sound too good... I left them for about 3 hrs listening to pink noise and they sounded tons better. The bass was about same but it seemed to make the mids and highs come out a lot more.

OK here im back after more than a year testing my ie8's with my iphone. Forget about all my earlier silly comments and listen to the facts. IE8's needs a hell of a time to really show its potential. i love it but i still agree that out of the box they sound crappy. but after some months of use u will be addicted to them as they become a totally different experience. So give them some time before a final remark. Peace.

Mine are sounding quite nice now over 200 hours of burn in, Out of the box they was terrible, Not i've only listen to them for about 30 hours and after the first 1 hour from opening the box, I left them burning for 4 days solid so 100 hours later they sounded much better.

Mine are still changing i just put 15 mins of pink noise through mine, totally killed the bass off and the mids and high's have come out.. how strange is that. It's very easy to notice on the same tracks.. Crazy.