IE8 AWESOME mod!!!!
Jan 4, 2009 at 4:33 PM Post #16 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
To answer your question about how the IE8 bests the Westone 3s........

It's VERY subjective because they're both so darn good. They have incredibly different sound signatures, but the advantage the IE8 has is simply this:

The W3, Triple Fis, SE530s, UE10, ER4P, UM2..........all have some sort of similarity, I cannot express it except that there is a lack of air, natural air that I experience with full size headphones................the timbre of the UE10 is about the best I've heard on any headphone and it even rivals my 2 pairs of R10s (bass light and bass heavy), but due to this lack of air, it does not possess nearly the amount of transparency where your brain recognizes the sound as real rather than electronic duplication. This is where the R10s best any headphone I've ever heard. Forgetting about whether you like a dark sound, bright sound, neutral sound.....there is no doubt that your brain will interpret the R10s as very natural and transparent even if the frequency response of the R10s is not what you look for in your listening tastes.....

This is where I come in and say that the IE8 has a naturalness (maybe its the dynamic drivers), but it possesses a naturalness that I have NEVER even come close to hearing on an IEM, or even a full size headphone for under 150 dollars. I find that the IE8 has a very similar sound to the AKG K701 but with a significant improvement in the bass response.....almost as if it handles the lows like HD600, and the mids and highs like a K701......this is really beautiful. It's not nearly as transparent as a full size first class headphone, no, but its truly on a different plain than any other IEM I've heard. I'd like to say that I don't think its solely the difference between dynamic and armature drivers because I also own the Sony X700 and I don't think that those possess a naturalness nearly as much as the IE8.

My listening preference with the IE8 is, if the recording is well mastered and recorded, I listen with bass response all the way down........

The IE8 shine with anything, but I have to give it kudos for it's ability to handle classical music better than any other IEM for sure. Classical music is often where IEMs fall apart. The passages are so detailed and the dynamics so varied and timbral qualities of 100 different instruments playing at once......most IEMs can't do this right. The UE10s handled it the best of all the IEMs I've tried, but the Westone 3s came close, very close.

But in most IEMs theres a very VERY closed feeling that really impacts a classical music listen....the soundstage can only be so big....even with full size headphones the sound stage can only be so big.........but the IE8 has an sound stage and imaging ability that somehow is significantly wider and more three dimensional.

If you take any above IEM that I've mentioned and compare it to the IE8 I would bet that you will agree it handles sound imaging a bit more naturally than any other IEM mentioned. Whether this is of drastic importance to you I don't know........the frequency response of the SE530, W3, Triple Fis are all very desirable to different people........probably preferable over the IE8 in some cases to some ears. There is no definitive choice......BUT whereas I feel it is safe to say some people will prefer the 530 for its laid back approach, some people will prefer the W3s for its luscious sound and sparkle, and some will love the Triple Fi's for its relative neutrality.........no one will prefer any of those three IEMs to the IE8 in terms of sound stage and imaging


I'm thinking this post may sway a good many to the IE8 camp
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Jan 4, 2009 at 5:02 PM Post #17 of 53
I just got my first iPod, a 160 GB Classic, and I was about to pull the trigger on the Westone 3. Then I read this. After, I started reading other reviews of the IE8 and not much was said about the IE8's soundstage. Is the greater soundstage due to the modifications or is it inherent in the IE8? I would glady trade frequency response for a better, wider soundstage. Recently, I heard a friends $60,000 audio system and it was impressive indeed, so long as I sat in the "sweet" spot. One slight turn of my head and the soundstage collapsed. I honestly am surprised that this is still an issue that needs to wrestled with in high-end audio. A couple of days later I went to hear a live small jazz ensemble. I couldn't help but think of the severe shortcomings of the audio system in comparison, with soundstaging as its biggest downfall. I am thinking that this post will sway a good many to the IE8 camp also. If I could only audition both the Westone 3 and the IE8 to decide which is best for me. Also, in a couple of days from now, Shure might be releasing another reference IEM, just to make things worse, or better depending on how you look at it.
 
Jan 4, 2009 at 5:12 PM Post #18 of 53
The great soundstage does not require any mod, it's amazing to begin with.. A mod might even make it better though, but yes, the soundstage is imo the strongest plus on the IE8's!
 
Jan 4, 2009 at 5:48 PM Post #20 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by bossnass15 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm thinking this post may sway a good many to the IE8 camp
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It's called the IE8 Clan as user AgainstTheGrain put it
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Still waitin' for my IE8 to get here....
 
Jan 5, 2009 at 1:08 AM Post #21 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The IE8 shine with anything, but I have to give it kudos
for it's ability to handle classical music better than any other IEM for sure.


Interesting. I think 2 users (in one of the other IE8 threads), had totally opposing views on how the IE8 handled classical music. I'm no classical buff, but I did study piano up to Grade VI, so I know what it sounds like... and I think the W3 portrayed it more realistically than the IE8. It was the one area where I felt it beat the IE8 by quite a margin. But I don't regret selling them and getting the IE8 again. Anything less than the IE8 soundstage makes me feel like I'm suffocating now
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Jan 5, 2009 at 7:38 AM Post #22 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by soozieq /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I did study piano up to Grade VI, so I know what it sounds like...


I agree that the IE8 is not best in rendering piano, and with solo piano pieces I like the SE530 more. Can't comment on the W3 though. But (and this is a BIG BUT) I absolutely love the dynamics and soundstage of the IE8 when it comes to orchestral music. In fact, I have never heard Rachmaninovs Piano Concerto No.3 w. Martha Argerich better with any other of my IEMs (SE530, SF5, X10,...), even though it's a piano concerto. IMO there's a wide range of classical music and no universally best IEM.
 
Jan 5, 2009 at 1:32 PM Post #23 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by james444 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I absolutely love the dynamics and soundstage of the IE8 when it comes to orchestral music. In fact, I have never heard Rachmaninovs Piano Concerto No.3 w. Martha Argerich better with any other of my IEMs (SE530, SF5, X10,...), even though it's a piano concerto.


Yes, I should have said I still like the way the IE8 does classical, I was just pointing out that piano sounded better to me with the W3. But having recently listened to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (piano and orchestra), I have to say it sounded fantastic with the IE8. The huge soundstage makes such a difference as far as 'space' is concerned, and the orchestra just comes alive! It sounds incredible. I don't listen to much classical with earphones, preferring to listen on my home system instead - but it's so enjoyable with the IE8, that I think I'll put more of it on my dap
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Quote:

Originally Posted by james444 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
IMO there's a wide range of classical music and no universally best IEM.


I agree, and there probably never will be. But the IE8 is certainly good enough for me, and I can never ever ever ever go back to a smaller soundstage. Oh, and did I mention I could never ever ever ever go back?
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Jan 5, 2009 at 8:12 PM Post #24 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by soozieq /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Interesting. I think 2 users (in one of the other IE8 threads), had totally opposing views on how the IE8 handled classical music. I'm no classical buff, but I did study piano up to Grade VI, so I know what it sounds like... and I think the W3 portrayed it more realistically than the IE8. It was the one area where I felt it beat the IE8 by quite a margin. But I don't regret selling them and getting the IE8 again. Anything less than the IE8 soundstage makes me feel like I'm suffocating now
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are you telling me that i almost bought your ie8 to help you out just for you to buy it again? i am considered to be a headphone junkie in my circle of bicycling and table tennis friends but here i feel warm and cozy in the assurance that most other people who post here heaps, have spent heaps more than me! good on you suzieq
 
Jan 6, 2009 at 12:29 AM Post #25 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by soozieq /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Interesting. I think 2 users (in one of the other IE8 threads), had totally opposing views on how the IE8 handled classical music. I'm no classical buff, but I did study piano up to Grade VI, so I know what it sounds like... and I think the W3 portrayed it more realistically than the IE8. It was the one area where I felt it beat the IE8 by quite a margin. But I don't regret selling them and getting the IE8 again. Anything less than the IE8 soundstage makes me feel like I'm suffocating now
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May I ask what about the IE8's handling of solo piano was not as good as others...........from my experience, it handles acoustic instruments (piano included) better than any other IEM for sure. :)
 
Jan 6, 2009 at 1:00 AM Post #26 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
May I ask what about the IE8's handling of solo piano was not as good as others...........from my experience, it handles acoustic instruments (piano included) better than any other IEM for sure. :)


Still looking forward to your comparative review
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Jan 6, 2009 at 1:13 AM Post #27 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
May I ask what about the IE8's handling of solo piano was not as good as others...........
from my experience, it handles acoustic instruments (piano included) better than any other IEM for sure. :)


David, it's just my opinion, that's all! I preferred the W3 for piano because it sounded more realistic to me. It comes across as 'thicker' with the IE8, and not as crystal clear. Forget classical music for a moment, and listen to Ray Manzarek's electric piano at the beginning of 'Riders On The Storm'. I heard it as noticeably clearer and more defined with the W3 (especially between individual notes), than on any other iem I've owned. But the storm itself was more atmospheric with the IE8, so you lose something, and you gain something. I can prefer the W3 for piano, and you can prefer the IE8. It's not illegal
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Shigz!!! Quote:

are you telling me that i almost bought your ie8 to help you out [size=x-small]just for you to buy it again?[/size]


YES!!! Didn't you know? I'm out of the closet now... I'm a self-confessed serial dual-purchaser of earphones
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Jan 6, 2009 at 1:56 AM Post #28 of 53
Gotta be a Markl mod...whatever that may be
 
Jan 6, 2009 at 7:58 AM Post #29 of 53
Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
May I ask what about the IE8's handling of solo piano was not as good as others...........from my experience, it handles acoustic instruments (piano included) better than any other IEM for sure. :)


Of course this is all about a personal conception about how a piano 'ought to' sound, but I second soozieq's description of 'thicker' with the IE8. Maybe this could be caused by a slower decay on bass notes, thus slighly veiling the sound. Moreover, I believe that the reverberations of the instrument's body are better audible with the SE530 than the IE8, adding up to a more 'realistic' rendering IMO - the differences are very subtle and I'm afraid I'm really not good in analyzing this in detail let alone putting it into words.
 
Jan 6, 2009 at 7:55 PM Post #30 of 53
Quote:

Step 2: I "cored" the plastic center out of the Olive foam. I was able to do this by screwing the sleeve onto an old 1/8 inch headphone jack and just pulling the olive foam off. The plastic center eventually separates from the Foam itself, but the foam SHOULD remain intact.


Even better if a core from old comply T400 can be glued into the core. I am wondering what type of glue is best for this purpose? Super-glue and those solvent based glues can damage foam. I damned one when I tried with this my TF10. Even better if is is a water based glue which can be easily devolved as then the core can be re-used later.
 
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