Bought IE8 IEM and I am very disappointed I need help - Page 4

It's more likely a fitting problem. Even fit correctly, many don't like IE8, so you are not alone. The sound signature will not change too much after 100 hours, no need to hang onto it if you don't like it; return it if you can.

but its not senn saying they good a burn in, its users on here when gain nothing if you keep them or not. so believe me or not but i can tell you when i got my IE7 i was so very very disappointed with them ditto with my C751. the denon was my first decent dynamic and i didnt believe in burn in either. the same thing happened with the IE7, i went from thinking about returning them to them now being one of my favourite and most often used IEM's. the site isnt all a giant senn conspiracy you know.

if you still dont like them then return them.

go to a more neutral ie7... im also considering this move if i cant find good combo of op-amps for ie8... im doing this for 2 consecutive nights, playing dif permutations of op-amps and buffers.. i still ddnt find the one the adress the mid-bass problem of ie8...

Actually, at least for dynamic speaker drivers, I anm told that you can measure the "burn-in" effect by measuring the parameters before and after burn in. They will usually be different. Richard Vandersteen told me that he breaks in his woofers (and he is not a guy to do that just 'cause), interestingly, by wiring a bunch in series and plugging them right into the 120v 60 cps power line! So that the speakers you buy performs out of the box the way he designed it.

When you think about it, drivers are mechanical devices (really, a motor) and it's not that hard to believe they need to be run in a bit...

Well, if your IE-8 sounds like a cheap $30 earphone...

The IE-8 is not easy to get positioned properly in one's ears. But here's a hint. Sennheiser in the little book tells you not to push them far into your ear (perhaps due to concerns about deep, tight insertion and possible damage to the ear, I don't know). I have come to the conclusion that they MEAN it and tuned the earphone for the non-deep ear environment.

When the IE-8 is too far away, it sounds bass light and has a hot lower treble. When it's too far in the ear, the midbass becomes overpowering. What I did was to select a tip that kept the phone from going very far in my ear, then pushed on both earpieces to move the earpieces further in the ear while music plays. As you go in, you will hear a spot where the midbass, though still strong, minimally masks the upper bass and midrange and the shouty treble smooths quite nicely. This is easiest to hear on female vocals (I used Sandy Denny's voice on Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief, the bass in the piece can be used to judge the midbass, also). When you find that spot in your ear, the challange is to find a tip that will hold the earpiece there under normal insertion! I also think that you don't want too tight a seal...

My suspicion is that this is too much for most people who just want to buy a IEM, put on a tip and slam it home, and I can understand that. But the point is the IE-8 can sound quite good under the right conditions.

Kevin

^^^^ You would want more than "quite good" for £200. To the OP, Give them at least 100hrs burn in, I know, I know, you don't believe in it. Try playing with tips and insertion a bit. If you are still not happy, send 'em back. You don't like them. If it is too late to return them, try selling them in classifieds on here.

Whilst I'll still say that the IE8 may not be for everyone, I couldn't agree more with your take on the fit placement issue and I've been quite verbose about it as well. My ear canals are also quite small so I use the smallest (UE) tips so that I can better maneuver the position of the IEM in my ear to have that perfect position where bass isn't overly intrusive. Isolation does take a hit and not everyone is prepared to do this but I sure as hell am.

The MTP and the IE8 also look very similar but have very different presentations. I know because I have both of them. FR graphs can be deceiving. I also think that since you have very small ear canals and the IE8 has a large nozzle, that the openings of the tips are being compressed to the point where it's muffling the sound. Be patient and try a vast assortment of tips and don't insert them very deep. I can also attest to the burn in effect for the IE8. They didn't sound too good out of the box and was seriously thinking about returning them. I decided to burn them in for a long period of time and they changed for the better. I was using the same tips from the beginning and after the burn-in, using the same insertion depth. Now the IE8 is one of my most favorite iems. I now use the ebay dual flange tips as they tone down the midbass for me and sound more balanced. I wouldn't recommend an iem with a large nozzle to someone with very small ear canals. Iems with smaller nozzles like from Shure and Westone, would be a better recommendation.

Shannow,

Just so you know regarding the fakes, I just had a fake version arrive this week. And everything matches the pictures here for the real ones! But they are still a fake, the sound is crap! And a there were a few other clues too, one of the grills fell off fo example. So the copiers are getting good (probably by reasding the threads on this site....).

So I still wouldn't discount the fact these might not be genuine. Perhaps you could try someone elses to compare?

Regards,

Jonathan