Sennheiser IE80's Impressions Thread - Page 34

Originally Posted by soullinker20 

sorry for the question, how do you exactly describe the term "DRY" on sonic terms ...   are the fx700s dry, 535??

 

thank you

Originally Posted by soullinker20 

sorry for the question, how do you exactly describe the term "DRY" on sonic terms ...   are the fx700s dry, 535??

 

thank you

Originally Posted by lee730 

I think dry would be less warmth and more detail. More clarity. This would be in comparison to warmth or maybe in "Dark" or veiled. I was looking for this characteristic in the IE80 as I wanted more in your face and not as much mellowness while having good clarity as well. The FX700s have really grown on me. You think you love them now. Run them in for 200 hours and they really come to life. The micro details I am getting is crazy on these. And everything sounds so natural. Not sad I sold my IE8s at all. But looking forward to the IE80 fixing my Issue with the IE8 (then I'll be in audio nirvana).

Originally Posted by james444 

In my book the opposite of dry is wet, meaning the phone has notable reverb and decay. Dryness is a lack thereof and ime much more likely to be found with balanced armatures than dynamic drivers, but some heavily dampened DDs (RE0, RE252, MC5) may sound quite dry as well. Warmth is a bit different from wetness and often used for describing a certain emphasis on lower frequencies, but of course warmth and wetness often go together.

Originally Posted by james444 

 

We talked about dryness in another thread lately:

 

 

That said, I don't think the IE80 are over-damped, but they sound noticably more controlled, especially in bass. Like dwizard said, a new IE8 would probably sound closer to the IE80, but I don't think that driver wear alone is responsible for the difference. Would be interesting to see an impulse response graph of both phones.

Originally Posted by lee730 

I think dry would be less warmth and more detail. More clarity. This would be in comparison to warmth or maybe in "Dark" or veiled. I was looking for this characteristic in the IE80 as I wanted more in your face and not as much mellowness while having good clarity as well. The FX700s have really grown on me. You think you love them now. Run them in for 200 hours and they really come to life. The micro details I am getting is crazy on these. And everything sounds so natural. Not sad I sold my IE8s at all. But looking forward to the IE80 fixing my Issue with the IE8 (then I'll be in audio nirvana).

Originally Posted by james444 

Well, it's not only for their lack of communication, but also because they had the audacity to up the K3003's MSRP from €1000 to €1200 shortly after introduction, for apparently no other reason than very favorable early reviews. Now, I'm not exactly known to shy away from expensive stuff (*cough* FAD *cough* ;-), but I can't help but smell BS in this case.
 

 

That's exactly what I meant, thanks.

 

Had another IE8/80 side by side listening session with one of my favorite classical recordings (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Joseph Swensen). The difference in bass is pretty much negligible with this kind of music, but the mids struck me as noticeably more sweet on the IE8, whereas the IE80's mids sounded a bit dry. Quite similar impressions from the highs, the IE8's appeared slightly smoother and the IE80's a tad more edgy. Now, I'm certainly aware that my IE80 have only <=30 hours on them and the IE8 more than 1000, meaning the new ones will most likely smooth out a bit over time. Nevertheless, the outcome of today's classical audition, rather surprisingly, was a clear nod to the older IE8. Hmm...

Originally Posted by james444 

The wait is over (at least for me ;-), as my retail IE80 from cyberport.de arrived yesterday evening. Right out of the box they appeared already clearer than my IE8, so I let them play from my home stereo overnight.

 

Today morning I only found time for a short A/B before heading off to work, so take these first impressions with a grain of salt. Make no mistake, the apple didn't fall far from the tree, these are still bassy IEMs! While I prefer to EQ my IE8 by -8db@80Hz to achieve a reasonable flat bass response, I'd need about -4 or -5db with the IE80 to achieve the same result. So my read is, Sennheiser chopped a few decibel off that mid-bass hump, but didn't dare to go all the way.

 

That said, bass peak seems to have shifted a bit towards deep bass, from 80-100Hz to maybe 60 or 70Hz, not a night and day difference, but together with its reduced impact a notable relief for the lower mids. What's more, they seem to have upped treble ever so slightly, which helps to give the IE80 better presence in comparison to the IE8. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the veil is completely gone (after all it's part of Senn's house sound ;-), but vocals appear distinctly clearer and also a tad less chesty than on the IE8. But to put things into perspective, overall clarity is still a notch below IEMs like the Sony EX600/1000 or the Ortofon e-Q5.

 

Well, good things usually come at a price, and in case of the IE80 it's (a bit of) soundstage size. The IE8 are famed for having one of the most generous soundstage presentations among IEMs and giving a stunning out-of-head experience. Now, as a consequence of more clarity and better presence on the IE80, things seem to happen closer to the listener than with the IE8, meaning you get a bit less forward projection and slightly reduced soundstage size.

 

So far for the results of my short morning A/B session, after which I headed off to my daily commute. Isolation is unchanged from the IE8 (meaning only so-so) and the IE80's emphasized bass did a decent job in compensating for ambient noise, which tends to drown out bass more than higher frequencies. Vocal clarity remained pretty good and overall I was quite pleased with the IE80's performance on the move, except for some vague suspicion regarding the cable, but I'll get into this a little later.

Originally Posted by james444 

Not much to add for now, I'm afraid. Tbo, I'm a little bit disappointed by the IE80's cable, as it seems to be a bit more rigid and a step down imo from the IE8's. Todays cold weather added to the stiffness and even over-ear it exhibited some microphonics, something I can't remember from the IE8. I'm still debating whether the cable's just brand new and will become more flexible over time, or Sennheiser actually decided to change the material. The latter would be a real bummer, since they already had the world's best IEM cable on the IE8.
 

Frankly speaking, if you don't shy away from EQing the IE8 to your liking, I can't see a compelling reason to upgrade (so far). On the other hand, if EQ is strictly no-go and you want to stick with Senns, it may well be worth it.

Originally Posted by james444 

Had another IE8/80 side by side listening session with one of my favorite classical recordings (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Joseph Swensen). The difference in bass is pretty much negligible with this kind of music, but the mids struck me as noticeably more sweet on the IE8, whereas the IE80's mids sounded a bit dry. Quite similar impressions from the highs, the IE8's appeared slightly smoother and the IE80's a tad more edgy. Now, I'm certainly aware that my IE80 have only <=30 hours on them and the IE8 more than 1000, meaning the new ones will most likely smooth out a bit over time. Nevertheless, the outcome of today's classical audition, rather surprisingly, was a clear nod to the older IE8. Hmm...

Originally Posted by james444 

Well, it's a slightly different matter when it comes to more bass driven genres than classical. Listening to Markus Schulz / Progression right now and the IE80's low end is a most enjoyable step up from their predecessor's, with better deep bass and overall improved definition.

Originally Posted by james444 

But the good news is the IE80 actually seem to smooth out a bit and violins appear less scratchy than when I first A/Bed them with the IE8. They're well past the 100 hour mark now and even though I'm not a big believer in burn-in, I must concede that there have been slight changes. Not in sound signature though, which stayed exactly the same, but they're definitely a bit closer to my IE8 in smoothness than a few days ago.

Originally Posted by Burma Jones 

Hi James thanks for the impression on the IE80. Between the W4 and the IE80, which one do you think have better transparency and timbre? And which one do you prefer for classical music ( symphonies and concertos )? Thanks.
 

 

Originally Posted by raymondu999 

Hey James - yep; I saw your posts. Fantastic stuff, thanks. The only issue is that the IE80s are still very young with you and burn-in (which I'm a firm believer of, especially after my IE8s) will definitely not be up to their full strengths yet.

Originally Posted by Burma Jones 

Hi James thanks for the impression on the IE80. Between the W4 and the IE80, which one do you think have better transparency and timbre? And which one do you prefer for classical music ( symphonies and concertos )? Thanks.

Originally Posted by dwizard 

Definitely IE80. W4 tone/timbre is off. Everything sounds plasticky (plastic like). It's as if metal string on violins, guitars etc have been replaced with plastic ones and for A balanced armature earphone the datail is lacking.