So, some impressions over my first week with the IE80s
Preface With Current Gear
I've been spoiled something awful by my desktop rig - Fostex TH600 w/ Dekoni Angled Lambskin Pads and HE400 w/ Focus Pads, TP Mod, Sorbo mod, Grille fully removed, into a Nuforce Icon HDP running from a Benchmark DAC1.
Prior to my current set of cans I've had another pair of HE400s, K701s, Q701s, M50Xs, Denon D600s, as well as a Schiit Lyr with a variety of NOS tubes running from the DAC1. I've also had a variety of studio monitors as a budding / amateur audio engineer producer, the most noteworthy being the Adam A7Xs and Miller and Kreisel MPS-1611Ps.
And now for my prior portable rig... lowly Shure SE215s and an iPod 5.5 gen and/or LG G4. Glamorous? Hell no. Does it work? Hell yes. I've used the 215s for 4 years now and they're still going strong with well over 1000 hours on them. They're incredibly comfortable and I can sleep in them.
Why the IE80s?
Well, I got the headphone bug (everyone reading this collectively sighs), and got to thinking - a good 50% of my listening now happens on transit. The 215s are solid entry level IEMs, but they're far from the most engaging things in the world, and they rarely make me pause and just listen to my favorite records like my desktop rig does. I'm split many ways in my music, and a relatively fair portion (25%) of that consists of some bass heavy slammin' EDM/industrial/hip hop. The other 75% is a smorgasbord of extreme metal, folk, classical and progressive rock.
I've convinced myself I want several sets of IEMs with varying levels of slam with the same mindset I purchased the TH600s to accompany my HE400s. One for SLAM and the others for slam.
Enter the IE80 from a reputable seller with receipt and proof of authenticity, and a whole lot of Head-fi scanning for signs of a fake IE80. Can't be too paranoid with these as most people in the know will tell you.
Get them in the mail, set bass dial to full off, tip roll for about 5 mins, settle on the medium bi-flanges - I should stop here to mention that the Senn foams that come with them are utterly ing useless, and are frankly, a joke - plug them into my 5.5 gen iPod to start, turn them on and ... SLAM.
Sound Impressions
Yes, these absolutely slam. Almost hilariously so. Compared to my SE215s which are noteworthy as a fairly bass heavy dynamic (in the realm of non-obnoxiously bass heavy IEMs) these are in another world. Not quite TH600 levels of rumble/impact, but you certainly feel like they're pushing air like a basshead fullsize can, though with a very very pronounced upper bass punch in the 100 hz region that starts to sound a tad slow / bloated on faster tracks. My second impression is - darn, all the reviewers were right. There is definitely a sense of space to these suckers. BUT, its not really proper full-size can space like many tout if for. Maybe M50X space. Mild disappointment? My third and fourth impressions are even less positive, and are a sign of what's to come momentarily - what is this metallic treble and where are my mids???
Now thus far I've run them through their paces with a few hip-hop tracks with varying levels of bass presence and varying approaches to production (Kanye, Kendrick, J.Cole, Kohh, Lupe's newest, etc), and some electronic goodness (RL Grime, Mitis, Vexare, ASC, Rudimental, Maiko Iuchi's OST from WIXOSS). Conclusions are that yes, they slam, yes, they have space, but the treble is hots and the mids are wonky. I bought them knowing they were V-shaped, but my god, the mids are thin, brittle, metallic. They just sound wrong. The treble I can live with, coming from HE400s (though modded to basically have perfect treble) and TH600s which are still very hot on some tracks. Definitely disappointment. The final nail in the coffin is some tracks with rock instrumentation - Supercell's Kimino Shiranai Monogatari, Breaking Benjamin's Dear Agony, Anberlin's Feel Good Drag all have that wonderful space to them, but man, the guitars are just off, the dynamics feel wrong. The timbre and texture of the instruments just feels unnatural. Vocals get a passing grade, are well centered and have enough body in the upper mids to satisfy, but they too are nothing to write home about.
OK, at this point I'm panicking a little bit. Well, the 5.5 isn't any real test of resolution or texture - No matter what anyone will tell you, its getting up there in age, and its pretty well established to have a headphone amp that is, depending who you talk to, just OK to sub-par.
So, the real test - into the HDP they go. Holy **** what a difference. Bass is tighter, heavier, more impactful. The 100 hz boost is still there, and it still mildly impedes on the lower mids, but no longer is it a huge imbalance. The treble is smoother - Its still bright, but the resolution and space I talked about earlier is finally up to par with what I expected out of a 300$ IEM. Cymbal timbre and texture is improved quite a bit, though mild sibilance is still experienced on certain tracks. Its certainly a good bit more natural and resolving. Man, NOW these sound like a full size can. Definitely a VERY V-shaped full size, but there is a good bit more space, and the sound-stage has improved marvelously. Imaging has likewise improved, though what you still get is kick drum - snare impact - bass guitar - everything else - cymbals. Everything else being smeared by the still sub-par mids.
Right, the mids. Well, they're now there. They're still too thin for my liking, and no matter how I look at em, they've got an unpleasant tonality/texture that I'm less than impressed with when listening to non electronic instrumentation, but I certainly no longer think they're anemic, and with simpler piano/guitar pieces they will more than do the job. Looks like an overall win, with a pretty major improvement across the board.
So, the next step - the LG G4. Huh. Way less bass bloat than the 5.5. The G4 is definitely all around "colder", though while the treble remains tinny, its no longer obnoxiously hot. Better resolution as well. Nowhere near Icon HDP levels, but certainly a good bit better than the 5.5. Mids are somewhat more natural / resolved than the 5.5, but still not quite up to acceptable quality levels. Soundstage is in-between 5.5 "large for an in-ear" and Icon HDP "real over ear full sized". Bass is actually improved over the 5.5 as well, though not by much - its a little less warm, a little less bloated, though the upper bass 100 hz hump continues to get in the way.
Slightly Longer Term Impressions, Fit, Comfort, Philosophy of Use Going Forward
OK, I've given it a couple of days - recheck my initial impressions - Still fairly accurate. Ears have acclimated to the treble a bit, bass still rocks, mids still suck. On the G4, dumping 125 hz and 250 hz 2 db and boosting 500 hz through 2k does a bit to improve the body and lessen bass bloat, at the cost of some loss of overall soundstage width / concert stage feel. Still, worth it to bring the mids on-board.
Unfortunately as I've found out over the past 72 hours, wearing the IE80s is unpleasant at best, downright painful at worst. I have ear canals on the smaller size, and while the Senn bi-flanges give a mildly decent seal, their shallow fit and tubby shell, combined with their massive 5.5 mm bore nozzle are making my lower concha and edge of my anti-tragus scream in pain. Tragus itself too, though not nearly as badly. These definitely do NOT disappear in your ears. Well, going to have to order Complys and give em a try. If that doesn't work, these are going up on the classifieds. SE215s comfort wise these are not, not even close.
But man, that SLAM...
I should note that I have read / briefly tried the tape mod and am going to give it a proper week with the tape mod in the near future, provided I'm not in pain the entire time I'm wearing them.
