My head gear background in short: CX-870, Cowon i10, ATH-M50, HD-650 (HK 3490), IE 80
I got the IE 80 few days ago after coming back to my old CX-870 (after a pleasurable winter of using my ATH-M50 as my on the move head gear) and noticing that their bass is, though strong enough, muddy and boomy beyond enjoyment as my standards seem to have heightened quite a bit.
This review is very much incomplete since it'll take a few months to come to a conclusion of some kind, but I'll mention a few things I hope I'd read before purchase.
First of all I didn't think much of burn-in before, though I knew from previous experience with the ATH-M50 that there could be a clear, but probably not dramatic, difference in sound after some time of use. I also didn't come across anything saying otherwise: "needs burn-in", "100 hours" etc, but nothing that would prepare me for the first listen.
The first listen was an absolute horror! Even after trying every kind of music, EQs etc. the sound was the worst I think I've heard ever. And in a strange way so that some aspects seemed great: strong bass, some instruments and highs sounded very nice. But the overal picture was painfully harsh, ugly, cold and clinical. Vocals were drowned by everything else completely. Highs were articulate and clear but harsh to the point that it hurt my ears. Everything in the middle was just lost. Not a happy moment after spending 290€ on something praised in every review.
I had to stop listening since it felt physically bad. I had some strange tinnitus-like murmuring for a moment after listening and began thinking if they're broken or if I could sell them or something. Then I decided to start burning them in to see if it would make a difference. 6 hours of shuffled songs played slightly louder than I'd listen to, on the shelf. Afterwards, a night and day difference. All the really horrific aspects were completely gone. I was using my i10 and 18 was the highest volume setting I could use at first. Bumped up to 25ish after initial burn in (normally 30-33 with CX-870 or ATH-M50). A suprising effect, at least for me. Is all this entirely common? Should be written in the manual.
Now after three days, with approx. 15-20 hours of burn-in and actual use the proper characteristics are starting to emerge. Now they pretty much sound like the the reviews imply (fantastic), though still slightly lacking the fun, immersive or fully balanced quality I'm hoping for. The way I'd put it is that they don't quite "sing" yet. Of course my audio source is below the IEMs in quality also and I noticed that an EQ I'd previously used a lot was for now out of the question.
At the moment I'm quite happy with them, hoping for slight improvement in the IEMs with time as well as expecting my listening to develop as their precision is on a completely different level from what I'm used to. It takes a while to get used to your most beloved music sounding different from before.
I'll continue this review after some time and more thorough experience with the IEMs...
I got the IE 80 few days ago after coming back to my old CX-870 (after a pleasurable winter of using my ATH-M50 as my on the move head gear) and noticing that their bass is, though strong enough, muddy and boomy beyond enjoyment as my standards seem to have heightened quite a bit.
This review is very much incomplete since it'll take a few months to come to a conclusion of some kind, but I'll mention a few things I hope I'd read before purchase.
First of all I didn't think much of burn-in before, though I knew from previous experience with the ATH-M50 that there could be a clear, but probably not dramatic, difference in sound after some time of use. I also didn't come across anything saying otherwise: "needs burn-in", "100 hours" etc, but nothing that would prepare me for the first listen.
The first listen was an absolute horror! Even after trying every kind of music, EQs etc. the sound was the worst I think I've heard ever. And in a strange way so that some aspects seemed great: strong bass, some instruments and highs sounded very nice. But the overal picture was painfully harsh, ugly, cold and clinical. Vocals were drowned by everything else completely. Highs were articulate and clear but harsh to the point that it hurt my ears. Everything in the middle was just lost. Not a happy moment after spending 290€ on something praised in every review.
I had to stop listening since it felt physically bad. I had some strange tinnitus-like murmuring for a moment after listening and began thinking if they're broken or if I could sell them or something. Then I decided to start burning them in to see if it would make a difference. 6 hours of shuffled songs played slightly louder than I'd listen to, on the shelf. Afterwards, a night and day difference. All the really horrific aspects were completely gone. I was using my i10 and 18 was the highest volume setting I could use at first. Bumped up to 25ish after initial burn in (normally 30-33 with CX-870 or ATH-M50). A suprising effect, at least for me. Is all this entirely common? Should be written in the manual.
Now after three days, with approx. 15-20 hours of burn-in and actual use the proper characteristics are starting to emerge. Now they pretty much sound like the the reviews imply (fantastic), though still slightly lacking the fun, immersive or fully balanced quality I'm hoping for. The way I'd put it is that they don't quite "sing" yet. Of course my audio source is below the IEMs in quality also and I noticed that an EQ I'd previously used a lot was for now out of the question.
At the moment I'm quite happy with them, hoping for slight improvement in the IEMs with time as well as expecting my listening to develop as their precision is on a completely different level from what I'm used to. It takes a while to get used to your most beloved music sounding different from before.
I'll continue this review after some time and more thorough experience with the IEMs...
