While best-known for their planar-magnetic headphones, HiFiMan has explored several other fields; earphones being one of them. The original RE800 was released in 2017 had a gold finish. The RE800 Silver was released in 2018. “What’s the difference besides the color?” you may ask. The difference is that the Silver edition does not have 24K gold plating and was $100 cheaper than the Gold edition. Somewhere down the line, HiFiMan decided to add a removable cable to the Gold edition.
I don’t know about you, but I remember the year of 2017 and 2018, especially when it came to the audio business. I think that 2014-2018 were quite similar in terms of the head-fi offerings. At the time, I was far from being crazy about earphones and the high-end market, and this was the situation for many. Sennheiser Momentum series was considered as TOTL in the consumer market, and the rage was all about Sony headphones. In terms of earphones, many of us were looking at Sennheiser CX300-II Pecision and some cheap Philips earphones. The high-end market for earphones wasn’t that large, there wasn’t a lot of interest as far as I know. However, if there is one earphone/IEM that I am sure everyone remembers, it is the Shure SE846. In particular, I remember the time that I walked into a large electronics store and seeing the €1000 price tag on these clear and transparent earphones and just laughing to myself. It seemed absolutely absurd to have something like an earphone cost that much. Luckily for us, time has changed and now there is a large high-end IEM market with companies who are serious about making such a fine products — but Shure deserves all the respect for being among the earlier companies who took the production of professional-grade IEMs seriously.
Unboxing Experience & Presentation
After the one-of-a-kind luxury unboxing experience with the RE-600s, I expected more from the RE800 Silver. This time around, the earphones are packaged in a rather large cardboard box which follows the elegant design that HiFiMan commonly implements into their products’ packaging. There is a large visual print of the RE-800 Silver on the front with the logo and model name in a silver color placed below it. The back features short specifications, contact information, and HiFiMan socials. On the inside you will find a nicely printed owner’s guide booklet. Here you will be able to find the evolution of the company’s earphones, breakdown of the driver technology, specifications, design choices & more.
Design & Build Quality
Compared to the RE-600s, the RE-800 Silver is not only more refined, but also of superior premium build quality. I think that both the design aspect and the build quality is a big improvement over the RE-600s.
Instead of a braided and stiff rubber cable, the RE800 Silver features a high-quality single rubber cable. Instead of a black piano finish, the housing is made of high-quality anodized aluminum. Instead of a low-quality rubber housing for the plug, a more premium and robust metal housing is used.
When it comes to the design, it is smoother, more fluid, and more organic. The housing still features a single vent underneath, it is still made of two pieces, but unlike the RE-600s, the curvature of the back piece is subtler and smoother. Another similarity to its predecessor is that the nozzle is straight and is not angular.
Some subtle details are the “HiFiMan” and “RE800” prints on the Y-splitter housing, the company logo and the left & right print labels on the earphone.
Comfort
When it comes to HiFiMan’s earphone line-up, the comfort is top-notch. Though slightly larger in size than the RE-600s, I found the comfort & fit to be a big improvement due to the included ear-guides. I have not taken the ear-guides off ever since I first tried them on. They truly do improve the comfort by that much. Both the ear-guides and the earphones themselves are extremely lightweight, and this is why wearing them for hours is a joy rather than a nightmare. I was able to get a very deep fit and insertion into the ear due to the angle that the ear-guides made possible. Actually, I think that the RE-800 is the deepest fit I have ever gotten with an IEM. I should also mention that I used the straight silicone ear-tips from the RE-600s. I found them to fit the best and I got the deepest insertion with them. They are not included with the RE-800!
As I said earlier, the RE-800 is slightly larger than the RE-600s, and because of this you cannot lie on the side of your head as comfortably and seamlessly. This aside, the comfort is 10/10 because the earphones disappear in your ear and you can enjoy music endlessly.
Sound
Lows
Bass heads, be gone, because the RE-800 Silver will definitely not satisfy your needs! Similar to the RE-600s, the bass is quite balanced and is not overly emphasized.
I played my standard sub-bass testing tracks (“Why So Serious?” by Hans Zimmer, “Theme for Irishman” by Robbie Robertson) and it is definitely there, but it is very subtle. The mid-bass has more quantity and is easier to appreciate (by the masses). The mid-bass seems to lack in definition and leans towards the slower side of the spectrum when it comes to the attack & the decay.
Mids
From my experience, the mid-range leans towards the thinner side of the spectrum, opposite of full-body mid-range. Something interesting I noticed is that strings, due to the presence of higher frequencies, sound more forward than vocals and other elements in the mix. To get back to what I was saying earlier, the mid-range, especially vocals, sound distant. I can agree with how
@earfonia described the mid-range in his RE-800 review (not RE-800 Silver):
“Midrange is clear and transparent but sounds rather lean, not the full-bodied type of midrange. All my friends that have tested the RE800 mostly mentioned about the midrange as being lean sounding, sometimes too lean to their liking. Someone even said the midrange sounds hollow for his recordings.”
On the other hand, stringed instruments sound very satisfying due to the brighter sound characteristic.
When it comes to tracks of “essy” nature, none of them raised any red flags, meaning that there was no fatigue or piercing quality to them. Some of my go-to “essy” tracks include:
Joan Baez —
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Paul Simon —
Something so Right
Jeff Buckley —
Forget Her
Highs
To my surprise, the top-end seems to have a roll-off which makes it ideal for people who don’t like the bright quality, but makes it a turn-off for people who like the edge in the upper frequency range. I went through all my standards tracks that would otherwise showcase “edge”, “shine”, or “sparkle”, and I didn’t hear none of those qualities. This indicates to me that there is a roll-off in the upper-frequency range. However, due to the brighter nature of the mid-range, I cannot say it has warm sound signature.
The previously mentioned tracks include:
Travis Scott —
Stop Trying to Be God
Miles Davis —
Portia
Led Zeppelin —
Stairway to Heaven (percussion, 7:16 – 7:23)
Etta James —
Damn Your Eyes (percussion)
Conclusion
Even though it's a 4 year old IEM, RE800 Silver manages to still be relevant today. The RE800 Silver is a major step up from the RE600 line, but it still keeps that balanced/neutral sound signature that the RE600 line is loved for. Not only that, but it also keeps that slim and small nature of the RE600 line.
The RE800 Silver is a good IEM in my book. It's a perfect daily driver, but also a big appeal to those who like to listen to instrumental, acapella, and classical music.
Besides for "audiophile listening", I would seriously consider the RE800 Silver for casual listening... I'd even take it when going for a bike ride or for a run.
But man this driver flex is HORRIBLE! Even the driver can be stuck and loosing sound quality.
Also they are VERY sensible to tips selection. Can sound bright with no bass to very pleasing sound with the right tips. I'm using final E slightly , the best I found for the moment.
Last thing, they look flimsy , luckily Amazon has a good service if needed