Sennheiser IE80

General Information

The IE 80 features high-fidelity stereo sound and high noise attenuation with an enhanced design. Encased in a brushed-metal housing and rugged, interchangeable cable, it is built for maximum robustness and flexibility. The IE 80 also features a unique technology that enables sound-tuning of bass response. A world of premium audio awaits your discovery.

Latest reviews

CK Moustache

100+ Head-Fier
Link to my review and measurement index thread where one can also find a full review overview, more information about myself as well as my general-ish audio and review manifesto: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/956208/




I only give full stars. My ranking/scoring system does not necessarily follow the norm and is about as follows:

5 stars: The product is very good and received the "highly recommended" award from me.

4 stars: The product is very good and received the "recommended" award from me.

3 stars: The product is good/very good, but not outstanding/special enough to get any of my two awards. ["Thumbs Up"]

2 stars: The product is only about average or even somewhat below that and somewhat flawed/flawed in some areas. [neither "Thumbs Up" nor "Thumbs Down"]

1 star: The product is bad/severely flawed to outright bad. ["Thumbs Down"]





Sennheiser IE 80


Source:

Personal unit.


Miscellaneous:

Back in the day, they were Sennheiser’s most expensive (in-ear) model (years ago before the IE 800 that I bought as well and that are on a clearly higher level when it comes to technical performance), and generally considered as expensive for dynamic driver in-ears.

The small graph on the back of the packaging that illustrates how the small screw on the faceplate changes the bass quantity is straight misleading and impertinent as it shows the frequency response to vary from fairly flat to bassy and warm even though the latter is already the case in the screw’s minimum position.

Nice selection of ear tips.
I really like that there is a Sennheiser logo on the included shirt clip.

Really nice and unique carrying case that contains a “drawer” that is securely held in place by a magnet and has even got integrated holders for spare ear tips as well as a build-in holder for the bass adjustment/cleaning tool and last but not least a small compartment for small silica gel pads.
However, as nice and unique as it is, it is ultimately not very practical at all as it takes some time to store the in-ears inside, and likely not the best solution for the cable’s durability either.

The cable doesn’t feel premium at all but is at least not of the cheapest possible kind. It’s removable, though (2-pin connectors).
A chin-slider is not lacking and it reads “IE 80” on the y-splitter, which is a nice touch that I personally like.

While I like the unique shell design and while the build quality seems to be good, the light plastic shells don’t necessarily feel premium.
One does not get much tactile feedback from turning the bass adjustment screws as they don’t feel very precise and don’t give much feedback either as there are no tactile notches.

Very comfortable fit.

The engineering behind how the bass adjustment screw works is pretty unique and shows that definitely some thoughts went into its design. It’s a completely acoustic design and basically just a variable valve that control’s the dynamic driver’s front cavity vent opening that was re-located from the inner half of the shell where one would normally expect it towards the faceplate for easier access and so that it isn’t unintentionally covered/blocked by the user’s ear; for this, Sennheiser used a fairly clever internal routing that one can see on disassembly photos of the IE 80 on the internet.

One dynamic driver per side.




Sound:

Largest included single-flange silicone ear tips.

Tonality:

Bassy, very warm v-shape already when the valves are fully open (i.e. minimum position) to bass-heavy, even warmer v-shape with the valves fully shut (i.e. maximum position.

No matter at what setting the bass adjustment screws are, the lows clearly radiate into the central mids as they already start to climb around 900 Hz.
With the screws in the minimum position, the climax is around 150 Hz with a quantity of around 10 dB compared to in-ears with a flat bass tuning such as the Etymotic ER4SR/my ER-4Sm and a roll-off below 100 Hz towards 20 Hz that are about in-line with the central midrange wherefore the sound is very full, warm and with a strong upper bass punch, but not much rumble from the sub-bass.
When the screws are turned into the maximum position, the bass peaks around 40 Hz with a quantity of around 15 dB, with no roll-off below that, and about an extra 4 dB boost at 100 Hz, wherefore the sound gains a lot of sub-bass and midbass energy.
Needless to say, the midrange, as a result, is always very warm, full and coloured, also somewhat mushy, and even warmer and mushier, more veiled with the screw set to maximum (which is beneficial for the mid-and sub-bass perception but definitely not for the midrange and fundamental range).

The central midrange and upper midrange are mostly accurate to somewhat more on the relaxed side, and thankfully not much recessed.

Going up, one can spot a peak around 5.5 kHz as well as another one around 7 kHz and finally a last one around 10 kHz wherefore the full, bassy and warm sound is ultimately more of a v-shaped signature.
Ultimately, those peaks lead to the highs being on the more metallic side, however as they aren’t sharp and as the warmth and bass are the dominating elements, they are not annoying or obtrusive, which is something where the IE 80 fortunately differ from Sennheiser’s older, less expensive dynamic driver in-ears.
Interestingly, those peaks appear much worse and unfitting when performing sine sweeps or looking at frequency response measurements, while in real world listening scenarios, they are not bothering at all, which, as mentioned, is most likely due to them acting as some sort of compensation for the lows’ bloom and warmth.

Quickly compared to my Shure SE215m+SPE, the Sennheiser are always warmer, fuller, thicker and more coloured sounding in the lower midrange.
IE 80's screw set to minimum: Both have got comparable bass quantity at 100 Hz but the Sennheiser roll off below that whereas the Shure peak in the lower midbass and keep constant sub-bass level below that.
IE 80s’ screw set to maximum: The Sennheiser are clearly warmer and bassier at any frequency below 1 kHz.
Both have got almost similar treble quantity around 5 kHz. Above that, however, the Shure are definitely on the dark, relaxed side, whereas the Sennheisers’ treble is on the brighter side, however less even.

The question whether it is best to have the screw in the minimum or maximum position is a tough one, as the former rolls off audibly towards the sub-bass and only really highlights the higher upper bass and root, whereas the latter does introduce a nice sub-bass boost, however adds even more warmth and thickness to the already really warm sound (it makes the lows even slower and softer, too). Despite the rolled-off sub- and midbass (compared to the root and higher upper bass), I prefer the screw in the minimum position due to aforementioned introduced disadvantages that come with the screw set to the maximum position.
Generally, I only really like my IE 80 for slow, acoustic singer-songwriter stuff.

Frequency Response:


ER-4S-Compensation (Screw set to minimum Position)


ER-4S-Compensation (Screw set to maximum Position)

Generally, the treble peaks on the graph don’t match with the frequencies that I perceive when performing sine sweeps, and I also perceive them as much quieter in amplitude. With the bass screw set to the maximum position, however, I hear the lows as being slightly stronger than on the graph.


ProPhile 8-Compensation (Screw set to minimum Position)


ProPhile 8-Compensation (Screw set to maximum Position)


Effect of the Bass Screw

Resolution:

While the midrange resolution and speech intelligibility seems to be subjectively above that of my Shure SE215m+SPE to some degree, the Sennheisers’ bass is just mushy, slow and lacks control even in the screw’s minimum position, and becomes even worse by increasing it, which also affects the rest of the resolution that is reduced audibly, wherefore the IE 80 are only halfway decently resolving (which is a bit of a stretch for the price anyway) with the bass screw in the minimum position.

Generally, the resolution isn’t great for the price at all, especially in terms of bass quality; the in-ears sound slow, soft and just lack details. The general transient response is audibly pretty bad.

Good treble separation? Definitely not. The presentation is quite smeary and not differentiated at all.

Only when the music material is slow, doesn’t contain many instruments/tonal elements and generally doesn’t have high demands on the in-ears, the IE 80 sound decently controlled and resolving with a nice midrange; however even already with “averagely paced” music and tracks that don’t have a very demanding bass line, the drivers clearly show their lack of control and just sound plain slow, which should not be present at this price point at all.
In contrast, my Shure SE215m+SPE, Moondrop Starfield or the Etymotic ER2XR don’t give in nearly as early nor nearly as much with fast and more demanding music material, which just shows that the Sennheisers’ limits are reached really early whereas the other dynamic driver in-ears still have got (partially plenty) of reserves in comparison and generally sound tighter, faster and better controlled, while the IE 80, when compared to my Shure, are slightly ahead when it comes to pure midrange resolution (but are outperformed by my Moondrop and the Etymotic).
In pre-conclusion, slow and not really demanding, mild acoustic singer-songwriter music is really about the only niche where the IE 80 perform and sound decent.

Soundstage:

The only area that the IE 80 really manage to set themselves apart from many other dynamic driver in-ears is their very large, very open, three-dimensional soundstage.
It expands greatly into all dimensions and presents a large sphere of music that my Shure SE215m+SPE (whose stage is pretty wide, but without much spacial depth to speak of, and ultimately not as wide as the Sennheisers’) don’t have (which also applies to the ER2XR and also somewhat to my Starfield when compared to the IE 80s’ soundstage size).

While this is something that makes the IE 80 nice and rather special, the imaging precision isn’t very high at all, and similarly to the resolution, the soundstage struggles to keep up and collapses the more complex and the faster the music gets.




Conclusion:

The Sennheiser IE 80 are in-ears that only sound nice when used with slow, undemanding, sparsely occupied recordings wherefore they are predestined for slow acoustic singer-songwriter stuff that really suits them and where they sounds nice, effortless, open, spacious, pleasantly warm as well as full, and where their fairly low technical performance in relation to the price isn’t brought to the limits. Therefore, they are clearly not all-rounders but niche in-ears with a large soundstage that perform well on slow recordings but almost fail with everything else as their drivers’ limits are reached very early.

Mmurin

Head-Fier
Pros: - Very good sound quality
- Easy to drive
- Brilliant for classical music and jazz
Cons: - Not an all rounder
- Only average for metal and hard rock
Dear fellow music lovers,
the IE80 have been around a while and, despite several reviews and an almost infinite thread, still it is not easy to gather in a single place all the information concerning this beautiful IEM.
Despite the earphone being probably at the end of its lifecycle, I will write this review anyway, hoping that somebody will provide a similar review for the new IE80S.

After few month of listening, here come my impressions.

Package:
- the fundamentals are here: several tips.
- ear hooks
- fluff: useless carry-case

Build:
- OK. Detachable cable probably ensure a beyond average life expectancy (for me IEM average life expectancy is 2 years)

Cable:
- bundled cable is ok, angled connector
- currently using it with 5 eur chinese cable with a 3 button Android and IOS compatible remote

Confort
- no rough edges, pretty comfortable for me

Fit over the ear
- a bit tricky, as the overall sound is very sensitive to insertion depth and tips positioning
- no cable microphonics
- once in place does not pops out. Few adjustments every now and then may be necessary
- ear hooks are not easy to use nor necessary

Fit below ear
- possible, but I don't recommend it as the bass becomes boomy
- average cable microphonics

Bang for buck
- on rebate at 140 eur at amazon is a catch (but not worth the full retail price of ~300 eur)

SOUND

Tuning
- bass via the screw
- overall tone via the tips

-Foreword
After several tests I decided which the basic configuration (i.e. bass screw to minimum, single flange silicon tips) is the one providing the bust sound quality. Therefore it is my choice for day to day listening and the descriptions below are based on this set-up.

- Sound Signature
V shaped, with powerfull bass and lively but not aggressive highs

- Bass
Extended, rolled off towards the sub bass and slightly bleeding in the mediums. They are slow (in the good sense, relaxed) accurate and powerful.

- Mediums
A bit recessed but perfectly tuned

- Highs
They provide decent detail and extension, but their tuning could be better (with the wrong recording they can become a little aggressive). Their biggest issue is that they are not linear, but they have a peak at 5kHz, one at 7kHz and one at 13kHz. The result is good detail and extension, but it is not balanced.

-Speed
Slow bass and a lot of echoes to open the soundstage result in a relaxed and slow IEM

-Detail retrieval and instrument separation
Good across the spectrum. More than enough for orchestral music

- Polyvalence
Very good for classical music and jazz. Very natural voice reproduction.
Only average for hard rock and metal.
Fair to good for other genres.

-Forgiveness
The peaky highs and detail retrieval makes this a rather unforgiving IEM

-Source requirements
IE80 are very hiss forgiving
They are very easy to drive, resulting in good sound on almost every source.
That said, a better source can result in audibly better quality. But with any source they are already good.

Perks
- adjustable bass
- can be tuned via eartips

Mods
- tuning via bass screw: this increases mostly the sub bass, with a lesser impact on the bass. The peaks in the highs are also somewhat tamed.
Overall I don't like the result, as the mids seems to be more and more out of tune, as the bass in increased via the screw.

- tuning via the tips: the IE80 progressively go from bass-heavy and V-shaped to neutral as the tips are changed in this sense : foam tips, single-flange silicon tips, double-flange silicon tips, weird triple flange silicon tips.
I don't like the result for the same reason as before, i.e. the mids seems to be more and more out of tune as the tuning becomes more different from the out of the box one (bass screw to minimum, single flange silicon tips)

- the well known tape mod : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...-the-sennheiser-ie80-in-ear-earphones.766831/
Similar results and same issues as above

- conclusion: what these tuning have in common is bring some neutrality in the sound signature of the IE80, at the price of making a 200+ eur IEM sound like a 100 eur IEM. Not worth it in my opinion.


Compared to the other IEMs I have tried:

- Sennheiser CX275S : these one have a fun oriented signature: slightly v-shaped, voice oriented mids, not very extended but very fast bass, smooth and pleasant treble. These works best for fast-paced bad recorded music. For a 30 eur IEM they sound very good. Detail resolving and instrument separation is very bad; for this reason also is a very forgiving IEM. Anything which is well recorded will sound way better on IE80, except metal, which really does not like this IEM and which, on the contrary, sound very fun on this CX275

- Sony MH1C: the mids are about as good as the IE80's; lows are faster and with stronger sub bass, but less detailed; highs are a real mess on these. If accuracy and instrument separation is not required at the extremes of the spectrum, these sound 80% as good as IE80's (still they have a smaller soundstage)

- Beoplay H3 : radically different sound signature as these are almost flat. Lows are good, albeit a lot more recessed, highs are less extended (cut at 16kHz) but more linear; as a result these have less air but are less aggressive on some instruments, which may ultimately result more pleasant on the H3 (e.g. brass, acoustic guitars etc..). The mids of the H3 are definitely inferior: less resolving, somewhat out of tune, they make really a mess of a classic orchestra

- Sony mdr 1a : these ones are at least as good everywhere, and better resolving in the mids-high and the highs. Also they are one of Sony's high impedance top headphones.
  • Like
Reactions: guitaramp

SOULSIK

Member of the Trade: Audio Excellence
Pros: Incredible soundstage, Bass, and seperation
Cons: Comfort & fitting can be an issue
Hello, to start off this review I would like to tell you that I am giving away by Brand new IE80s FREE so if you would like to enter for it just simply like this post & comment and I will PM you. 
darthsmile.gif

 
I Personally own one of these IEMs and I tested them for few months with my Fiio x1 & Oppo ha 2 SE. Here are the results
 
COMFORT
 
lets start with the bad part about this IEM because there isn't much. Everything about this IEM is great but comfort can be an issue when using tips included with the IEMs. Alot of tips are included but they are all uncomfortable in my Opinion. My suggestion is to Use Comply foams or Spinfit. OR any other 3rd party tips you find comfortable
 
ISOLATION
 
its there but its much better isolating with the Foams tips than silicon tips for obvious reasons. With the foam tip I would give 9/10 for sound Isolation, if you find the RIGHT fit. 
 
SOUND
 
Now lets get into the good part and what most of you will read anyways. Sound is incredible. (period) Sound stage, separation, imaging... its all there 
 
LOW END
 
Exceptionally great because you can adjust it. You put these things full tilt and you head may blow up. So whether you are a bass head or not, you can adjust it to your liking. The bass is tight & punchy But lacks that sub feeling you would get from Shure 846. With all that being said, trust be when I say the bass in these will blow your mind away.
 
MIDS
 
Now Sennheiser is known for the great mids in many headphones and they do not disappoint in these IE80s. With that being said, they are not MIDDDDD ranged like HD650s. I feel like an idiot comparing these to full sized headphones but the mid range can be that good on certain songs. 
 
HIGHS
 
These are not Bright IEMs in anyway, the high are there but in distant because of the large soundstage. They are not ear piecing but detailed. Sometimes, if you concentrate you hear things in this frequency region you've never head before. 
 
BUILD
 
They are built almost like a tank. They are made of aluminum shells with a dynamic driver inside. If I had the choice of taking a High end High priced IEM on a Hike or something, it would be these. 
The cable... oh the cable.... they are sennheiser cables terminating in a 90 degree 3.5mm jack... and.... it doesn't tangle like CRAZY but not the best....you can always get new 3rd part ones. 
 
 
 
 
I will keep this review short as EVERYONE pretty much know or heard how great these are. Any question? 
deadhorse.gif
 
 
Visit our site for more extended review of the IE80 !
 
Review provided by soulsikreviews.com
 
Video for reference
0.jpg

Ryan Ray
Ryan Ray
Recently considering purchasing one of them and found this review & giveaway. Nice review, really wanna try how they sound and comapre with rha t20s. thx
Vincent Tee
Vincent Tee
interesting, was wondering whether the housing would be too 'big'
Mindstorms
Mindstorms
nice review oi really agree on it!!!

Comments

There are no comments to display.
Back
Top