[thechungster]

Another update: I think the right driver has broken slightly. I put them into my ears this morning, and the left side was completely normal whilst the right side was quieter.

I then swapped the L/R channels, so the left wire went into the right unit and vice versa (Worn over ear). The left still seemed to be louder than the right, so at the moment I think the right driver has broken.

 

[muscular]

get it exchanged.

But the housing of the ie8 is very durable though, what's inside is left only to sennheiser to know.

 

[HONEYBOY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechungster /img/forum/go_quote.gif Another update: I think the right driver has broken slightly. I put them into my ears this morning, and the left side was completely normal whilst the right side was quieter. I then swapped the L/R channels, so the left wire went into the right unit and vice versa (Worn over ear). The left still seemed to be louder than the right, so at the moment I think the right driver has broken.

thechungster my IE8s are definitely exhibiting the same problems as yours. With the FX500 the lead vocalist is dead centre, while with the IE8 it is ever more so located on the left. Almost as if all the music is located on the left. This is strange. I wonder if more IE8 users are experiencing these problems. I recall when I had just received them, there was some static with some channel imbalance but that was completely gone after a day or two.

 

[MusicalMetal420]

I had this problem with my first pair. I'm assuming this problem arises from swapping the the two sides over too many times and ending up damaging the connectors. I think its misleading to think you can just pull them off and stick them back on all the time and they'll be alright. Its a very fragile connection. I went through a month of hell not knowing for sure if they were indeed quieter on one side or not. Eventually i realised that i had damaged the connection on the right side so now sometimes it was fine and sometimes not, hence the confusion. I sent them back to Senn and they sent me brand new in-the-box pair. A 3 week wait, a couple of days burn in and i was smiling again. Don't let the confusion plague you.

 

[headfever]

i would like to say cable is an ‘easy consumption part". especially the small IEMs cable.

 

[thechungster]

Well I just called Sennheiser and they just told me to go contact the place I bought them from, which was the Apple Store for me (Yes I paid RRP). So that's not bad, I'll go tomorrow or something.

 

[WithBadIntent]

This has just happened to my pair of IE8's with the left ear going quieter than the right. I've swapped the cables around (left cable to right earpiece) and it's still the left ear, so it may be a internal problem with the left driver which I can't fix.

The thing is, this only started to happen when I changed the Bass setting from Maximum straight to the lowest setting. It was fine for a couple of hours after that, but then the sound started going.

Still, I've got a replacement on the way.

 

[fuzzy833]

I too am experiencing a quieter left earphone

grrrr...I haven't even tried swapping the cable. Glad to see it's not just me though.

 

[bossnass15]

Add me to the list of users with this problem..grrr

 

[DougGreenberg]

Ok, to add to this thread again: my original IE8's went "quieter in the left channel" and I sent them to Sennheiser on warranty. They replaced the unit (I posted this story previously in this thread). Now, some time later, the same thing happened to the replacement IE8's. This is particularly galling, since 1) I don't treat my IEM's roughly by any stretch of the imagination; and 2) I didn't even use this second pair of IE8's much at all because I now prefer both my newer Westone 3's and my brand-spanking-new JH13's. The Senns have been used only for occasional listening to classical music, and yet the left-channel-conking-out phenomenon has happened again.

This time Sennheiser has charged me the full $199.00 as the "standard repair fee." Since they haven't sent me anything yet I suspect I will receive a factory refurbished new set of IE8s rather than my own pair repaired.

I really suspect that the IE8's have a design flaw, i.e., that the connections to the earpieces are excessively fragile and prone to partial failure.

 

[david1978jp]

I have something to say, too.
My cat never did anything to any cable. Last week he chewed open IE cable and brought it to me; he really wanted to showed me what he did. Does the cable smell different than other cables? Two weeks ago, I emailed Sennheiser regarding left side problem (voice got softer and "ghostly" - it seems a few person experienced this similar problem), I have not received reply; last week, I emailed them regarding the cable (either warranty, or buy another one), I have not received any reply. I'll wait a few more days; then I'll talk to my local audio dealer. Their customer service needs to be better.

 

[Zalithian]

Why not call them? E-mail is not always reliable.

 

[Onza]

A few months back I had an issue with mine going quiet on one side (I think it was the left also). After a bit of investigation I found that the cable wasn't seated properly in the plug. You may need to take it out and give it a quick blow / clean. Sometimes that may be all the issue is...

 

[gmiossi]

I'm having this problem too. The left side often drops out...almost half the times I put them in, and I'm as gentle as I possibly can be with them.
 
I've tried reseating the cables, cleaning the connectors, etc... nothing helps. I can "fix" it temporarily by reaching up and using my fingernail to press the plastic tubing around the wire downward towards the earpiece... HARD. If I keep pressing it down it'll crackle in and out and then become clear again, but it's incredibly annoying and it makes me constantly afraid it's going to break for good.
 
From what I'm hearing here this seems to be a problem with all of them :/
 
That's ashame, because the IE8 is really all I've ever really wanted from a headphone... as it stands, I'm looking into what else I can get to replace it eventually.
 
I've had my IE8 far too long for it to still be in warranty, too. Soo...

 

[Aevum]

warranty for UE  products is mandated to be 2 years, i doubt the IE8 has been out that long,
 
i´ve had my IE8 for close to a year now, and i have treated them like crap, i keep them wrapped around my player, and they are still rock solid strong, no cable or casing problems, sometimes i have issues with the cable over my ear lifting, but thats usualy when the cable is running under my jacket,