[curiousmuffin]

do anyone have any pictures of sennheiser ie8's magnets that you could link for me?
 
or confirm that the magnets in this picture look genuine?
 

 
 
hi i realize there are lot of fake ie8s around but this seller's bringing some honesty to the table saying that he replaced the magnets in his with the real ones to make it sound pretty much like the genuine product. he's calling it DIY IE8 

 
well seeing as how i can't afford the real thing right now, i figured it's a worth a shot of the drivers are real. from the pictures it's apparent that the casing and the wire is not- do you guys think that still affects the sound quality significantly? 
 
oh here's the ad, btw. yup, i'm in china atm. 
 
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9492274241

 

[aleki]

someone has taken theirs apart before, although I dont think I've seen anyone remove the assembly as one unit
link

 

[goodvibes]

Those do look real but a few things come to mind. One is that the magnets arent getting replaced without the entire driver unit. If that's the case, who's getting the real shells with phoney drivers?

 
Sennheiser now does exclusive contracts on their drivers so where did he get them?
 
Can you also be certain you will get this driver and are you willing to crack them open to find out?
 
I don't know the IE8 that well but the nozzle and filters can significantly influence the sound.

 

[jleewach]

I'm sorry, but this is a horrible idea. As was said before, Sennheiser's drivers are exclusive to their company, so I just don't see how someone could come up with a stash of the exact same ones, minus the actual earphones. Odds are, they just look the same. With the horrid reputation of fakes on the IE8's, why take the chance. 
 
Also, as others have said, the drivers alone don't account for 100% of the sound quality of these earphones. There are many other aspects of the units that account for sound sig, especially w/ dynamics. 

 

[curiousmuffin]

i got to contact the seller through my translator. he says the magnet is indeed fake and the sound is not the same as the orignial. shucks...

 

[jleewach]

Quote:

i got to contact the seller through my translator. he says the magnet is indeed fake and the sound is not the same as the orignial. shucks...

Yeah, unfortunately Sennheiser branding + low price + Chinese seller = fake almost all of the time. 
 
I have a genuine pair available for sale if interested.

 

[curiousmuffin]

no thanks, i decided to go with sm3