[PointyFox]

I recently refurbished a Bose IE, so I don't know what it's supposed to sound like.  Music definitely comes out, and it's all there, however, they sound anywhere near as good as I expected.  I was surprised, since I like the Bose Triports, and some "audiophiles" here who have bashed the Triports, have praised the IEs, so they must be better, right? (I dislike the Bose IE and QuietComfort).
Compared to my $25 Chinese-made ViSang R02s, they sound bad.  The upper midrange is the loudest, bass is moderate, and treble is barely there past 6kHz.  There's a dip around 2-3kHz, and the bass has very little impact. Overall, they sound a bit dark and distant, and muddy in the upper bass and upper midrange around 5kHz.
Originally the right and left channels were shorted and the ground was disconnected.
I've replaced and measured the wiring, and I can't find any problems with it now.
 
Can any one else confirm they sound like this?

 

[Redcarmoose]

That is just how they sound. The bass does not go all that low. The mids in the lower range are forward and mixed together. The sound is on the dark side and many EQ some treble in to get a sparkle. They have good sound stage and are easy to drive. They may be the only thing Bose makes which lasts longer than 6 months. 

 

[PointyFox]

Just heard the Bose IE 2 in the store and they definitely sound better than what I had. They sound a lot like the Triport, which are very nice headphones for their type and price, however, there is no bass below about 100Hz, probably due to the driver size. They're also lacking in soundstage, but all IEMs are. Due to their sound leakage/lack of bass/lack of sound stage, I think they're overpriced. They're more like $55 headphones.
 
About "They may be the only thing Bose makes which lasts longer than 6 months", I have experience with this.
Triport AE 1 seems to last 6 months - 4 years (mine broke at 4 years, just fell apart).
The IE 1 seems to last less than a year due to use of very thin magnet wire with very thin shielding in the cable.
 
They've since made the AE 2 much more durable, not sure about the IEM though.

 

[tme110]

I think the IE's were older and iem's just didn't have the bass figured out back then.  Mine fell apart a long time ago so I don't remember much about them.
 
I bought the triports and was still disappointed.  In fact, I own my empty wallet to Bose.  I wanted a good set of headphones, got the triports, never really got into them, but after getting them replaced twice for falling apart I finally decided to research headphones and that when I got grados and became poor.
 
The point being that it's been a while for me but that could be how the ie sounds.