[rolz]

anyone ever had an issue with their IE8s constantly losing sound?

my right earpiece has had a progressive problem cutting out for a couple of months now. started with a very slight volume and bass loss. eventually the sound would cut out and i would have to adjust the plastic stem to the earpiece a little and it would be good. but now, i have to constantly push it to make it work. i've already tried reseating the cable to the earpiece a lot of times. my left earpiece would do it once in a while but very rarely.

warranty is out of the question since i got this unboxed. the SQ is as good as ever but this problem just kills it.

any tips for a DIY fix? I'm sure the prob is with the contacts. the cable has this two metal pins on it that connect to the 2 holes on the earpiece. i noticed i can get it to work if i kinda tilted the stem back or forward. it also works if i push it hard to the earpiece. any suggestions would be welcome

 

[wantmyf1]

Well I'm not a serious DIY'er but it does seem as if the wire has a short somewhere. One inexpensive thing you can try is a little contact cleaner and a firm brush. If there's any gunk built up on the contact that might do it.

Also are you sure everything is actually seated properly? Nothing twisted or anything that doesn't fit as snugly as it should. Are you able to couple the contacts completely? Maybe there's a bit of dirt or something in there that's hindering a complete connection.

 

[Aeneas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolz /img/forum/go_quote.gif anyone ever had an issue with their IE8s constantly losing sound? my right earpiece has had a progressive problem cutting out for a couple of months now. started with a very slight volume and bass loss. eventually the sound would cut out and i would have to adjust the plastic stem to the earpiece a little and it would be good. but now, i have to constantly push it to make it work. i've already tried reseating the cable to the earpiece a lot of times. my left earpiece would do it once in a while but very rarely. warranty is out of the question since i got this unboxed. the SQ is as good as ever but this problem just kills it. any tips for a DIY fix? I'm sure the prob is with the contacts. the cable has this two metal pins on it that connect to the 2 holes on the earpiece. i noticed i can get it to work if i kinda tilted the stem back or forward. it also works if i push it hard to the earpiece. any suggestions would be welcome

Maybe it's the pins (clean them) or maybe there's something inside the socket.
You could try a vacuum cleaner or compressed air.

If it's available to you, you could try another cable on your IE8 and your cable on another IE8.

 

[Sayajin]

I just hate when a company like Sennheiser don't put gold pins on a expensive product like IE8. This is a good example why that decision was wrong.
I was dealing with the same thing for a time lately, unfortunately until last week the cable broke.

Well sometimes in such situations, I make my own "contact cleaner" by a small mixture of lemon juice and some fine-grained salt and then I put the plug in that for a few minutes and finally I make sure to clean it off the plug again with water. It's know to work great on coins to make them really shiny but why not use it on jack plugs too? I think it actually does.
Expand the pins a little bit should work great too, just very careful you don't bend them too much.

 

[rolz]

thanks sayajin, i might have to try that simple mixture in a couple of days.

how did you break your cable? those things are thick and very sturdy.

 

[Aevum]

first of all, test with a tone generator from a PC, could be your source,
second, not all music is balanced, i found alot of music "tilts" to the left,
you can test it by connecting the cable the other way around and wearing them downwards aswell,

you can order a new cable from sennhaiser, i think its around 30 bucks,

 

[anomalouscode]

i have the same problem,.... the right one would cut inand out unless i held it in place. i switched out the cables and it did the same so it was a connection issue in the wires. the only solution is to get a new cable.
 
i thought that i could probably attempt a resolder, not that i've ever soldered anything but i thought this would be a good time to learn.
 
the problem is how the damn things are made.
 
yes you can disconnect them,... but its like the entire pin holder(?) thing was molded together.
 
so just to get into the pins you have to cut through the grey plastic and literally rip it to shreds to get inside. once inside, the wire and pins look like they were dipped into a tub of plastic as the wires and the bottom half of the pins are encased in plastic. think ant in amber type deal.
 
again you need to cut in and rip out the plastic,...
 
and thats when i gave up and went to get plasters for my fingers,....

 

[Sayajin]

     Quote:

thanks sayajin, i might have to try that simple mixture in a couple of days.

how did you break your cable? those things are thick and very sturdy.

 
I've had a damage next to the left pin connector. I could see the small wires for a while and I knew it wouldn't take long before that channel would cut out permanently and now what happened in my case.
If this new forum works, I have added a picture below of my thing, although it was cut off here already.
 

 
No way I would say not say these cables are study, I think Sennheiser did a nice try eliminate weak points but now this thing? Also paying around 52 $ with shipment for a new at hifiheadphones uk isn't much a stratifying deal imo. I'm just not sure how you guys can order at Sennheiser directly. People saying it's cheaper?
 
Quote:

i have the same problem,.... the right one would cut inand out unless i held it in place. i switched out the cables and it did the same so it was a connection issue in the wires. the only solution is to get a new cable.
 
i thought that i could probably attempt a resolder, not that i've ever soldered anything but i thought this would be a good time to learn.
 
the problem is how the damn things are made.
 
yes you can disconnect them,... but its like the entire pin holder(?) thing was molded together.
 
so just to get into the pins you have to cut through the grey plastic and literally rip it to shreds to get inside. once inside, the wire and pins look like they were dipped into a tub of plastic as the wires and the bottom half of the pins are encased in plastic. think ant in amber type deal.
 
again you need to cut in and rip out the plastic,...
 
and thats when i gave up and went to get plasters for my fingers,....

 

Since my cable went somewhat same road, I just been working on same thing these days. I've made an album about it here
http://www.head-fi.org/gallery/album/view/id/8242/user_id/84889 (if it works). Think I've had better luck than you.

 

[anomalouscode]

dammit, i should have cut it like you did.... i tried to cut it verticaly down the middle as i was afraid of cutting the pins since they looked so thin.
 
great job there man.

 

[rolz]

my IE8s and sansa clip+ live in my jeans pocket almost all the time(cringe) but i've never had it break like yours.
 
its been working fine the past couple of days. just 1 small adjustment and the right channel is fine. i dont know what i did, i think
i nudged the stem a little bit, maybe reseated it at one point.