[MythNoob]

I have the most bizarre problem. My IE8's are used with a Fiio E5 and to me they sound great, well today my Fiio battery had run out so i went to use the IEM's straight through the ipod touch 2g and it sounded like they had blown!!!.

They were cracking and sounded all distorted, i freaked out but eventually i tried them back with the Fiio E5 and they sounded the same ol incredible IE8's ive come to love. I dont understand why they sound broken as if id had them sitting underwater when straight out the ipod and then back to perfection with the E5.

Have i somehow made them used to the power sig from the E5 cause thats what i usually use? like some kind of magnet memory? What???

 

[Zalithian]

I am sorry to hear that and not sure on the problem, but I am puzzled as to why you would use them with the E5 in the first place. That's just asking for trouble.

 

[MythNoob]

Oh? why would that be asking for trouble, its just a regular lil headphone amp is all

 

[Zalithian]

Well, there's no reason to amp the IE8's unless you have something better. They're 16 ohms and extremely easy to drive so I'd be hard pressed to imagine they don't get sufficient volume on any player. The E5 won't add much besides volume and bass because it's a cheap amp and to me it seems like it would be a waste of a combination. The IE8 certainly doesn't need more bass as that's really one of its main strengths.. so I guess I just don't see a reason.The more stuff you add to a chain, the more chance of something going wrong - although I'm not sure how the E5 would damage IE8's.

Not much of a technical wizard in regards to audio and amps so I don't have much input as to what kind of problem there could be, unfortunately.

 

[smallcaps]

do you use them in the gym or is it very hot where you are? moisture from humid climates and sweat could do something like that to an IEM but the problem would be consistent whether connected to your fio or not. try getting one of those drying salt packets (one should have came with your ie8's) and storing them together for a couple days in a cool dry place then listen. if it still persists then it may be an RMA. you should still have a warranty if you bought them from an authorized sennheiser dealer. good luck, hope it works and if not lets hope that someone else here on the forum has another suggestion.

 

[walkingman]

Errr..., didn't you at least think to test it with your home rig or PC rig first?

 

[average_joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MythNoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the most bizarre problem. My IE8's are used with a Fiio E5 and to me they sound great, well today my Fiio battery had run out so i went to use the IEM's straight through the ipod touch 2g and it sounded like they had blown!!!. They were cracking and sounded all distorted, i freaked out but eventually i tried them back with the Fiio E5 and they sounded the same ol incredible IE8's ive come to love. I dont understand why they sound broken as if id had them sitting underwater when straight out the ipod and then back to perfection with the E5. Have i somehow made them used to the power sig from the E5 cause thats what i usually use? like some kind of magnet memory? What???

Sounds like your DAP HP out is the problem, the IE8s are just reproducing what was fed to them. As smallcaps said, could be moisture, or just a DAP failure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zalithian /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, there's no reason to amp the IE8's unless you have something better. They're 16 ohms and extremely easy to drive so I'd be hard pressed to imagine they don't get sufficient volume on any player. The E5 won't add much besides volume and bass because it's a cheap amp and to me it seems like it would be a waste of a combination. The IE8 certainly doesn't need more bass as that's really one of its main strengths.. so I guess I just don't see a reason.The more stuff you add to a chain, the more chance of something going wrong - although I'm not sure how the E5 would damage IE8's. Not much of a technical wizard in regards to audio and amps so I don't have much input as to what kind of problem there could be, unfortunately.

I have the IE8 and from my Fuze via LOD to the E5 there is an improvement in spaciousness of the sound as well as finer detail to my ears. If you look at the Fuze specs, the HP out does better with 32 ohm loads vs. 16 ohm loads. With my ADDIEM I can't hear a difference between the E5 and HP out, and with my NE-7 the E5 tightens up and slightly reduces the bass vs. HP out.

And the only way the E5 could possibly harm the IE8 is by playing at or near max volume, and then who knows if damage would be done. But that volume would be ear bleedingly loud. And any amp would have the same potential.

 

[smallcaps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkingman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Errr..., didn't you at least think to test it with your home rig or PC rig first?

errr... did you at least think to read the post? he's looking for help not sarcastic and pompous remarks.

 

[Currawong]

There wasn't a bad connection when you plugged them was there? If you jiggled the plug, would it crackle?

 

[walkingman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallcaps /img/forum/go_quote.gif errr... did you at least think to read the post? he's looking for help not sarcastic and pompous remarks.

Sorry if I sounded sarcastic, but the OP really should at least test his IE8 with another source first. His IE8 has crackling problems when paired with his iPhone, but not with his E5. Testing with other source could isolate the problem more. It could be that his IE8 doesn't pair well with his iPhone's HP out.

 

[raymondu999]

Oh dear. I use a Voyager with my IE8. Is that actually bad for them?

 

[smallcaps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkingman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry if I sounded sarcastic, but the OP really should at least test his IE8 with another source first. His IE8 has crackling problems when paired with his iPhone, but not with his E5. Testing with other source could isolate the problem more. It could be that his IE8 doesn't pair well with his iPhone's HP out.

fair enough and good point. you can try other headphones with the fio to rule out the amp in your troubleshooting too.

 

[jinx20001]

i use the e5 with the se530, its an odd combination but the extra power does add body to the sound and bass that hits harder and more believeable. however this is when compared to the cowon D2 headphone out which makes alot of warm phones sound too thin. so yeh the e5 certainly helps my earphones reach the full potential. so yeh in my opinion the sensitivity of earphones wont matter much when using amps as the extra power always shows some advantages. the sensitivity just means you dont need to crank the amps high, which in theory means less distortion because the amp isnt working hard, so i do think the e5 and IE8 combo could work just as well as any other imo.

in regards to the damage or so called damage thats worrying you i would suggest its only likely the headphone out is damaged if you use the amp from the line out. if however you use the amp from the headphone out then the headphone out cant be damaged because if it was it would transmit through the amp aswell.

apart from this, who knows!

 

[MythNoob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx20001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i use the e5 with the se530, its an odd combination but the extra power does add body to the sound and bass that hits harder and more believeable. in regards to the damage or so called damage thats worrying you i would suggest its only likely the headphone out is damaged if you use the amp from the line out. if however you use the amp from the headphone out then the headphone out cant be damaged because if it was it would transmit through the amp aswell. apart from this, who knows!

yes you got it bang on my friend that is why i use this tiny cheap amp also. just for the record the dap is a touch 2g not iphone and as above in the quote is the daps headphone out was damaged then would expect to hear that carried on through from the amp but im not. it sounds damaged from the headphone out on the touch, but when run from touch headphone out to amp then from amp headphone out it sounds perfect again. so confusing. and to add to it i just tried the IE8's from the laptop and they sound fine, so must be the ipod touch headphone out, just cant see why when using the amp with it it clears up aswell as when i line out to a stereo??

 

[jinx20001]

more power dont always equal better sound however having more power to play with is always going to increase headroom, with more chance of hitting the lower notes or higher notes and making them more audible. a weak amp that is trying to hit 25hz and below is going to roll off all day long, feed it more power and this increases likelyhood of creating deep audible bass, i think this was the thought behind the design of the fiio amps, thats a guess on my behalf tho not fact.

again in regards to your issue, its a mystery lol, must be a faulty DAP.