[3X0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krismusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif You don't come across very pleasantly in your posts.

I apologize. It just frustrates me to feel that your frustrations arise from something you know you're doing wrong but continue to do anyway in steadfast belief that it will get somewhere.

It's like you don't even want to try to wear them right. That's the message I'm getting.

 

[midoo1990]

ie8+great seal=crap
ie8+crapy seal=superb sound
take your choice....

 

[120717]

Put the bass dial in the middle, or it sounds muddy or thin either side.
I burnt mine in 200 hours before listening to them and was not disappointed.

 

[krismusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I apologize. It just frustrates me to feel that your frustrations arise from something you know you're doing wrong but continue to do anyway in steadfast belief that it will get somewhere. It's like you don't even want to try to wear them right. That's the message I'm getting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by midoo1990 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ie8+great seal=crap ie8+crapy seal=superb sound take your choice....

I shall try and take on board what you say. Still sounds strange to me but I shall experiment. Where does this leave the idea of using custom tips?

 

[rebski]

Sorry that you are so disappointed, mine sounded fine to me out of the box but then I was coming to them from Shure E2Cs so no wonder.

I think you should reserve final judgment until many hours of burn in have passed. The changes are much more dramatic than one might imagine and the process is much longer than one would expect. I was still noticing improvements at 700 hours.

What I am listening to now bears little resemblance to the first listen.

It would be helpful if you were to log your impressions here at burn in intervals, say 100hrs, 250hrs, 400hrs.

IMHO don't fret too much over tips until a good many playing hours have elapsed. Sony Hybrids saw me through pretty well until recently. Now that my IE8s have settled in the experimentation with tips is more meaningful.

 

[HONEYBOY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krismusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif I shall try and take on board what you say. Still sounds strange to me but I shall experiment. Where does this leave the idea of using custom tips?

Hi there, Krismusic sorry to hear you aren't enjoying them as much as I did out of the box

. I concur with few of the above posters who think that you maybe pushing them too deep in the ear canal haha. It took me quite a while to get this right so I'd say hang in there. Having said that, if isolation is important to you then there may have been better options in that regard. For me that not too deep seal besides bumping up the SQ atleast to my ears helps also in comfort, as I don't feel the IE8 in my ears. This "Not feeling IEMs in my ears" factor slightly improves transparency and also capitalizes on some strong points of the IE8 which are airiness and head-stage/sound-stage.

Hey,if you haven't done so it might be a good idea to say what it is about the sound that sounds strange to you. Also don't forget that paradox that's so often reiterated around these audio circles that the best gears don't just wow you on first listening experiences. However, if you still don't like em after a justifiable time frame forget about paradoxes and what not, sell em here an get something else haha.

 

[mvw2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HONEYBOY /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also don't forget that paradox that's so often reiterated around these audio circles that the best gears don't just wow you on first listening experiences.

Hmm, first I've heard of that. A lot of my favorite hardware has been products that have instantly impressed me. There was always that sense of "these things are special" to a lot of the better audio gear I've ever run, head-fi or not.

The problem for most people is the concept of personal preference and automatic bias of that preference. Most folks don't understand that they are in fact very biased listeners. Some people like a lot of bass. Some like lots of highs. Some like to see a very dynamic presentation. Others like a very laid back presentation. It's like pizza. Everyone doesn't like the same stuff.

In order to proper evaluate, judge, or review a product, the person needs to be very self aware of their own bias. They need to understand how their preferences influence their experience. It's easy to say "these headphones suck," but it's hard to say exactly why. It's hard to say that they suck because if personal bias or because they fundamentally do something wrong. Typically when I review hardware or give comments, I try and keep personal bias out of it. I comment on fundamental design and fundamental problems. If a headphone has a 6dB bump at 100Hz and a 3dB cut at 2kHz, that's what it has. It isn't fundamentally bad, but the end sound will have a certain presentation that will fit certain preferences and offend other preferences. The headphone isn't bad because of this. It functions perfectly fine within its gearing. If a headphone has muddy bass where notes lack control and definition, i.e. more noise then real information, then the headphone is in fact fundamentally flawed. You can criticize this because the headphone actually does something wrong. This is a hard distinction to make for most people, including people very well aware of this concept. EVERY headphone will sound different. No one headphone will ever be absolutely perfect to your specific set of preferences. The goal is to find one that's very close that you can be happy with. The goal is also to recognize when a headphone is fundamentally good but also a poor match to your personal preferences. If this is the case, there just isn't a place for criticism other then stating that they didn't fit well to your preferences, that you prefer less bass and more mids and highs. These are just not errors but rather a "poor fit" to your tastes in sound.

So where does the IE8 stand? Just a matter of preference? Or does the IE8 fundamentally function wrong?

 

[kobayashi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krismusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif AFAIK, the whole point of IEM's is to get as good a seal as possible.

And you'd be wrong. Custom tips will help because it's not the seal that is the issue, it's the distance from the driver to your eardrum. The further the distance, the better the sound. Custom tips position the driver further away than universal tips so you'll get a great seal AND great sound.

 

[mvw2]

And what does distance gain you?

 

[K3cT]

Just sell them off if you find them not to your liking.

 

[Onza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kobayashi /img/forum/go_quote.gif And you'd be wrong. Custom tips will help because it's not the seal that is the issue, it's the distance from the driver to your eardrum. The further the distance, the better the sound. Custom tips position the driver further away than universal tips so you'll get a great seal AND great sound.

I didn't realise the distance from the ear drum was such a big deal regarding SQ... I wonder whether this is why the IE8 has such a great sound stage...

 

[tnmike1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K3cT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just sell them off if you find them not to your liking.

Yeah, to someone like me. Hold off on the custom tips until you're absolutely sure these aren't working ONce you get custom tips, you're sorta "stuck" with a custom set of IEMs; unless, of course, you can take the tips off and replace with the stock units.

Or sell them to me.

 

[krismusic]

Thanks for all the helpful advice guys. I now see the light regarding depth of insertion. There is a sweet spot where they sound very good. Whether that is the designers intention or a happy accident I would question. Burn in does seem to be improving them as well. Or maybe I am just getting used to them.

 

[Rip N' Burn]

I use Shure black softflex sleeves because it creates a good seal and still keeps the driver a further distance away form my eardrum as compared with the supplied tips. I get great soundstage and tight bass that hits hard.

I recently did a shure olive foam mod where I inserted comply T400 stems into the shure foam. It inserted deeper into my ear canal, more comfortable, and I got better isolation, but the mid-bass became more dominant, the soundstage got smaller, and treble wasn't nearly as noticeable. The foam mod works well with the IE7 because it has a shorter stem than the IE8 and has a shallow insertion.

Tips and insertion make a world of a difference with the IE8. Also, a massive amount of burn-in made a big difference for me.

 

[skeptic]

I would add to this that I think the word "seal" is a complete misnomer with respect to the IE8's. They are ported via the bass screw. This is why they don't isolate and also why they don't produce any sensation of pressure in your ear when you put them in (one of my favorite qualities of the IE8 by the way).

Tips and depth of insertion are obviously still key variables in getting the sq you want, but the IE8's will never seal in the sense that a conventional IEM seals.