Originally Posted by digivate /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you don't know about the Westones how can you have an opinion on the "best from the design / comfort perspective phone on the market".
You can say that the IE8s are really comfotable, but until you've tried the entire market you can't claim that they're the market leaders.
you are right, the point was that they are extremely good compared to others that I know and tried.
Originally Posted by lelek45 /img/forum/go_quote.gif you are right, the point was that they are extremely good compared to others that I know and tried.
Cool
The Westone universal range is also very comfortable as well though.
Im waiting for someone to get about 200hrs listening done on both to get a real comparison, The Senns are supposed to sound much better after that time from what ive read.The W3 will cost about £80 more than the IE8 in the UK so they need to be much better for that price, so im waiting patiently
It looks like there will be far more W3 owners on here though so may take some time to get real comparisons.
Originally Posted by Fruits /img/forum/go_quote.gif Im waiting for someone to get about 200hrs listening done on both to get a real comparison, The Senns are supposed to sound much better after that time from what ive read.The W3 will cost about £80 more than the IE8 in the UK so they need to be much better for that price, so im waiting patiently
It looks like there will be far more W3 owners on here though so may take some time to get real comparisons.
That's probably because in NA the price of the Senns is $50 more, not a significant difference but enough of one that it's probably a deciding factor for many, I know it was at least part of mine.
I just received my IE8s today after nearly a month wait, as I ordered them from a German distributor. Unfortunately, they must have been shipped via slow boat! Why did I order from Germany??? PRICE!!!
At any rate, after I figured out how to open Sennheisers puzzle container, I discovered that of all the included sets of tips, only one pair allowed a good seal. I guess that is why they send so many, at least I finally got a good fit as I neared the bottom of the pile of tips.
Initial impressions are that these phones have the largest soundstage of any IEMs that I have owned. Bass is visceral and highs are smooth and natural sounding. I cannot imagine having to use these phones with the bass control set to max, unless there are source problems of some kind. At higher levels of bass control settings, the bass sort of overpowers the rest of the audio spectrum.
With the right control settings and proper fitting tips, I have to say that these are, without question, a superb sounding IEM that is comfortable for long periods of listening. I have only tried a fairly small cross-section of my music files, but so far, all have sounded very good. Not too much to pick at regarding either sound or comfort.
I will be receiving my Westone 3s this coming Tuesday, so it will make for very interesting comparisons.
If I had to make a comparison between the IE8s and any of my circumaural phones, I would have to say that they have more of a high-end Ultrasone sound than anything else. Not bad company, I would say.
BTW, I have only been listening using my iBasso P3 with the Topkit opamps. I haven't yet tried them directly from any of my DAPs.
Originally Posted by toughnut /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice early impression, HF. May i know how many hours IE8 being burn in?
Waiting for IE8 and W3 versus other gears in your collection. It will be very interesting!
I don't "burn-in" my IEMs, I just listen. The above impressions were fresh out of the box. Now I have a total of about 10 hours on them. Their soundstage and visceral impact at this time puts them at the top of my IEM list. The breadth of soundstage equals any phone I have ever owned.
While they are easily driven directly from my DAPs, they really come to life with a convincingly realistic presence when amped.
I am much looking forward to comparisons with the W3!
Originally Posted by HiFlight /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just received my IE8s today after nearly a month wait, as I ordered them from a German distributor. Unfortunately, they must have been shipped via slow boat! Why did I order from Germany??? PRICE!!!
Heya HiFlight, by chance did you order from computeruniverse.net? If so, this is gonna be one LONG month and Christmas for me.
I am looking forward to your IE8 and W3 comparison btw.
HiFlight, Very interested to hear how you get on with the IE8 and how you feel they compare to the W3.
I went for the IE8 about 6 weeks ago at the point where I had finally given up on the W3, as it turned out a couple of weeks before they announced the release, typical! After an initial period where I wasn't too sure, too much bass, too little treble by comparison with my other IEMs (and posted accordingly) I'm won over but think there is room for some fine tuning perhaps through amp (or opamp) selection. That done it could be that I can take a break from upgrading for a while.
Conversely, being a long term UM2 user, my first choice was the W3, so if significantly better than the Senns may try that route.
Look forward to your comments and those of others over the coming weeks.
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