[feverfive]

Thanks for the Q&A. I haven't been an early adopter in years for anything audio related, but I can see myself trying a set of these by late summer. Nice to see an established brand stepping to the plate.

 

[dougq]

Do the stock tips impact the sound or will these sound mostly the same with any third party tips?

 

[joshnor713]

Do the stock tips impact the sound or will these sound mostly the same with any third party tips?

In my experience, all tips impact the sound.

 

[IgeNeLL]

Hi everyone,

To start, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Jermo Koehnke and I’m the product manager for audiophile products at Sennheiser. I started at Sennheiser in 2014 as an integrated degree programme student in engineering and business administration. The focus of my degree was material science and joining technology for the automotive industry. Simultaneously, I finished an apprenticeship as an industrial engineer and had internships at various departments such as mechanical production, supply chain planning, regulatory compliance, strategic purchasing, and different product management teams.

As a headphone nerd, I really wanted to work with Axel Grell, and by chance I had an internship at his department in 2017. We enjoyed working together, so he was one of my examiners for my bachelors’ thesis in 2018, after which I officially joined the team. In 2019 I got responsibility for our entry-level portfolio of consumer devices, products I helped bring to the market were CX 150BT, CX 350BT, HD 350BT & HD 450BT. The first product I developed from start to end was the HD 250BT, which I’m still extremely happy about for bringing outstanding tonal balance to a very accessible price point.

In 2020 my predecessor moved on to our Business Communication division and I finally got back to developing our audiophile products. My first (and fastest) audiophile development was the HD 560S, where I built the first acoustic prototypes in my living room and which holds a special place in my heart. With the IE 300 and IE 900 launched, I’m proud that Sennheiser is becoming highly competitive in the audiophile in-ear space.

Hi, Nice to meet your team here.

From the FR response I see that the bass line is not linear from 100Hz to 20hz, it increase by 5db. From my experience, +2db in bass is noticeable, my preference and library is almost classical music. Why you choose this approach of tunning.

For resonator chambers, it is very interesting but I still wondering about the effects, in my assumption it might control some injection of indirect, reflected inside the chamber. It might have effects but may color the sound. Do you evaluating each chamber resonate by listening session?

 

[CL14715]

Hey @Jermo K … I don’t have a question, I just wanted to echo how awesome it is for you to be here fielding these questions and offering concise answers. We don’t see this level of interaction often and it speaks volumes.

 

[Vitaly2017]

Well count me in the #club ie900 I just placed my preorder

 

[ericpalonen]

Well count me in the #club ie900 I just placed my preorder

 

[Vitaly2017]

I used to have HD800S with hdv820. Liked the hd800s but felt I needed more bass and less treble. Though I absolutely loved the hdv820 tuning its so good!

Lets see what IE900 brings to the table

 

[gLer]

I used to have HD800S with hdv820. Liked the hd800s but felt I needed more bass and less treble. Though I absolutely loved the hdv820 tuning its so good!

Lets see what IE900 brings to the table

Will be glad to get your thoughts on this compared to Fourte (not that I'm expecting it to challenge the Fourte, just by way of sound comparison). Hopefully I'll get to do my own comparison around July.

 

[Vitaly2017]

Will be glad to get your thoughts on this compared to Fourte (not that I'm expecting it to challenge the Fourte, just by way of sound comparison). Hopefully I'll get to do my own comparison around July.

Sure will! Tia Fourte is my to go iem right now and the best all arounder I ever founds. They either will be challenging each other or they may stay both in my collection. It all depends how I get connected with the IE900.
I heard a lot of positive feedback on ie800 and always wanted to give it a try but time never added up. Now cant have any better timing then this a new IE900 YEAA

 

[frix]

How do the helmholtz resonators differ between the IE300 and IE900?

 

[rggz]

Recently another IEM brand posted that on their FAQ: "New earphones usually need to be burned in for about 200 hours so to make the diaphragm work in the best state. In general, you can choose some softer songs and keep the volume at a medium level until you are satisfied with the sound performance of the earphones"

Some reviewers got called out and even dismissed for not following the recommended "burn-in". What's Sennheiser's take on this subject? Is anything similar necessary to get the best out of the IE900 or one should fully enjoy it outright out of the box? TIA!

 

[ericpalonen]

Recently another IEM brand posted that on their FAQ: "New earphones usually need to be burned in for about 200 hours so to make the diaphragm work in the best state. In general, you can choose some softer songs and keep the volume at a medium level until you are satisfied with the sound performance of the earphones"

Some reviewers got called out and even dismissed for not following the recommended "burn-in". What's Sennheiser's take on this subject? Is anything similar necessary to get the best out of the IE900 or one should fully enjoy it outright out of the box? TIA!

@rggz Jermo's take is actually in this thread:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/live-q-a-ie-900-with-jermo-koehnke.957764/post-16353771

Cheers!

 

[Vitaly2017]

I just went threw the thread to catch up on every info that @Jermo K shared and I am so even more super excited about the ie900. I am very happy that I have joined the preorder and will be among the first to get my hands on it

The incredible engineering and masterful approach in manufacturing the ie900 really is shocking amazing! Specially when Jermo K said this is the iem to own for the next 10years I immediately felt the threatening fear in my Tia Fourté , screaming oh no is this the new challenger that will take my place

Time will tell

 

[Vitaly2017]

I have a question @Jermo K about the cable, no one have seem to ask it but from my experience with HD800S the stock cable on that headphone was so incredibly good that even when I tried aftermarket cables I had an inferior sound quality or it changed the tuning into not so best direction.

I would like to know what approach and take did sennheiser took here to make sure that all the maximum performance of the ie900 was maintained and not bottle necked by the cable.
Also so we can skip the crazy need for crazy aftermarket cables and their ludacrious sky moon rocketing price tags

Important too is, how resistant is it against microphonics, comfort and durability. I also see you opted for 3 different cables rather than an implemented switchable interconect adapter with different dongles... I believe its due to a better signal transmission and better sound quality as a result.


Thanks!
Tiger Ears


PS:
HDV820 is my all time favorite dac/amp desktop unit, I second my wm1z as its the closest in sound signature to hdv820.
If one day you could creat a portable dac/amp hdv820 ala ( ifi idsd signature ) it will be my dream device as I love its textures, details and signature tuning. It haven't left my heart even after so many years I still cant let it go out of my mind and soul. Its the best of what I heard.
Unfortunately I am on the go and absolutely no ways to own the hdv820