[Kunlun]

I've read there's a little bump on one side to tell you by feel which side is which.

 

[frankrondaniel]

Yes - the R/L marking are very small - especially for us folks needing reading glasses   But actually the insertion angle with the sides reversed seemed more natural to me as well.  I'm happy to be back on track now though.
 

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

The R/L is incredibly small, I identify them by the angle they are slanted in.

 
Yes, that or this (click on image):
 

 

[heyyeh]

Quote:

Yes - the R/L marking are very small - especially for us folks needing reading glasses   But actually the insertion angle with the sides reversed seemed more natural to me as well.  I'm happy to be back on track now though.
 

Another point to note for further improving comfort/isolation is not to assume your two ears are exact same shape/size.
I have found that I get much better comfort with the round silicon tip on one ear while the oval tip works better for the other. 

 

[gnarlsagan]

I've been listening to James' IE800 for over a week now, and I sat down ready to write a review, when I looked at James' initial review in the first post. Turns out I agree with everything he wrote. 
 
While the IE800 is very detailed with low distortion, it ultimately suffers from some big flaws imo, especially for its price. Low bass is too forward, making itself heard in acoustic tracks in which bass should be taking a back seat to mids. This improves a lot with an eq of -5dB at 50Hz. Thanks to shotgunshane for the settings, which are as follows:
 
10k, -3.5db, Q=1
3k, +4db, Q=1
50hz, -5db, Q=.6
 
In my opinion these settings are necessary to correct the FR of the IE800. Vocals become less warm and more forward. Treble loses some of its thin and piercing qualities. 
 
To speak more of the mids, they are undoubtedly warmer than the ER4S, but are still very clear and more accurate imo than something like the ASG-2 or W4. Voices can sometimes hint at sibilance, but not very often. For example, even Jeff Buckley's vocals on Lilac Wine are mostly sibilance-free. The IE800's treble peak is too high to make sibilance very problematic. Cymbals, on the other hand, are definitely affected by this peak. They lack body, as though the drum sticks were replaced with little straightened paper clips. Again, sgs's eq settings have a positive effect here, taking away some of prickliness, but ultimately not adding back the missing body I hear with something like the ER4S. The IE800's treble is definitely its biggest weakness imo. 
 
Overall the IE800 is a good iem though, and I would rank it highly among what I've heard, but it's too bad Sennheiser didn't go for a more neutral sound.  I would definitely never buy these at the current price. I'd consider them (if this were my preferred sound signature; it isn't) at $400 or less personally, just going by my listening history. I think JVC has it in them to make a very competitive iem with their carbon nano-tube micro-driver, one that would likely cost less than a quarter of the IE800's msrp.  

 

[vwinter]

Yea, James and Shotgunshane nailed it lol. Saved me a ton of effort, but I might still throw something up anyway when I have time since I have all the notes already.

I still think its most impressive from an engineering standpoint and on that alone believe its worth a good bit of coin.

 

[harryb]

Quote:

don't feel so bad - I just realized recently that I had left/right reversed until I hit a track where I knew the sound of a triangle was coming from the wrong side!
 

 
Well they stamped them L and R in a font that requires an electron microscope to read.

 

[ken6217]

I just found about these IEM's. I currently have a pair of Westone 4Rs. 
 
I have not listened to them yet as I am burning them in. I have always been a fan of Sennheisers. I currently have the 650's and 800's.
 
I was curious about the posts regarding teabags and have some questions:
 
1. Real tea bags? I assume the paper.
2. How to use these in an application? Cut to what size and place where?
3. What am I hoping to achieve?
 
Thanks in advance.
Ken

 

[shotgunshane]

Quote:

I just found about these IEM's. I currently have a pair of Westone 4Rs. 
 
I have not listened to them yet as I am burning them in. I have always been a fan of Sennheisers. I currently have the 650's and 800's.
 
I was curious about the posts regarding teabags and have some questions:
 
1. Real tea bags? I assume the paper.
2. How to use these in an application? Cut to what size and place where?
3. What am I hoping to achieve?
 
Thanks in advance.
Ken

 
1. Real tea bags!
2. Cut a piece a little bigger than the IE800 nozzle opening and form it over the nozzle with your fingers, then slide the tips on to hold it in place.
3. It takes the piercing bite out of the upper treble and also adds weight to the treble, improving realism to cymbals IMO.

 

[ken6217]

Thanks for the reply. 
 
Is there any downside of the teabags in terms of losing sound quality in other areas?
 
Thanks,
Ken

 

[ken6217]

Also, as odd as it seems asking this, any particular brand of tea bag? Are there different thickness of the tea bag?
Ken

 

[james444]

Quote:

1. Real tea bags? I assume the paper.

 
IIRC (from PMs with Rin) any kind of thin non-woven fabric will do the trick. He once mentioned using small pieces of an eyeglass cleaning cloth, so that's another option.

 

[ken6217]

Ok thanks. I do have speaker grill too if this works.
Ken

 

[luisdent]

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

 
Quote:

I've been listening to James' IE800 for over a week now, and I sat down ready to write a review, when I looked at James' initial review in the first post. Turns out I agree with everything he wrote. 
 
While the IE800 is very detailed with low distortion, it ultimately suffers from some big flaws imo, especially for its price. Low bass is too forward, making itself heard in acoustic tracks in which bass should be taking a back seat to mids. This improves a lot with an eq of -5dB at 50Hz. Thanks to shotgunshane for the settings, which are as follows:
 
10k, -3.5db, Q=1
3k, +4db, Q=1
50hz, -5db, Q=.6
 
In my opinion these settings are necessary to correct the FR of the IE800. Vocals become less warm and more forward. Treble loses some of its thin and piercing qualities. 
 
To speak more of the mids, they are undoubtedly warmer than the ER4S, but are still very clear and more accurate imo than something like the ASG-2 or W4. Voices can sometimes hint at sibilance, but not very often. For example, even Jeff Buckley's vocals on Lilac Wine are mostly sibilance-free. The IE800's treble peak is too high to make sibilance very problematic. Cymbals, on the other hand, are definitely affected by this peak. They lack body, as though the drum sticks were replaced with little straightened paper clips. Again, sgs's eq settings have a positive effect here, taking away some of prickliness, but ultimately not adding back the missing body I hear with something like the ER4S. The IE800's treble is definitely its biggest weakness imo. 
 
Overall the IE800 is a good iem though, and I would rank it highly among what I've heard, but it's too bad Sennheiser didn't go for a more neutral sound.  I would definitely never buy these at the current price. I'd consider them (if this were my preferred sound signature; it isn't) at $400 or less personally, just going by my listening history. I think JVC has it in them to make a very competitive iem with their carbon nano-tube micro-driver, one that would likely cost less than a quarter of the IE800's msrp.  

 
 

 

I agree with this completely.  I'm listening to them right now.  I'm also a huge proponent of the er4s, and I would say I prefer the westone 4r with eq over the ie800 for those who have said they have the 4r already.  You can add a resistor/impedance adapter to the cable to help reduce the mid bass bloat and then you only need a slight eq to really make them shine.
 
Anyhow, I find with some music the ie800 is excellent.  The bass hits tight and deep and the highs are smooth and the overall sound is open.  The main drawback is that the mids sometimes seem "scooped out" to me.  They share a similarity to the pfe232 in the fact that they have a bright treble area, but the peak is above the sibilant area like gnarlsagan mentioned.  So instead, some things sound raspier than normal.  This isn't as bad as the pfe232 in my opinion.  They are both great earphones, but the ie800 seem a little more balanced in that respect.
 
What the treble does do most of the time is give the impression of a very precise sound.  Things are crisp and detailed and there is no great lack of anything in the sound, even with the mids missing a good amount of presence.  So for the sound signature I find them to be very good.  However, I'm not really into the bassy bass, raspy treble sound signature. hehe.  The treble just distracts me too often and on some tracks can get sort of annoying.  For instance, david benoit jazz tracks have a lot of percussion, and the cymbals and even the snare have a sort of raspy swish to them that gets in the way of the music.  On a guitar track like andy mckee's "rylynn", the bass overshadows the mids and makes the guitar sound a bit boomy.  Not bad, but still a bit boomy and overloaded in the bass feel of the guitar.  As a guitar player, the mids are important to me, so I would prefer more in that area.
 
There's not really much to say other than that.  They have slightly raspy treble at times and boomy bass.  But for this signature, they still manage to sound very good.  Probably one of the best i've hear in this area.  Good separation and clarity.  Good bass texture and impact.  Comfortable ear tips with the right size.  All around a very good sound.
 
But then the cable noise drives me crazy! aaaah!  They aren't the worst, but they definitely have some cable noise.  The part of the cable that disconnects adds just enough weight so they swing with any movement and cause rustling in the earphones.  Clipping them doesn't help that much, because they still transmit noise if you move your head for me.
 
Anyhow, I would say these are a highly recommended IEM from me.  The only big caveat is the price.  I personally feel like these should be a LOT less expensive.  Perhaps they'll come down to a more reasonable price as they get more popular?  Who knows.  But at $800-$1,000 they should have less cable noise, at least a BIT more of a flat signature, better isolation or tip options and come with some golden cookies. hehe.  I would say these fit in the price range of a lot of the $400 earphones I've heard.
 
I find them a good all around earphone, but otherwise they don't really "do" anything for me.  I don't feel any major connection or emotion with the music.  Don't get me wrong, they sound good. But they just don't pull me in enough to merit the price tag.  For people who find the er4s too flat or bassless, this might be a nice alternative.  It gives you more bass and treble to liven things up if you're not into that er4 sound and it does it with pretty good execution.  But at the end of the day there are too many downside and not enough upsides for me.
 
I'm happy to answer any questions while I have these.  As for telling the ears from each other, there is no easy way.  They are marked, but the dot and text is very small, not colored, and not raised much.  So it's very very hard to "feel" which side is which.  The way I tell is looking at the angle.  The tips are very slightly angle from the housing.  So, if you remember which way the point into your ears you can look down from above them and decipher which side is which by the angle.  But even that isn't great.  I'd probably tape something around the right cable like I did with my er4s if I had a pair for good.  post #2259

 

[PhilW]

  Anyone know when the Sennheiser RCA 800 extension cable is coming out?  Its an extension cable that would have the mic and apple controls.
 
I'm a huge fan of this IEM so far.  However, the review by james444 is so spot on.

The RCS cable is scheduled for release imminently but no word on the RCA800.