[Luca T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have to stop by my UPS Store mailbox today to pick up my IE8 that were delivered there 20 minutes ago. Don't expect any real impressions till they are burned in. I'm gonna hook them up to a 2gb Nano and run it on repeat with music 24/7 for 10-14 days...

Have you finally bought even IE8?

I'm quite curious to know your impression about it and compared with Westone3 and others!
But I know it will need a lot of time of burn-in!

I felt some changing after 15-20 hours then I didn't notice so many changes!

Now I will try with the D10

 

[Edward Ng]

I am a former Etymotic ER-4S owner, then a former Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro owner and am a current Westone 3 and Apple iPhone 3G owner. I have a Benchmark DAC1 that I use as DAC/headphone amp at home, and then I have a Nuforce Icon Mobile DAC/headphone amp for on the go. I ordered a pair of Sennheiser IE8 IEMs from the UK that I am waiting to ship in, and I placed an order Tuesday night for a Ray Samuels Audio P-51 Mustang portable amp, so I will be able to A/B test/compare IE8 versus Westone 3 unamped from the iPhone 3G as well as amped from the Benchmark DAC1, Nuforce Icon Mobile and the P-51 Mustang. Unfortunately, I will only be able to compare from memory versus the UE Triple.fi 10 Pro and Etymotic ER-4S IEMs, and when I was using those two IEMs, I was using them either unamped from a previous-generation iPod Nano or amplified from an old (i.e. without adjustment switch) HeadRoom Total Bithead DAC/amp, which, frankly, is trash compared to even the Nuforce Icon Mobile, let alone the excellent Benchmark DAC1.

-Ed

PS This Sunday, I will be visiting a fellow Head-Fier down in the city who already owns a partially broken-in pair of IE8s, and I will bring along my iPhone, my laptop, the Icon Mobile and the Benchmark DAC1, so that we can both test, compare and share our experiences here, almost certainly before I receive either my own IE8s or my P-51 Mustang, and definitely before I have either of them broken-in. I plan to post up my results Sunday night.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luca T /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you finally bought even IE8? I'm quite curious to know your impression about it and compared with Westone3 and others! But I know it will need a lot of time of burn-in! I felt some changing after 15-20 hours then I didn't notice so many changes! Now I will try with the D10

Where have you been?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/s...ml#post5465863

 

[Luca T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where have you been? http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/s...ml#post5465863

Sorry I read too late!

 

[vedye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where have you been? http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/s...ml#post5465863

you could have just said yes or no, instead of throwing a question back.

 

[obentou]

I had the pleasure today to hear the Westone 3's from a fellow University of Toronto student who is here on Head-Fi too (Pianist).

I only listened to them about ~15-20 minutes in total. I like the sound that comes out of the 3's, maybe because I previously owned a Westone and got used to it. I was pretty surprised that the W3's bass was even more powerful than that of the IE8's.

The isolation on the W3's, as expected, was a lot better than what I could achieve with the IE8. I can't give any analytical opinions since I'm only an amateur listener, but overall the W3's give better separation, and perhaps detail/accuracy.

I am hoping for another chance to listen to them again since 15 minutes isn't enough time to solidify a decision on which IEM I prefer. As I listen to the IE8's more, they surprisingly sound better and better each time... but the W3's sound really good with the music I listen to too... going to be a hard pick.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vedye /img/forum/go_quote.gif you could have just said yes or no, instead of throwing a question back.

Luca T and I have been communicating on the forums a bit and knows I was joking.

 

[Feather225]

We definitely had the same problem...I couldn't even listen to female vocals in the begining~bass was way too overwhleming...but it does tone down a lot after a while...Im starting to like it. still not as accurate and detailed as Westone 3 though, but truly better sound stage~

How did you get the comply T400 to fit on the IE8? comply sales them or you modded it? I use Ety black foam with IE8...just made a bigger hole and it fits pretty well~ ^ ^


Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Two hours of burn-in so far, and the bass is going up not down. This bass better mellow out with burn-in or we're gonna have a problem - the bass definitely bleeds over into the lower mids of female vocals and Shelby Lynn is singing into a garbage can. The tone of the cymbals is off an I hear more drum stick than cymbal at this point. Will report back at 24 hours of burn-in. It took me a while to try several tips with them, and I am still experimenting with those. The medium silicone just barely seal and are almost too small, but there is definite attenuation of outside noise so there has to be some seal. I'll run out to the car later and get my spare Complys T400 tips to try. I have 16 Hz - 16 KHz hearing (46 year old). Normal listening volume for music via my iBasso D10 is about 10 o'clock on the volume knob, so tone testing with the volume still at 10 o'clock shows an un-burned 25 Hz - 16 KHz frequency response. If I turn the volume on my D10 higher to about 12 o'clock then 20Hz is there but several dB down in relation to the higher frequencies. Will re-try with different tips.

 

[Edward Ng]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obentou /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the pleasure today to hear the Westone 3's from a fellow University of Toronto student who is here on Head-Fi too (Pianist). I only listened to them about ~15-20 minutes in total. I like the sound that comes out of the 3's, maybe because I previously owned a Westone and got used to it. I was pretty surprised that the W3's bass was even more powerful than that of the IE8's. The isolation on the W3's, as expected, was a lot better than what I could achieve with the IE8. I can't give any analytical opinions since I'm only an amateur listener, but overall the W3's give better separation, and perhaps detail/accuracy. I am hoping for another chance to listen to them again since 15 minutes isn't enough time to solidify a decision on which IEM I prefer. As I listen to the IE8's more, they surprisingly sound better and better each time... but the W3's sound really good with the music I listen to too... going to be a hard pick.

You find the Westone 3 to have stronger bass than the IE8...which tips did you test the Westone 3 with? Also, do you recall if the greater bass on the Westone 3 was in the upper bass or was it in the lower bass? Any difference in bass extension in your experience?

Sorry if I'm asking things you can't answer, I won't hold it against you if you don't know. After all, that was a much too brief listening session you had.

-Ed

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obentou /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the pleasure today to hear the Westone 3's from a fellow University of Toronto student who is here on Head-Fi too (Pianist). I only listened to them about ~15-20 minutes in total. I like the sound that comes out of the 3's, maybe because I previously owned a Westone and got used to it. I was pretty surprised that the W3's bass was even more powerful than that of the IE8's. The isolation on the W3's, as expected, was a lot better than what I could achieve with the IE8. I can't give any analytical opinions since I'm only an amateur listener, but overall the W3's give better separation, and perhaps detail/accuracy. I am hoping for another chance to listen to them again since 15 minutes isn't enough time to solidify a decision on which IEM I prefer. As I listen to the IE8's more, they surprisingly sound better and better each time... but the W3's sound really good with the music I listen to too... going to be a hard pick.

That's why the old saying on head-fi goes, Welcome to head-fi and sorry for your wallet"

 

[Luca T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vedye /img/forum/go_quote.gif you could have just said yes or no, instead of throwing a question back.

Thanks for your words but don't worry he was joking, I daily stressed him with a lot of questions!

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Luca T and I have been communicating on the forums a bit and knows I was joking.

I know, it's ok, I was busy with D10

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feather225 /img/forum/go_quote.gif We definitely had the same problem...I couldn't even listen to female vocals in the begining~bass was way too overwhleming...but it does tone down a lot after a while...Im starting to like it. still not as accurate and detailed as Westone 3 though, but truly better sound stage~ How did you get the comply T400 to fit on the IE8? comply sales them or you modded it? I use Ety black foam with IE8...just made a bigger hole and it fits pretty well~ ^ ^

I have several pairs of T400 laying around for my Denon and Nuforce IEM, that I bought from Complys. They just popped right onto the IE8.

Definitely kills a bit of the treble, but strangely also increases isolation enough to lower the volume from 10 o'clock to 9:30 and then the bass is a tiny bit less overwhelming (but still intrusive). Still too dark sounding with the T400, but only have 4 hours on the IE8 so far.

The W3 walk all over these so far, but it's not a fair fight till I have run the IE8 with music for 10-14 straight days.

 

[bossnass15]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have several pairs of T400 laying around for my Denon and Nuforce IEM, that I bought from Complys. They just popped right onto the IE8. Definitely kills a bit of the treble, but strangely also increases isolation enough to lower the volume from 10 o'clock to 9:30 and then the bass is a tiny bit less overwhelming (but still intrusive). Still too dark sounding with the T400, but only have 4 hours on the IE8 so far. The W3 walk all over these so far, but it's not a fair fight till I have run the IE8 with music for 10-14 straight days.

You should..I'm starting to prefer the IE8 over the W3 slightly after 200 hours+ of burn in (physical and mental), but i still miss the bass slam of the W3..

 

[PhilS]

I've said this before, but I'll say it again, if only because this thread is 145 pages long now. I don't deny that these phones burn in, but, IMO, I think significant improvements in these phones are also revealed as one gets more experienced at placement of the phones in one's ears, and as one figures out the right tips. And I think it takes a lot of trial and error, perhaps more than other IEM's.

I even went back to tips that at first I decided did not work for me, and that were not comfortable. I realized the second time around that I really wasn't placing the phones correctly the first time around. I also found that, while the Comply's are quite comfortable, they significantly alter the sound of these phones as compared to any of the stock tips, IMO, which may be why some people say they get too much bass from the Complys.

And I also think that some people who get too much bass from the stock tips have them too far in their ears. I can get any amount of bass I want with just by a very, very slight adjustment of the depth the phones sit in my ears. I think these phones sit in your ear differently from other phones, where you have to achieve a certain depth to have a seal and get the right sound, and you either have it or you don't.

All of this is just my opinion, of course, and people have different ears, but I really do believe that it takes a couple of weeks of regular listening before one really finds the right tips, gets used to placing the phones in the ears correctly (an issue of both orientation and depth), etc.

So while these might not be good for everybody, I would let them burn in and use them for a couple of weeks before making a final judgment.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilS /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've said this before, but I'll say it again, if only because this thread is 145 pages long now. I don't deny that these phones burn in, but, IMO, I think significant improvements in these phones are also revealed as one gets more experienced at placement of the phones in one's ears, and as one figures out the right tips. And I think it takes a lot of trial and error, perhaps more than other IEM's. I even went back to tips that at first I decided did not work for me, and that were not comfortable. I realized the second time around that I really wasn't placing the phones correctly the first time around. I also found that, while the Comply's are quite comfortable, they significantly alter the sound of these phones as compared to any of the stock tips, IMO, which may be why some people say they get too much bass from the Complys. And I also think that some people who get too much bass from the stock tips have them too far in their ears. I can get any amount of bass I want with just by a very, very slight adjustment of the depth the phones sit in my ears. I think these phones sit in your ear differently from other phones, where you have to achieve a certain depth to have a seal and get the right sound, and you either have it or you don't. All of this is just my opinion, of course, and people have different ears, but I really do believe that it takes a couple of weeks of regular listening before one really finds the right tips, gets used to placing the phones in the ears correctly (an issue of both orientation and depth), etc. So while these might not be good for everybody, I would let them burn in and use them for a couple of weeks before making a final judgment.

Much of that is almost identical to what I've been telling people who complain about the W3, in terms of how they respond to inserting too deeply or using them with the wrong tips. I think that goes for most IEM - sound changes a lot with tips and ear position, and not all of them respond the same way. In my particular ears the W3, X10, q-JAYS and SA6 all need a shallow insertion or the bass goes up and the highs go down, but the ER6i, SE530, SE310, E4c etc need a deep insertion with Shure black foam tips for me to hear the right balance. The Phonak and Triple.fi 10 pro don't allow a deep insertion due to their shape or size, so they are hard to mess up.

So, don't worry because I will give all the tips and all the ear positions a try. They definitely need to be worn over the ears for me and not rotated down with the cable hanging down, unless I swap earpieces. Over the ears ensures a better seal.