It seems we agree. I have obviously missed some important pages of IE8 discussion here like midoo said.
I assumed the IE8s were supposed to be "bassy", but when I insert them so they sound bassy, the sound is .. well, crap. It has been like this from day one, bassy and sealed = horrible.
I have several times thought, probably when the seal has been open by accident, "heyy.. this is actually pretty good!" and then the magic is gone the next time I put them on.
I found it very hard to "believe" in the shallow insertion, because it is very hard to get a "stable" position, to get a position that I feel I can "trust". Especially when you feel the jaw has to be in one specific angle. Luckily I think I fixed this now and can reproduce a "solid" shallow insert every time.
I am quite sure the bass knob should be at 50% by design. I end up with a very correct sound when doing this, not bassy. At 50% bass I can also hear very clearly the "on/off-switch" that tells me when the seal is too tight.
100% bass inserted at the same position that works with 50%, gives me a quality basshead sound, rather than this ridicoulus bass blob that you get from the knob when you seal them.
Quote:
but most of the criticism of the IE8 are as such: Too much warmth, an overpowering bass eating into the mids, lack of transparency, muffled, etc............ These are the things I associate with the sound of the IE8 when you're trying to get 100% seal to my ears. |
What can I say, I agree completely. The difference between a millimeter or two of seal to me, is the difference between the IE8s sounding like a crappy $5 earbud versus sounding like a hi-fi piece of audio equipment. The questions then remain:
- why haven't Sennheiser included some tips with a vent or similarly, tips that are open by design, that can just be placed inside the ear without closing it shut?
- why haven't they informed more about how to get a good position, in the user manual?