Almost finished writing what is quite a comprehensive review of the IE800s, however i might just hold off on writing more until about the end of the month. The reason being is that I might have to rewrite a lot of it.
I am now of the thinking that burn-in is a very real thing; physical (as in to say the speakers), not just psychological. Because I was on the fence over the matter, i wanted to actually listen throughout the 200+ hour process, that way I could monitor any progress. As I listen for 2-4 hours on most days I would say I have a few weeks to go yet.
At this stage treble has seriously settled down nicely. What was overly bright is now rich, detailed and magnificent. Cymbals/hi-hats have woken up. The same could be said of vocals; they just keep getting better and better. Best of all, there would be an occasional "lisp" type of sound (for lack of a better word) which could be heard both in vocals and percussion; this is no longer.
Other brief observations (most of which I have elaborated on in the full review)
- I am lucky enough to comfortably wear these over-the-ear
- It can be hard telling which is left from right, however it becomes immediately apparent if I have inserted them incorrectly (either the earpieces make a creaky sort of sound or they pop out altogether - especially from my left ear)
- I am fairly sure that the cable above the Y-split is memory wire; the cable seems to retain the same shape that it takes when sat fast over my ear
- The only real frustration I have with the cable is not its length, but rather that the beefy jack gets caught on my pocket as I reach for my iPod
- I use the case to combat the short cable issue (only an issue when i wear certain shorts - jeans are fine)
- i say this prior to full burn-in, but i thoroughly disagree that the IE800s are compressed-audio friendly; in fact I am even beginning to think that 16bit lossless just isn't enough!
Pantera, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Tool, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, old skool progressive house a la Global Underground's golden era, Surgeon and more sound amazing and I disagree strongly that these are not worth the asking price. Unfortunately, said asking price is why i cannot afford a 64GB iPhone; onto which I would install the Golden Ears app (which supports 24bit FLAC), hence for now my 160GB iPod classic is doing an okay job of powering them.