[Andreeas1978]

I totally doubt that cable would change anything in good. In bad maybe if it's a worst one. That's because you do not change the whole cable, just half of it. You might get less microphonics, best case scenario. Even if it's a better one, from the connector up you will still get the stock cable proprieties.

 

[Subhakar]

With so many new ToTL IEMs trending of late, could one expect Sennheiser to present an upgrade to IE800 like they did with HD800S or an entirely new flagship IEM after so many years since IE800 launch?

 

[tf10charged]

  With so many new ToTL IEMs trending of late, could one expect Sennheiser to present an upgrade to IE800 like they did with HD800S or an entirely new flagship IEM after so many years since IE800 launch?

they have started updating their product line, from hd800s to hd599 and then hd6xx( HD650 at $199 meaning there are something to replace $350 price point). i hope they have something new for ie800.

 

[Kunlun]

How many years has it been since the hd800 came out and just this year we only get a minor tweak to the get the hd800s?

Sennheiser really moves like a glacier when it comes to new products.

 

[pack21]

I understand this as respect for the consumer who spends tens of $ on their products. I hate companies that launch every year upgrades often cosmetic that disrespect the previous customer.

 

[kuebler]

I understand this as respect for the consumer who spends tens of $ on their products. I hate companies that launch every year upgrades often cosmetic that disrespect the previous customer.

Very well analyzed indeed!
 
But only a company with a very good business model of solid value creation can afford to withstand the need to permanently create new revenues with new product gimmicks...
 
Sennheiser appears to be such a company.

 

[Dobrescu George]

 
Very well analyzed indeed!
 
But only a company with a very good business model of solid value creation can afford to withstand the need to permanently create new revenues with new product gimmicks...
 
Sennheiser appears to be such a company.

 
There is no need to fix ie800... what do we want changed with it? 
 
I mean really... HD800 did need more bass, but ie800 has the best sound ever heard already, there is nothing to change for the better anymore.
 
They could only improve build quality here and there, maybe make them over the ear, but no upgrade is possible, those sound better than things costing 4X their price... BETTER... For those ears with my music and my conditions of listening and preferences, but still.... 

 

[Andreeas1978]

I would love to see them with full replaceable cable but somehow not compromising the form factor if possible.
I would hate to see them over the ear!
The comfort of wearing them straight down, shallow insertion and speed of inserting/removing them for a second when needed were major factors for my decision! Kept me away from Sure SE846.
Today I was out with my Westone W4R and I remembered all those problems. They are over ear deep insertion type. First of all, get the cable over the ear, get mixed up in hair if you have it longer or in/over glasses bracelets, collar maybe, then put them in, open your mouth to fit correctly, move your head left right to get some cable relief, notice there is no bass on one of them and do again the open mouth push and spin move. Now you`re good, but the very next second the seller keeps telling you something when you try to pay for the shopping, you  try to understand, it`s impossible, your hands are full of bags, put one down take the iem out, solve the problem, do all the ritual of insertion, mouth opening, head rotation bass is not good again, fiddle with it some more, you`re ready and bam! A friend of yours comes laughing and talking straight to you and you know it was all for nothing, you will start over!
Then in the car...if no one asks you anything, you will get a crrrazy itch in one of your ears because of the deep insertion, moist air accumulated, you take it out, light goes green, you start moving, shift gears, try to put the iem in, doesn`t fit, shift more gears, push the iem some more, spin the head, doesn`t sound right, looking for a red light to fiddle them some more! In the end you get some kind of light irritation in the ears from the sweat and fiddling inside.
I`ve had enough of that! 
With ie800 i really forget they are there, no pressure in my ear, no wires in my hair, I really need only 2 fingers to put them in or out in less than a second, bass is always present and so on. It might be just me, hating the over ear wires and never having problems with ie800 tips (yet), but that`s how it goes for me.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  I would love to see them with full replaceable cable but somehow not compromising the form factor if possible.
I would hate to see them over the ear!
The comfort of wearing them straight down, shallow insertion and speed of inserting/removing them for a second when needed were major factors for my decision! Kept me away from Sure SE846.
Today I was out with my Westone W4R and I remembered all those problems. They are over ear deep insertion type. First of all, get the cable over the ear, get mixed up in hair if you have it longer or in/over glasses bracelets, collar maybe, then put them in, open your mouth to fit correctly, move your head left right to get some cable relief, notice there is no bass on one of them and do again the open mouth push and spin move. Now you`re good, but the very next second the seller keeps telling you something when you try to pay for the shopping, you  try to understand, it`s impossible, your hands are full of bags, put one down take the iem out, solve the problem, do all the ritual of insertion, mouth opening, head rotation bass is not good again, fiddle with it some more, you`re ready and bam! A friend of yours comes laughing and talking straight to you and you know it was all for nothing, you will start over!
Then in the car...if no one asks you anything, you will get a crrrazy itch in one of your ears because of the deep insertion, moist air accumulated, you take it out, light goes green, you start moving, shift gears, try to put the iem in, doesn`t fit, shift more gears, push the iem some more, spin the head, doesn`t sound right, looking for a red light to fiddle them some more! In the end you get some kind of light irritation in the ears from the sweat and fiddling inside.
I`ve had enough of that! 
With ie800 i really forget they are there, no pressure in my ear, no wires in my hair, I really need only 2 fingers to put them in or out in less than a second, bass is always present and so on. It might be just me, hating the over ear wires and never having problems with ie800 tips (yet), but that`s how it goes for me.

 
Now that you speak of it... Using ie80 over the ear was a nightmare... They are vented, so there is no pressure keeping them in the ear, and I also had long hair and had to fight all of the above, and worse (Ie80 would not get a point where I felt the bass right, I had to fiddle with the tips, and push them in ears with brute force, only to have them fall at ~20 minutes intervals and have to readjust, or when I did find a sweet spot and had to take them out, it would take many tries to find that sweet spot) 
 
Though even worn straight down, I need the open mouth procedure for ie800. 
 
Anyways, ie800 has a way better comfort than ie80 had, and I'm glad for this. The signature is not comparable. 
 
But some people prefered over the ear because they fall less and there are less microphonics. I used ie800 over the ear for the first year, and it was a little painful experience, since they were not made to be worn like this. On the other hand, they sounded amazing over the ear too! 
 
After this I figured that the little cable separator acts as a microphonics diffuser / attenuator / damper and that fixed things up really good 

 

[Andreeas1978]

By the way, I visited today the AV Store and did a comparison with Oppo ha2 (they don't have the second edition), Fiio E17 and Mojo. Iems: Westone W4R, Sennheiser ie80, and of course ie800 which was my first interest.
Source was my Galaxy Note 5 with USB Audio Player PRO, not that it matters, as the connection was by USB so all the processing was taking place inside the external DACs. Which I intended. 24/192 vinylrips.
The "others" sounded good but nothing out of the ordinary, couldn't differentiate the Oppo from e17. There is a Oppo ha2se with different hardware, Sabre chip that might sound better but it wasn't there. The main thing was happening with the Mojo and ie800, they sounded really good together, full, organic, impactful, deep lows and very clear trebles. It's not shockingly different but it is! And than, when switching back to the others you could clearly tell where they lack. Impact, warmth, treble extension. Minutes later I had to switch again to remember the difference as i got used quickly with the sound. Cos it's not night and day.
About my previous concerns, with IE800 there was absolutely no hiss and the highs were loud and clear, no roll off that I could feel. Changing the iems left a lot to be desired, so most of the benefits are due to the ie800 or revealed by them. It's a great pair.
One thing I have noticed though. It's another known problem of the first batches of mojo, while charging, it produces a high pitch noise like a sort of coil whine. Not pleasant and definitely a bad sign for the life spawn of the electronics inside. Cord acknowledged it and replaces those units as it's a real problem with a charging relay or smth.. YouTube has some clips about it.
Design wise, Mojo is beautiful, much smaller than I thought with those light balls really tiny, don't know why I had the impression it is larger from pictures and videos. And it feels great to the touch like a premium expensive wristwatch or jewellery, smth, Heavy for its size, dense and on the tiny side, just like the ie800, good pair in that aspect too!

 

[Takeanidea]

   
There is no need to fix ie800... what do we want changed with it? 
 
I mean really... HD800 did need more bass, but ie800 has the best sound ever heard already, there is nothing to change for the better anymore.
 
They could only improve build quality here and there, maybe make them over the ear, but no upgrade is possible

The sound quality I would agree with you - I am sure Sennheiser could make it even better if they tried, by looking at the treble maybe? But it is world class. The build quality - the cable goes stiff after time , the tips are uncomfortable to wear and can't be changed for any other types , the y split makes it very difficult to wear over the ears , the cable is too short , the cable is too heavy compared to the size of the driver shells and pulls them out of the ear, there could be a hands free mic cable included in the basic package instead of charging 150 euros for it 
 

  I would love to see them with full replaceable cable but somehow not compromising the form factor if possible.
I would hate to see them over the ear!
The comfort of wearing them straight down, shallow insertion and speed of inserting/removing them for a second when needed were major factors for my decision!
Today I was out with my Westone W4R and I remembered all those problems. They are over ear deep insertion type.
With ie800 i really forget they are there, no pressure in my ear, no wires in my hair, I really need only 2 fingers to put them in or out in less than a second, bass is always present and so on. It might be just me, hating the over ear wires and never having problems with ie800 tips (yet), but that`s how it goes for me.

I suspect you will see an over the ear cable style with mine , but I'm guessing that the weight of the cable will mean it will have to be supported over the ear. Thanks for the real world scenarios they were very entertaining! I find the tips on the IE800s really irritate me , but even with custom earsleeves they don't achieve the sound quality of the senn tips. When I get them back - and I will get them back, I shall some more tips until I sort that problem out
 

 
 
Some people prefered over the ear because they fall less and there are less microphonics. I used ie800 over the ear for the first year, and it was a little painful experience, since they were not made to be worn like this. On the other hand, they sounded amazing over the ear too! 
 

 
Exactly - after 3 years of owning these , enough is enough. The cable going stiff as a board was the final straw for me. It may spoil the look slightly but I have gone the route of detachable cables , that should be the benchmark for all world class headphones.

By the way, I visited today the AV Store and did a comparison with Oppo ha2 (they don't have the second edition), Fiio E17 and Mojo. Iems: Westone W4R, Sennheiser ie80, and of course ie800 which was my first interest.
 The main thing was happening with the Mojo and ie800, they sounded really good together, full, organic, impactful, deep lows and very clear trebles. It's not shockingly different but it is! And than, when switching back to the others you could clearly tell where they lack. Impact, warmth, treble extension. Minutes later I had to switch again to remember the difference as i got used quickly with the sound. Cos it's not night and day.

 

Some nice insight there thank you. It's how the IE800 should sound I reckon.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  The sound quality I would agree with you - I am sure Sennheiser could make it even better if they tried, by looking at the treble maybe? But it is world class. The build quality - the cable goes stiff after time , the tips are uncomfortable to wear and can't be changed for any other types , the y split makes it very difficult to wear over the ears , the cable is too short , the cable is too heavy compared to the size of the driver shells and pulls them out of the ear, there could be a hands free mic cable included in the basic package instead of charging 150 euros for it 
 
I suspect you will see an over the ear cable style with mine , but I'm guessing that the weight of the cable will mean it will have to be supported over the ear. Thanks for the real world scenarios they were very entertaining! I find the tips on the IE800s really irritate me , but even with custom earsleeves they don't achieve the sound quality of the senn tips. When I get them back - and I will get them back, I shall some more tips until I sort that problem out
 
 
Exactly - after 3 years of owning these , enough is enough. The cable going stiff as a board was the final straw for me. It may spoil the look slightly but I have gone the route of detachable cables , that should be the benchmark for all world class headphones.
Some nice insight there thank you. It's how the IE800 should sound I reckon.

 
Looking at the treble and adding more of it... 

 

[tf10charged]

   
There is no need to fix ie800... what do we want changed with it? 
 
I mean really... HD800 did need more bass, but ie800 has the best sound ever heard already, there is nothing to change for the better anymore.
 
They could only improve build quality here and there, maybe make them over the ear, but no upgrade is possible, those sound better than things costing 4X their price... BETTER... For those ears with my music and my conditions of listening and preferences, but still.... 

cable and the fit issue. like allowing people to wear over the ear. and the stiff cable issue.

 

[Andreeas1978]

)) I also enjoy lots of sparkling treble! As long as they don't distort and pierce through my brain.
About the cables, You are right, I only use mine inside in a relatively fix position so I don't encounter all those problems. I treat mine more like a desktop setup as they are so delicate, relatively open and hi-fi.. What's the purpose of hi-fi gear in a subway or traffic jam?

 

[Dobrescu George]

  cable and the fit issue. like allowing people to wear over the ear. and the stiff cable issue.

 
Cable hardening has been solved in the latest batches. 
 
Fit issues arise mostly with unclean ears / tips fall off. I do think that the cable is short, but Sennheiser insists that ie800 is used straight down, and it's for a good reason. They do sound better used this way, and cable hardening appears way less... 
 
This being said, I would appreciate if they would create another cable version, like ie80 because the cable is a bit on the heavy side of things...