[Mindstorms]

Guys First of all let me say THANK YOU! all you are doing a great job in this forum ill name just ones of you but i read absolutly all coments in several threads and they have all been really helpfull gerelmx1986, Bombora, FenderP, Lee730, maniacal71, Fhurricane, James444, Joker, Bond007, Pietcux, Migou67, i feel like im forgetting a lot of you, sorry, but again im really greafull to all the comunity and forum, i just bought the IE80, and boy im am please i did... never listen to them before and i was so afraid to pull the plug, but you guys did the hole porcess really simple, whe i put them on i felt confidence and as sound goes out i fell yes i knew this and that from head fi haha so  a little about me i dunno if im posting in the right place, sorry about that i live in Argentina and i travel a lot hear tons of sound gear all my life i owned a couple of jbl 590 studio for some time, so u can easily get what i mean have a sound blaster E5 a sound blaster xfi platinum as my pc sound cards and listen mostly on dali speakers, bose pc speakers I know for shure as I own tho sets of companion 20, as for headphones a collection of them small one compared of what ive seen here, most important of IEM are now IE80 and AKG-N20, my mp3 is a zx100 wich i dont regret buying since its quality is more than enough for my ears... i wont emit full opinion on this IE80 till they fully develop they true sound but im loving what im hearing bass is plenty and clear wich i love since i listen tech house mostly and rock music, stage is huge and acurate... i wish i could have listen  some sony top of the line IEM but i havent so take my words with caution, clarity is for me enough i can hear the vail of the sound a little it does not affect SQ a single bit at least for me its easier to listen as compared at this point with my 5 month akg n20 they are night and day the n20 has better clarity but i found they a little more fatiguing and the stage smaller, i will coment on this when the IE80 finish theyr opening on sound, bass in the n20 is there and subass too but the ie80 wins hans down on that department, as for the isolation i bought all the tips ending on the sony hybrids clones the comply tips are ok but im doubting on the highs being a little muddied on them, im thinking aboout the tapemod... if someone can update on that it will be awesome i readed a lot about it... well again thank you and i will try to log frequently so we can keep in contact TY... ill try to post some more comments on the IE...

 

[JustJoseph]

They sell for 215USD on massdrop right now.

 

[Smugsie]

People are calling the the IE80's dark? Goodness. I guess it's YMMV but the Shozy Alien's are the warmest/darkest/smoothest headgear I've owned. The IE80's are not an alternative to the hd598's unfortunately. However like most Sennheiser products I've tried: they sound great out of the box. The 5khz peak can go terribly wrong or be tuned to perfection, and the IE80's definitely have a 5khz peak. But you know it actually sounds pretty good! This 5khz peak gives grand pianos emotion, width and cymbals on a drumset width with a sense of realism.

I own many bright headphones: custom grados, etymotic ER4S, AKG Q701's, ATH-AD900X and the IE80's were no means muddy at all even if they happen to be in the basshead forums. The IE80's have rumbling bass that stays away from female and male vocals so the sennheisers are clear in their own way! They don't exhibit the over-ear sennheiser veil (although the HD600 version 2's seem to be alleviated from this apparently based on forum talk).

These belong to my dad though, oh well. Kudos to sennheiser for making a pleasant sounding IEM that differs from their house signature.

 

[yangian]

  People are calling the the IE80's dark? Goodness. I guess it's YMMV but the Shozy Alien's are the warmest/darkest/smoothest headgear I've owned. The IE80's are not an alternative to the hd598's unfortunately. However like most Sennheiser products I've tried: they sound great out of the box. The 5khz peak can go terribly wrong or be tuned to perfection, and the IE80's definitely have a 5khz peak. But you know it actually sounds pretty good! This 5khz peak gives grand pianos emotion, width and cymbals on a drumset width with a sense of realism.

I own many bright headphones: custom grados, etymotic ER4S, AKG Q701's, ATH-AD900X and the IE80's were no means muddy at all even if they happen to be in the basshead forums. The IE80's have rumbling bass that stays away from female and male vocals so the sennheisers are clear in their own way! They don't exhibit the over-ear sennheiser veil (although the HD600 version 2's seem to be alleviated from this apparently based on forum talk).

These belong to my dad though, oh well. Kudos to sennheiser for making a pleasant sounding IEM that differs from their house signature.

 
Great! What do you use to drive IE80?

 

[Smugsie]

Great! What do you use to drive IE80?

Fiio X5 - increases warmth and upper mid energy to vocals. Low noise floor.

Odac/o2 - increases mid bass hump a little compared to the X5. Replaced my opamps so not the lowest noise floor.

Sony Xperia c4 - smoother mids and softer treble than the o2 but fairly noisy.

Sony Walkman a17 - best match with the ie80 so far. Lowest noise floor, smooth treble, 5khz less peaky than the other sources and mid bass is softer allowing the sub bass to shine through.

 

[castleofargh]

the A17 has the lowest noise??? did you massacre your O2 and X5?

 

[Smugsie]

the A17 has the lowest noise??? did you massacre your O2 and X5?

Pretty much yeah ^^
I used a muses 02 for first stage and LME49720HA for the output buffer. The entire swap costed 120cad which resulted in sound like my beloved vintage tube amp. Big soundstage with tight bass, and a cohesive center soundstage suited for a q701. The noise floor is dead silent but for some reason the ie80 has a hiss of its own that doesn't pair well with my o2/odac. But seems to be quieter with the a17. The a17 is on par with the X5, if I don't hear hissing then it's good to me.

 

[Mindstorms]

i have sony zx-100 it pairs awesome to my ears....

 

[sokre]

Guys I have problem - my left earphone gives me problems, sound is silenced to the point I can barely hear it when volume is maxed out.
I sent it once to Sennheiser and they cleaned it (ultrasonic bath) and it worked perfectly but the problem returned after 2 months. (I use it to commute to work so 1h daily)
I didnt have this problem while I was using comply tips with wax guard, but since these were super fragile (3 pairs lasted ONE month) I started using stock tips.
I suspect it is wax clogging metal mesh as odd it may sound. I "cleaned" it with provided "cleaner" if you may call it like that.
How do you clean your IE80s?
Can I remove mesh and clean it safely without destroying it?
I cant sent it back to sennheiser every 2 months.

 

[ScottFree]

Try pulling out the cable as well.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk Pro

 

[castleofargh]

  Guys I have problem - my left earphone gives me problems, sound is silenced to the point I can barely hear it when volume is maxed out.
I sent it once to Sennheiser and they cleaned it (ultrasonic bath) and it worked perfectly but the problem returned after 2 months. (I use it to commute to work so 1h daily)
I didnt have this problem while I was using comply tips with wax guard, but since these were super fragile (3 pairs lasted ONE month) I started using stock tips.
I suspect it is wax clogging metal mesh as odd it may sound. I "cleaned" it with provided "cleaner" if you may call it like that.
How do you clean your IE80s?
Can I remove mesh and clean it safely without destroying it?
I cant sent it back to sennheiser every 2 months.

put the tip of the IEM into hydrogen peroxide while trying your best not to put any on the driver inside. the reaction is pretty fast, you shouldn't need more than a few minutes.
if the sound level comes back up, then a the clogged metal mesh was the problem.

 

[Gosod]

 
put the tip of the IEM into hydrogen peroxide while trying your best not to put any on the driver inside. the reaction is pretty fast, you shouldn't need more than a few minutes.
if the sound level comes back up, then a the clogged metal mesh was the problem.

have you done this?
after this procedure, changing the sound?

 

[holden4th]

  have you done this?
after this procedure, changing the sound?

I've done this and it works perfectly. The only difference in my method is to leave it soaking overnight. You can see the gunk the next morning. You then lift it out, making sure the grille is facing downwards and leave it to dry for a few minutes.
 
To avoid soaking the drivers I remove the cables and put each earpiece in a small bottle cap with just enough H202 to cover the grilles. If the cap is small enough it holds the earpiece so that it doesn't sit directly on the bottom of the cap.
 
Good luck. I thought I had a dead IE80 until I tried this.

 

[castleofargh]

 

 
put the tip of the IEM into hydrogen peroxide while trying your best not to put any on the driver inside. the reaction is pretty fast, you shouldn't need more than a few minutes.
if the sound level comes back up, then a the clogged metal mesh was the problem.

have you done this?
after this procedure, changing the sound?

yes, I do this maybe once a year now on the mesh part of the IE80, and will probably do it for my fiio ex1 too since they also don't have a big enough opening to be cleaned well by hand, and it's all metal and no filter close to the output of the tube.
but I have no idea how that would go for IEMs with a the typical little capsules used as damping filter so I've never tried. I'm brave enough to dare put hydrogen peroxide on metal mesh, but that's about it ^_^.
 
as for a difference, well it depends on how much ear wax and dust you can get clogged into the metal mesh. my ears don't produce much wax so it wasn't very significant for me. but no doubt it can be if the air flow is really blocked. I imagine it would start by attenuating the resonance points, and part of the trebles. up to the point of having a strongly attenuated sound made only of the low frequencies when really blocked. 

 

[yangian]

Really glad to see many people bought IE80 on massdrop. Glad to know many people still like 80!
cheers