just joined the IE 80 club.. got mine on sale at B&H... first impression... WOW! these sound big for an IEM! i finally hear what people have been describing with the impressive soundstage and huge bass. i'm a basshead, and i won't even go past the halfway point in the bass tuners with these. i'm wearing them straight down, as i found the isolation better this way actually. when i have them over the ears, the design makes for a big open sound, but i found it too open when commuting in NYC subways. using the double flange tips and wearing them straight down solved this issue for me.
one thing i'm not a big fan of is the cable. 1) why isn't it gold plated? i can hear crackling when the input gets moved in the jack. for the price of these.. this part just doesn't make sense. 2) today is cold and windy here in NYC.. the cable got so stiff that it made keeping the phones stay in my ears a chore. does anyone know if there are better/softer cables i could look into? preferably a flat type like Sony's. tho, i do like that these cables have low microphonics even when worn straight down.