[castleofargh]

  I am confused whether I should go for the IE80s. I have the HD 650 and the DT 150. I like lush liquid sound with no grain. I don't mind the bass being neutral as long as the mids are lush and smooth. Are these that? some people say they don't have enough lower mids to sound lush and it is overpowered by the bass. how true is that?

those are not the IEMs you are looking for. (hand gesture to go with it)
the IE80 are massively V shaped.

 

[maxh22]

So I've had the IE 80's for over a year and it's felt like quite a journey.

When i first got them my only portable source was a Galaxy S6, so I used that. My first impressions were not very good. I tried to like the 80's I really did. After several days of mediocre sound I grew frustrated. I was frustrated because the IE 80's didn't sound more enjoyable than the CX 215 I previously had. So I did some research and ended up with the Schiit Fulla. I had hopes the Fulla would improve the sound, and boy did it!! It gave the music energy and excitement and most importantly, it brought out the bass to the point where I could feel my skull rumbling. Good stuff! This is something that the Galaxy line of smartphones are simply incapable of doing. Iphones to a lesser extent. I feel this has more to do with power output.

The Fulla made the 80's sound sweet and fun but it was not the final word in resolution and detail retrieval. Not to mention the fact that It had it's own set of problems in a portable use case.

I sold my S6 Edge and bought an LG V10 because I liked many of its features, one of which includes the 9018k2m dac. The V10 sounded just okay out of the box but after a couple days of burn with my HD 700 on high gain, i felt I finally could hear what the V10 was capable of. The V10 had a completely different presentation from the Fulla. It was very neutral and analytical and had its own form of musicality that I grew to appreciate with many genre's. It was a fantasic portable experience and would be 'Good enough' for the majority of people. The subway rides were some of the most engaging I have ever had!

But then came the Mojo. I was already very happy with how the V10 was performing but all the excellent reviews got me very curious. So I jumped the gun and purchased the Mojo expecting it to be just a bit better than the already excellent portable source I had.

When I first plugged the IE 80's in I had to adjust to the sound signiture. It sounded much warmer than I was use to. The V10 was a relatively bright sounding source. But after a few minutes of listening, my Jaw dropped.. I have never heard the IE 80's sound this good. Everything from vocals to instruments just sounded so natural. You could visualize the performance with great ease. The sense of depth improved to the point where I felt as if I was part of the performance. What a great illusion it was!

The IE 80's scaled quite well with Mojo and it leaves you wondering, will they sound better with the new Hugo 2? What about Dave? CamJam NYC is happening next month and I plan on bringing my IE 80's just to find out for myself how much better these little guys can sound.

 

[cfc7]

I am at around 70ish hours of burn in using a mixture of pink, white noise and frequency sweep. A huge improvement when it was new, but that mid bass hump is still there. Everything else sounds great and natural with a wide sound stage. I just wish the mid bass is about -2db and the ie80 would be almost perfect for me. Custom EQ is impossible on an iphone and the stock flat sounds the best to me. I like the isolation level on the ie80, it can block out unwanted noises, but still have the ability to be aware of my surrounding. I don't know why sennheiser stopped making the IE7, or make a new IE70 with removable cable. From my experience, the IE7's sound stage is just as good as the IE8, but the bass is toned down and more forward mids. 

The mid bass hump will be there, no matter how many hours of burn in will have.

As castleofargh suggested, the tape mode is the only chance to reduce the midbass, in case you can't use an EQ.

 

[Butter123]

   
While I will not be jumping into the "is burn a myth" discussion, I can say that I am returning my IE80's. While I do feel like I can listen to them for longer periods of time without getting fatigued, their sound signature just isn't 100% my thing. My ATH-70's, which I got for only 70$ more, have a better, more refined bass and crystal clear mids and highs to my ears. While they are not comfortable for me right now, they do isolate better, so I am hoping a set of InAirs or Spiral Dot tips will help with comfort, otherwise these have to go too.

Before returning the IE80, try doing the tape mod. Just place a tape to cover the bass adjustment port. I just did it to my and it did help with the mid bass and brought the mids out. Even with the tape mod, the IE80 will still be a bass heavy IEM.

 

[james444]

  Before returning the IE80, try doing the tape mod. Just place a tape to cover the bass adjustment port. I just did it to my and it did help with the mid bass and brought the mids out. Even with the tape mod, the IE80 will still be a bass heavy IEM.

 
Well you could try the paper napkin mod, just for the fun of it. 

 

[Butter123]

As much as I like sennheiser, I am returning the IE80 after getting a westone um2. Both are priced at $180 right now in the US. The treble, mid and bass level is a lot better suited for my ear in the westone um2. But the IE80 does have many advantage in sound stage and more details over the um2.
 
I just can't get use to the mid bass hump after 2 weeks of none stop burn in and as a daily driver. Since I am a top 100 listener, most of the songs are bassy and vocal heavy, the recessed mid and the mid bass hump just don't cut it for me sadly. 

 

[Butter123]

Will a recable help with the mid bass hump? If yes, any suggestions

 

[castleofargh]

no.
you're welcome.

 

[holden4th]

Will a recable help with the mid bass hump? If yes, any suggestions

The only way is the tape mod. Here is how I did it. The little transparent bumps are very small adhesive feet for preventing scratching on delicate surfaces. Found them in my local hardware store. Also seen them at the supermarket
 

 

[Gosod]

  Before returning the IE80, try doing the tape mod. Just place a tape to cover the bass adjustment port. I just did it to my and it did help with the mid bass and brought the mids out. Even with the tape mod, the IE80 will still be a bass heavy IEM.

what kind of tape did you use?

 

[holden4th]

[COLOR=111111]what kind of tape did you use?[/COLOR]

Have a look at my post just above this one. I originally used gaffer tape but getting it to stay stuck down made the IEMs look rather tatty.

 

[Tangster]

[COLOR=111111]what kind of tape did you use?[/COLOR]

Amy tape will do, if you want it to be easily redouble without glue residue you can use medical tape (though that is somewhat permeable so the effect is lessened) or painters tape.

I just used scotchtape. Trimmed the excess with a razor blade, can't even tell it's modded. I'll post a picture when I get off work if you want.

 

[castleofargh]

some time back I measured variations(sorry I fail at searching headfi) from one very poor tape placed on purpose without much care vs one made for roof isolation work with a very very adhesive material and a rigid metallic surface. the variations were barely measurable and I really wouldn't worry about that. even some blu-tak putty thing(I never know know how to call that in English) doesn't make a significant difference compared to tape/no tape. I tried a bunch of things later on but didn't post them because they basically didn't matter.

 

[holden4th]

  some time back I measured variations(sorry I fail at searching headfi) from one very poor tape placed on purpose without much care vs one made for roof isolation work with a very very adhesive material and a rigid metallic surface. the variations were barely measurable and I really wouldn't worry about that. even some blu-tak putty thing(I never know know how to call that in English) doesn't make a significant difference compared to tape/no tape. I tried a bunch of things later on but didn't post them because they basically didn't matter.

 
Yes, all you have to is close the vent where the bass dial is.

 

[XonarSquealer]

Has anyone from Australia used Eglobal for headphones?
https://www.eglobaldigitalcameras.com.au/sennheiser-ie80-in-ear-headphones.html
They seem to have the cheapest price.