[hanes]

Hi!
 
I just replaced a broken Sennheiser IE8 with a Sennheiser IE8i (the one with mic) that I bought on Ebay. After comparing the two I realized that the cable has a different colour (the IE8 has a more greyish cable while IE8i version is dark black) and also that the  cable of the IE8i is a little thinner. In addition, I realized that the headphone itself has a slightly different colour. The black of the IE8 is more "glossy", while the IE8i has a matte black?
Did I maybe buy a fake? (I did not hear about IE8i fakes so far?) 
Soundwise I can`t really compare the two because the old IE8 is broken....

 

[ej8989]

pictures?

 

[jleewach]

There are definitely IE8i fakes out there already. See an example here:
 
http://www.7cheapest.com/product_info.php?cPath=255_260&products_id=3619

 

[wkamil]

IE8 and IE8i cables are differ, IE8i cable is precisely as You described: thinner, darker and stiffer. I have IE8 and also bought IE8i cable from Sennheiser distributor in Poland

 

[jleewach]

There's a simple test for this. You said you bought them on ebay? How much did you spend for them. If less than $200 us, I'd highly suspect fakes, unless you know the dealer is authorized.

 

[hanes]

Thanks for your comments.
 
Well, they were indeed a bit cheaper than normal, not soo much, bought them for about 170 Euros. 
But the seller is in Germany, his adress is given and he seems to sell electronic items from "overproduction" (without original package) since years. Ironically, in his Ebay- IE8 offers he has a link to the Headfi pictures on "how to separate a fake and real IE8" - which might be a sign that he is real.
 
http://cgi.ebay.de/Sennheiser-IE-8-IE8-Sound-Tuning-HiFi-Ohrkanalhoerer-/360323833009#ht_1190wt_1141
 
He says his items contains the 2 years warranty from Sennheiser. I just wrote a mail to Sennheiser to check if he is telling the truth. We will see....
 
I now compared the phones to an IE8 of a friend, a Klipsch X10 and a Grado 225. I found out they  definitely do sound very good (compared to the Klipsch and Grado), but slightly, very slightly different than the IE8. Only minimal differences. Well, could be normal that two different editions of the same headphone sound a little different (f.e. if they really used a different plastic, also they are not bured in so far)? Or are they supposed to sound 100% the same - what do you think?
Well, I think the best thing is to first wait for the reply of Sennheiser. I payed with Paypal, so I still have a month left to get my money back.... )
 
PS.
 
@Wkamil: Thanks! Could you please also check if the midlle button of your remote is a little lower than the volume buttons? This is the case with mine...
 
@ej8989: Sorry, no time to take pictures at the moment. But I might take them the next days.
 
 
Cheers
 
hanes

 

[Inks]

Well if it's that close to the real IE8 it's most likely real. The very slight difference in sound may be the cable or the different plastic used. 

 

[wkamil]

Quote:

@Wkamil: Thanks! Could you please also check if the midlle button of your remote is a little lower than the volume buttons? This is the case with mine...
 
 

Yep, exactly as You described.

 

[jleewach]

If you paid 170 Euros, I'd say theres a better chance they're genuine. Now if you were only to pay a small fraction of the original MSRP (ex MSRP = $500, but the site has them listed to sell for $70) there's an overwhelmingly large chance they're fake. If the seller honestly purchased them from Sennheiser, there's no way they're going to take that big of a loss.

 

[trancedout]

I was also under impression my IE8i mic cable was fake considering it didn't seem as sturdy and had a different feel and colour to it compared to Sennheiser original IE8 one.

Cheers