Are you sure to be on the right track?
I thought to have read somewhere that the foam tips are Comply tips. The 'filter' you talk about appears to be their Waxguard technology and nothing more...
Sennheiser IE900 Review, Measurements, & Harman Target Talk
- Thread starter jude
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I thought to have read somewhere that the foam tips are Comply tips. The 'filter' you talk about appears to be their Waxguard technology and nothing more...
Foam tips doesn’t look like Comply tips. I think the filter material is placed on purpose. It smooth the sound overall.
newworld666
Headphoneus Supremus
IE900 has a perfect silicone tips like Sony's one, just it includes the same protection/filter which is situated in the driver for Sony .
I don't use foam version (Sony and Sennheiser) as sound change too much in a muddy way.
Thanks for sharing these graphs... a variation on that small of a scale would be hard to discern, your in-ear seating position is going to have a larger effect.
While the included tips are not Comply brand, you are correct that the acoustic foam is there to let the sound pass through but keep the cerumen (ear wax) out.
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This makes me laugh. Sennheiser is like “yeah we listen to our audiophile customers concerns after the IE800/s weird removable cable and tip design” ... proceeds to implement proprietary mmcx hardware and practically nerfs tip rolling
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Vitaly2017
Headphoneus Supremus
This makes me laugh. Sennheiser is like “yeah we listen to our audiophile customers concerns after the IE800/s weird removable cable design” ... proceeds to implement proprietary mmcx hardware and practically nerfs tip rolling
Its just a foam, you take it out and place in your other eartip
Sony Ierz1r is worst it's freakina glued! So no way even to clean it
joshnor713
Headphoneus Supremus
Are you saying that Senn put it in there solely to protect against ear wax and without intent to adjust the sound signature at all? That'd be good to know.Thanks for sharing these graphs... a variation on that small of a scale would be hard to discern, your in-ear seating position is going to have a larger effect.
While the included tips are not Comply brand, you are correct that the acoustic foam is there to let the sound pass through but keep the cerumen (ear wax) out.
Foam filters can change the sound quality/FR (i.e. Shure used them on the 846 to change the brightness level).
Scubadevils
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A reply from Brise - the weight is 35g, so almost double stock, doesn't seem too bad as stock is incredibly light.
Yes, foams can be acoustically “transparent” or to color the sound. Sennheiser almost always likes repeatable results, especially with flagship-level finely tuned products, so they usually don’t use foam for tuning, just very low density and practically “acoustically transparent” foam for protection or aesthetics (like behind the HD 58X Jubilee grilles, or the HD 500 series).
The creation of synthetic foams is interesting – super simplified: imagine a large vat, fill it with a quick hardening liquid (usually a polymer), and froth up the surface of the liquid to create very fine bubbles until the level of bubbles fills the vat. The weight of the material compresses the lower levels of foam into higher densities, so a manufacturer will slice up the foam into different horizontal zones and sells low, medium, and high density foam from each production batch. While foam’s density can usually be assured, the structure is still fairly amorphous and random, so the tuning of audio that passes through or would reflect off can be inconsistent.
Now, with the high density foam used for the foam tips is very different from the foam that acts as part of the wax guard... it’s not in the direct path between driver and ear, but it does affect your seal and may alter indirect reflections a bit. It’s great that people have been sharing their impressions so far! The effect of the different tips and attachment depth will vary from person to person.
With that said, it probably is wise to keep an eye on your tips, and clean or replace them if they get clogged with ear wax. Use the included scraping tool and a damp paper towel, as dunking in soapy water may begin to break down and dissolve the foam.
The creation of synthetic foams is interesting – super simplified: imagine a large vat, fill it with a quick hardening liquid (usually a polymer), and froth up the surface of the liquid to create very fine bubbles until the level of bubbles fills the vat. The weight of the material compresses the lower levels of foam into higher densities, so a manufacturer will slice up the foam into different horizontal zones and sells low, medium, and high density foam from each production batch. While foam’s density can usually be assured, the structure is still fairly amorphous and random, so the tuning of audio that passes through or would reflect off can be inconsistent.
Now, with the high density foam used for the foam tips is very different from the foam that acts as part of the wax guard... it’s not in the direct path between driver and ear, but it does affect your seal and may alter indirect reflections a bit. It’s great that people have been sharing their impressions so far! The effect of the different tips and attachment depth will vary from person to person.
With that said, it probably is wise to keep an eye on your tips, and clean or replace them if they get clogged with ear wax. Use the included scraping tool and a damp paper towel, as dunking in soapy water may begin to break down and dissolve the foam.
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newworld666
Headphoneus Supremus
Measurements show that sound is really affected by the filter, at least in high frequencies.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sen...rman-target-talk.957709/page-61#post-16394354
These measurements are showing hardly any change, at most a 2-3 dB difference at frequencies where most consumer measurement rigs have difficulty getting accurate readings. As I said before, you can get greater variation than this when you re-seat the in-ear to the microphone coupling (or your ear).
newworld666
Headphoneus Supremus
Probably you are right .. though 2/3 db in the 8 to 10 kHz range can impact softness in high frequencies and make sound a bit "harder".
A lot of harmonics can be affected in this area http://blog.landr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Instrument_Frequency_Chart.jpg
It’s true that is an important area. Nothing wrong with experimenting and trying the tips with/without the foam (though with is recommended), and you could always borrow some of the foam from one of the 6 pairs of included tips if you want to use them in another tip 
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utdeep
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Man - the synergy between the Hiby R8 and the IE900 is something else. Most of the time, I’m not sure if the Cayin C9 does anything for me in this stack.
James-uk
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After 1 week of using these daily I am 100% sure that there isn’t room for the IER-Z1R or Shure KSE1200 anymore.
the IE900 manage to pull off something special, that is, they provide the best of both of worlds of them 2 IEMs.
whenever I listen to the KSE I miss the deep bass, the treble and soundstage and space between instruments of the Z1R.
when I listen to the Z1R I miss the slight warmth and delicacy of the KSE, I miss that micro detail, coherency and effortlessness.
The IE900 give me all of them things, the bass is as fast and detailed as the KSE but is closer to the impact that the Z1R has, without being overpowering like the Z1R can be. I like the mids on all 3 but in different ways, the mids on the IE900 are the most neutral to my ears. For example vocals are exactly where they need to be within the stage, it’s like the singer is part of the band on stage, not 5 feet further forward or to far back.
The treble is spot on for me on the IE900, it just edges the other 2 out.
The IE900 is a brilliant all rounder, It does everything just right, it’s for enjoying music, not analysing it OR making it sound more than it should be.
The fact that I can plug these straight into an iPhone dongle and they sound great is a bonus, I won’t miss the KSE energiser!
Oh, and the comfort, it’s still in a league of its own.
the IE900 manage to pull off something special, that is, they provide the best of both of worlds of them 2 IEMs.
whenever I listen to the KSE I miss the deep bass, the treble and soundstage and space between instruments of the Z1R.
when I listen to the Z1R I miss the slight warmth and delicacy of the KSE, I miss that micro detail, coherency and effortlessness.
The IE900 give me all of them things, the bass is as fast and detailed as the KSE but is closer to the impact that the Z1R has, without being overpowering like the Z1R can be. I like the mids on all 3 but in different ways, the mids on the IE900 are the most neutral to my ears. For example vocals are exactly where they need to be within the stage, it’s like the singer is part of the band on stage, not 5 feet further forward or to far back.
The treble is spot on for me on the IE900, it just edges the other 2 out.
The IE900 is a brilliant all rounder, It does everything just right, it’s for enjoying music, not analysing it OR making it sound more than it should be.
The fact that I can plug these straight into an iPhone dongle and they sound great is a bonus, I won’t miss the KSE energiser!
Oh, and the comfort, it’s still in a league of its own.
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