[Evshrug]

So perhaps I misunderstood the scope of the “consumer” business at Sennheiser. I was thinking of mostly the types of SKUs you’d see at Best Buy rather than Magnolia HiFi. Things like the Momentum line or models with “CX” in the moniker.

I expected non-consumer models to include basically anything with “HD” or “IE” in the moniker.

Maybe this is an opportunity for Sennheiser to share more details on how things change for the respective lines.

Hey AlwaysForward, how are things?

Audiophile (the A-Team!) is part of Consumer, though the engineers enjoy the challenge of bringing good sound into lower cost items too... for example, Jermo and his team are very proud of the HD 250BT, a model meant to be very durable and good sounding to a very affordable price point.

Sennheiser does employ many acoustic and electrical engineers, and they do form different teams headed by different product managers to concurrently work on different projects, but there is a spirit of collaboration and a positive attitude about asking insightful questions and improving. As an enthusiast and community manager, I am not an acoustic engineer myself... but I have greatly benefitted from how they invest time in teaching me!

The “Pro” designation is for the products which were designed for on-stage use or monitoring in the studio. Most of those prioritize strong isolation, and as such may have a higher clamping force, and they may have more utilitarian looks. Sometimes they have a special tuning that testers find help them hear their instruments while on stage, or a very studio-monitor type of sound which is good for mixing but might sound “flat” or “analytical” to a music enthusiast hoping to connect on an emotional level. The HD 280 Pro and IE 500 Pro are good examples of Pro products.

Hope this clarifies!

 

[Skullar]

Funny how suddenly ie900 is all over the internet.
Just wondering how much of that iem cost goes into marketing lol.

 

[emrelights1973]

This one or the rai penta? Or the 300 vs solo)

 

[sebiambrus]

Ie900 techically superior to Sony IEr Z1R or UM MEST or U12T, or Flagship DD iems like Final A8000 , or Dunu Luna ?

 

[ericpalonen]

Funny how suddenly ie900 is all over the internet.
Just wondering how much of that iem cost goes into marketing lol.

The engineering and R&D is the marketing. Otherwise this community would pass over it.

 

[skeletor_bass]

Ie900 techically superior to Sony IEr Z1R or UM MEST or U12T, or Flagship DD iems like Final A8000 , or Dunu Luna ?

Technically superior to Sony IER-Z1R - you are joking, sir or?

 

[retskrad]

Why not just buy convenient wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro’s, Sony WF-1000XM3 or the Jabra Elite 75T?

I never understood why audiophiles brought expensive IEM’s and portable DAC/AMP, that cost in the $1000+ range, for commuting and just being outside their home.


I don’t want to come off a insensitive but do people who walk around with these things have a case of OCD? Are they incapable of listening to music on lesser quality earbuds other than their pristine audiophile gear at home? At this point. You’re not listening to music anymore. You’re listening to the gear that plays the music, right?

I hope I’m not offending anyone. I’d like to understand the thought process.

 

[Mehran]

Why not just buy convenient wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro’s, Sony WF-1000XM3 or the Jabra Elite 75T?

I never understood why audiophiles brought expensive IEM’s and portable DAC/AMP, that cost in the $1000+ range, for commuting and just being outside their home.


I don’t want to come off a insensitive but do people who walk around with these things have a case of OCD? Are they incapable of listening to music on lesser quality earbuds other than their pristine audiophile gear at home? At this point. You’re not listening to music anymore. You’re listening to the gear that plays the music, right?

I hope I’m not offending anyone. I’d like to understand the thought process.

It's not only to use outside. Even though that's a big plus. Many prefer the sound of IEMs to full sized HPs too. Plus there is the matter of drivability, isolation and mobility . If you haven't, I suggest you try some TOTL IEMs and see what they can do these days.

 

[ericpalonen]

Why not just buy convenient wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro’s, Sony WF-1000XM3 or the Jabra Elite 75T?

I never understood why audiophiles brought expensive IEM’s and portable DAC/AMP, that cost in the $1000+ range, for commuting and just being outside their home.


I don’t want to come off a insensitive but do people who walk around with these things have a case of OCD? Are they incapable of listening to music on lesser quality earbuds other than their pristine audiophile gear at home? At this point. You’re not listening to music anymore. You’re listening to the gear that plays the music, right?

I hope I’m not offending anyone. I’d like to understand the thought process.

In this community "the best sound for me" is a journey, not a destination. A journey is about the experience. Those seeking the destination will ultimately find it.

Great question, but a simple matter of personal preference. The same could be said about a high-performance car, computer, fine dining, wine, etc.

We hope you stick around and get to try out more and more setups. Cheers!

 

[musicday]

Funny how suddenly ie900 is all over the internet.
Just wondering how much of that iem cost goes into marketing lol.

Why not? We definitely need to know about good products when they are released. And the IE900 seems to be one of them.
The reviews soon will prove that.

 

[duaned]

At around $1300 for the IE900? No thanks!

 

[CK Moustache]

Why not just buy convenient wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro’s, Sony WF-1000XM3 or the Jabra Elite 75T?

I never understood why audiophiles brought expensive IEM’s and portable DAC/AMP, that cost in the $1000+ range, for commuting and just being outside their home.


I don’t want to come off a insensitive but do people who walk around with these things have a case of OCD? Are they incapable of listening to music on lesser quality earbuds other than their pristine audiophile gear at home? At this point. You’re not listening to music anymore. You’re listening to the gear that plays the music, right?

I hope I’m not offending anyone. I’d like to understand the thought process.

One of the reasons is that some people (myself included) just don't want to care about re-charging the IEMs'/headphones' batteries on a regular basis (especially if the gear isn't used that often), then several of the latest wireless IEMs don't work/communicate well with older gear (for example the Powerbeats Pro - while they sound really decent, they just didn't work like they should with my Apple iPhone 4 or BlackBerry Classic), and what's by far the biggest inconvenience for me is that their volume adjustment is usually really coarse and/or doesn't allow for really quiet listening levels.

But I definitely agree that for many, it's less of an actual enjoyment of the music but rather a hunt for the newest audio gear and they're actually listening to the gear instead of the music (I've been on that track as well).

 

[Skullar]

Why not? We definitely need to know about good products when they are released. And the IE900 seems to be one of them.
The reviews soon will prove that.

Fair enough. Just cought my attention. Maybe it depends on location too and EU/UK might be more focused market. Dont know.

As long as that marketing budget does not add up significantly to its cost its fair enough. I suppse Sennheiser, being such a huge company can afford to spend more on marketing.

Why not just buy convenient wireless earbuds like the AirPods Pro’s, Sony WF-1000XM3 or the Jabra Elite 75T?

I never understood why audiophiles brought expensive IEM’s and portable DAC/AMP, that cost in the $1000+ range, for commuting and just being outside their home.

Not sure why are you so surprised. As @ericpalonen said its a thing of preference.

Wireless gear is average compared to high end or summit-fi wired gear to say the least. And it will for a long time unless there is some sort of technological breakthrough.

So if i prefer top quality sound, dont mind a wire and have disposable income for it. Why on earth would i be satisfied with subpar gear.
The difference is massive as far as im concerned.

I spend 9hrs a day with my dap and wired iems and i have no issues.
If you think this is not for you by all meant there is plenty to choose from

Once wireless gear becomes competitive enough in high end market. I will jump the train.

 

[Tiax]

At around $1300 for the IE900?

If it sounds good - sure! Doesn't even look so expensive comparing to other flagships.

I never understood why audiophiles brought expensive IEM’s and portable DAC/AMP, that cost in the $1000+ range, for commuting and just being outside their home.

Because we can

I don’t want to come off a insensitive but do people who walk around with these things have a case of OCD? Are they incapable of listening to music on lesser quality earbuds other than their pristine audiophile gear at home?

I have cheap gear too and use it often enough, but better stuff, with just the right tonality and level of detail brings a deeper emotional connection to the music, plus some music i don't like at all on my cheap iems.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Hey AlwaysForward, how are things?

Audiophile (the A-Team!) is part of Consumer, though the engineers enjoy the challenge of bringing good sound into lower cost items too... for example, Jermo and his team are very proud of the HD 250BT, a model meant to be very durable and good sounding to a very affordable price point.

Sennheiser does employ many acoustic and electrical engineers, and they do form different teams headed by different product managers to concurrently work on different projects, but there is a spirit of collaboration and a positive attitude about asking insightful questions and improving. As an enthusiast and community manager, I am not an acoustic engineer myself... but I have greatly benefitted from how they invest time in teaching me!

The “Pro” designation is for the products which were designed for on-stage use or monitoring in the studio. Most of those prioritize strong isolation, and as such may have a higher clamping force, and they may have more utilitarian looks. Sometimes they have a special tuning that testers find help them hear their instruments while on stage, or a very studio-monitor type of sound which is good for mixing but might sound “flat” or “analytical” to a music enthusiast hoping to connect on an emotional level. The HD 280 Pro and IE 500 Pro are good examples of Pro products.

Hope this clarifies!

It does thanks buddy! Things are going great, I’m in the same industry and now with a better team who has a large operation in your neck of the woods so I’ll be in town from time to time!

That’s awesome that you get such direct access to the product development teams and they’re teaching you a bunch of cool stuff.

My organization is working through our own M&A stuff right now and I know how opaque that makes things.

There has been talk from Sennheiser about shared resources, what are some of the things that the new parent company has beyond capital that excites you (or team) about future product development possibilities?

Will there be changes in the way Sennheiser is branded for consumer or pro business products?