[ericpalonen]

Or,when you have an entire corporate structure to support, allocated costs, etc., you end up with a price that is much higher than with a Chinese product of comparable quality.

Sure, you will (or should) never have to worry about shoddy worksmanship, but with a little diligence you can figure out which companies are good, and which are not, and the market itself will take care of the ones that are bad. I don't think I should severely overpay to avoid having to think for myself.

As for models surviving for many years, I think that's because when you look up the word "agile" in the dictionary, you find an arrow pointing at the Chinese. They pump out newer models, better models, so fast that an IEM from 2 years ago is already most likely far behind the curve. Whereas lumbering corporate structures....How many years/decades is the SE535 been around?


How bad does an IEM need to sound in order not to spend $1,300 on it?

We live in a world where both premium brands and upstarts are co-existing. And they always have. This is nothing new. 70+ years in the audio game means that despite all the noise and fads and competitors, Sennheiser is creating great product—and not by accident. One thing is for certain, nobody else offers an IE 900, and nothing else does what the IE 900 currently does. It's not so much a $1,300 thing as it is an experience. A lot of folks here like that. We hope you get to spend some time with an IE 900. Cheers!

 

[ipaddy]

I think we all get the sentiment that some feel the price is high. Which is fine - to each their own (though one would perhaps reserve that kind of statement for after said IEM has been listened to).

The negative sentiments are not going to get the manufacturer to drop the price so not quite sure what the intent is other than to ruffle feathers and be noticed? Which, again, is fine, this is an open forum after all. But rather focus on the positive, such as...



...the 925 pages in the portable headphones / IEM sub-forum alone with many other options that meet a specific criteria, including price bracket.

Negative sentiments won't, but failure to buy might.

We live in a world where both premium brands and upstarts are co-existing. And they always have. This is nothing new. 70+ years in the audio game means that despite all the noise and fads and competitors, Sennheiser is creating great product—and not by accident. One thing is for certain, nobody else offers an IE 900, and nothing else does what the IE 900 currently does. It's not so much a $1,300 thing as it is an experience. A lot of folks here like that. We hope you get to spend some time with an IE 900. Cheers!

Well, it's an *experience* that is competing with lots of similarly priced, and even $1,100 IEM's. We shall certainly see how it all falls out.

Whatever you do, don't go the DROP route.

 

[gLer]

Negative sentiments won't, but failure to buy might.

I suspect the usual few dissenting voices who complain about products they've never heard before, for whatever reason (price is the most common complaint, but not always) will be drowned out by the flood of positive reviews, if indeed the IE900 delivers on its promise. Always been like this on Head-Fi, always will. As always, YMMV.

Edit: that's a lot of 'always'. Sorry!

 

[alsorkin]

Now this seems to be the right thread for the IE900. Guys please post your impressions here.

Negative sentiments won't, but failure to buy might.


Well, it's an *experience* that is competing with lots of similarly priced, and even $1,100 IEM's. We shall certainly see how it all falls out.

Whatever you do, don't go the DROP route.

In the Headphonia review there is a comparison with the Beyerdynamic Xelento. Was stated that there is significant similarity to the IE900. I see the Xelento is now heavily discounted to the $600 range at several sites online. Does it still make any sense to consider the IE900?

 

[Zifeng]

It looks good, excatly. This is a good IEM after such failure product, from ie 400 pro to 600pro or the newest ie 300.
But for 1300 Dollars? Too expensive maybe~~~

 

[utdeep]

That headfonia review was the reason why I sent a cancellation request to Sennheiser in the early morning hours. I had the Xelento. I got it for a low price. I have the IE800S. I got that for a low price. I loved both of those IEMs and was looking for a step up.
I’ve been in this hobby long enough to realize that there are often no steps up. There are side steps. One you get past a certain price point, it’s all very good stuff and just about personal preferences. I absolutely love the IE800 and IE800S. I think they are worth their retail value even at list price. However, I am looking forward to something new from Sennheiser. If I hear back from them, I will retract my cancellation. I don’t think the price tag for a new experience has mattered for me in a long time, and Sennheiser always puts out good stuff.

TLDR- comparisons on reviews often tell you less about how you will like a headphone than you can figure out by buying it and considering the 60 day return policy

 

[joshnor713]

We live in a world where both premium brands and upstarts are co-existing. And they always have. This is nothing new. 70+ years in the audio game means that despite all the noise and fads and competitors, Sennheiser is creating great product—and not by accident. One thing is for certain, nobody else offers an IE 900, and nothing else does what the IE 900 currently does. It's not so much a $1,300 thing as it is an experience. A lot of folks here like that. We hope you get to spend some time with an IE 900. Cheers!

Exactly. I for one am glad to see Senn still innovating/pushing engineering, where many others, and without the long-standing experience, are just stuffing as many drivers and different kinds of drivers together and charging thousands. IMO, the IE 900 price is in line with the market, and actually undercuts a lot of today's flagships.

 

[Scubadevils]

Exactly. I for one am glad to see Senn still innovating/pushing engineering, where many others, and without the long-standing experience, are just stuffing as many drivers and different kinds of drivers together and charging thousands. IMO, the IE 900 price is in line with the market, and actually undercuts a lot of today's flagships.

100%, I'm amazed at what a single DD can do in the IE900 vs multiple in the MEST MKII, absolutely justifies the price tag in my relatively limited experience.

 

[ericpalonen]

It looks good, excatly. This is a good IEM after such failure product, from ie 400 pro to 600pro or the newest ie 300.
But for 1300 Dollars? Too expensive maybe~~~

What classifies or determines those as failures?

 

[InvisibleInk]

What classifies or determines those as failures?

Please don't feed the trolls

 

[Tiax]

In the Headphonia review there is a comparison with the Beyerdynamic Xelento. Was stated that there is significant similarity to the IE900. I see the Xelento is now heavily discounted to the $600 range at several sites online. Does it still make any sense to consider the IE900?

If you're patient enough, in couple of months (or years ) there will be sales, b-stock pairs, used ones etc around, and you could get IE900 for much less.
The full price is for early adopters, who need to have it now.

 

[Otto Motor]

I think we all get the sentiment that some feel the price is high. Which is fine - to each their own (though one would perhaps reserve that kind of statement for after said IEM has been listened to).

The negative sentiments are not going to get the manufacturer to drop the price so not quite sure what the intent is other than to ruffle feathers and be noticed? Which, again, is fine, this is an open forum after all. But rather focus on the positive, such as...



...the 925 pages in the portable headphones / IEM sub-forum alone with many other options that meet a specific criteria, including price bracket.

Sennheiser, like any other such company, cater to two types of end member customers: they ones who are after a bargain (IE40 PRO), and the ones that do not want to make any compromises (IE900). Different consumer attitudes and wallets.

It looks good, excatly. This is a good IEM after such failure product, from ie 400 pro to 600pro or the newest ie 300.
But for 1300 Dollars? Too expensive maybe~~~

IE 400 PRO is actually very good imo. I use it all the time.

 

[Evshrug]

I kind of wonder what the difference between these and ie300 are. Is it just additional clarity / detail? Are imaging / sound staging roughly the same? Trying to decide if I should dip my toes here into IEMs.

Well, with in-ears, you don’t have the chance to have the same “filtering” that our ears have on sound and helps create a sense of in front localization, so they won’t have soundstage in that way. However, they do have a great sense of depth, especially the IE 900, because it’s really easy to hear room acoustics of the recording venue and other little details that our brains use to understand distance. The IE 300 does sound big but also bombastic, while the IE 900’s enclosure imparts a sound that brings to mind so many metaphors for finesse, like a bespoke tapered suit or a chef’s knife.

Besides detail, the IE 900 just has this ability to have no veil (especially with high quality recordings like Random Access Memories, Aja, Rumors, etc) while also being smooth and resistant to sibilance. It’s a very clear picture into the music! I’m still doing comparisons and coming to grips, but I’ll share more when I feel more confident

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to ask if you could do a comparison between the IE800 (non-S) vs the IE900 in unbalanced mode? I fell in love with my IE800 in 2019 and use them at my desktop/long drives as end-games (before that was the AK T8ie MK II). I'm trying to justify paying the upgrade price. I love bass heavy Kpop and occasional binge of Beethoven, Metallica, Lana Del Ray (all over the place, I know.. ), hence didn't see the sense in the IE800S. Now that IE900 supposedly has stronger better bass response, I am interested to hear from people who own both.

Also to the people asking why not full sized headphones/wireless buds? I have the Beyer T1 gen 1, HD 600, DT880 to name a few and the having the ability to plug in the IE800 to my iPhone without worrying about amps is the #1 reason, and long drives is reason #2. Really think the path forward will be a pair of TOTL IEMs + a pair of wireless buds. I also have the MTW and MTW2 but don't think it's going to be a fair fight.. MTW2 is way behind the IE800 on overall clarity and tonality but makes up for it with convenience while taking a run

Thanks and hope to hear back

I am very interested in this comparison, too!

Well, here’s a great opportunity for you: Jermo Koehnke from Sennheiser (who was the person primarily responsible for the design of the IE 900) will be on Head-Fi tomorrow May 14th, 11 am EST / 9am PST / 5PM CEST (German time), answering questions about the IE 900. I’m sure he would be able to give the most insights as to how the design and tuning of the IE 900 compares to the IE 800 or IE 300, and he will be typing them so that they will be archived on Head-Fi for anyone to read or share!

I’ll edit in a link to the thread in just a few minutes

EDIT: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/live-q-a-ie-900-with-jermo-koehnke.957764/post-16352014

 

[dougq]

Well, with in-ears, you don’t have the chance to have the same “filtering” that our ears have on sound and helps create a sense of in front localization, so they won’t have soundstage in that way. However, they do have a great sense of depth, especially the IE 900, because it’s really easy to hear room acoustics of the recording venue and other little details that our brains use to understand distance. The IE 300 does sound big but also bombastic, while the IE 900’s enclosure imparts a sound that brings to mind so many metaphors for finesse, like a bespoke tapered suit or a chef’s knife.

Besides detail, the IE 900 just has this ability to have no veil (especially with high quality recordings like Random Access Memories, Aja, Rumors, etc) while also being smooth and resistant to sibilance. It’s a very clear picture into the music! I’m still doing comparisons and coming to grips, but I’ll share more when I feel more confident




Well, here’s a great opportunity for you: Jermo Koehnke from Sennheiser (who was the person primarily responsible for the design of the IE 900) will be on Head-Fi tomorrow May 14th, 11 am EST / 9am PST / 5PM CEST (German time), answering questions about the IE 900. I’m sure he would be able to give the most insights as to how the design and tuning of the IE 900 compares to the IE 800 or IE 300, and he will be typing them so that they will be archived on Head-Fi for anyone to read or share!

I’ll edit in a link to the thread in just a few minutes

Thanks for the feedback. I am taking a chance and put in an order.

 

[ericpalonen]

Thanks for the feedback. I am taking a chance and put in an order.

Thanks for your pre-order @dougq , we appreciate ya! Can't wait for you to hear it.