[Mimouille]

I had the xelento it’s not in the same class

Why do you feel it is significantly better than Xelento and Vega?

 

[Deftone]

What I found is that IE800S has a larger out of head type soundstage, more air and a tad more detail compared to xelento.

Vega wasn’t really a fair comparison because is too bass focused for my tastes but at least it is high quality bass.

 

[denis1976]

Hello the ie800 with sp1000 cu are extremely detailed, dynamic, open sounding, now the new ie800S with balanced cable included is a dream come truth, i can't wait to get my ears on them....

 

[kubig123]

Does anybody have a coupon for to use on the US Sennheiser website?

 

[Kunlun]

Does anybody have a coupon for to use on the US Sennheiser website?

I'd like one as well

 

[Deftone]

In the UK I signed up to the newsletter and after confirmation of email I got 10% discount and then during checkout I got a limited time offer that brought the price down to £704! ($927)

Has anyone purchased recently to see if the offer is still available?

 

[phiemon]

Why do you feel it is significantly better than Xelento and Vega?

I tried in the last days: IE800s, Xelento, Vega, Andromeda, ProPhile 8, JH 13v2.

I suggest you to try the Andromeda by yourself which for me personally is simply the best IEM between these - and a big update to the Xelento!!

 

[Raketen]

10khz got me spooked, usually not a fan of those 'airy' tunings when treble focus is so high up... hopefully crinacle and innerfidelity get to measure them for some more familiar context.

 

[phiemon]

10khz got me spooked, usually not a fan of those 'airy' tunings when treble focus is so high up... hopefully crinacle and innerfidelity get a set for some more familiar context.

I can understand that: I'm now a fan of that treble - I had in my life just sennheisers headphones which are characteristically very bassy, so I wanted to change.

Anyway, I don't think that the IE800s is at this range of price for the searched quality the best IEM. Just look for example at the ProPhile 8 or Vega! Then, if I had to spend 1000€ for the IEM I must be 100% sure of this! So I suggest generally to try others IEMs as well.

 

[twister6]

10khz got me spooked, usually not a fan of those 'airy' tunings when treble focus is so high up... hopefully crinacle and innerfidelity get to measure them for some more familiar context.

What do you expect different from Crinacle measurement? Similar to my Veritas coupler with startech usb audio interface going to laptop, he uses a different $30 mic coupler connected to his iPhone to capture measurements. Just a different custom calibration, and I also noticed a different y-axis scale to make FR look flatter. My "budget" setup is identical to Paul/Brooko with the same calibration Paul and I share. Oh, and Tyll is setup for full size cans measurements, don't think I have seen him do any iem measurements

10k is part of ie800x signature tuning. It still takes a little brain adjustment once I put these in my ears, but considering how much I personally "allergic" to high frequencies, I find this tuning surprisingly non fatigue. Based on the original ie800 FR measurements and people referring to those as V-shaped, ie800S seem to "fix" that mids dip.

I put these on my review schedule and first impressions write-up/comparison in 2 weeks. Stay tuned...

 

[Kunlun]

What do you expect different from Crinacle measurement? Similar to my Veritas coupler with startech usb audio interface going to laptop, he uses a different $30 mic coupler connected to his iPhone to capture measurements. Just a different custom calibration, and I also noticed a different y-axis scale to make FR look flatter. My "budget" setup is identical to Paul/Brooko with the same calibration Paul and I share. Oh, and Tyll is setup for full size cans measurements, don't think I have seen him do any iem measurements

10k is part of ie800x signature tuning. It still takes a little brain adjustment once I put these in my ears, but considering how much I personally "allergic" to high frequencies, I find this tuning surprisingly non fatigue. Based on the original ie800 FR measurements and people referring to those as V-shaped, ie800S seem to "fix" that mids dip.

I put these on my review schedule and first impressions write-up/comparison in 2 weeks. Stay tuned...

Have some humility, Tyll is the grandmaster

He's been doing this a long time and he has earned the trust of audiophiles. He did measurements on the original ie800. Further, and very importantly, he understands the limits of his instruments and what is an artifact of the apparatus. That seems to be a rare thing.

So, yes, I and just about everyone knowledgeable would take his measurements over yours--and so should you!

Back to the ie800S, I am seriously thinking of ordering these soon.
If I do, I will do a brief no-hype review.

The Tia Fourte had treble issues unreported by hypesters. It was very good overall, but with caveats.

The Andromeda is fantastic, but again, has treble roughness at 6.5khz or so. Ken Ball's own measurements are definitely superior to others on his iems. They show what my ears tell me about this 6.5khz region. At volume and over time, It's fatiguing.

I don't find the ie800 fatiguing( worn over ear), but the issues of thinness is there and when friends try it they hear a sharp treble.

Treble is hard to get right and different ear canals (and, particularly, a given measurement apparatus) can have resonances. I'd like to try the ie800S and see if it gets things right, at least for my ears.

 

[Raketen]

What do you expect different from Crinacle measurement? Similar to my Veritas coupler with startech usb audio interface going to laptop, he uses a different $30 mic coupler connected to his iPhone to capture measurements. Just a different custom calibration, and I also noticed a different y-axis scale to make FR look flatter. My "budget" setup is identical to Paul/Brooko with the same calibration Paul and I share. Oh, and Tyll is setup for full size cans measurements, don't think I have seen him do any iem measurements

Not knocking your measurments at all, and I appreciate you sharing it here, but I find them mostly useful in the context of other meaasurements and both Crinacle and Tyll (among others) have an extensive easily accessible database of measurments plotted on the same scale which is particularly helpful (and yes Innerfidelity has measured some IEMs, most importantly some that I have also used). Additionally, one of the first pieces of advice a person generally encounters about reading measurements is that it's not a great idea to directly compare them from two different rigs, even if the equipment is the same, becasue there are other variables like placement/insertion depth that can make differences in the results. Also, IMO it's best to have multitude of reference points with this stuff - c.f. the recent Z1R, LCD4, Utopia episodes.

 

[twister6]

Not knocking your measurments at all, and I appreciate you sharing it here, but I find them mostly useful in the context of other meaasurements and both Crinacle and Tyll have an extensive easily accessible log measurments plotted on the same scale which is particularly helpful (and yes Innerfidelity has measured some IEMs, most importantly some that I have also used). Additionally, one of the first pieces of advice a person generally encounters about reading measurements is that it's not a great idea to directly compare them from two different rigs, even if the equipment is the same, becasue there are other variables like placement/insertion depth that can make differences in the results.

Hahaha, actually I'm the one who is knocking down my own measurements and telling people to take it with a grain of salt lol!!! and the reason why I never share them in any of my reviews. Sometimes I make a rare exception, posting it in a particular thread, like I did here because I heard so much talk about v-shaped sig of the original IE800 and 10k bothering some. I found the accuracy of peak position in my measurements to be relatively close to other pro-measurements (as I mentioned before, I duplicated my setup to align with Paul's, and Paul worked directly with Ken Ball on calibration to align it with his ALO pro rig). The amplitude of peaks, this is what I find inconsistent in my and some other measurements.

@Kunlun , Didn't know Tyll measures IEMs, I thought he used to send all IEMs to Mike (joker). But certainly, if he can do measurements in his setup, that would be great. For sure, it will capture accurately amplitude of peaks. But ultimately, it's just a guideline of what to expect, doesn't mean everybody will hear the same. Don't you agree? We all have different ear sensitivity and ear health, use different sources, play different genres of music, use different eartips, cables, etc. Too many variable contributing to the final perception of the sound. That's why I personally prefer to describe the sound as I hear it and provide relative comparison as a point of reference for others.
Either way, to paint the picture of the sound, you need multiple reviews and multiple sets of ears

 

[Deftone]

I do not hear the 10k peak as it looks on measurements, while pronounced it does settle down once you get used to the signature. The treble is very refined on IE800S, not as thin sounding as previous but still a little on the thin side.

I can’t seem to get the treble sound harsh and fatiguing even on recordings with a good amount of high frequency and what are known to me as being sibilant. It never fatuiges my ear whilst delivering massive amounts of detail and the timbre is really nice too with cymbals.

I’m always worried about treble before buying iems because I can be very sensitive to it especially on sibilant recordings and I haven’t been able to fix it in the past with EQ and/or careful system matching. I no longer need to worry, IE800 is such a fantastic sounding high end earphone and with Hugo2 I don’t feel the need to upgrade for a long time.

 

[twister6]

I do not hear the 10k peak as it looks on measurements, while pronounced it does settle down once you get used to the signature. The treble is very refined on IE800S, not as thin sounding as previous but still a little on the thin side.

I can’t seem to get the treble sound harsh and fatiguing even on recordings with a good amount of high frequency and what are known to me as being sibilant. It never fatuiges my ear whilst delivering massive amounts of detail and the timbre is really nice too with cymbals.

I’m always worried about treble before buying iems because I can be very sensitive to it especially on sibilant recordings and I haven’t been able to fix it in the past with EQ and/or careful system matching. I no longer need to worry, IE800 is such a fantastic sounding high end earphone and with Hugo2 I don’t feel the need to upgrade for a long time.

Which eartips are you using?