Have you compared ipad alone and ipad with mojo? Using ie800s
Last edited:
The Official Sennheiser IE800S thread!
- Thread starter Dobrescu George
- Start date
-
- Tags
- ie800 ie800s sennheiser totl totl-iems
davidmolliere
Headphoneus Supremus
I have run the IE800S with Mojo, it's an interesting combo very dynamic and full bodied, but I prefer DX200 with amp4 better soundstage more holographic and overall more balanced presentation.
tracyca
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2012
- Posts
- 668
- Likes
- 373
The Pico Slim & IE800s are a great combo. This is my bedtime rig combo with my Ipod touch 5gen. Sounds great.
Well well...Happy days look what was on the doorstop..
Thank you I look forward to giving them to youI look forward to your impressions
Same here
. And pease do a comparison to the DK-3001. I read your review of this iem and like you i really like them. Will be interesting to see how close(in sound quality) the DK-3001 is to the ie800s.
I will say DUNU was clearly on track with the DK-3001 I really enjoy their full sound and I truly wished the comfort was better for me. The IE800S clearly and easily wins the comfort game.Same here
And pease do a comparison to the DK-3001. I read your review of this iem and like you i really like them. Will be interesting to see how close(in sound quality) the DK-3001 is to the ie800s.
I have ok comfort with the DK-3001, but also only ok. They will never be the most comfortable iem i have ever had.
But looking forward to your review and impressions of the IE800S and how much an upgrade it will be to the 3001, if at all an upgrade.
Posted this somewhere else a while back, but I was supposed to put it up here too. Seems like I forgot, but here it goes...
Time for some impressions! Take these with a grain of salt though as I have literally zero experience with other similarly priced IEMs except for the original IE 800 and Shure SE 846.
First things first... If you didn´t like the IE 800 don´t bother with this one either, unless:
- Your problem was only the excessive "night club mode" bass in the original; that´s nowhere to be found anymore (yay!)
- You liked the original, but the treble was just slightly too bright** for you (it´s been toned down a bit)
It´s still clearly a tuned version of the original, although I would claim the difference is probably larger than in most other recent Sennheiser re-releases.
Most of my listening has been done with a Sony Walkman A35* I got from Amazon for cheap. I did briefly try it with the Sennheiser HDV820 (way too much gain and just sounds "off"; not a surprise considering the high output impedance etc.) though. It´s a great amp for the HD 800 (S), but not something you´ll want to use with IEMs. Also tried to use it with my iPhone X, but to my surprise it sounds a bit boring and grainy through the headphone adapter. Really disappointed with this as previous iPhones with 3.5mm jacks sound quite good with sensitive IEMs. The adapter it seems is nowhere near the same quality as the internal audio hardware Apple has been quite famous for (at least the iPad still sounds great!) I´ve ordered a Sony ZX300 though, but it hasn´t arrived yet. It sounds fantastic as expected with my current desktop setup, the Chord Hugo 2.
Long story short, this time the bad before the good:
- Really disappointing set of accessories. Three silicon tips and three Comply tips. Seriously Sennheiser? Why did you remove the oval shaped silicon tips? With the original they were advertised as being optimal for many ears as canals are rarely symmetrical. At least Sennheiser still sells them as spare parts and they no longer cost 20 euros per piece (10 euros for a pair now), but at 1000 euros retail I just can´t understand why they didn´t include these anymore. At this price they should also include a spare for each tip as the proprietary locking mechanism is not 100% solid. If you carry the IEMs in your pocket like I often did with the previous version do you will probably eventually lose a tip or two.
- High cable microphonics, but at least they include a shirt clip this time. Without the clip expect to hear distracting noise when moving and sometimes also when stationary. This can be improved by wearing them cable up, but for my ears I never managed to get this to work and I find them quite uncomfortable this way. With the shirt clip it´s so much better. I added the shirt clip above after the cable splitter so most of the cable weight is removed. Used this way the comfort is really off the charts: extremely lightweight and due to the shallow insertion you don´t get the "under water" feeling that some people get with deep insertion IEMs. I´m lucky to get a perfect seal with both the oval medium tips (not included!) and the large tips, but your mileage may vary. Definitely audition before buying as the proprietary tip locking system doesn´t work with that many third party tips and I have no idea how the sound changes with those either as the stock tips also form a part of the acoustic port. Personally I think the shirt clip is not just an accessory, it´s almost a must with these if you want to wear them like they were designed (cable down). Hopefully the next one will have fully removable cables, but at least it seems Sennheiser is fully aware of the cable microphonics issues with the current cable-splitter based design. There was probably just no way to fix it as long as there´s a fairly heavy cable splitter with the modular cables.
+- If you´re looking for a "wow so amazing" first impression that´s nowhere to be found here. The original IE 800 does this, but the successor doesn´t. While the original had a huge sub bass boost along with fairly recessed midrange and boosted treble (classic V-shape that´s good for modern pop/rock etc.) the successor goes for a much more linear (classic audiophile) tuning. This one is still slightly V-shaped, but it´s much, much closer to a "reference" linear tuning now. The right word is probably natural. It sounds like real life. Coherent, low listening fatigue and balanced. Bass is still slightly boosted, but the nightclub bass is nowhere to be found anymore. It still goes low, but only when the record demands it. The original IE 800 added a certain sound to everything. The IE 800 S sounds different with different records: some are dark, some exciting, some boring, some bright and so on (as it should be!)
+ And the previous point brings me to the largest plus: while the What HIFI review blasted the IE 800 S for "lacking dynamics", this is actually a good thing. It´s the same as with the original HD 800. The first time you listen to it you are probably stunned by the presentation, but once you´ve bought it you´ll eventually find yourself going back to your trusty HD 600/650 (or get the HD 800 modded / buy the HD 800 S). The IE 800 S simply sounds coherent and natural across the whole audioband. The original IE 800 was fatiguing after a while (mostly because of the excessive bass) and vocals sometimes sounded quite distant due to the midrange drop/treble boost etc. With the IE 800 S there´s almost zero listening fatigue. I´ve literally listened to it 5+ hours in a row, which is something that I´ve probably never done with any IEM before.
+ Comes with 4.4mm & 2.5mm balanced cables so this is easy to pair up with Sony or Astell & Kern DAPs for example. No need to pay for overpriced third party cables.
+ The new finish is really good. It draws zero attention to itself. No one is going to rob these downtown as from a distance these look like any other small IEM. The red color on the right side IEM is a nice touch too. That being said, the original does look more "premium" so if that´s important to you then you´ll probably find that these look a bit bland. Personally I´m a big fan of this new minimalistic aesthetic though.
+ Due to the sub bass change these sound the best in quiet indoors environments at the cost of outside/noisy environment performance. The original IE 800 sounded the best in very noisy environments, but let´s be honest: how much are expensive high end IEMs like these used outside in public transport vs. indoors environments? The original IE 800 tuning is fine for cheaper IEMs that people actually mostly use outside, but with high end items like these the most common usage is almost certainly mostly indoors. My favorite headphone is still the HD 800 S, but I prefer the IE 800 S to any of the HD 600 variants / HD 700.
+ Treble is toned down a bit compared to the original, but these are still very open and fairly airy sounding for an IEM. The soundstage is probably the largest and most out of head in any IEM I´ve heard so far with the exception of the Sony EX-1000 (which was unfortunately painfully sibilant for me). These definitely go for an "open full size headphone" presentation. They don´t completely achieve it, but it´s pretty impressive how close they get.
+ This may be hyperbole, but I honestly feel these have the most balanced tonality in any Sennheiser high end product since the original HD 600 / 650. Much less controversial than the HD 800 for example. Really looking forward to the measurements - I´ll be surprised if these don´t have one of the smoothest frequency responses ever seen in an IEM.
* EU volume cap removed with the Rockbox tool.
** If the problem was the treble being too thin sounding, that´s slightly better in the new version but the basic treble texture is still the same; in this case you can probably skip this one.
Time for some impressions! Take these with a grain of salt though as I have literally zero experience with other similarly priced IEMs except for the original IE 800 and Shure SE 846.
First things first... If you didn´t like the IE 800 don´t bother with this one either, unless:
- Your problem was only the excessive "night club mode" bass in the original; that´s nowhere to be found anymore (yay!)
- You liked the original, but the treble was just slightly too bright** for you (it´s been toned down a bit)
It´s still clearly a tuned version of the original, although I would claim the difference is probably larger than in most other recent Sennheiser re-releases.
Most of my listening has been done with a Sony Walkman A35* I got from Amazon for cheap. I did briefly try it with the Sennheiser HDV820 (way too much gain and just sounds "off"; not a surprise considering the high output impedance etc.) though. It´s a great amp for the HD 800 (S), but not something you´ll want to use with IEMs. Also tried to use it with my iPhone X, but to my surprise it sounds a bit boring and grainy through the headphone adapter. Really disappointed with this as previous iPhones with 3.5mm jacks sound quite good with sensitive IEMs. The adapter it seems is nowhere near the same quality as the internal audio hardware Apple has been quite famous for (at least the iPad still sounds great!) I´ve ordered a Sony ZX300 though, but it hasn´t arrived yet. It sounds fantastic as expected with my current desktop setup, the Chord Hugo 2.
Long story short, this time the bad before the good:
- Really disappointing set of accessories. Three silicon tips and three Comply tips. Seriously Sennheiser? Why did you remove the oval shaped silicon tips? With the original they were advertised as being optimal for many ears as canals are rarely symmetrical. At least Sennheiser still sells them as spare parts and they no longer cost 20 euros per piece (10 euros for a pair now), but at 1000 euros retail I just can´t understand why they didn´t include these anymore. At this price they should also include a spare for each tip as the proprietary locking mechanism is not 100% solid. If you carry the IEMs in your pocket like I often did with the previous version do you will probably eventually lose a tip or two.
- High cable microphonics, but at least they include a shirt clip this time. Without the clip expect to hear distracting noise when moving and sometimes also when stationary. This can be improved by wearing them cable up, but for my ears I never managed to get this to work and I find them quite uncomfortable this way. With the shirt clip it´s so much better. I added the shirt clip above after the cable splitter so most of the cable weight is removed. Used this way the comfort is really off the charts: extremely lightweight and due to the shallow insertion you don´t get the "under water" feeling that some people get with deep insertion IEMs. I´m lucky to get a perfect seal with both the oval medium tips (not included!) and the large tips, but your mileage may vary. Definitely audition before buying as the proprietary tip locking system doesn´t work with that many third party tips and I have no idea how the sound changes with those either as the stock tips also form a part of the acoustic port. Personally I think the shirt clip is not just an accessory, it´s almost a must with these if you want to wear them like they were designed (cable down). Hopefully the next one will have fully removable cables, but at least it seems Sennheiser is fully aware of the cable microphonics issues with the current cable-splitter based design. There was probably just no way to fix it as long as there´s a fairly heavy cable splitter with the modular cables.
+- If you´re looking for a "wow so amazing" first impression that´s nowhere to be found here. The original IE 800 does this, but the successor doesn´t. While the original had a huge sub bass boost along with fairly recessed midrange and boosted treble (classic V-shape that´s good for modern pop/rock etc.) the successor goes for a much more linear (classic audiophile) tuning. This one is still slightly V-shaped, but it´s much, much closer to a "reference" linear tuning now. The right word is probably natural. It sounds like real life. Coherent, low listening fatigue and balanced. Bass is still slightly boosted, but the nightclub bass is nowhere to be found anymore. It still goes low, but only when the record demands it. The original IE 800 added a certain sound to everything. The IE 800 S sounds different with different records: some are dark, some exciting, some boring, some bright and so on (as it should be!)
+ And the previous point brings me to the largest plus: while the What HIFI review blasted the IE 800 S for "lacking dynamics", this is actually a good thing. It´s the same as with the original HD 800. The first time you listen to it you are probably stunned by the presentation, but once you´ve bought it you´ll eventually find yourself going back to your trusty HD 600/650 (or get the HD 800 modded / buy the HD 800 S). The IE 800 S simply sounds coherent and natural across the whole audioband. The original IE 800 was fatiguing after a while (mostly because of the excessive bass) and vocals sometimes sounded quite distant due to the midrange drop/treble boost etc. With the IE 800 S there´s almost zero listening fatigue. I´ve literally listened to it 5+ hours in a row, which is something that I´ve probably never done with any IEM before.
+ Comes with 4.4mm & 2.5mm balanced cables so this is easy to pair up with Sony or Astell & Kern DAPs for example. No need to pay for overpriced third party cables.
+ The new finish is really good. It draws zero attention to itself. No one is going to rob these downtown as from a distance these look like any other small IEM. The red color on the right side IEM is a nice touch too. That being said, the original does look more "premium" so if that´s important to you then you´ll probably find that these look a bit bland. Personally I´m a big fan of this new minimalistic aesthetic though.
+ Due to the sub bass change these sound the best in quiet indoors environments at the cost of outside/noisy environment performance. The original IE 800 sounded the best in very noisy environments, but let´s be honest: how much are expensive high end IEMs like these used outside in public transport vs. indoors environments? The original IE 800 tuning is fine for cheaper IEMs that people actually mostly use outside, but with high end items like these the most common usage is almost certainly mostly indoors. My favorite headphone is still the HD 800 S, but I prefer the IE 800 S to any of the HD 600 variants / HD 700.
+ Treble is toned down a bit compared to the original, but these are still very open and fairly airy sounding for an IEM. The soundstage is probably the largest and most out of head in any IEM I´ve heard so far with the exception of the Sony EX-1000 (which was unfortunately painfully sibilant for me). These definitely go for an "open full size headphone" presentation. They don´t completely achieve it, but it´s pretty impressive how close they get.
+ This may be hyperbole, but I honestly feel these have the most balanced tonality in any Sennheiser high end product since the original HD 600 / 650. Much less controversial than the HD 800 for example. Really looking forward to the measurements - I´ll be surprised if these don´t have one of the smoothest frequency responses ever seen in an IEM.
* EU volume cap removed with the Rockbox tool.
** If the problem was the treble being too thin sounding, that´s slightly better in the new version but the basic treble texture is still the same; in this case you can probably skip this one.
Last edited:
Very good write up
lesale08
Headphoneus Supremus
I agree. For me the original version looks more premium.
davidmolliere
Headphoneus Supremus
It's more flashy for sure, the S look subdued but they sound more refined by a good margin also yes you loose some initial wow (in your face) factor of the IE800 but you gain more refinement and no peak (big downside) not to mention balanced connection which gets them a tad further soundstage wise... No brainer, the S is significantly better IMHO.
I'll tell you these things really like power. What portable sources is everyone using?
Users who are viewing this thread
