WARNING: Fake IE8s! Comparison pictures included!!

[DefQon]

Quote:

Hi, can anyone answer me?
 
If the right phone has the 'red chip/wire'
and the box has the serial number sticker below the barcode.
 
+ all the features that can be seen in the real IE8 shown in the pictures in the 1st post.does that mean that my IE8 is confirm genuine?

No. Three things, if you can't see the red wire (not chip) it doesn't mean its fake, if you can see the red wire it doesn't mean its genuine and third just because the box has a serial number below the barcode it doesn't mean its genuine.
 
Most important of all is where are you buying the IE8 from? A verified Sennheiser reseller? or some guy off the market?
 
Think and observe.

 

[lee730]

Couldn't agree more. It's probably not worth risking. I was quite lucky on my first purchase of the IE8s. Then again I was dealing with a highly respected seller on eBay so that helped somewhat. BTW DefQon did you ever re-cable your IE7s with pure silver cable? Man I'm loving my re-cabled IE8s, mid centric little gems. Followed closely by the FX700s. You were right about the EX1000s. I ended up selling them and bought a used pair of FX700s from a headfier. The Sonys are definitely more aggressive than the FX700s due to the crazy treble spike in it's lower region. Not to mention it was thin sounding, anemic if you will.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Couldn't agree more. It's probably not worth risking. I was quite lucky on my first purchase of the IE8s. Then again I was dealing with a highly respected seller on eBay so that helped somewhat. BTW DefQon did you ever re-cable your IE7s with pure silver cable? Man I'm loving my re-cabled IE8s, mid centric little gems. Followed closely by the FX700s. You were right about the EX1000s. I ended up selling them and bought a used pair of FX700s from a headfier. The Sonys are definitely more aggressive than the FX700s due to the crazy treble spike in it's lower region. Not to mention it was thin sounding, anemic if you will.

Nah I never re-cabled my IE7's with pure silver, it's quite hard for me find some thin gauge pure silver cables atm, unless you can link me? I may need to buy a separate solder gun with a selector, burnt out the membrane from a Westone W4 bud whilst re-cabling a broken connection, mind you my solder gun is a 60 watt one, so yeah. 
 
I was thinking of getting some pre-made pure silver cables off ebay for the IE8 and just terminating the ends to fit into the IE7 as it doesn't have the detachable cable feature, how much improvement did you get from your IE8 after a cable change?

 

[lee730]

Nah I never re-cabled my IE7's with pure silver, it's quite hard for me find some thin gauge pure silver cables atm, unless you can link me? I may need to buy a separate solder gun with a selector, burnt out the membrane from a Westone W4 bud whilst re-cabling a broken connection, mind you my solder gun is a 60 watt one, so yeah. 
 
I was thinking of getting some pre-made pure silver cables off ebay for the IE8 and just terminating the ends to fit into the IE7 as it doesn't have the detachable cable feature, how much improvement did you get from your IE8 after a cable change?

For me the changes are quite apparent. The treble is increased and so is the quality of the treble. There is more clarity and less warmth. The bass is tightened somewhat and the mids are more forward. What I am looking forward to is the IE80. If they truly have fixed the veil and midbass then they are my perfect IEM. And the cable would then make them more in your face and aggressive which I also like. I've become accustomed the the FX700s and am finding my IE8s just a tad too laid back now. I think with the more hours put-on them they have mellowed out quite a bit. At one time they were perfect and more exciting. Sennheiser really needs to fix this issue or they will be overtaken in the hi-end IEM market. The 650s may be a bit laid back but in no way are they veiled like the IE8 so to compare the 2 isn't telling the hole truth.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

For me the changes are quite apparent. The treble is increased and so is the quality of the treble. There is more clarity and less warmth. The bass is tightened somewhat and the mids are more forward. What I am looking forward to is the IE80. If they truly have fixed the veil and midbass then they are my perfect IEM. And the cable would then make them more in your face and aggressive which I also like. I've become accustomed the the FX700s and am finding my IE8s just a tad too laid back now. I think with the more hours put-on them they have mellowed out quite a bit. At one time they were perfect and more exciting. Sennheiser really needs to fix this issue or they will be overtaken in the hi-end IEM market. The 650s may be a bit laid back but in no way are they veiled like the IE8 so to compare the 2 isn't telling the hole truth.

What cables are you using for your IE8 now?

 

[lee730]

Quote:

What cables are you using for your IE8 now?

Silver Galaxy Cable from Zeroshoe on ebay. You can also haggle him down a little on the price. I got him to give me free shipping by doing so on the make an offer.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Silver Galaxy Cable from Zeroshoe on ebay. You can also haggle him down a little on the price. I got him to give me free shipping by doing so on the make an offer.

Since the IE7 don't provide detachable cable option, you reckon its worth buying it and then soldering it myself? I mean is the improvement that great over the stock cables?

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Since the IE7 don't provide detachable cable option, you reckon its worth buying it and then soldering it myself? I mean is the improvement that great over the stock cables?

 
I'm not sure how it would react with the IE7. I mean are you knowledgeable enough to pull this off? lol. It was a nice improvement for me with the IE8. The IE7 weakness was mainly the farty bass. Other than that is a very good IEM. The IE8 weakness was the farty bass and mid bass.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 
I'm not sure how it would react with the IE7. I mean are you knowledgeable enough to pull this off? lol. It was a nice improvement for me with the IE8. The IE7 weakness was mainly the farty bass. Other than that is a very good IEM. The IE8 weakness was the farty bass and mid bass.

Well I've pulled apart my IE7 before, recabling is a very easy job like taking candy from a baby, but what would worry me a bit is the small solder contacts on the small driver as my solder gun is just to hot for this small application. Yeah the IE7 bass is a bit loose, but thats where my GSP or E11 amp comes into the rescue and a bit of eq'ing remedies the bass and the overall sound.

 

[YGuyG]

So, I posted ages ago about getting fakes. To be honest I think it will almost 2 years ago. Long story short I had filed a claim with paypal and sent them back to the UK where I had ordered them from on eBay. I got my money back but the guy never accepted them. I got the fakes back about a month (yeah, it took them over a year and a half make it back my way again) ago and I can tell you right now it's one of the most appalling things I have ever heard. They don't even seal right. I've heard the same from the dollar store pairs my friends have. I think my friends fake Apple buds (just uses them for skype, has real IE8s) actually sound better than the fake IE8's a received. Real Apple buds are a very large step up from the fake IE8's. They sound godly in comparison. Next to my broken in IE8's they are crushed, demolished. If you want fakes in a nut shell look no further than no detail, no bass, tin can crap.
 
Just thought I'd let you guys know. If you want side by sides for everything I'd be happy to to show you what's up although my real carrying case is falling apart

 

[lee730]

Quote:

So, I posted ages ago about getting fakes. To be honest I think it will almost 2 years ago. Long story short I had filed a claim with paypal and sent them back to the UK where I had ordered them from on eBay. I got my money back but the guy never accepted them. I got the fakes back about a month (yeah, it took them over a year and a half make it back my way again) ago and I can tell you right now it's one of the most appalling things I have ever heard. They don't even seal right. I've heard the same from the dollar store pairs my friends have. I think my friends fake Apple buds (just uses them for skype, has real IE8s) actually sound better than the fake IE8's a received. Real Apple buds are a very large step up from the fake IE8's. They sound godly in comparison. Next to my broken in IE8's they are crushed, demolished. If you want fakes in a nut shell look no further than no detail, no bass, tin can crap.
 
Just thought I'd let you guys know. If you want side by sides for everything I'd be happy to to show you what's up although my real carrying case is falling apart

So will you be taking one for the team and getting the new IE80s? I am hearing rumors that these don't suffer the mid bass hump and veil the IE8s are known for. If this is true I am in heaven.

 

[YGuyG]

I'll take one for the team if the warranty covers it. I'd like to get customs anyways so it's not a huge letdown if they aren't that much better. Besides if they stay the same price as the IE8's then I get my new pair for free. My right driver has gotten or has been the whole time quieter than the left. I switched the cable and switched ears and it was in fact that driver. I attribute the first pair just getting full of earwax but this pair I have babied and cleaned my ears before almost every use. Don't know why this happened, there I was thinking my right ear had just got screwed up, maybe go-karting (loud 125cc revs 17k rpms), pro longed exposure to subwoofers 1000-3000 watts regularly. Nope... was the IE8's the whole time Anyway, yeah, I'll send em in over the holidays when I don't listen to them much and hopefully the IE80's await, if there is a small difference I will gladly pay it. 

 

[lee730]

Quote:

I'll take one for the team if the warranty covers it. I'd like to get customs anyways so it's not a huge letdown if they aren't that much better. Besides if they stay the same price as the IE8's then I get my new pair for free. My right driver has gotten or has been the whole time quieter than the left. I switched the cable and switched ears and it was in fact that driver. I attribute the first pair just getting full of earwax but this pair I have babied and cleaned my ears before almost every use. Don't know why this happened, there I was thinking my right ear had just got screwed up, maybe go-karting (loud 125cc revs 17k rpms), pro longed exposure to subwoofers 1000-3000 watts regularly. Nope... was the IE8's the whole time Anyway, yeah, I'll send em in over the holidays when I don't listen to them much and hopefully the IE80's await, if there is a small difference I will gladly pay it. 

hmm are they under warranty? If so then I doubt they will force you to pay for the upgrade. They would just upgrade you to new IE80s in most likelihood... I had the same issue with my first pair of IE8s. It pissed me off to no end. I kinda thought it was my fault though when I accidentally ripped apart the housing while removing a stupid-overpriced-comply tip. Every since doing that it never sounded right until I got fed up and claimed my warranty support form square trade (as Sennheiser wouldn't honor the warranty due to purchasing from a non auth. dealer).

 

[topperdoggle]

Vaguely interesting / amusing thoughts:
 
I bought mine from Hi Fi Surplus Store on Tottenham Court Road when I was in London in December.  They assured me they were Sennheiser dealers.
 
To be honest, they've had over 200 hours use (average 4 hours / day in the library) albeit not pushed volume-wise, and I'm still not in love.  So I read this thread and started to panic.  The box was long-gone, but everything else looked okay compared to the photos in the first post in this thread, except for the letters which were not printed that far round.  I have read in subsequent posts though that the letter printing is *not* a sure giveaway.
 
My only previous IEM experience was a pair of £60 Shures which play.com were knocking out for about £20 in a special deal about four years ago.  I'd still have them but they fell to bits.  Honestly, I don't love the IE8s that much more.  Admittedly I'm listening to VBR Ogg Vorbis at average 128k, which in my opinion equates to 160k VBR MP3, so the source could be lacking.
 
But still, they sound good enough, just not as stunning as I'd expect for £160 or whatever, the soundstage isn't as massive as I would hope for, and the bass is perhaps *too* tight (read last sentence).  My home audio is 15-year old Arcam / Monitor Audio and I have had a pair of Grado SR-60s for nearly as long - I remember having to go to some shop in Battersea to get them as nobody had heard of them at the time.  So it's possible that I'm just *used* to good sound.
 
I looked on the Sennheiser UK website, and Hi Fi Surplus Store wasn't listed.  Cue further panic.  Anyway, I called Sennheiser UK, and they told me that Hi Fi Surplus Store *is* an authorized dealer.  Perhaps they should update their website.
 
So I guess these IEMs just aren't for me, although I should probably try them at home with a CD before I pass final judgement.  I haven't tweaked the bass knobs from minimum either, I wasn't going to as I like bass to be tight, but given that I listen to rock from 70s-current, maybe I should try a tweak.  I didn't originally as I thought it was some sort of artificial bass boost, but if it's a port, that's a different kettle of fish.
 
I've been using the medium silicone adaptors with the double flange, they seemed most comfortable but I'm not convinced that the seal is all that great.  I just don't have the time to mess about too much.  Having moaned a lot, any comments on how I could go about trying to improve the sound appreciated, it does annoy me that everyone thinks these IEMS are the mutts nutts and I'm like, meh.

 

[FLYWIND]

must be from china factory..................****** my AKG K450, lust time order from ebay at $ 75 , but total fake one, then i talk to chinese guy, they say that is real.......