[Photofan1986]

Hi there!
I know that IE8 are highly regarded here on Head-Fi, and even people that like other sound signatures appreciate their qualities. I mean, a high price tag does not make a high-end iem, but their qualities do. And i believe that Senn IE8 IS a high-end iem, quality wise.
But I noticed that on some french forums, people never advise the IE line as they consider they are "not worth" the price and are somewhat "technically inferior" to similarly-priced offerings. And when I happen to share my enthousiasm of my IE8, I receive this type of message:

Rough translation :
"I don't want to be mean, but my wife owns IE8 with more than 400h of burn-in, and here is what I think:
They are good for people coming from a low end IEM and want a V shaped listening experience and a "fun" listening.
People coming from similarly priced IEMs and have experienced ears won't appreciate them much.
They are raw in the bass departement, have terrific midrange and the highs are piercing, what gives them an impression of clarity and soundstage, but the latter is only an illusion.
I think that for the technology used and the sound produced, the price tag is too high."
This particular poster also owns earsonic SM2, EM2, Westone UM2 and UM3.

What do you think? And please, no racist or other comments

 

[mierenneuker]

Because it's a German product.

 

[sebhuber]

^^LOL

 

[Photofan1986]

"And please, no racist or other comments "
And here we go...

 

[129207]

This is gonna be good... *leans back & chews popcorn*

 

[ClieOS]

The same principle why we (as in Head-fier) bash Bose and SkullCandy. In more layman's term, it is because different people look into different aspects of a particular headphone, and find it unacceptable though it is perfectly fine, or even applauded by another group of people. It is not a court, and we don't have to always find justice for all.

 

[Photofan1986]

Thanks ClieOs.
However, even if several aspects of sound quality are purely subjective, they ARE objective ones, that allow, for instance, to place 10$ buds under 300$ iems.
Am I right?

 

[ph0rk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photofan1986 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks ClieOs. However, even if several aspects of sound quality are purely subjective, they ARE objective ones, that allow, for instance, to place 10$ buds under 300$ iems. Am I right?

MSRP is pretty objective.

 

[krmathis]

I am sure you find negative posts about the IE8 around here as well, just like the one you quoted above.
One should not generalize based on just one owners impressions...

Sound quality is very objective, so it is all about personal taste and preference.

 

[Spyro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mierenneuker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Because it's a German product.

This is exactly true and hardly racist. What else do you want people to say? People have biases on certain products because of country of origin. It's no big deal. It happens in every country on all sorts of product lines.

 

[monoblocks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyro /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is exactly true and hardly racist. What else do you want people to say? People have biases on certain products because of country of origin. It's no big deal. It happens in every country on all sorts of product lines.

Or it's simply because this particular French fellow genuinely thinks that the IE8 sucks for the money being asked. Not the first time someone fails to see any value in spending so much. Don't need to be French for that.

 

[Antony6555]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photofan1986 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi there! Rough translation : "They are good for people coming from a low end IEM and want a V shaped listening experience and a "fun" listening. People coming from similarly priced IEMs and have experienced ears won't appreciate them much. They are raw in the bass departement, have terrific midrange and the highs are piercing, what gives them an impression of clarity and soundstage, but the latter is only an illusion. I think that for the technology used and the sound produced, the price tag is too high."

This seems like an accurate criticism. Look at a graph of the IE8's frequency response. The mid-bass is way, way out of line, worse than in many much cheaper phones. We may have different preferences on head-fi. But quality sound ultimately means accurate sound. Why spend hundreds (or thousands) on "high-end" audio if you don't want accurate reproduction?

By the way, I have no clue why the IE8 is so highly regarded on head-fi, an AUDIOPHILE forum. It probably has something to do with the dominance of the "everything's relative" viewpoint here, and the recent influx of bassheads.

 

[midoo1990]

^^really?so we are not experts or audiophiles because we don't like accurate neutral sound??what if someone listened to an iem that is neutral like ER4p and doesn't like it,that's make him not audiophiles?we are here because we seek for the best sound that live up to our expectations and our preferences.

 

[Jazz9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyro /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is exactly true and hardly racist. What else do you want people to say? People have biases on certain products because of country of origin. It's no big deal. It happens in every country on all sorts of product lines.

Ok now that is stupid.
I am french and I've never ever seen on any website bashing of products because they came from germany.
Quite the contrary, to most german products=quality.
Senns/beyers/akgs (well they're from austria) are some of the most respected whether it's here or in america, spain, uk or whatever.
One guy from the website lesnumeriques.com didn't like them because he thought they were too bassy and lacked precision according to him.
You can hardly make a generalization out of that...

 

[Spyro]

I understand what you are saying and yes, he truly may just not like the IE8. I was responding to the "racist" angle.

Don't be so naive. For example there are 10's of millions of people here in the USA that would never be caught dead in a foreign made car and will bash it at every chance, yet still prefer to drive around in an inferior American made product when all the data in the world tells them the foreign car is superior.