Sennheiser IE800s earphones update the highly acclaimed IE800 making one of the world’s best earphones even better.
When the Sennheiser IE800 earphones were released, some years ago, they set the headphone/earphone community alight; here were earphones which could outperform many high-quality headphones with a level of performance which prompted some reviewers to declare them “the finest earphones ever made”.
With a series of upgrades, we take a look at the new, enhanced, Sennheiser IE800s earphones…
Advanced Technology for Unrivalled Fidelity
The heart of the Sennheiser IE800s’ incredible performance, is the combination of advanced driver design, with a high-tech driver enclosure. It’s a combination which allowed the original IE800 to clean-up with numerous 5-star reviews and allows the IE800s to reach levels of fidelity hitherto unachievable with conventional earphones.
The Sennheiser IE800s utilises an improved and refined version of Sennheiser’s proprietary, XWB (extremely wide bandwidth) 7-mm transducers, which create a wide, deep bandwidth normally associated with conventional headphones. One might say the Sennheiser IE800s are the next best thing to having a pair of Sennheiser HD800s on your head.
The unique shape of the Sennheiser IE800s isn’t borne out of an aesthetic agenda, it is, in fact, the result of the physical design of Sennheiser’s Patented D2CA dual-chamber absorber. An innovative design, the D2CA absorber is an innovation which overcomes the “masking effect”.
The “masking effect” occurs when low-volume components of a sound are obscured by much louder sounds in a frequency range lower than those of the delicate, low volume components. Removing those masking resonances, which the D2CA design facilitates, brings out the subtle nuances in the source material, for a higher-fidelity presentation.
Sennheiser IE800s – Hi-Res earphones for a Hi-Res era
One of the few “complaints” which were levelled against the original Sennheiser IE800 earphones, was that their level of fidelity and resolution outstripped that of most portable devices, then available. In the interim years, however, true Hi-Res portable audio is now a possibility, thanks to Hi-Res streaming services such as Tidal and dedicated Audiophile portable players such as the HiFi Man HM901S.
Sennheiser no longer has the market for high-end audiophile earphones to themselves: the excellent and supremely stylish Beyerdynamic Xelento earphones along with HiFi Man’s forays into high-end earphones, prove the validity of Sennheiser’s concept for prestige earphones.
The Sennheiser IE800s earphones, now represent a very reasonably priced offering within the sphere of high-end earphones, whilst also offering “The Original Solution” to pristine, discrete, mobile audiophile listening. The latest updates bring with them various practical features and redesigns, which are sure to be of interest to the audio enthusiast.
Balanced Audio and Personalised Design
For such an intimately worn piece of audio equipment, it’s important that one’s earphones fit perfectly; not just for prolonged listener comfort, but also to ensure an effective seal in the ear canal. Ill-fitting earphones can cause wearer fatigue and also contribute to ineffective ambient noise isolation and poor bass response.
Sennheiser has introduced, with the IE800s, “ergonomically designed viscoelastic memory foam ear tips from Comply™“. These ear tips shape themselves to the individual’s ear canal for a custom fit, providing great comfort as well as excellent attenuation of external sound.
The Sennheiser IE800s also includes a choice of connectors: the standard cable features a standard, 3.5 mm jack, plus a choice of cables with 4.4 mm Pentaconn and 2.5 mm balanced connectors for use with high-end mobile devices.
Topping off the overall feel of a high-quality, luxury item, the Sennheiser IE800s also comes with a premium leather carry case, ensuring your earphones are kept safe and protected, for many years of future listening pleasure.