Sennheiser IE 8 Pro Reviews

Sennheiser has taken a slightly different approach to creating its high-end in-ear earphones, the IE8s, and has come up with something that sounds quite astonishing. Their huge bass response will certainly please rock and pop music fans and even those that prefer the finer things in life will find these represent a good listen. However a few issues with the package as a whole make it hard to recommend these outright.

The IE8 is a fairly recent model from the biggest name in hi-fi headphones and marks the top of the company's in-ear range.

The IE8s are a very interesting set of in-ears, because they combine a lot of different features sound wise. One of the things I really love about the IE8s is their expansive sound stage, it is quite simply the best I have ever heard from an IEM design. This makes them incredibly entertaining to listen to because the presentation is very life like, not completely left / right like with some in-ears. Besides having the best sound stage they feature a tight and powerful bass which fills out the low end nicely which is a real plus with most popular types of music. Using the adjuster knob you can get them to produce some real low end "thump", which will satisfy even the most extreme bass head. Another noteworthy feature of the IE8s is their ability to produce a wealth of midrange detail while still retaining a smooth and warm sound signature, this is a special treat to all music enthusiasts. The only thing that is a bit dissatisfying is the treble, the extension is relatively good, but it is far from the most detailed out there.

Finally, a set of high-end earphones that produce rich bass tones without overwhelming the rest of the sound.

Sennheiser is making a big thing of the fact that you can manually adjust the bass response of the IE 8s, but there's not a huge amount of variation in the scale, and we found the lowest point provided the most satisfying delivery. Set here, the IE 8s have an extremely impressive bass performance with great weight, solidity and scale.