Roundup: 16 Headphones : Sennheiser IE 6
13. Sennheiser IE 6
IE Series Case
Sennheiser's engineers have clearly spent more time trimming down this case than they have on improving the sound quality of the headphones it's designed to contain. It's very small, and none of the space inside its plastic and aluminium frame is wasted.
Everything has its own place, including the adaptors, the cleaning tool and the headphones themselves. There's even a slot for anti-humidity pads even though these are only supplied with the IE 8s. A hidden magnet at the very bottom of the lid keeps it closed without any obvious fastenings.
Storage perfection comes at a price though, and here it's the time it'll take you to get all of the different components out and slot them back in again. It takes much longer than with regular cases.
Without a doubt, Sennheiser is one of the world's leading headphone brands, so it's hardly any surprise to see them launching this range of quality in-ear headphones--made up of three different models--starting with this pair, the IE 6.
What’s in the box?
Sennheiser really knows how to present its wares, and the beautiful packaging on these IE 6s aren't disappointing. As soon as you open the package, you're immediately struck by a sense of quality. Inside are the headphones themselves, an aluminium case, adaptors in three different sizes, a cleaning tool and a cable clip.
The case, which is the same across the three IE models (see inset), is perfectly organized, but after a while you realize that folding the headphones up and stowing them away takes a lot longer than with the simpler cases offered by Klipsch, Jays and Earsonics.
The box also includes a cable clip to secure the cable as it passes over your ears (which in-ear headphones always do)... except that it doesn't really work. The cable keeps slipping out so we soon got rid of it. The IE series headphones don't sit very deep in your ears; good news in terms of comfort, but less good for isolation.
Sound Quality
In theory at least, Sennheiser knows a thing or two about sound, to say the very least. Having said that, we'd struggle to describe the sound on the IE6s as "exceptional."
So, while the bass is very much there, as is the treble, there's a large, gaping hole in-between the two. The problem isn't so much this disappointingly V-shaped response curve--this certainly isn't the first, and probably won't be the last pair of headphones guilty of that fault--but rather that it's so bad that the sound quality is remarkably bad.
What's worse is that, moving across the spectrum, we got the impression that the IE 6s were almost trying to bring out unnecessary hissing, the sound of clicking plectrums and all sorts of other upleasant interference. Listening to acoustic performances, especially singers armed with a guiter, is almost nothing short of unbearable.
Ultimately, the sound quality is so bare that we were left wondering if these really were Sennheisers.
| Sennheiser IE 6 | |
|---|---|
| Pluses | Minuses |
|
|
| This is a very disappointing start for Sennheiser's IE range, and it's difficult to find anything positive to say about them. |  |
- Sennheiser IE6 Noise...
Finally, as a general rule of thumb, you'll probably spend around half as much to get a pair of in-ear headphones that's as good as the equivalent regular on-ear headphones.
They must have meant half again as much?
Where are the regular head phones reviews. All we get are buds and in ear headphoes, where are the regular ones that you lead into your article with a picture of?
Wasted my time as i dont like buds....bleh.
what about shure? probably the best in ear headphones on the market
what about shure? probably the best in ear headphones on the market
agree , but also one of most expensive one
I didn't read the article, and after looking at the list of products "reviewed" I guess there's not much room for variety. Like so many stuff out there, it's so relative! What might sound amazing to me might sound like crap to you. Besides, you can use the $20 headphones, and with decent equalization and moderate playback volume, after a few hours of listening it will sound great. Try it...
I can make two additional recommendations for headphones with which I've been completely satisfied:
- Yuin PK3. Earbuds, hard to find in the US, sound quality equal to many full size cans. Good bass, fantastic mids and highs, great definition in the highs. About average comfort. $39, and best most earbuds you'll find for less than $150.
- Koss KSC75. Open over ear with earclip. Incredible sound, great bass, good highs (highs could be better). Overall great sound profile. $12-18 with sound better than just about any in-ear or earbud you'll find for a reasonable price, and give more expensive over ear phones a run for the money. Everyone should own at least one pair of these classics.
As you can tell, I'm a bargain shopper.
This review seems slanted.. no Shure, no Ultimate Ears? Two of the best brands out there. Also, no Skull Candy, not the best but very popular (and affordable)... Then they throw in M-Audio and Cardo 'over the ear' cans? Headphone and earbud reviews should be separate, totally incomparable experience (not to mention there are many other over the ear cans not mentioned). Also, the only buds that get 5/5 have links directly to amazon in the body of the review. Its like an article to pit 16 random products together to put one on top. It's a paid advertisement. This is an incompetent article. WTF Tom's?
What about Shure? The SE210 is probably the best value high quality consumer head phone set out there. Absolutely superb headphones and from a brand that I'd trust more than a lot of the ones already included in the review.
The whole Sennheiser in ear series requires a long burn (playing music/test tones at a moderately loud volume continuously) in period. I have the IE8 and the review does not do the final product justice. The IE8 benefits from at least 250+ hours, but they keep improving even after 400+ hours. The overpowering bass is greatly reduced leaving a warm, fun headphone with excellent detail, treble extension, controlled yet powerful bass that doesn't intrude on the other frequencies, and the widest soundstage (headstage) of an in ear headphone.
One of the best bang for the buck headphones though is the NuForce NE-7m for $50.
This review seems slanted.. no Shure, no Ultimate Ears? Two of the best brands out there. Also, no Skull Candy, not the best but very popular (and affordable)... Then they throw in M-Audio and Cardo 'over the ear' cans? Headphone and earbud reviews should be separate, totally incomparable experience (not to mention there are many other over the ear cans not mentioned). Also, the only buds that get 5/5 have links directly to amazon in the body of the review. Its like an article to pit 16 random products together to put one on top. It's a paid advertisement. This is an incompetent article. WTF Tom's?
This is not a paid advertisement.
For all of you asking why certain products were not included in this roundup, I ask that you please read the introductory paragraph at the top. We only included products where we had a review unit to test. We cannot test a product we do not have on hand.
Thanks for you article. And it's a good thing to keep it in a state of "work in progress". Definitely looking for updates.
TERRIBLE selection.
No Ultimate Ears, no Etymotic, no Shure, no Westone, just overpriced junk with the slight exception of SOME the sennheisers.
I usually don't bash articles but this is a comparison of all the crappy overpriced earphones and IEMs on the market, I'm surprised there is no BOSE!
For all of you asking why certain products were not included in this roundup, I ask that you please read the introductory paragraph at the top. We only included products where we had a review unit to test. We cannot test a product we do not have on hand.
I understand this well enough, but you can not exclude the GOOD products in a product survey. You might as well do a CPU roundup with only VIA CPUs.
Sennheiser earphones has to be listened for some hours to get the optimum sound quality and a warmer sound out of them, did you take this into account?
unfortunately out of the packaging the Sennheiser IEx series will sound terrible because they are dynamic driver type headphones. after about 100 hours or so of burn-in time, they will beat everything on this list by SQ alone. this review is generally ill-informed and amateurishly approached. i would check out more dedicated communities for headphone reviews such as head-fi.org
I understand this well enough, but you can not exclude the GOOD products in a product survey. You might as well do a CPU roundup with only VIA CPUs.
Yes, we can. When we get more products in, we will review them too.
unfortunately out of the packaging the Sennheiser IEx series will sound terrible because they are dynamic driver type headphones. after about 100 hours or so of burn-in time, they will beat everything on this list by SQ alone. this review is generally ill-informed and amateurishly approached. i would check out more dedicated communities for headphone reviews such as head-fi.org
It sounds like you're in the market for very high-end, expensive headphones (audiophile quality). This review doesn't include any of those, so far, so you'd be better off for now doing research at another site.
I agree with smallcaps,you need to burn in dynamic driver earphones for them to show their full potential. Many dynamic earphones won't start sounding good until over 50 hours of burn in. Balanced armature earphones don't require burn in, giving earphones such as the Q-Jays an advantage in this group comparison. If you are going to review earphones you need to learn their differences. If you are not willing to take the time and learn the basics behind comparing earphones, you should not do it at all. And,fyi, head-fi.org may feature some very pricey earphones, but they also review earphones within the price group represented by your sample.
It sounds like you're in the market for very high-end, expensive headphones (audiophile quality). This review doesn't include any of those, so far, so you'd be better off for now doing research at another site.
The Senns IE 7/8s are audiophile quality as well as the klipsch custom 3.
You should contact more companies for more earphones, like these:
Ultimate Ears, Shure, Etymotic, Westone, exct.
This article is a good first step, Tom's really should get into audio more.