Sennheiser IE900 IEM Measurements and Review

Yes, insertion depth would be the main factor. According to Sennheiser’s engineer, the resonators are targeted at the 6 to 10kHz range, so they should be most effective at a distance of about 17 to 28mm from tip to ear drum.

Since human ear canals vary quite significantly in length and shape, this most certainly means that Sennheiser's approach to smoothing the highs will work better for some people than others. Here's a clip of the venerable Paul Barton talking about this very problem:

https://tinyurl.com/ff7sfvxm

 

Awesome. I have standard length canals and played with the ie800 fit and depth until I got what I thought the Senn engineers were trying for (still a thin sound, if you recall, and peaky but not as piercing as otherwise).

I spoke to the audio engineer that did the Monster iems from a decade ago (remember those?) and he thought it was bizarre that people "burned in" iem dynamic drivers with 1000 hours of soft piano music. He said a much shorter time with really, really loud and bassy music was a much better idea.

 

When doing the next set of measurements, can you alter the insertion depth? From some of your other measurements it looks like your coupler shares the IEC 8k-ish resonance, so maybe if you can change the depth the coupler resonance will separate and the 'real' height of the Senns' peak will be more evident.

 

Hmm - I struggle to explain that. The new c. 13k peak of orange could be the coupler resonance from the shorter tube, with the 8.5k peak being the phones' treble peak that you heard. But then blue doesn't make sense - the peak that appears at 5k could be coupler resonance but why does 8k disappear and a 12k pop up? Maybe the fancy resonance chambers...?

 

Maybe introduce some capacitance on the cable. I'm only half joking.

 

Hey @purr1n if SBAF can buy shitty expensive stuff like the ie900 for review and measurements can you buy the two new ortho iems on the market for the same?

I think an ortho iem has more potential than a single DD due to lack of treble fuckery.

I’d love to see.

Audeze Euclid
Tin Hifi P2

Measured and on loaners. I’ve reached out to both companies for demo units but they have ignored me they both seen to have a business model of only send demo units to idiot shills on YouTube.

 

Awesome! let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

I sent Audeze a note asking again for a demo and telling them how poorly it reflects on their business to only send review units to shills. Not that they care

 

@purr1n Audeze will be providing SBAF with a Euclid loaner when they get then back in stock. So don’t buy one.

 

Hi folks, I wanted to share some brief thoughts on the ie900 and this seems like a good place to do it as I'm basically appending these comments to Marv's.

I like how dynamic drivers sound and I'm always hoping that someone will make a very well detailed dynamic iem with excellent extension in the bass and treble, keeping realistic timbre, and avoiding weird or peaky/painful spikes or bizarre hyper midbass in the frequency range. Not too much to ask for, right? Well, maybe, because we're all waiting still.

The ie900 isn't the perfect DD iem, but it's a step in the right direction. So much so that I will probably pick one up someday. Maybe.

What's right is that it has very good detail resolution for a dynamic driver (the best that I've heard for a DD) and nice extension above and below.
The helmholtz resonators are designed to get a lower or mid treble spike down enough that they down mask upper frequencies. As you can see from Marv's distance to measure chart, depending on the depth of insertion, this might work better or worse (particularly if the insertion depth is shallow).

The wrong parts start for me with the tips which are terrible. I got a garbage fit which still had bone conductance and isolation (I even bitched to Marv about the resulting sound).
Even with an excellent fit, the treble timbre is not perfect and I think cymbals could be better, for example. This is likely a result of the driver Sennheiser is using as the ie800S was similar. I'm editing a comment here to note I didn't have a problem with treble harshness after tip-rolling a bunch to find the tips that worked best for me, but this can also be due to my listening at moderate to high-moderate volumes. A stage monitor tuning would be better for those who listen loud (but try not to do that!).

Further, the tonality is treble emphasized and music that should be balanced such as a string quartet or Renaissance polyphony (the Tallis Scholars basically made their name on the vocal balance) will sound violin or soprano forward. The mids are not really colored for me and someone who wants a rich midrange won't find that here.

The bass is titled toward the subbass. Actually, that's not a problem, I think it's how all speakers, earphones, everything should sound. That's my bias, but things do sound more natural in an iem when you tilt the bass that way. Grade A.

Compared to the ie800S, they got a little more clarity from these drivers. The ie900 is easier to drive, to wear (except the @♧/$#%! tips), and a step forward in tonality. I think Sennheiser got all they could from these. Credit where it's due, I recall someone who's been working with Dunu, for example, reporting they said something like, "if we wanted the best sound, we'd need a custom housing with helmholtz resonators but... [instead we'll just get everything off the shelf]". That's terrible and we should laud any company that goes the extra mile for a flagship. This Sennheiser ie900 isn't perfect, but it's an example of how iems, and DD iems specifically, should be made. Let companies actually try to make the best iem they can for their most expensive offering and not just use off the shelf housings, DD from a Chinese catalog or armatures/crossovers from Sonion or Knowles. At least try for a custom, and better, product beyond fiddling with stock parts. DDs, in particular, need that.

Sennheiser, on the other hand, needs a better driver. Hopefully the next generation of this will have a novel diaphragm material or something because it seems like they worked on upping their housing/helmholtz sound shaping game here.

Addendum: The Sony Ex1000
On Marv's suggestion, I pulled this out. Maybe it's the tips I tried, but the 7khz (or wherever it is, 6khz?) spike wasn't overly prominent. These have an open sound. The greatly natural bass is a product of the way the 16mm driver delivers that bass in relation to the mids with the spacious soundstage. It is a little special without overselling it and seems to be part of the whole sound. Sony hasn't replicated it, but they should, somehow. Maybe that Japan-only DD custom (note: Give that to us here, Sony!) has that....

 

I currently have the loaner and wanted to add that I have not had any issues with the treble region with my music selections. Two IEM's that bother me in the treble region are the Campfire Atlas and the Periodic Audio BE. I'm not too treble sensitive, but I do acknowledge the HD800, SA5000, 009, etc. etc. are on the brighter side of things. I think it might be noted that the HD560S is also something that I'm not completely offended by when there are much more offensive headphones out there.

My biggest thought so-far is "this is the 'concert hall / club" room effect / eq. They don't have much depth on any of my gear or much width, but they do sound "spacious" in that artificial way. The fact that the driver is so competent and the timbre is solid, lets me forgive the tonal issues and enjoy them for what they are.

My best summary of them currently (this is not my review) is that they turn everything you put into them into their "club mix" version. They are the fun button on most of my music, but some stuff they just kind go-on with their day. I have a feeling that @Rockwell might really like these. I unfortunately haven't heard the IER-Z1R, so I can't triangulate the bass there, but some of the other stuff I can.

I've got a couple more nights with the loaner and I don't know how much of my opinions will change, but currently most of my impressions align pretty darn close with Marv's. The best single DD driver IEM's I've heard before would be the Pinnacle P1 and VSonic GR09. The IE900 finally has me believing that a DD IEM can have decent resolution.

 

Any chance this loaner could extend to Canada? I would love to hear one but unless I can secure a loaner or a tour I probably won't get the chance.

Sometime in the next couple weeks I'll be sending my Oriolus Isabellae down for an SBAF mini-tour and I'd be happy to include one or both of you if you're interested.

 

Yes, please!

Ask Julie in the ie900 loaner thread.

 

That treble peak plus some impressions I've gotten from some trusted friends on HF have given me pause. I'd very much like to hear them though.