Nothing is in the understanding that was not earlier in the senses. 1
This is what comes to mind while reading Jaques Lecan (Écrits, Norton, 2001/1901) and listening to the sound of the Sennheiser IE800 headphone today (Jean Michelle Jarre, Essentials and Rarities, 2011) while drinking coffee today. Back in 1994, The National Endowment for the Humanities gave our translator (Fink) some $90,000 over 3 years to produce this translation, which is about what you would need to put together a system with any one of these speakers.
Looking at the Sennheiser IE800 one would guess that the product was about $65.00 USD - Honestly. Nothing about the design hints at luxury, rarity or exclusivity other than the issues we have noted with its general usability not related to fidelity.
$2K after tax ($1000 for the headphone) will get you this portable hit of crack, included in the price, an unlocked 64GB iPhone 5 and a copy of Jarre's Essentials and Rarities, which makes excellent listening. Truth be told, you will be hard-pressed to find a better sounding version of Jarre in the field. You may couple the iPhone 5 with a Classe CTM 800 DAC/pre-amplifier ($5000 USD), Classe CT-M600 ($13,000 USD/pair) amplifiers as a high-powered alternative to a Devialet 500 stack, and pair a pair of B&W 800 Diamond speakers ($24,000 USD/pair, $42,000 total system), to bring the sound from in your ears to out in the room at a 42x cost in similar fidelity, and gain something for it, but you will still be missing some (for all the pain of it) of the sound the Sennheiser IE800 headphone delivers.
Listening to Jarre, you will hear all of Jean Michelle Jarre, say his Oxygene IV in astute glory - not the relaxed, airy, musical yet-hyperdetailed sound of a Stax Omega II and vacuum tube 007T electrostatic amplified sound, or the "where is the subwoofer/what's with the detail?" Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond with Classe amp sound, but a solid combination of them both.
You'll have in-ear quite high-fidelity (better than the $1299 USD AKG 3003) headphone sound, for 1/5 the price of Stax - with more bass and dynamics - and perhaps more detail and musicality than that of the B&W 800 system for 1/42nd the price, though this may be room and ear dependent.
What we are saying is that the quality of the Sennheiser IE800 is at such a level that we wish to abandon the issue of in-ear headphone sound quality (it's almost there), and proceed to audition leading hi-fi speakers of similar design.
Now, what are the issues? First, you have the issue that what looks to be $65 USD is in-fact $1K+ - could not Hermes, Coach, or even Lacoste produce a cable jacket and leather connector over-lay for this Sennheiser "serpent?" We asked at Gucci about a custom commission, and received a negative response, but we will have to perhaps just pursue the issue ourselves to arrive at something aesthetically pleasing and still functionally usable.
We do not recommend that you wrap the IE800's headphone cable around the iPhone to place in pocket, even for a short time, as this will result in cable "kinks" which may over-time reduce and destroy the cable, not a good thing for such a "gem."
Second, in the middle of the cable where you would today expect a microphone and volume control, you have almost a 2" long connector of no practical use-value for yourself. In the IE800, the cable is seperated into two segments via this connector, which in practical terms means more bulk, "weight" (due to in-ear size), an annoyance, both aesthetically (it's "butt" ugly) and usefully (it gets in the way). Futher, at the bottom of the cable you will see an "L" mini-jack connector just under 1" which truthfully resembles a radio-antennae. If this turned our GSM mobile phone into a satellite phone or some such bono, then we'd be perfectly happy. It does not - and it's L-design reduces an already hypochondriac-ally (excuse the term) short cable by 1".
The two major issues we have with the IE800 design are 1) the length of the cable (it's too short by about 3"), and 2) the non-standard size of the ear-tips. In our testing, we've settled on the medium sized, non-oval variety included, and fully inserted into the ears, quite deeply (and non-comfortably) for genuine sonic potential. Our Sennheiser CX500, which we truly prefer as an all-rounder and is glorious for jogging and walking has both more apt cable length (we've of average male height, arm length and proportion) for hand and pocket music placement, and also better sized ear-pads, which are user-replaceable, for our typical sized ears.
If this was a $200 in-ear headphone, we'd be ecstatic. The quality is above that of the AKG 3003 ($1299 USD), and Sure SE535 ($500 USD), which we compared it to, happily. That a $120 headphone like the AKG K375 looks better, in terms of industrial design, and for the issues we've mentioned, we'd like to see Sennheiser re-tackle product design while keeping the sonics as they are.
For a $1000 introduction to hi-fi, we can whole-heatedly say that the IE800 offers value and sonics to boot. Sound quality wise, certainly it is more than 10x the headphone than our $100 '90's Sony in-ears with their amorphous diamond capsules that would completely distort at high-volumes. Not so with the IE800. Sonically, it's solid.
If you would like to see that value stay and also have something to look at that says you've spent some money, we would recommend you double up your purchase and listen to the Audeze LCD-3 planar headphone ($2000 USD). For that price you'll get not only lovely sonics (of slightly less resolution), but also true comfort with solid metalwork throughout, a leather headband, lambskin earpads, Zebrano wood enclosures, and lovely design.
We can't recommend a speaker at $1000/pair that offers a similar level of detail, coverage and musically revealing sonics that the IE800 portrays. In that respect, it's a game-changer!
Will there be a l'or blanc (d'or) edition shipping, Sennheiser? That is what we wish to see! In all respects but style and ergo(nomics), Sennheiser's IE800 headphone is a Bugatti Veyron Coupe at a full 100 mph ahead of the competition, once put firmly in your ears.
For those with $1M+ to spare, recommended. It's less an investment than a passing treat.
Sennheiser IE 800 In-Ear Headphones
www.sennheiser.com
2013/08/01 JP
www.hifiart.ca
Product Award: 20/100
Sound Rating: 94/100
Total Points: 104/200
Price: $1,000.00 CDN
+ Sound
- Ergonomics - Looks - Quality
Comparison
1. Esleton X Diamond Speaker, $65,000.00 USD, www.estelon.com
2. B&W 800 Diamond Speaker, $24,000 USD, www.bowers-wilkins.com
3. Raidho D1 Speaker, $28,500.00 USD, www.raidho.dk
4. The B&W Nautilus Speaker System @ £55,000 GBP (UK), www.bowers-wilkins.com
Headphones for Reference
1. AKG K3003 Headphone, $1300 USD, www.akg.com
2. Audeze LCD-3 Headphone, $2000 USD, www.audeze.com
3. Stax 009 Headphone, $5500 USD,
Stax SRM 727 II Headphone Amplifier, $2200 USD , www.stax.co.jp
Amplifiers for Reference Amplification
1. Classe CTM-500 Preamplifer, $5000 USD, Classe CT-M600 Monoblock Amplifiers, $13,000 USD/pair, www.classeaudio.com
2. Devialet 240 Integrated Amplifiers, $17,500 each, $35,000/pair or $70,000/quad amplification (Nautilus), www.devialet.com
Reference
1. NIHIL EST IN INTELLECTU QUOD NON PRIUS FUERIT IN SENSU, Latin.
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