Sennheiser IE8

The basics

The Sennheiser IE 8 enables wearers to precisely fine-tune the bass response according to his or her preference. An interchangeable Kevlar reinforced cable ensures maximum flexibility and dynamic drivers with powerful neodymium magnets ensure outstanding sonic accuracy and clarity.

The good

Ear canal headphones are always good for low frequencies but the IE 8s take rumble to a whole new level, driving uranium-heavy bass deep, deep into your skull. The tiny single-driver phones come with a special screwdriver to tune the bass even further, letting you adjust the Richter scale sonics from merely earth-rattling to megathrust tsumani power. They’re not too shabby at the high end either, with a crisp, forceful delivery that extracts detail from dance, rock and classical tunes. While the IE8s are a feather-light 5g, the complete, humidity-controlled package includes ear tips to suit all sizes of lughole, cleaning tools and cable clips galore.

The bad

Don’t judge these Sennheisers on a single audition as, like hi-fi speakers, the dynamic drivers take a good few hours to ‘burn in’ and give their best performance. With everything else so fantastically well made, it’s strange to find a lowly nickel-plated jack on the other end of the cable – it can be prone to the odd crackle.

The bottom line

Keep the world out and the sound in with the most powerful isolating earphones we’ve ever tried. One word of warning: crank up the low end too much and you may enter a parallel universe composed of pure thundering bass.