General Evaluation
Sennheiser is a trusted German engineering company known for its legendary tonality tuning skills and acoustic design capabilities. It is not just a simple headphone manufacturer, but rather an innovation giant that creates industry-leading technologies.
Beauties like HD 600, HD 800, IE 800 are Sennheiser legends with some signature characters. These masterpieces that are loved enough to inspire the saying “legends never die” and are still used with respect, are living proofs of everything we said above.
In the In-Ear Flagship Headphones category; after the IE 800 and the improved model IE 800 S, the company made a radical design change and presented us with one of its top-class audiophile models; IE 300 in 2021. We predicted that with the IE 300, we would now see the body design we are accustomed to seeing in the brand’s “PRO” series in audiophile class products.
This body design; Thanks to its structure similar to the shape of the ear canal, it remains more fixed in the ear compared to the IE 800 and IE 800 S, creating a stable design.
The IE 800 and 800 S were technical beasts with a natural character that played with a peaceful smoothness, and we found their tonal character and technical performance to be very successful in every respect. Especially the IE 800 S…
The IE 900 not only adds minor improvements to the IE 800 S, but also raises the bar to a whole new level.
These are the highest resolution and most detailed dynamic driver in-ear headphones we’ve ever heard. And they’re a lot of fun!
The IE 900 welcomes us with a super premium presentation. When we remove the cardboard box, we encounter another very high-quality box inside. Even touching this box is a pleasure. It is very smooth. When we open the box by pulling it to the side; the certificate of reliability greets us to indicate the originality of the headset. Then, we remove the protective paper and voila, the IE 900s greet us like jewels.
Presentation
In addition to this, inside the box;
· 6 Pairs of Different Sizes; 3 Memory Sponge, 3 Silicone Spare Tips
· 1 Clip
· 1 Cleaning Stick
· User and Safety Manual
· Very Protective, Very Beautiful Carrying Case
· 1 Piece 2.5mm MMCX Cable
· 1 Piece 3.5mm MMCX Cable
· 1 Piece 4.4mm MMCX Cable
It comes out. A great presentation for a great headphone!
The IE 900 features design lines and design elements that we are not used to seeing from Sennheiser.
The IE 800 and 800 S, the previous flagships of the brand, were models that made a difference in the sector with their ceramic body structures. In addition to some advantages provided by the ceramic structure in terms of acoustics, these headphones were also jaw-dropping with their size and weight criteria. These two were monsters that were so small and light that they could almost disappear in the ear. In addition, the ceramic material had a satisfying touch that provided a smooth feeling in the hand.
IE 900 has a solid, CNC machined (even the processing paths were not closed, but left on the body) ALUMINUM body.
This feature alone could make the headphones a lifelong music companion; on top of that, we’ve seen a very high-quality MMCX socket for the first time in an audiophile-grade product from the brand.
MMCX inputs are very popular connection types that stand out with their universal compatibility. Since many cable manufacturers around the world already have many alternative cable models suitable for this input, by purchasing a headset with the same input; you will have the opportunity to easily replace your stock cable with a cable from another brand of your choice.
Cable quality and type is a strong influencing factor for this level of sensitive headphones. A pure silver cable, for example, that you might want to pair with the IE 900, can increase transparency levels while pushing the tonal character to the edge of the brightness abyss. However, a thicker diameter pure copper cable will result in a warmer presentation.
The IE 900 is an advantageous headset in this respect, and yes, although many MMCX “After Market” cables are fully compatible here, unfortunately not all of them!
The protective body insert around the MMCX sockets on our model is in a structure that will not accept some cable types. We could not provide a match with many of the “After Market” cable types we have.
Are we upset about this? Not too much because the 3 stock cables provided in the box have all the outputs except 6.35mm that you can find on a music player / amplifier and are also of sufficient quality. Could it be of better quality? Of course, it could be.
While the body quality is top notch, the cable quality is merely okay. We would have liked to see a braided, silver-plated copper cable.
The parts of the stock cables that will be behind the ear; have memory. While this type of design increases the stability of the headset on the ear and makes it more suitable for daily use and active life scenarios, we can say that it generally creates a difference, as most users do not prefer this design.
IE 900 is a tank-like headset. There is not even a breaking point on the body. We are talking about CNC machined 1st Class solid aluminum. It is not that easy to damage this headset even if you want to.
Aluminum cabinets are usually the first choice of premium, design-oriented brands like Bang & Olufsen. We believe that Sennheiser has made a useful choice here, which will pay off in the long run.
The stock cables included in the box seem to be sufficient in terms of durability. Although the touch does not feel as premium as the body, they are at a level that will meet your general expectations in terms of material quality.
The MMCX sockets on the body provide a very high quality and solid connection, and can be easily separated, preventing situations that could damage the headset when you want to change the cable. This is a possible situation due to the MMCX male connection point being very thin.
While the IE 800 and 800 S were very pleasing to some ears in terms of comfort criteria, they had designs that left others in a dilemma and could receive different interpretations in terms of ergonomics.
While their tiny volume and very light structure provide a huge advantage to the models in this sense, due to the fact that the connection point on the cable, which we call “Y-Split”, is a bit thick and heavy, especially when active, the headphones could slide downwards and fall from your ears. Since the cables of the models cannot be separated from the body, the option of switching to another cable was obviously not among the features offered to you. However, when used in a stationary position, for example while sitting; these headphones still maintain their position, being among the most comfortable models we have tried.
With a body weight of 4 grams, the IE 900 exhibits an unexpected lightness for its size. It deserves this title thanks to its ergonomic structure and design resembling the shape of the ear canal.
The model; With its memory cable support that can take the shape of a behind-the-ear shape, it manages to stay very stable once it is placed in the ear, allowing you to achieve a reassuring fit every time.
Perhaps the only point that could be deducted here would be the compatibility of aluminum with the skin. Although we are not complaining, our friends living in cold climates may experience a decrease in comfort after the cold touch they feel when they wear these headphones outside. The ceramic body was more forgiving in this sense.
The IE 900 is a headphone with serious potential, representing the brand’s new signature sound character after the IE 300, on top of the IE 800 and 800 S masterpieces.
The IE 900 is the most detailed, highest resolution and fastest dynamic driver in-ear headphone we’ve ever heard.
When we consider multi-driver structures, we see that these guys have some serious advantages. Hybrid and multi-driver iems, which have cleverly designed crossover circuits and serious engineering in creating the acoustics in the cabin, generally exhibit solid instrument separation and on-stage placement skills, while also being able to handle complex parts more easily.
Sennheiser has always been specialized in designing single dynamic driver headphone models. The company will conduct R&D in the field of 7mm driver technology and has spent many years trying to reach the potential limits of this structure. We can say that these efforts are not in vain. To have the same idea as us, all you have to do is place the new IE 900 in your ear.
The bass response of the IE 900 can be described as relatively natural and balanced, accompanied by sub-basses that are colored by 5dB on average. At least, we can say that it gives a much more natural response than its sibling, the IE 300.
From a technical perspective, we can say that our new beast is the cleanest, most transparent, most uncompressed and most detailed bass-producing machine we have ever heard. From textural to punchy, the bass performance of this headphone makes it hard to believe that the source is a 7mm driver.
A note here: It is very important to feed IE 900 with powerful sources of quality that can match it, especially in order to reach a certain level in terms of intensity and then resolution.
Aside from the amazing bass response, we still like the mid- to upper-midrange character of the IE 800 s better.
IE 900, especially next to the realistic and spacious midranges of 800 S, remains a bit colorful. Here we can hear that female vocals are brighter than their real versions and instruments like violins are reproduced quite vividly. Male vocals and instruments with low notes can be reproduced with a lot of body and structure this time, and they have a character that does not compromise on naturalness.
Although the instrument separation is good and flawless, the IE 900 is not as good as its sibling IE 800 S in terms of on-stage placement, size and spaciousness. It is obvious that this has more to do with the acoustic structure of the cabins than with the tonal character. However, we need to think about this sentence in another way. In terms of on-stage criteria, the IE 900 is actually a very good headphone, but the IE 800 S is out of this world…
Upper frequencies usually divide listeners into poles with their tonal differences. While some like bright, aggressive and detail-oriented presentations, others tend to stay on the safe shore and tend towards warm characters that are far from sharpness and sibilance.
IE 900 is on the relatively balanced edge of the bright land. Apart from the coloration of the air frequencies that could better reveal its technical capacity and create transparency, and the slightly aggressive peak fired around the 7kHz region, we can say that it actually starts to sound natural after the adaptation period is over.
This headphone with its energetic, uplifting musical character represents the next level that Sennheiser has achieved in sound quality criteria.
