Anyone bought Sennheiser IE80 S? Need a favour...

[Fry750]

Just a quick one (hopefully).

I've just bought some IE 80 S however I suspect they're fake.

The print quality on the box is pretty ropey and the Sennheiser blue looks off (too dark) HOWEVER it does have a Sennheiser authenticity sticker/hologram thing on it, which was never the case with fake IE80s.

Does anyone have a pair and still have the box they could check or better yet, photograph?

It seems the Sennheiser authenticity portal doesn't exist at the moment either, perhaps the pirates have cracked how to imitate rendering it useless...

Cheers!

 

[PapaLazaru]

First question and you know it's coming. Where did you buy them?

 

[Fry750]

First question and you know it's coming. Where did you buy them?

£40 from ebay.

They're definitely fake but oddly, they don't sound horrendous.

I was half expecting them not to work at all but I am slightly impressed.

They've come with all the accessories and presentation has been 99% spot on, even down to the Comply branded foam earbuds. The tell tale signs of being fakes are the print quality on the box, a really poor Sennheiser holographic sticker on the cable which is misaligned and ill-fitting, while sounding okay, they don't sound exceptionally detailed - just loud and bassy. The ear hooks look pretty cheap too, the fit isn't 100% and I'd expect much better from IEMs with an RRP of near £300.

Anyway, not bad for £40 though. Plus it gives people the impression they're real which is the most important thing

Slightly worrying from Sennheiser's point of view though, how can they combat this? They're very good fakes.

 

[Rroff]

Lot of clones use the MX500 drivers which aren't terrible, actually quite decent mid-range performance, but not in the same league as the IE80 driver.