Sennheiser sold its consumer electronics business to SONOVA, the world's top medical audiology group, in 2021 after 75 years of growth. Shortly after the acquisition was officially announced, Sennheiser officially unveiled the IE900, the new flagship in-ear earbuds for the IE series.
In all likelihood, the IE900 will be the last of Sennheiser's flagships to be fully developed and independently designed after the acquisition, with flagship headsets yet to come, and a host of future flagships in the series, possibly becoming less pedigreed as a result of the acquisition. Acquisition and become less "pure" pedigree. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing for acquisitions.
So the IE900 is probably Sennheiser's "Last Dance" in the high-end range, at the level of products that represent the brand. How will this new flagship, priced at $10,999, fare?
Exquisite and luxurious appearance and accessories
For the appearance and accessories, the IE900 has a very exquisite appearance design and luxury accessories. Inside the package*** comes with three cables, three cables for 3.5mm standard headphone plug, 4.4 and 2.5mm balanced headphone plug cables. The configuration of three cables is not common in today's headphones, most of them will be matched in the form of an adapter, and three cables undoubtedly adds a lot of cost.
In the headset cavity design, IE900 used CNC aluminum alloy processing, precision machine tools directly using the process of digging aluminum to make the cavity of the shell, using a stepped design, very fine carving out of the headset cavity on the texture, the color scheme is also used in the original color of aluminum alloy, the appearance of the silver is still very much a sense of seniority. Earbuds using mmcx pin design, but and the common form of socket on the market is slightly different, the socket and wire part will have a small step, if you want to change the line, you may need to actually try to see if it can be inserted.
Other accessories, IE900 comes with a cloth storage bag, there are six pairs of three sizes of two materials of the earcups, respectively, for the traditional silicone material as well as memory sponge material, Sennheiser's flagship earbuds series of sponge sets have been very soft, these two earcups for the sound of the impact is not too big, you can rely on their own preferred material to choose. It's also worth mentioning that the earcups have a dust mesh in the center section, which can better block dust and earwax from entering the cavity.
Reference Devices and Records
For the IE900 flagship earbuds, I mainly used the supplied 4.4mm balanced plug cable, the portable reference devices mainly used the R8 player from Hai Bei as the audio source, and the desktop devices mainly used the SSL2 sound card and the S6PRO all-in-one PC from AUNE as the audio source. The portable reference device mainly uses the R8 player of Hai Bei as the audio source, and the desktop device mainly uses the SSL2 sound card and the S6PRO all-in-one computer from AUNE as the audio source. The reference tracks are mainly for classical and pop music, with Apple Music as the playback software for the Sea Shell and Qobuz streaming platform as the reference for the desktop device.
For classical music, the main references were large symphonies and 3-5 repertoire that I made. For pop music, the main choices are such as the modern pop Billie Eilish, Tian Fu Zhen also has some classic old people's voice recordings. However, as a matter of personal preference and product positioning, the description of the sound is mainly from classical music, and the performance of pop music is also mentioned.
A true return to the classics with modern advances
If I were to describe the IE900's sound performance in a single sentence, as I did in my previous review of the IE300, Sennheiser has finally gone back to the old Sennheiser sound style that enthusiasts have talked about with the new flagship in-ear series. "The IE900 is just as good as the IE300, and the IE900 is just as good as the IE300. IE900 and IE300 also inherited the same lineage, inherited the Sennheiser has always been excellent low-frequency performance, sense of atmosphere and sense of enclosure. Compared to the classic sound of the old flagship, thanks to the development of diaphragm materials and technology, the new IE900 undoubtedly in the quality of the sound to improve very much, and in the current era of sound style emphasizing detail, high frequency, speed, with modern high quality interpretation of the once classic warm and magnificent sound style, which is undoubtedly moving and addictive.
The new IE900 is very close to what the IE8 used to bring to us in terms of classical music, with a huge sense of low-frequency volume and envelopment for a very enjoyable listening experience, and compared to the older generation of products, the new IE900 has almost no masking effect on the mid-range and high-frequency frequencies when the low-frequency volume remains unchanged, and the IE8 is still a thicker style than the previous generation of products. If the IE8 is a thicker overall style of sound, then the IE900 is already a balanced style of sound, but the low-frequency sense of quantity is more prominent products.
In terms of specific instrumental performance, the IE900 is a bit more interesting, with excellent detail and relatively precise junction position, which are very similar to the modern Sennheiser sound style, high quality. But in the low-frequency sound section has a very good sense of volume and envelopment. And the low end is always in a position where it's on the verge of breaking down but never out of control, which is very interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Resolution, imaging, transparency, and low-frequency volume and envelopment are not in conflict, and can be obtained at the same time, which can be said to be very rare in the current earbuds.
Finally, about pop music, excellent low-frequency performance for today's pop music, of course, is a very big plus, whether it's a Hip-Hop class of very "rock" accompaniment, or regular pop music brought by the rhythm, the low-frequency performance is very able to bring enough sense of immersion, and excellent low-frequency performance is not interference in the mid-range of the sound, but also the low-frequency performance. The low-frequency performance does not interfere with the performance of the middle and high frequencies, as well as vocals. In terms of vocal imaging, the Sensei has inherited a consistent style, where the position of the vocals is more restrained, not very close to the distance, but also the same can be felt in the vocals of the excellent imaging and mouth shape.
Summary:
If you talk to the old generation of enthusiasts about the combination of IPC + IE8, it is a topic that was once talked about in the Walkman circle. Now a decade has passed, the classic products have been discontinued, in fact, more of the burners for the classic nostalgia and the era of sound characteristics of a gone. However, IE900 gives a close to perfect answer, 10,999 yuan price is not low for single dynamic circle, but for the current flagship earbuds, which is not a very expensive price, and I personally believe that it gives you the sound style, is currently on the market how much money is also very difficult to find.
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