Consumer Audio Sennheiser IE 200, Wired, Medium

Quando gli auricolari scompaiono, resta solo la musica. Ho acquistato questi auricolari per affiancarli al mio lettore Hi-Res portatile durante i viaggi. A casa utilizzo un impianto di livello superiore, quindi non cercavo un prodotto che stupisse con bassi esagerati o dettagli artificialmente enfatizzati. Cercavo qualcosa che mi permettesse di ritrovare il piacere dell'ascolto. Le Sennheiser IE 200 hanno fatto esattamente questo. La loro qualità migliore, a mio avviso, è una: dopo pochi minuti ci si dimentica di averle indossate. Non perché siano soltanto comode, ma perché smettono di attirare l'attenzione su sé stesse. La musica prende il loro posto. Il primo album che ho ascoltato è stato Come un cammello in una grondaia di Franco Battiato, iniziando da L'ombra della luce. La voce è naturale, gli strumenti hanno il loro spazio e tutto viene restituito con equilibrio, senza mai cercare l'effetto spettacolare. Sono auricolari che non impressionano con effetti speciali. Ti invitano invece ad ascoltare un album dall'inizio alla fine, dimenticando che stai valutando un prodotto. Per me è il complimento più grande che si possa fare a un sistema audio. Se cercate bassi invadenti o un suono "da vetrina", probabilmente esistono alternative più adatte. Se invece desiderate un ascolto equilibrato, raffinato e capace di mettere la musica al centro, le IE 200 meritano davvero di essere prese in considerazione. La migliore recensione che riesco a fare è questa: dopo pochi minuti ho smesso di ascoltare gli auricolari e ho ricominciato ad ascoltare la musica.

Great entry level IEMs. The included foam tips are actually great and isolated external noise pretty good. I mostly listen to rock, metal, heavy metal, death metal, hard rock and such, and this earphones brings life to them. I previously owned a CX27s and the upgrade is really noticable. The guitar solos sound "crunchy" and textured. The kick drum sounds tight "thud", doesnt sound like flat "boom". Overall the the audio output quality is very good for the price. The wire quality could have been better, it has that "microphonic" character, where when the cables rub on your cloths, the sound travels to your ears.

Słuchawki są bardzo dobrze wykonane, w końcu to Sennheiser. Po podłączeniu do DAC-a grają świetnie, moim zdaniem nawet lepiej niż moje DT 770 Pro. Słychać bardzo dobry bas i mnóstwo detali w utworach. Niestety, nie są to słuchawki dla każdego i na pewno nie nadają się do długich sesji. W moim przypadku leżały w uchu bardzo niewygodnie, a z czasem zaczęły wręcz powodować podrażnienia. Mam wrażenie, że problem leży w ich kształcie. Jak na dokanałówki wydają się dość duże. Sam proces wkładania też jest irytujący, ponieważ słuchawki łatwo obracają się na kablu, co utrudnia poprawne umieszczenie ich w uchu i dopasowanie pałąka do jego kształtu. Największym minusem okazał się jednak brak komfortu dla ucha przy dłuższym użytkowaniu. One nie oddychają i ucho wewnątrz się poci. Po kilku sesjach wkładania, wyjmowania i słuchania muzyki nabawiłem się zapalenia ucha zewnętrznego i musiałem wdrożyć antybiotykoterapię. Z tego powodu mogę dać tylko 2 gwiazdki. Gdyby nie znakomita jakość dźwięku, byłaby tylko 1, bo poza brzmieniem słuchawki niczym pozytywnie mnie nie zaskoczyły.

Probably the most comfortable pair of in-ear headphones I've owned. The plastic design may seem like a downside, but it makes these so incredibly light that they're effortless to wear, fitting securely in my ear. Some people swear by alternative eartips, but the stock ones work just fine for my ears and I have plenty of deep bass. Sound feels very balanced, not getting 'boomy', but also somewhat fun and detailed sounding. Perhaps a tiny bit sharp on some music for my tastes, but that might be my own preference and it was something I got used to quickly. The stock cable is very noisy (i.e. you'll hear it move about), but bending to ear-hooks so that they make contact with your ear and zipping up the ferrule (plastic bead) up to your neck helps a lot, but I'm mostly using these indoors so the sound doesn't bother me much, the cable is super light though and switching to a different cable I immediately noticed that it was so much heavier and thus less comfortable, even if the stock one is prone to tangling and stiff enough to transfer a lot of vibration. So that's something that'll be up to personal preference and you may be fine with what comes with it (and if you do replace it, I'd advise picking up one that's as light as possible, since the ie200's lightness is one of it's greatest strengths when it comes to comfort). Overall I'm extremely happy with these. I struggle to get in-ear headphones to stay in my ears, but after maybe a week of adjusting I don't even notice I'm wearing them, and the sound quality is fantastic for the price point. I find myself barely wearing the full size over-ear headphones I wear anymore, because in most scenarios these sound as good or better. If the next version manages to include a softer cable (and ditches gimmicky low-bass eartip position that only really serves as a possible point of failure - though one that can be fixed with a tiny bit of tape, if you're not getting a good seal) it will be a pretty flawless product in my opinion.

OK I accept you wont get super hi-fi quality with this design but some of the reviews online over-egg it. In general it does the job, with a couple of exceptions - the over-ear bits are deliberately flexible, presumably for easy adjustment, but this also makes them difficult to fit in the first place, and I found they kept coming off, which defeats the purpose of this design. Also the markings for right and left are very difficult to spot, at least for an old geezer like me - even with glasses