Every now and then, I simply want a break from Bluetooth headphones. I get fed up with recharging them. Heaven forbid I by accident put my cellphone in my left pocket whereas out and about as a substitute of my proper and begin noticing audio cutouts. (Sure, this may nonetheless occur with right this moment’s greatest wi-fi earbuds and telephones.) And I remind myself that I’m robbing my ears of the true potential of my cultivated lossless music library by settling for Bluetooth codecs as a substitute of going wired. I’ve been feeling that wi-fi fatigue recently, and it simply so occurs that Sennheiser simply launched a brand new pair of wired earbuds, the IE 200, that appeared price making an attempt out.
These $149.95 earbuds promise balanced, detailed sound in a compact in-ear monitor (IEM) with adjustable ear hooks and a removable braided cable. There’s no built-in mic — these are music-only buds — and Sennheiser allows you to select between roughly bass by means of a singular “dual-tunable” ear tip design. In a single place, the IE 200s add some punch to the low finish. However mount their ear ideas within the outer place, and the decrease frequencies grow to be extra impartial.
The IE 200s borrow a lot of their DNA from Sennheiser’s $700 IE 600 earbuds — ranked among the many crème de la crème of IEMs — and purpose to ship a few of that magic at a extra accessible value level. The corporate despatched me a pair of the IE 600s to check alongside its newest buds so I may examine and distinction. However my focus whereas utilizing these has been to maintain issues informal; I didn’t run them by means of a DAC or do a lot intense analytical listening at house. I simply needed to make my music time really feel extra intentional and deliberate. Wired headphones will at all times do this extra successfully than a set of AirPods Professional and even Sennheiser’s personal Momentum True Wi-fi 3. “It’d be good if it meant one thing once more,” I posited aloud on the espresso store — most likely alarming the particular person sitting close by who heard me say that out of the blue.
The best way I devour music varies primarily based on what cellphone I’m at present utilizing. If it’s an iPhone, I’ll be carrying round hundreds of music tracks encoded in Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) that I’ve amassed by means of the years. I at all times need to have my favourite albums inside attain, it doesn’t matter what my present Spotify or Apple Music subscription standing is. And I’ve tried to protect my private assortment in affordable high quality with out going too overboard; if I ever want high-resolution lossless audio, I’ll flip to Amazon Music or one thing like Qobuz.
After I’m utilizing an Android cellphone, the place ALAC is considerably misplaced, I’ll principally follow Spotify, Amazon, and private library stuff that I’ve uploaded to YouTube Music. (I actually can’t advocate that service sufficient for storing your hard-to-find tracks within the cloud. It doesn’t do any of Apple Music’s mistake-prone monitor matching nonsense and makes use of solely the information and monitor metadata that you simply feed it. If you happen to’re a nerd like me who’s meticulous about that stuff, it’s nice — and free.)
However the dilemma in both situation was the identical: I rapidly crash-landed again in our fashionable actuality the place the headphone jack doesn’t exist on in style smartphones. So I swallowed my satisfaction whereas testing the IE 200s and made positive to hold two dongles with me always: a 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter for my iPhone 14 Professional Max and a USB-C equal for my Pixel 7.
The variations between the IE 200 and far pricier IE 600 start proper out of the field. The 600s include a hardshell case, whereas the 200s match right into a mushy carrying pouch. The nicer case has sufficient spare room for a backup / substitute cable, however that’d be a decent match within the pouch. Each the IE 200 and IE 600 embody six units of ideas: three sizes of silicone and three foam options. I’m a foam particular person each time given the selection, and the most important dimension did me advantageous all through all of my testing.
The 2 units of earbuds share the identical outer casing form and are very comparable in dimension, however they use totally different supplies. The IE 600s are created from a extremely neat hand-finished 3D-printed zirconium shell that may most likely look pretty much as good in 5 years because it does right this moment. Sennheiser wasn’t about to match that degree of workmanship with the mainstream IE 200s, so it opted as a substitute for a stealthy all-black plastic shell. It may not age as gracefully, however it nonetheless appears smooth. In each instances, the earpieces had been properly compact and sat comfortable and flush in my ears. They’re each a lot safe — particularly with these foam ideas. Sennheiser has accomplished a wonderful job with ergonomics right here: the IE 200s match me naturally and comfortably in a means that not all earbuds do, and my glasses weren’t a problem for the adjustable ear hooks.
The braided cable bundled with the IE 200s was tremendous light-weight and principally felt like nothing as I used to be sporting them. That’s a very good factor, however the twine isn’t resistant to microphonics and jostling noise while you’re on the transfer. Like Sennheiser’s different IEMs, these connect to the cable utilizing MMCX connectors, however the recessed connector design on the earpiece may pose an issue for some aftermarket cables; make certain they’re particularly suitable with Sennheiser’s merchandise.
Sennheiser describes the IE 200s as “exceptionally impartial,” however that’s not correct. Seems, a impartial presentation simply isn’t very thrilling to a variety of common customers, and these undoubtedly share a V-shaped sound signature that’s just like the IE 600s. The bass enhance on the inexpensive earbuds is inoffensive and by no means veers into bloated territory. Every thing is effectively managed, which extends to their balanced mids and elevated treble frequencies. The IE 200s are articulate, detailed, and an pleasing hear.
However you’re not precisely getting the identical expertise as from the already famend IE 600s. Regardless of these two units of earbuds sharing the same frequency response, you don’t want fancy audio gear to note that the costlier pair has a smoother, extra dynamic tonality to them. The sub-bass hits a bit of fuller. Every thing feels richer and fewer clinically sharp than on the IE 200s, and the soundstage is much less condensed. The IE 600s have simply that further contact of heat and authority to them. There’s a motive these buds are separated by a whole lot of {dollars}, however I nonetheless consider the $150 IE 200s are a very good choice when you’re trying to spend a bit on wired earbuds. You gained’t be as involved with babying them, and so they sound a lot good. I’m not right here to debate whether or not “Chi-fi” IEMs are a wiser purchase; I’m positive you will discover all kinds of debates about that throughout headphone boards and on YouTube.
However I’ll say that Sennheiser’s “dual-tunable” ear tip idea appears very gimmicky. Most individuals will seat the ear ideas flush with the casing, and that’s the place the IE 200s carry out their greatest and are extra bass-forward. To chop again on that low finish for the “analytical” listening mode, you could pull the information ahead to a secondary place. The best means to do that is to completely take away them and put the information again on very gently; they only type of catch naturally at that preliminary outer place. Push extra, and so they’ll transfer to the bassier seating. The issue is that it’s very straightforward for the tricks to transfer as you’re placing the IE 200s into your ears, so if you need the sunshine bass tuning, you’ve bought to watch out. Ultimately, it’s not price it: these earbuds sound higher with fuller bass, and this concept appears a bit of too intelligent for its personal good.
It’s been good getting reacquainted with wired earbuds whereas reviewing the IE 200s. I nonetheless bemoan dongle life, and it may be awkward after I sometimes neglect that there’s no mic on these when answering a name. However neither of these issues is sufficient to cease me from sometimes pushing apart Bluetooth earphones — even for all their conveniences — and plugging in. After I take the time, that’s nonetheless after I really feel essentially the most related to the music I’ve beloved for many years and the place it sounds one of the best. I’ll nonetheless seize my most popular wi-fi earbuds on most days; that’s not going to vary. However when you decide up Sennheiser’s latest earbuds, you would possibly end up having fun with the identical occasional reprieve from our wi-fi world.
Pictures by Chris Welch / The Verge
