to; close your eyes, and lifelike sibilants make it feel like the vocalist is in the room, singing just

The cable terminates in a 3.5mm plug at one end and connects to the earphones via MMCX connectors at the other. The sections before those connectors are sheathed in a semi-rigid, flexible material that allows you to hook the cabling over your ears for greater in-ear stability. Everyone who is into headphones surely has heard of the German Sennheiser. Sennheiserhas been active for over 75 years and they are one of the most respected companies in audio. Recently its headphone division was acquired by the Swiss Sonova group, and that’s starting to show. Why not make balanced, high-fidelity sound available to everyone, no matter where they are? The IE 200 is Sennheiser’s answer. Whether you’re a lifelong audiophile — or you just want better sound on the road — these exceptionally neutral and precise earphones reveal an entire world of new detail. For one, they’re a very smooth listen – despite the audiophile nature Sennheiser is claiming for the IE 200, I don’t sense they’re bringing an elevated level of detail to music. With Janelle Monae’s Can’t Live without You Love, they don’t strike me as the most revealing or exacting pair, but the sound they produce goes down easily. But such features have little to do with sound quality, and in the context of performance-per-pound value, wired models usually have the advantage over their wireless peers.

Wired in-ear headphones may have declined in popularity but the Sennheiser IE 200’s neutral sound shows they’re still alive and kicking

Overall, I am very pleased with the low-end performance of the IE 200. Some planar IEMs in this price range offer a more robust sub-bass, but the IE 200 offer a more physical mid-bass punch that evens the odds. Midrange To be able to deliver such detailed and analytical sound at what is a relatively affordable price is a real achievement and a testament to Sennheiser’s technical expertise. The IE 200 aren’t without a few shortcomings, however. The earphones, as you can see in the pictures, come in a simple Sennheiser branded box. While it looks like the other IE series boxes, it is a simpler version of it. The box nicely displays the IE 200 and the cable, but it’s actually a very simple box. Looking at the price the IE 200 is going for, this does make sense. With the IE 200 Sennheiser is featuring their dual-tuneable ear tips. Basically, this means that you can tune the bass presentation depending on how you place the tip on the nozzle. When you place the tip more to the front, the bass presentation is lighter as you can see in the image below.

You just plug it into your audio source of choice (and if you've got an iPhone that means an adapter, unsurprisingly) and press play. What’s less certain with Sennheiser earbuds is the sound character we’re going to be met with. The audio brand has nailed class-leading insight and tonal neutrality in countless models, but has also shown an inclination towards richer, fuller and not so universally appealing sonic signatures. Unfortunately with the IE 300, it’s more a case of the latter. So final set up listening was done with the iBasso DX160 to the A90D and out single ended. DUNU S&S tips and a few Oktoberfest beers.Add Sennheiser’s 2-year warranty policy and excellent customer support, and suddenly the IE 200 feel like an investment you are unlikely to regret as long as you know what you are getting. We test every set of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.