Sennheiser Consumer AudioIE 80S BT Audiophile In Ear Bluetooth Headphone, Black

I have had tried a number of Sennheiser headphones over the years, some wired, some wireless and was overall pleased with the performance and user experience. I had very high hopes for these earphones.I'll start with the good.Bluetooth works pretty well. There is occasional stutter, but you can't have perfect reception in every environment.The sound quality is decent.The build quality is excellent.The kit is great and even includes Comply tips.The silicone tip size increment seems smaller than average, meaning that the size difference between small and medium is less that what I have experienced with other brands. Example: normally, I use smallest silicone tips, in this case, medium provided perfect fit, and large is just a tad too big. Basically, better fitting options, at least for people with small to medium ear canals.Cables are soft and sturdy.During a phonecall, the mics pass through some ambient sound, I suppose, to prevent people from yelling.USB-C connectorNow, the bad.For some obscure reason, despite positioning as audiophile, the sound adjustment dial is factory pre-set to maximum bass. Would not be the middle a better option (if not the minimum)?Whoever decided to assign the buttons to functions, clearly did not spend even an hour trying the product:there are four buttons: three have one function each (voice assistant, volume up, volume down). Then there is the middle button that does: power on/off, pairing, accept/end/decline call, play/pause, next/previous track. Not too much for one button? At minimum, the track control could have been put on the volume buttons.The buttons have almost no tactile feel, so after a month of daily use I am still fumbling around trying to find the right button.There is no option to pass through the sound and lower the volume while listening to music. Meaning that one HAS to remove one of the earphones whenever needing to hear something. Clumsy.The music needs to be stopBattery life is shorter than a working day, even without a commute (6 hours).1.5 hour charge time is waay to long. Despite having the USB-C connector, the charging speed is that of USB 2.x A chromebook with probably 50-100 larger battery charges faster than that. 1.5 hour charge time is waay to long, especially considering the battery life.The app seems useless. It allows for software equalizer, auto-off/auto-call accept and seeing which codec is used. That is it. On top of that, it takes >30 seconds to communicate with the headset that is already connected to the bluetooth.Regarding the software EQ: why even have it when the driver response can be tuned physically? BTW, the software EQ does not even have presets.Given all that, the price tag is extremely high, IMO.

Summary:I believe this is a failed attempt at creating a wireless set of earphones for audiophiles.Sound Quality:I owned the old IE80 For 6 years now and I was extremely disappointed when I tried those for the first time. I could not believe that IE80s BT is a true Sennheiser IE series. Yes, the sound is clear and yes the base and soundstage are OK. But these are nothing compared to the old IE80 even over the AAC codec (using Iphone XS). Actually, everything about the IE80s BT is very toned down version of what I am used to with the old earphones (base, volume, punch, clarity).Because I love the Sennheiser brand and was skeptic about the sound quality, I decided to remove the earphones from the bluetooth extension and plug them into the old IE80 cable. And..... WOW, The difference is night and day. The awesome sound expected from this pair of earbuds is back. The deep base, the instruments separation, the clarity and sound stage are all very apparent. Suddenly, the music started sending chills through my spine. This is how Sennheiser IE series should sound. They are even better than my old IE80 which were the best earphones I have ever tried.It turns out that the bluetooth extension is a useless piece of technology that has dramatically deteriorated the sound quality in an attempt to make those earphones wireless.Sennheiser, please do not do such compromise again!Battery Life:The battery life is below average, if you listen to music every day and use the IE80s BT for phone calls/ audio conferences (now that we are all working from home), you will find yourself in need to charge it almost every day.Features:Nothing that deserves to be noticed. It does give however an indication on when the battery is charged or needs to be recharged. I could also say that the ear hooks design is comfortable and the neck band is light.The smartphone app is very basic.Bottom Line:If you are an audiophile looking for true Sennheiser that gives justice to sound quality, buy the wired IE80S. If sound is not your thing and you are after some good earbuds but wireless is what matters to you, then the airpods pro will be a much better option from price/ battery life and features perspective.

I love Sennheiser. They produce the finest quality audio devices on Earth.That being said, I am truly disappointed with this headset. I felt okay paying $300 because of past trust in Sennheiser, but in this case I paid about $200 too much. Not having retractable earbuds and an extremely small battery is bad, however I could look past that if the sound quality was what I was expecting. Unfortunately it is not close. Even with all the extra ear pieces and bass adjustments the sound quality AND noice cancellation is MUCH less then the LG Tone. That headset is $150 and the battery would last about 16 hours of constant use. I'm lucky to make it to my lunch break with these Sennheisers.Overall would be an acceptable unit for $100 but not worth more than that.