Sennheiser IE 200

Wired in-ears with Sennheiser's audiophile DNA

After my audition with the Sennheiser IE 200 in-ear headphones, the word "refreshing" comes to mind. It's an appropriate term for describing the balanced, linear sound — and the fact that the company can deliver their carefully tuned signature performance in such an accessibly priced earbud. Sennheiser applied what they learned from developing their top-of-the-line IE 900 and superb IE 600 in-ear monitors (IEMs) to create these sonically focused gems.   

The housing and driver design are similar to those higher-end earbuds, so I found the IEM-style fit very familiar. Sennheiser uses different materials for these budget-priced earbuds, but they still feel lightweight and durable. They also offer a "dual tuning" that lets you choose the amount of bass or treble detail based on how you position them (more on that below).  

Sennheiser's high-performance drivers

Sennheiser included their 7mm “extra wide band” dynamic drivers. These tiny full-range transducers cover a wide frequency range with clarity. And they create a nicely sized, just-outside-the-head soundstage that you don't often get from in-ear headphones.  

There's a single driver inside each earbud, and that design can lead to better cohesiveness than more complicated systems that use multiple drivers and a crossover. But the tradeoff is often less detail or distinction between frequencies. That's simply not the case here — the IE 200s sound full, dynamic, and layered.

Efficient design gives you many ways to play

Sennheiser designed the IE 200s to work with a portable music player — and even a phone or laptop. The detachable braided cable feels and looks durable. It connects to your gear with a standard 3.5mm stereo miniplug but I would suggest using a separate headphone amp to hear them at their best.  

Smooth, detailed highs make for pleasant listening

I've spoken to Sennheiser engineers in the past, and I know they are particularly concerned with avoiding high-end harshness — even frequencies above the range of human hearing. As they've explained to me, even those super-high frequencies can create gnarly resonances that creep into what we hear. So, for the IE 200s, they've added fleece damping materials inside each driver and a dual "chamber within a chamber" behind them to control airflow.

The result? Plenty of high-end detail, but the treble never sounds grating or uncomfortable over a long period of time. That's one of those balancing acts that can have an effect on both sound and comfort. It doesn't always get a lot of attention, but when it's done this well, it really pays off.    

Secure and comfortable with a noise-isolating seal 

The most important touchpoint between sound and comfort is how well your earbuds fit. Of course, a proper, secure in-ear seal just feels right. But it can also make or break audio performance, including bass extension and imaging. 

Sennheiser includes six pairs of ear tips — three sizes of silicone tips, and three sizes of foam tips. For my ears, the largest foam tips squeezed right into place and didn't move. They expanded to create a noise isolating seal that avoided in-ear pressure points — and aligned the drivers correctly with my ears.