The Package

The Sennheiser IE6 earphones ship in a very fancy box that you can open from the front and inspect the earphones.


Like most of Sennheiser's products the IE6s come with a very neat bundle. The carrying case is quite well thought out, but it is too big to really be practical in everyday use.


That Sennheiser is marketing these in-ears towards the enthusiasts is pretty clear. The bundle shows that they have tried their very best to combat microphonic noise from the cable. You get both ear hooks and a cable clip which effectively cancels out microphonic noise.


Since these earphones use a dynamic driver the sound hole is very large and covered with a metal grill, but even so Sennheiser has included a scraper tool. This is normally only used to clear out wax from the sound tube. Which you really cannot in case of the IE6s because the tube is covered by metal mesh!

Closer Examination

There is no doubt about it, Sennheiser has a very smart looking set of in-ears in the IE6s. Made to fit inside your ear's concha and sit flush with the ear itself. They are incredibly small so I think it is pretty safe to say that they can fit inside any relatively normal looking ear.


One noteworthy addition to the seemingly straight forward design is the ear hook which acts as a cable guide. These will probably help some people achieve better wearing comfort by reducing the strain on the ear and lifting the cable over the top, but in combination with my ears they actually degraded wearing comfort.


Having a look at the earphone from the front reveals that the sound tube is pointing a bit forward. The angle is about the same as that of my Westone 3s and the offset means that the earphones are more comfortable to wear and fit better inside your ear. The sound tube has a relatively large diameter like that of the Head-Direct RE0s which we recently covered.


When it comes to tip selection you get to choose between three different sizes of both single and double flange tips. I found the medium sized single flange tip to work the best for my ears. The double flange tips are of a similar build and quality as the single flange tips, but because they have more material and harder bends they feel firmer when you insert them into your ears. This I think makes them a bit less comfortable than their single flange brethren.


The cable entry into the body of the earphones seems very solid. The cable itself is of a semi soft type. In comparison to the cable on the Head-Direct RE0s it is a bit softer, but still a bit harder than the cable featured on the Westone 3s.


There are two sets of left and right indicators on each of the ear pieces, one indented in the cable entry and one painted on them.


Due to the fact that the IE6 in-ears are based around a normal dynamic driver small vents on the back of the ear pieces are needed in order to make it work.


The cable quality of the IE6s is very good. The cable jacket is not all that microphonic and the y-split works just fine. The mini jack has a right angled connector which means that it might not be compatible with some PMPs and the old iPhone.