The Sennheiser IE 200 are in-ear monitors (IEMs) with dynamic drivers, aimed at the lower-mid range audiophile market. What distinguishes them from other IEMs on the market is their unique design, which Sennheiser calls 'dual-tunable ear tips.' These ear tips can be positioned differently, depending on how much bass you like in your mixes. While this design has some practical limitations, you'll want to read more about this in Sound Profile.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are good for neutral sound. Using the standard positioning, they have a neutral sound, which ensures that vocals and instruments sound clear and present, although a bit veiled in the upper registers. While they lack a bit of thump and rumble in their sound, some users have hacked their buds with tape to add a small boost in bass. On the downside, their passive soundstage doesn't sound very immersive, but that's to be expected from in-ear headphones.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are sub-par for commuting and travel. They're IEMs, so while they'll be great for listening to your favorite tunes, they lack features like ANC to help block out background noise when you're on the go. On the upside, they have a comfortable fit, and their wired design means you don't have to worry about battery life.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are okay for sports and fitness, though this isn't their intended purpose. While they have a comfortable, stable in-ear fit, thanks to their deep fit and audio cables that hook over the ear, they can snag on something and pull the headphones off of your head. The buds also lack an IP rating for water resistance.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are middling for office use. They're comfortable and well-built but lack the versatility needed for work. They lack a microphone, so you can't take business calls unless you already have a standalone mic. That said, even though they rely on their passive capabilities to block out background noise, they can reduce some mid to treble range sound like coworkers chattering. They don't leak much audio at high volumes; if you want to crank up your tunes, others around you won't hear it.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are wired IEMs; you can't use them wirelessly.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are passable for wired gaming, particularly if you don't need built-in mic support since they don't already have a mic. That said, they have a neutral sound that ensures that dialogue sounds present and clear. Their bass range is underemphasized, so sound effects like footsteps are a bit more muted in the mix. Since they're in-ears, their soundstage doesn't feel the most immersive, so your audio seems like it's coming from inside your head rather than from the room around you. On the upside, these buds are comfortable enough for long gaming sessions.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are IEMs without a built-in mic for taking calls. You could always use these buds with a standalone mic, though, so in that case, they have a comfortable fit. They passively block out a mediocre amount of ambient sound, though.
The Sennheiser IE 200 come in one variant: 'Black'. If you encounter another variant of these headphones, please let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
The Sennheiser IE 200 are IEMs, so the main point of comparison between most products will come down to sound and your preferences. They have a fairly neutral sound, but if you care about fidelity to our Harman-based target curve, then they fall short compared to the MOONDROP Blessing 3, which have more bass and treble. If you're looking at these buds for monitoring work, then the Sennheiser's sound can still be suitable. In contrast, other IEMs like the Shure SE215 have a lot more warmth and boom to their sound.
If you're looking for more headphones, check out our recommendations for the best in-ear headphones, the best headphones for music, and the best audiophile headphones.
The MOONDROP Aria and Sennheiser IE 200 have slightly different sounds, so you may prefer either IEM, depending on your needs. The MOONDROP deliver more bass, which is good if you like to listen to genres like EDM and hip-hop. They're also more comfortable. The Sennheiser's treble is more balanced, even if vocals and instruments are a bit more veiled.
The Sennheiser IE 200 offer a better-balanced sound than the Shure SE215. The Sennheiser follow our target curve more accurately. Although they have a dip in their treble range, this can be beneficial, as veiling vocals and instruments can help reduce ear fatigue. That said, you may still prefer the Shure if you want a warmer sound since they deliver more gusto when it comes to the high bass. Both buds are comfortable, though.
If you prefer our Harman-based target, you'll want to check out the MOONDROP Blessing 3 over the Sennheiser IE 200. The MOONDROP deliver more bass and treble while their mids are very flat and neutral. Overall, your mixes have more substantial thump and rumble, while vocals and instruments are bright without teetering on piercing. That said, the Sennheiser are still worth considering if you're monitoring a show since their recessed treble can help take off the edge from your mixes, lessening ear fatigue over long listening sessions.
If you prefer a sound closer to our Harman-based target, you'll want to check out the TRUTHEAR x Crinacle ZERO: RED over the Sennheiser IE 200. While both buds are similarly comfortable and well-built, the TRUTHEAR x Crinacle has a punchier bass and a bit more detail in the treble range. However, you may still prefer the Sennheiser's sound if you're looking for a bit less bass than our target and a more recessed treble to help keep ear fatigue at bay if you're monitoring a show.
These buds have a comfortable fit. They come with several pairs of ear tips, in silicone as well as foam, to help you get the best fit possible. They don't put much pressure inside your ears; once you put them on, you won't feel them. The ear hooks are malleable, too, which makes it easy to fit them to your ears, and it feels good on the skin. You can even lay on your side with the buds in your ear without experiencing significant discomfort. On the cable is a clear plastic adjustable slide, so you can adjust the amount of cable between both earbuds. On the downside, the buds' housing can rub up against your concha when you're inserting the buds.
The build quality of these buds is good. The buds are plastic, so they're lightweight yet solid; you can accidentally drop them without breaking them. Like most IEMs, you can detach their braided cable, making it easy to swap it out for something with a different connector, although it's worth mentioning that MMCX cables aren't cheap. The default cable is also made of kevlar, which is a synthetic, incredibly sturdy material.
The Sennheiser IE 200 have great stability. Since they have a deep in-ear fit and their cable loops around your ear, they won't move around or fall out if you want to headbang to a track. The cable doesn't disconnect as easily as the Sennheiser IE 40 PRO, either. They aren't designed for sports, though, and the cable can easily snag on something, yanking the buds from your ear.
These buds allow you to adjust the ear tip positions between standard and outer/open for slightly different frequency responses. In standard positioning, their sound is very neutral. While they lack some thump and rumble, they deliver more warmth to compensate. Vocals and instruments sound natural but are a bit recessed in the mix and lacking in detail. However, while it's possible to switch the buds into an outer/open position, once you insert the tips into your ear (or into a testing rig), this outer position can shift into the standard position. Subjectively, it took some time to achieve a good fit with this setting. While we noticed there was less bass and a little more treble, the seating was awkward, causing us to adjust the fit back to the standard position.
Related to this design is a user method of using tape to change the frequency response. On each nozzle is a bass vent. The theory goes like this: if you tape over the vent, you'll get a higher bass response. We tried this method, and you can see a comparison between our results here. There's a small amount of deviation in the bass range when using the tape, but the bass does increase slightly.
If you're looking to connect these buds to devices like an amp, you'll want to know that they have an impedance of 18 ohms and a sensitivity of 101 dB/mW. That means you can plug them into most devices like your smartphone or laptop up to a dedicated audio interface without needing an amp.
These buds have outstanding frequency response consistency. Once you get a good fit using the assorted tips included in the box, you'll achieve consistent bass and treble delivery.
We had trouble getting the bud to fit into our test rig's right ear, affecting their consistency. However, this issue is limited to our setup, and as long as you have human ears, you won't experience an issue.
The Sennheiser IE 200 have excellent bass accuracy. The response is tilted with an underemphasized low-end, so mixes lack deep thump and rumble, while instruments like kick drums lack body and punch. That said, there's a bit more high bass to help round off the bass and add warmth to mixes.
The mid accuracy of these IEMs is excellent. Overall, the response in this range follows our target curve well, although there's a dip in the mid-mid, which nudges vocals and instruments to the back of the mix. That said, both the low and high-mid are more flat, resulting in present and clear-sounding instruments and voices like the piano in Claude Debussy's Arabesque No. 1.
These buds have very good treble accuracy. The low treble is a bit carved out here, which veils the details of vocals and instruments. Sibilants like hi-hats are still present but are slightly subdued. The recessed treble can help lessen ear fatigue if you're listening to tracks for long periods.
These buds' peaks and dips performance is great, which means that the headphones can control their sound profile quite well. The most significant deviation is in the mid-to-treble range, with a dip in the mid-mid nudging vocals and instruments to the back of the mix. A peak in the high-mid harshens vocals and instruments, while a dip in the treble hurts their clarity. The mid-treble has a peak, too, causing sibilants like cymbals to be piercing.
The imaging performance of these buds is outstanding and is to be expected from an audiophile brand like Sennheiser, indicative of their quality control and ergonomics. Group delay falls within good limits, resulting in tight bass and transparent imaging. Our unit's left and right drivers are also well-matched when it comes to amplitude, frequency, and phase response, ensuring that sound objects like voices are accurately placed in the stereo image. It's worth mentioning that imaging varies between units, though.
The weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. Distortion falls within good levels at both regular and high volumes, ensuring clean audio reproduction.
These are the settings used to test these headphones, and our results are only valid when used in this configuration.
These buds have a decent noise isolation performance when it comes to full-range noise, even though they don't have an active noise cancelling (ANC) system. While they make a minor dent in bass-range noise like the low rumbles of bus engines. They do a better job of cutting down mid- and treble-range noise, like people talking and the high-pitched hum of computer fans.
Regarding common scenarios, these headphones have much more trouble with irregular sounds. While you'll have some degree of noise isolation, whether you're on a plane, in an office, or walking down a street, it's not enough to fully block out all sound.
These buds' leakage performance is fantastic. Leakage is fairly spread out but quite minor. Even if you crank up your tunes in a moderately noisy environment like an office, others around you won't hear it.
These buds come with a detachable audio cable with MMCX connectors going into the buds and a 1/8" TRS connector for your device. Latency is negligible when using it, which ensures that your audio and visuals are in sync if working on delay-sensitive content like editing video.
These buds can only connect to PCs via analog. They don't have a mic, so you can only receive audio.
You'll only get audio when connecting these buds to your PlayStation controller's AUX port.
You can connect these headphones to your Xbox console for audio-only support by plugging the cable into your controller's AUX port.