Audio solutions are often mentioned as key examples of consumer products that can be achieved using 3D printing. The latest company that explored the use of AM for this type of products is Sennheiser, a brand that has made professional audio solutions and consumer devices its core business.
Designed in Germany, the earphones are manufactured at Sonova Consumer Hearing’s state-of-the-art transducer production facilities in Ireland to the very highest standards.
To create these ultra-tough earphone housings, Senheiser leveraged a Trumpf laser PBF system, and an amorphous zirconium from Heraeus. During the post-processing stage, the team finished both automatically and by hand to achieve the perfect housing for the earphones’ transducer.
The amorphous zirconium used is ZR01, a metal with a glass-like atomic structure that gives the product triple the hardness and bend resistance of high-performance steel. Besides ultra-high-end products, this material is often used in the aerospace industry where ultimate toughness in extreme conditions is required.
This exceptional resilience ensures the IE 600 can be enjoyed for many years while its distinctive great looks remain undiminished. With ultimate protection against corrosion and marks from wear, the IE 600 was designed to keep delivering flawless acoustic — and visual — joy for decades, the company said.
“At the audiophile development team, we intently listen to the feedback of our incredibly passionate customers. The IE 600 delivers a neutral reference tuning in combination with our industry-leading miniature transducer technology“, says Jermo Köhnke, Product Manager for Sennheiser Audiophile. “The paradigm-shifting acoustic performance is appropriately clad in highest-performance amorphous zirconium. The IE 600 will be a reference for the most demanding mobile audio enthusiasts.”
From a sound standpoint, the team said the IE 600 achieves exceptional, virtually distortion-free reproduction of music thanks to Sennheiser’s TrueResponse transducer, a single 7 mm driver responsible for the extra-wide frequency range and ultra-low distortion of these earphones. Within the IE 600, this system and the acoustic back volume has been tuned for a tonally neutral, intimate and emotional sound. This ensures a true-to-life voicing that is especially expressive for vocal performances. The acoustic system has also been optimized to produce a steep bass slope resulting in a powerful yet fast and accurate low-end response.
My only concern now is comfort. Since the product is made up of metal, are there comfortable enough to be worn in the ears for a long time?
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