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  • Design

  • The Sound

  • The Bottom Line

  • The Insides That Count

  • Frequency Response

  • Distortion

  • Passive Isolation

  • Tracking

  • Design
  • The Sound
  • The Bottom Line
  • The Insides That Count
  • Frequency Response
  • Distortion
  • Passive Isolation
  • Tracking

As impressive as that is, "Why on Earth would you pay $1,000 for earphones?" is still a natural question to ask. We get it. But let's be real: This is a luxury product, through and through. Sure, maybe you've got deep pockets and want a nice pair of in-ears for the gym on your second yacht.

But the value here is less about the price-to-performance ratio and more about two top-shelf audio companies flexing their creative might. So while we can't possibly suggest that $1,000 in-ears are worth buying, with groundbreaking technology like this, they're certainly worth admiring.

Design

It's what's on the inside that counts.

I have to say, my first experience with the T8iEs was something of a disappointment. Usually with a sticker price this high, the headphones come in some kind of giant, opulent case with a built-in charger or something. Here, there's no remote, no crazy features, no noise canceling, no diamond-encrusted leather case. Just a set of brownish in-ears, a ton of tips, and a carrying case.

A photo of the Beyerdynamic Astell & Kern AK T8iE's plugs.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

Choose between a standard 3.5mm plug or proprietary 2.5mm termination for Astell & Kern devices.

There's a reason for that. While you're spending a lot for these in-ears, it's clear that the design here is laser-focused on functionality, and not spectacle. The austere outside of the bud is fairly standard, with Beyerdynamic branding and a brownish metallic casing. Triangular in shape, the AK T8iE is configured to loop their wires over your ear, distributing their (admittedly feather-light) weight very well over your pinna and not solely on your ear canal. On top of that, the oblong nozzles of the AK T8iE are a great fit for most ears, and the strangely-shaped silicone tips included in the packaging are the result of a ton of R&D with a range of real human ears.

That's all well and good, but as we noted in our first impressions of the unit, the insides are where things get really interesting. This is the very first set of in-ears with Beyerdynamic's Tesla drivers—elements so magnetically strong, they have a strength of over one Tesla—helping them move at speeds generally reserved for far more expensive—or impossibly thin—speaker types. Though small in size, it's a big deal: these buds are able to reproduce extremely subtle details with just a single driver.

A photo of the Beyerdynamic Astell & Kern AK T8iE's leather case.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

A hard leather case is a great way to store your buds and tips.

{{amazon name="Comply Tx-400 Foam Tips (Black, 3 Pairs, S/M/L)", asin="B00354951S", align="right"}}Generally, with any set of in-ears, audiophiles will hit up Amazon and grab a set of Comply memory foam tips. Not only are these tips better isolating than just about every other option out there, but they're cheap and extremely comfortable. Beyer and A&K know their audience well, including a pair right in the box. It's a nice touch, and it's comforting knowing that you can always spend $15 on a new set of Tx400 tips if you ever lose them (or need a new size).

The AK T8iE's cables are also detachable—a rare sight in the in-ear world. Detachable cables are the single most important durability feature for headphones, because that thin wire is almost always what breaks first. Though the standard cable has a 1/8th inch 3-channel plug that works with just about any smartphone or MP3 player out there, also included in the packaging is a 2.5mm connector for use with Astell & Kern devices (should you own any). You'll probably never use it, but better to have it an not need it, right?

A photo of the Beyerdynamic Astell & Kern AK T8iE's nozzle.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

An oblong nozzle fits ear canals very well.

Included in the packaging is a hard leather case that will prevent your earbuds from meeting a terrible tangled fate—assuming you coil them up like a sane person would, anyway. The case is beautiful and big enough to house all of your sleeves and accessories, but you may find it a bit girthy to stuff in a pocket. Once you find the right size sleeves, you can jam them into the felt pocket in the lid so they don't hang loose with the earphone cables.

Because the AK T8iE doesn't have a microphone onboard, this is probably not ideal for use with your smartphone. However, that shouldn't dissuade you from listening to your tunes on that device if you're like me and rarely use your mobile for calls. The AK T8iE has a relatively low load requirement, so your smartphone will be able to drive these no sweat.

The Sound

Yowza

Making the perfect in-ears is no easy task, and we've seen companies pour vast sums of time and money to achieve this goal. From what we've learned over the years, sensitive ears tend to pick up tiny echoes that result from a sealed ear canal, and those are extremely tough to dispel. Most in-ears don't make much of an attempt to control for this, because most people don't really notice it. However, Beyerdynamic is not one to shy away from a challenge.

A photo of the Beyerdynamic Astell & Kern AK T8iE's Comply Tx 400 memory foam tips.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

Audiophile-prized Comply memory foam tips are included in the packaging—providing excellent isolation and a perfect fit.

Though our test results look a little odd, our listening impressions are quite good. There really aren't any genres of music that the AK T8iE struggles with, and Beyerdynamic's Tesla drivers are exceptionally good at moving fast enough to catch soft details in recordings.

For headphones, there can be no higher praise than "plays music the way the mixer intended," and for the most part it's true with the AK T8iE. Distortion is inaudible, channel balance errors are minor and infrequent, and the frequency response is more or less what you'd expect for a set of high-end tune blasters. However, it deviates away from the consumer standard used by most manufacturers to provide a more or less "signature" sound.

A chart detailing the frequency response performance of the Beyerdynamic AK T8iE.

In-ears have different engineering challenges, and sometimes the only way to dispel echoes is to de-emphasize certain notes a bit.

What that means is that harsh, sibilant sounds like cymbals and static will be reduced in volume a bit in comparison to the base notes we call music. Though bass is emphasized a little bit, it's not crazy—it's a little emphasized but it isn't going to overwhelm your music. Most notes from strings, winds, percussion, synths et cetera are going to be emphasized at about the same volume as each other, while harmonics more or less mimic how a human ear would hear them.

Consequently, you may not like these in-ears if you're fan of a more dynamic response, or are used to the more Beats-style high-end/low-end overemphasis. Though the AK T8iE is plenty bassy, it avoids bumping the highest pitched sounds. For example, in World Order's Machine Civilization there's a really grating whine at 11.8 and 12.4kHz that's reminiscent of metal scraping metal. Though artistically it works, listening on headphones that bump the high end can be painful. Thankfully, this range isn't terribly strong in the presence of other music.

{{spotify 'https://play.spotify.com/track/18guj9M4sfvmLYfWqFadsE'}}

I'll point out again that we got the best results in our labs with the memory foam tips. Because they're standard tips made by the audiophile-attested Comply, you can simply buy more if you lose or damage yours. Additionally, they provide much better isolation overall; though they didn't quite block out the jackhammer that so politely rattled the Reviewed.com offices from 8-11am this morning, the AK T8iE was able to dull its noise to an impressive degree. These are much better isolators than the vast majority of headphones.

The Bottom Line

You already know if you're buying these or not.

While we don't think many people will actually buy the T8iEs, they're absolutely a luxury item to drool over. Nobody needs a set of $1,000 in-ears, but there's something to be said for a company pushing the limits of performance like this. After all, you won't find a Ferrari at your local used car lot, but that doesn't stop you from turning your head when you see one.

You're not going to find in-ears anywhere, at any price, that quite match what the AK T8iEs provide.

And to their credit, the T8iEs don't have a sky-high price just because of their name or because somebody sprinkled meteorite dust on them. The Beyerdynamic AK T8iEs truly perform at a level that sets them apart from the rest of the market. They're technological wonders, reproducing your music beautifully and without any audible errors or shortcomings. Though their isolation probably could be improved by some flanged tips, the combination of a lightweight, well-distributed design and memory foam tips makes for a supremely posh set of earbuds.

A photo of the Beyerdynamic / Astell & Kern AK T8iE.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

Like most in-ears, the AK T8iE isn't very flashy or gaudy.

Still, this is the real world, and spending $1,000 on a set of in-ears—no matter how cool—isn't something we can justify. As impressive as these are, there are plenty of in-ears under $200 that are nearly as good. That doesn't diminish what Beyerdynamic and Astell & Kern have accomplished, though. They're not for everyone, but you're not going to find in-ears anywhere, at any price, that quite match what the AK T8iEs provide.

The Insides That Count

These are without a doubt some of the best engineered headphones to come across our labs in a long time. Not only do they perform fairly free of any notable errors, but they do a great job of preventing problems inherent to the in-ear design. The frequency response is a little off what you might expect, but the AK T8iE is a halo product: they're aiming for a signature sound.

Frequency Response

High-end audio is generally unconcerned with the conventional standards used to evaluate consumer headphones because engineers have taken the time to experiment, tweak, and create their own signature sound. Consequently, we weren't terribly surprised that high-frequency harmonic notes are generally underplayed a bit to avoid problems with tiny echoes of shrill notes.

A chart detailing the frequency response performance of the Beyerdynamic AK T8iE.

In-ears have different engineering challenges, and sometimes the only way to dispel echoes is to de-emphasize certain notes a bit.

Despite the relatively high emphasis on bass and mids, the harmonic highs get downplayed a bit, but generally stick somewhat to the ISO226:2003 standards. The main peak at 5-10kHz is tastefully restrained, cutting out a lot of shrill and tinny noise that sometimes shows up with responses of this type.

Like any other headphones, you can always change this by equalizing your tunes through an app or device. These results are simply a result of un-equalized testing.

Distortion

Nothing to see here, move on.

A chart detailing the distortion performance of the Beyerdynamic AK T8iE.

No audible distortion here!

Seriously. Without any distortion peeking above our empirical curve, you're extremely unlikely to hear any staticy or crackly noise unless it was added into the mix by whoever produced your music. That's really the best you could hope for when it comes to any set of headphones—expensive or no.

Passive Isolation

Isolation is quite decent, but your results will vary depending on your environment and chosen tips. We found the foam tips were the best option for isolation by blocking out an average of 25.5dB of your surroundings—no small feat.

However, this attenuation is primarily in sounds above 1kHz. Bassy, low-frequency sounds are still gonna get through and annoy you if you don't get a good seal first. If you do get a good seal, you'll find that these sounds are reduced in loudness by about half. Impressive, given that most headphones struggle here.

Tracking

There are a few tracking errors here and there worthy of note, but nothing that's going to be profoundly noticeable. These minor errors show up where you see the line exit the ±2dB blue buffer in the chart below.

A chart detailing the tracking performance of the Beyerdynamic AK T8iE.

A couple minor errors here and there lightly mar an otherwise great performance.

Meet the tester

Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas

Staff Writer, Imaging

@cthomas8888

A seasoned writer and professional photographer, Chris reviews cameras, headphones, smartphones, laptops, and lenses. Educated in Political Science and Linguistics, Chris can often be found building a robot army, snowboarding, or getting ink.

See all of Chris Thomas's reviews

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