HIFIMAN RE800 Silver Review: An IEM That Will Save You $500

Named Best Value in our Best IEMs guide.

Tech moves fast, and in-ear monitors are no exception. The HIFIMAN RE800 Silver is an older, high-end IEM that has been stripped of its fancy packaging - but not of its incredible sound quality. So, can you really get a flagship $600 IEM and experience audiophile-grade performance without the audiophile price tag? Right now, you can pick it up for $100 - that's a huge price cut.

Comfortable earbud fit, tangle-prone cable

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It's a classic earbud style, instead of a big typical IEM that fills in your entire ear. It means a few things. First of all, most people won't have any comfort issues regarding their size. They're super tiny, which makes them go easily and quickly into your ears. It also means that they're extremely compact, making them very mobile and on-the-go friendly, and allow for storage in space-limited situations. Their low weight certainly helps with carrying them around.

In the box, we're getting lots of different tips to go with them. So it can be a comfortable IEM for everybody, no matter their ear size, shape, or personal preferences. For me, the stock double-flange ones worked the best - both for comfort and sound quality. That's the starting point I'd recommend everybody to start with.

At first sight, it can look kind of cheap. However, it's enough to touch it to realize that it's absolutely not - at least the shell itself. It is made of aluminum alloy, quite thin, but still. It gives it a more premium feeling, increases its durability greatly over plastic IEMs, and looks nicer.

The cable is permanently attached to the earpieces, which is debatable, but earbud-style products often go that route for one reason or another. For many, this wouldn't be a big problem if the stock cable was very good. In terms of the technical aspects and its materials - we have some information. The conductors are made of crystalline copper wire (probably OCC, or a similar process), with a coat of silver over them. It indicates that they paid attention to the materials themselves, but I have one concern about it - the ergonomics aren't top-notch. The cable likes to tangle up, and is slightly microphonic. It's not something that you particularly want it to do, as it introduces some sounds when moving it.

It's terminated with a very good-looking, high-quality, metal 3.5mm connector. I like that one a lot - it inspires confidence, seems durable, and makes very good contact, fitting snugly in all my devices like amplifiers, phones, and laptops.

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One topology driver, so no crossover

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The topology driver uses HIFIMAN's advanced technology and research to essentially make a driver unlike any other. It involves creating a topological, nanoscale layer of material that's being applied to the diaphragm. It's being distributed in distinct geometrical patterns to make tuning it easier and more accurate. Their engineers can vary the surface pattern, compound used, and even the thickness of a given pattern. That allows for the manipulation of sound wave creation like never before.

They mention that no other driver tech allows for such control and precision, resulting in clarity, detail, and nuance. HIFIMAN also says that it can best the world's most complicated multi-driver setups but with none of the coherency and crossover issues. Since it's a single dynamic driver construction, there isn't a crossover, so it can't be causing any acoustic problems, or take up more space inside than needed.

High impedance offset by 105 dB sensitivity

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The frequency response goes from an astonishing 5Hz all the way up to 20kHz. It goes much deeper than you can hear. It tells one thing - the driver is super capable, doesn't break up at low frequencies even below our hearing, and it's doing what it's supposed to do.

The impedance is 60 ohms - it's a fairly high impedance IEM. Most of them have a significantly lower impedance, making the voltage swings much smaller and easier on the amplifier. Regardless, 60 ohms is generally not very high for an audio device. Some headphones have upwards of 600 ohms of impedance, and possibly even more.

The sensitivity of this IEM is easily countering that anyway, coming at 105dB. In-ear monitors are generally very easy to drive for a few reasons. Most of them are multi-driver, increasing their sensitivity greatly. It works the same way with speakers. Even if they aren't, like the RE800, they sit very close to your eardrums, so you're not losing a lot of sound pressure by the distance itself. Lastly, the impedances are fairly low, as the thin wire coils don't have to be so long to cover the entire diaphragm, as it's much smaller. In this case, the dynamic driver's size is just 9.2mm.

Off-target tuning, very wide soundstage

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Its tonality may not be a perfect match for any real target. It's not what it is trying to achieve. It is not afraid to break common rules and try new things to achieve the sound signature that would otherwise be impossible to get while adhering to a conventional curve.

The bass shows clear signs of roll-off, but it's not rolling off super fast. You can still hear deep notes in the 30-40Hz region, but that sub-bass is not elevated. Regardless, it has interesting bass punch characteristics, unlike other IEMs or even full-size headphones. It's not super punchy in the common sense, but still fairly so. However, when it does punch, it does it in a very coherent way. It's not just a hit that comes from somewhere, or a random place. You're always aware of the place where it's radiating from, making it easy to localize.

The lower midrange is technically brought forward a little bit, however, the rest of it seems recessed and thin-sounding - typical of HIFIMAN products. It means that you're not getting any bloat, weight, or meat to the notes, and in return, it sounds pretty fast.

Regarding its top end, it's slightly peaky, but not in a purely random way. It seems like it's done on purpose. The hi-hats and generally high-frequency, short hits, are much harder than expected. You usually get the dynamic, punchy nature on the low end, but this IEM extends it to the very high frequencies.

Regarding detail retrieval - it's all right, nothing special on this front. Some elevation in these registers can make for a seemingly more detailed presentation than it actually is, as it tends to push details more forward at you, making them easier to discover.

The soundstage is super wide for an IEM. Usually, IEMs are very in your head, closed in, with not much spacing between notes, and even less space for the sounds to be in. That's why I was surprised to find out that it sounds wider than some of my full-size, over-ear headphones. The imaging is at a very good level. It's almost razor-sharp, precise, and doesn't feel that forced or fake.

One more odd characteristic of this IEM that I noticed is that the treble region has some audible resonance. Its decay is prolonged greatly, and I suspect that it has to do with the shell shape. The only difference between this model and the more expensive RE2000 PRO Silver is the housing itself, and its acoustic properties. So it would make sense that the shell is generating some resonance here. However, it's not an unpleasant effect. If it was in the bass it would sound boomy, but since it's in the top end, it provides interesting sparkly character and long top-end decay.