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Review: Audeze iSine 10



Short version: It's a headphone in disguise.

First thing to notice, the comfort was actually better than I thought.
I used a Sony XBA-A3 for two years and it was always a pain in the ass putting those on. The iSine at first seems equally hard to get along with, but after several practices, I found out that it was actually easier to wear on, and once it's there, it stays there.

Sound wise, it's true about two rumors about them:

  • The Soundstage
They have the largest soundstage I've ever heard on IEMs this price, or even double the price. In fact, I would rank their soundstage close to HD600. Just a tad behind HD700.

  • Clarity:
 I really think that objectively having an astonishingly low THD really translates to subjective listening experience. These sound really, really clear. The transients, the vocals, the drums, the snares sound so vivid and transparent. I would say that coming from these little things to full-sized dynamic headphones like HD700 you'd feel like the sound is rather veiled. Dynamic headphones don't have that kind of cleanness when music gets complicated. I would say these iSine 10 are lacking veil in sound overall compared to Denon D5000 and even HD700. Even the HD800S being not amped properly can lose to these little things in clarity, cleanness and bass texture.

  • Compared to XBA-A3
The iSine 10 produces a much larger soundstage than the A3s, with better bass articulation & quantity. The A3 wins in timbre and tonality however, sounding more natural and organic overall.

The iSine 20 has a bit better bass & imaging, yet it only feels like a $99 difference. The iSine 10 & 20 are really close in performance, put into numbers, it may feel like about 10% of difference. For portable use, I think iSine 10 would be sufficient.

  • Cipher cable
One thing that I don't agree with others is about the Cipher cable. I don't like the sound of the Cipher cable. It seems to me that there's some kind of DSP inside which compensates for the tonality, and although that results in a more balanced sound signature, it actually messes up the dynamic range. I actually preferred using 3.5mm straight from my smartphone to the Cipher cable.
The iSine 10 is pretty easy to drive. Feeding them with a Mojo and you'll have a listening experience that's comparable to headphones with a desktop rig .



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