sorrick
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2006
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I just got back from testing these again, this time in a different store. Man, the sealing really needs to be a perfect fit or else both of them turn into a sparkly mess. I wasn't able to get a good seal with the demo tips and they were just plain hard to listen to. The wider soundstage compared to my W60s is nice, but they're really really sensitive to fit, or else any fullness they can produce just leaks out and vanishes.
With the isines, if you are searching for a super tight seal, like you would for traditional sound isolating iems you are doing it wrong. The more isolating you try to make them, the worse and more bass light they are going to sound. audeze is pretty clear on this in their manuals (reason why they discourage folks from using foam tips with them). Since these are open iems, you really just want enough tip on there to hold them in place. I usually use large size tips. With my iSine 20s, I get the best performance when I use the small supplied tips.
Bottom line: you basically need to unlearn all the traditional iem mantras around getting a super tight seal for good bass. If that is what you try to do with the isines, you are going to get a poorer bass response.
As for dragonfly red, I've tried my isines with my dfr, mojo, ha-2, and the new cozoy REI. While I generally think very highly of my dragonfly, I haven't found it to be the best match with the isines, especially if you are looking for bass. The isines sound much better out of the dfr than straight out of my iPhone, but I Think they pair better with the other three dac/amps.