Just a short review.
First thing, 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 everything about them.
1. Soundstage: They have the largest soundstage I've ever heard on IEMs this price. In fact, I would rank them close to HD650. Just a tad behind HD700.
2. 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, snares sound so vivid and transparent. I would say that coming from these little things to full-sized headphones like HD650/HD700 you'd feel like the sound is rather veiled. Dynamic headphones just don't have that kind of cleanness when music gets complicated. I would rank my iSine 10 better sounding overall than my HD700 & D5000. Even the HD800S being not amped properly (by a Schiit Asgard) can lose to these little things in clarity and cleanness...
Other impressions worth mentioning:
1. 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. I think that even if you go the extra mile, iSine 20 is still not "end-game-perfect" so why bother. For portable use, I think iSine 10 would be sufficient.
2. I don't like the sound of the Cipher cable. It seems to me that there's some kind of DSP inside which messes up the dynamic range. (Maybe some kind of smart DRC algorithms) I actually prefer using 3.5mm straight from my iPhone 6S, sounds amazing enough. Feed them with a Mojo and you'll have a listening experience that's desktop level.
For the price, the iSine 10 is really unbelievable.
First thing, 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 everything about them.
1. Soundstage: They have the largest soundstage I've ever heard on IEMs this price. In fact, I would rank them close to HD650. Just a tad behind HD700.
2. 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, snares sound so vivid and transparent. I would say that coming from these little things to full-sized headphones like HD650/HD700 you'd feel like the sound is rather veiled. Dynamic headphones just don't have that kind of cleanness when music gets complicated. I would rank my iSine 10 better sounding overall than my HD700 & D5000. Even the HD800S being not amped properly (by a Schiit Asgard) can lose to these little things in clarity and cleanness...
Other impressions worth mentioning:
1. 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. I think that even if you go the extra mile, iSine 20 is still not "end-game-perfect" so why bother. For portable use, I think iSine 10 would be sufficient.
2. I don't like the sound of the Cipher cable. It seems to me that there's some kind of DSP inside which messes up the dynamic range. (Maybe some kind of smart DRC algorithms) I actually prefer using 3.5mm straight from my iPhone 6S, sounds amazing enough. Feed them with a Mojo and you'll have a listening experience that's desktop level.
For the price, the iSine 10 is really unbelievable.
