A review of the iBasso IT04 In-Ear Monitor (IEM):
Introduction:
As one of the original and well-respected old-timers on the DAP (Digital Audio Player) scene, iBasso raised a few eyebrows a year or so ago when they decided to venture into the congested and competitive IEM market. They released the IT03, a hybrid IEM featuring a dynamic driver combined with two balanced armatures, priced at $259 at the time of writing.
Since then, hooking with value and punching above their weight in a devastating one-two combo, they have released the IT01 (a single dynamic driver, priced at $99), followed by the IT04 (1 DD plus 3 BA’s, priced at $499).
I received the IT04 a while back (2-3 months?).
After accidentally bashing one of the earpieces, it developed a small fault and when I emailed Paul at iBasso he immediately asked me to send it in for checking and repair.
Note that this was entirely my own fault and no fault of the IEM itself!
I can only praise the swift and responsive customer service at iBasso and I just received the IT04 back today.
Now here’s a thing. Since I had it the first time, I somehow managed to divest myself of various pieces of equipment and currently have no TOTL earphones.
I’ve been listening to the IT03 via the DX200 (using AMP8 and iBasso’s excellent CB13 cable).
I’ve also just rearranged my on-the-go set up to a DX120 paired with the IT01 (and a CB12 cable).
I listened to the IT01 extensively yesterday and today for the first time in ages, and it was just like the first time I heard it; I was astonished at the level of quality coming from this $99 IEM and found myself mightily enjoying its extremely musical and engaging sound signature, not to mention the soundstage and gobs of detail (which I just in fact mentioned, heh).
I had planned to replace the IT03 with the IT04 in my ‘home listening’ set up sometime tomorrow.
But curiosity got the better of me, and I did a bit of A/B testing of the IT04 with the IT01 and IT03.
I was immediately blown away by its qualities and remembered why I’d loved it so much in the first place. It has gone straight back to being my favourite IEM.
Hence, I decided to force myself to make the time to finish writing this review that I began many weeks ago!
The IT04 can be purchased directly from iBasso (and shipped to many locations) at the following link (correct at time of writing):
http://www.ibasso.com/cp_xq_dy.php?id=6962
The Fit:
Regarding the fit, I think iBasso have really nailed it this time.
The IT03 was designed to mimic in some ways the fit of a custom IEM, featuring a heavily sculpted inner surface designed to mold itself to your ear shape.
A key feature of this was a prominently protruding nodule, designed as an anchoring point that remained mostly unnoticeable when correctly positioned. However, sometimes I had become aware of it digging uncomfortably into my ear, but this is due to me either failing to put it in correctly first time, or fiddling with it unconsciously and moving it slightly out of position.
With the IT04, I can only say that although it looks similar, the feeling I experience is that this has been dialled back to a slightly more subtle fit, and it benefits from this in my opinion. I don’t feel them at all, and I’ve been wearing them non-stop for 3 hours now.
Tip Selection:
This is an important factor with these IEM’s that should not be overlooked.
The amount of bass impact and presence will be directly affected by this, so I highly recommend spending time to try different sizes, materials and styles. You may find that you get the best results with something you’ve not previously been much of a fan of.
Whilst I’d certainly encourage one and all to try the Symbio wide-bore tips, the key take-home point/valuable life-lesson here is simply “Tips Matter” – experiment and go with what you know works well for you (allowing for the fact that an ear tip that works well with one IEM may not fit so well on another).
Photos:
I got the silver model; a blue model is also available. Both look great, but I have to say, I
really like the silver one! It looks extremely classy and well done, and I’m very happy with the build quality. I personally find the MMCX fittings to be very well done. I’ve swapped the cable on these several times now and never had any problem doing so.
As with previous iBasso products, the packaging and attention to detail are a credit to the company and a delight as a customer. A wide selection of tips, a premium cable and a metal carrying case all add to the feeling of getting terrific value for money. Perhaps an extra, more portable carrying pouch (like the leather one which came with the IT03) might be a useful addition, as the metal case, whilst gorgeous and bomb-proof, is not so practical for on the go usage.
Note that I am using my own CB13 cable here; the product comes with the excellent CB12s cable, details of which can be found here:
http://www.ibasso.com/cp_xq_dy.php?id=6819#page1
The Sound:
As ever, my preferred method of testing is to try out the product(s) in question with a selection of songs from various genres and to let that process draw out the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each product.
I have a few tracks which I’ve only found available on MP3; the rest are FLAC or WAV in 16/44 or 24/192.
As a way to test and benchmark, I have A/B tested the IT04 predominantly with the IT03.
Regrettably, I do not have access to any IEM’s within the price range of the IT04, although I may have access to some TOTL IEM’s in the coming months, which will be benchmarked against the IT04 as well as each other, so watch out for that! I’ll update this review if I have any significant developments.
Also, for the purposes of this review, I have used my main DAP to play the music on for testing; the iBasso DX200 (with AMP8 and CB13 cable).
Preamble aside, let us proceed to the meat and two veg* of this review, namely, the SOUND:
*vegetarians may feel free to substitute meat with tofu.
“Or substitute ham with...I don’t know.. chicken..” (Alan Partridge).
Life in a Northern Town – The Dream Academy:
Well, this was I think the 5th track I listened to with the IT04 tonight.
I’d recently discovered this song (can’t believe I’d never heard it before!) and have been listening to it a lot over the last few weeks. So you can imagine my surprise to notice almost immediately some new details in the song that had passed me by in all my previous listenings! Lovely background percussion that starts around 39 seconds in. It’s very subtle but this is a good example of the way in which the IT04 does very well in picking out details.
In fact, not even picking them out, because that makes it sound analytical.
Rather, it just immerses you in the sound and you can’t help noticing things along the way.
Stop Taking My Time – Club 8:
This track features a driving electronic beat and synths, combined with engaging female vocals. After listening to this track plenty over the last few months, the first thing I noticed when plugging in the IT04 today was how much better the vocals sounded.
I love the IT03, but its V-shaped signature means that whilst it does some things spectacularly, there are areas in which is relatively lacking. The mids have been described as being somewhat recessed (whereas the IT04's mids are comparatively more forward). I can’t say I’d noticed this in any great detail previously, but listening to this track today, what struck me was the IT04’s significant improvement in rendering vocal timbre and character.
It really brought out the qualities of her voice, and it does the same with male vocals on other tracks too.
The Coast – Paul Simon (HDTracks 24/96 FLAC):
This song features what I’ve been advised is probably a hand-struck drum that comes in at around 12 seconds in. The drum has a v-shaped sound and in the space of a second or less, dives deep down into the sub-bass region and then back up again.
On every IEM that I’ve heard thus far, this sound is not especially remarkable.
With the IT03 however, this bass effect is visceral, deeply textured, impactful and very noticeable.
I was hoping that the IT04 would replicate this effect, but sadly, it is the same as all other IEM’s I’ve tried in this regard. Note that “all other IEM’s” in this case happens to include $1’500 - $2’500+ flagship IEM’s, so I wouldn’t say it could be considered a failing on the part of the IT04!
This is just one specific thing that I loved on the IT03, and I imagine that in order to replicate the same quality on the IT04 would inevitably result in a modification of the sound signature, probably skewing it back towards something more v-shaped again. But this is not the purpose of the IT04, so I can overlook this.
Hobotalk – Walks With Me (from Beauty in Madness, 16/44 FLAC):
This song, by a relatively obscure Scottish band, is one of my all-time favourite songs. A piece of pure bliss; warm and wistful, slightly melancholic without being cold or depressing, beautiful and peaceful in equal measure.
After some extensive back and forth testing between the IT03 and IT04 on this track, this song is helping me to clarify for myself some of the differences I’m perceiving between the IT03 and the IT04.
The IT03 astonished me with its separation and the size of its soundstage. The feeling that everything was being experience in a wide-open setting.
Analytically, I could say that these individual qualities are at least equalled, if not exceeded with the IT04. However, there seems to be a touch more body and thickness perhaps with the IT04, which means the soundstage and separation don’t stand out as noticeably as they do on the IT03.
This song begins with fingerstyle guitar plucking. The IT03 wonderfully brings across the physicality of the sound; the quality confined mostly to expertly-implemented dynamic drivers of being able to let you feel the sound, not only hear it. I can really feel the plucking and twanging of the strings.
The IT04 does not have this affect, at least not in the very noticeably quantities of the IT03. However, where the IT03 excels in presenting the physical aspects of the sound, the IT04 excels in presenting the timbre of the sound, with wonderful naturalness and musicality. It certainly pulls far ahead of the IT03 in this regard.
Also, in the beginning of the song, when there are relatively few instruments playing, the IT03 again just presents this beautiful, wide open soundstage, full of separation, clarity and detail.
In this regard, it does slightly better than the IT04 at this stage, as it enables the slight echo effect applied to the vocals in this track to really increase the feeling of space.
However, once the full array of instruments are introduced, the more V-shaped sound signature of the IT03 becomes ever so slightly detrimental here, as it loses something of the huge soundstage amidst all the congestion.
Conversely, the comparatively more linear and reference tuning of the IT04 allows it to maintain its soundstage and keep things relatively more separated and open, whilst still allowing all the natural timbre of the instruments and vocals to shine.
Ray Lamontagne - A Falling Through:
This track features a gorgeous drum beat in the background, a delightful deep thump with significant bass weight and presence, that still doesn’t dominate the song but increases its emotion. Along with this, the strumming of the acoustic guitar is a great test for an IEM’s faithful representation of timbre.
So, again here the IT04 pulled ahead in its performance. It was completely captivating the way in which every strum and ring of the guitar strings were presented, along with the delicacy of the singer’s normally powerful and gravelly voice. Everything just sounds SO lifelike and right.
Conclusion:
Compared principally with the IT03, my feeling is that the IT04 offers a more balanced, linear and reference tuning. That’s not in any way to imply that the sound is sterile or analytically dry.
There’s far too much musicality and gorgeous natural timbre going on for that to occur.
These qualities also help the deep and wide soundstage and the separation to blend in with the overall presentation, rather than standing out obtrusively. Add to this superior transparency and resolution and what you end up with is really quite something.
My overall feeling regarding the IT04 is one of exceptionally well-executed balance and harmony.
The remarkable tactile feel (musically speaking) of the IT03 is probably the only thing I could say that I feel is lacking in the IT04, and as I’ve already said, I haven’t found that in any other IEM’s so far that I’ve tried, even TOTL flagship models costing 10 times the price. Doubtless it’s out there; I’ve just yet to hear it.
This small caveat aside, I cannot really fault the IT04 in any way.
Memory affords me the knowledge that of course there are much more expensive IEM’s out there that can do things better than the IT04, but I struggle to think of any IEM’s that can compete with the IT04 at anything approaching its price range. By way of disclaimer, I am not very knowledgeable about this section of the market, so it’s not to declare that there the IT04 has no rivals at its price point. However, what I feel I can confidently say is that this is mid-fi level, bordering on hi-fi.
At the mid-fi level, I’d expect it to hold its own against anything else.
The Hi-Fi level, as has been much commented on, is currently pushing its way ever higher into the financial stratosphere, with $1.5k - $3k IEM’s pretty much the standard and some recent releases exceeding $5k. In light of this, to get a performance at the level of the IT04 for a ‘mere’ $500 brings joy to the heart, and not to mention the bank account.
Which I just mentioned.
Yet again, iBasso have produced a product that offers both terrific value for money and a sound that can compete with products well above the price point they’ve placed it at.
The slogan of the iBasso company is ‘Enjoy The Music’.
Thanks to the IT04, I am doing so in abundance
Many thanks to iBasso, and to you all for reading!
