[RAQemUP]

So just got in the iSINE 20 due to all the hype three days ago. I mainly wanted the big headphone sound of soundstage and bass on the go with my DAPs.

First off, I don't see all the hype about the cipher cable sound. It does sound different but it is super easy to tune a 10 or 20 band EQ, such as the jetAudio app, to sound exactly like it. Because of this, I almost never touch the cipher cable and just use the 3.5 mm cable. However, without EQ, the mids and treble already sound beautiful and the soundstage is extremely wide.

Secondly, while the bass is articulate, I find it bass light stock without any EQ. The second you add EQ the lower bass comes alive. It just gobbles up bass boost switches.

Thirdly, while I got them for non-home use, it pairs up the best with my home iFi micro stack. The iTube2 bass switch is meant for speakers but it just gives a meaty, non-bloated, and powerful lower bass to the iSINE 20 that does not bleed into the mids or muddy up the rest of the sound. It's all I have listened to these past few days. At this rate, I'm so satisfied with the overall sound I may retire my full-size headphones altogether. Will see how I feel after a full month.

Edit: oh, and I find the iSINE extremely comfortable. I figured out how to use the earlocks and haven't looked back. They barely feel like they are there and they stay put no matter how I move.

 

[TwinACStacks]

RA. I agree about the bass needing EQ. I have the first 3 bands of my 10 band equalizers boosted. REALLY fills in the sound. IMHO

TWIN

 

[Br777]

I'm considering buying the 20s, I would be using them while wearing a beanie over the top of them sometimes, would this affect the sound greatly?

*Edit* I'd really appreciate it if any owners of these, who also own a beanie could do the experiment for me please. : ]

I wear a beanie over mine all the time. Doing it right now actually. It does not effect the sound and it completely covers the driver. I suppose it all depends on how dense and thick your beanie is though. obviously there is going to be some point where air flow can become an issue.

 

[RAQemUP]

Ya, one of the main reasons I picked these up was because I kept reading about its deep and articulate bass. If you are someone who doesn't EQ and expecting deep bass, you will be very disappointed. It needs a lot of EQ for that in the lower EQ bands.

Basically, if you don't like to EQ, skip the iSINEs. But EQ makes them TOTL IMO.

 

[Br777]

Ya, one of the main reasons I picked these up was because I kept reading about its deep and articulate bass. If you are someone who doesn't EQ and expecting deep bass, you will be very disappointed. It needs a lot of EQ for that in the lower EQ bands.

Basically, if you don't like to EQ, skip the iSINEs. But EQ makes them TOTL IMO.

yeah, as you can see by my eq settings i've posted here a few times, this brings them up to what i consider a natural bass sound. That 13db bass boost is a shelf, not a peak boost.

Preamp: -13 dB

Filter 1: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 13 dB
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1000 Hz Gain -6 dB Q .9
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4000 Hz Gain 5.5 dB Q .1

 

[makne]

After stalking the forum for a few weeks,

I finally auditioned isine 20 + mojo with a friend of mine in my local audio shop.

Both of us had the same "impression".

It doesn't have a sound stage like a good full size headphone (HD 800, Audeze, hifiman) or the clarity + accuracy of a good iem (jh, ue, um).

Still, that's just our "impression", personally I prefer more sub bass and sweet mid like angie but with a little more sparkle high.

My friend likes analytical, micro detail and metallic sound so the isine 20 sounded very neutral an average without over emphasizing any of the frequencies.

Try cipher cable or cipher-eq with the Mojo. The cipher signature is v-shaped and brings sub-bass in loads, and boosts the treble to give nice sparkle. Mids are "cleaner" and not as bloated, sounds clearer.
What is so nice about the isines is that they take eq so incredibly well, you can basically tune them exactly like you want. And with eq, they can produce great bass, both quality and quantity. That is the one point where they are even better than my Elears.

 

[gunwale]

thanks for all the reply.

one thing for sure is that the isine 20 is quite far away from a TOTL being only 500ish. (yes there's icd i4)

i have not tried hd 800 with like TOTL dac and amp but i don't think that the hd 800 actually sounds nice. It has this veil sound stage, pushed back vocal and so-so bass. i actually do not like hd600 and 650 too (sorry...) but if i had to choose i will choose the the 600 being the best all rounder among the senns.

i like audeze's signature (tall and deep) as well as the other general planar signature like hifiman and ethers that sounded horizontally wide with lesser depth. i tried focal utopia once and it sounded too bright for me. I tried the sony z1r and stax but i cant remember their distinct sound signatures.

the point is, the isine 20 sounds like a headphone and it's usability actually overlaps with a headphone. when i listen to an iem, i get this isolated black background and crystal clear notes (thanks to the isolation). when i listen to isine 20, my brain automatically thinks that i am listening to an open headphone and then it starts to crave for that tall and deep sound stage.

Although i like the isine 20 more than any of the senns, i still prefer the sound of full size audeze and hifiman (kinda unfair since isine 20 is only 600ish).

for me, the main issue is actually its usability. i dont see it replacing good full size headphones for home users and i don't see it replacing the iems on public transports (it will sound pretty bad in noisy environment like all open headphones does)

still.. the most important point is, i think right now in the market, we probably cannot find an iem at its price range that sound anything close to the isine 20 (assuming that we EQ and listen to the isine in a noise free environment)

 

[Cagin]

thanks for all the reply.

one thing for sure is that the isine 20 is quite far away from a TOTL being only 500ish. (yes there's icd i4)

i have not tried hd 800 with like TOTL dac and amp but i don't think that the hd 800 actually sounds nice. It has this veil sound stage, pushed back vocal and so-so bass. i actually do not like hd600 and 650 too (sorry...) but if i had to choose i will choose the the 600 being the best all rounder among the senns.

i like audeze's signature (tall and deep) as well as the other general planar signature like hifiman and ethers that sounded horizontally wide with lesser depth. i tried focal utopia once and it sounded too bright for me. I tried the sony z1r and stax but i cant remember their distinct sound signatures.

the point is, the isine 20 sounds like a headphone and it's usability actually overlaps with a headphone. when i listen to an iem, i get this isolated black background and crystal clear notes (thanks to the isolation). when i listen to isine 20, my brain automatically thinks that i am listening to an open headphone and then it starts to crave for that tall and deep sound stage.

Although i like the isine 20 more than any of the senns, i still prefer the sound of full size audeze and hifiman (kinda unfair since isine 20 is only 600ish).

for me, the main issue is actually its usability. i dont see it replacing good full size headphones for home users and i don't see it replacing the iems on public transports (it will sound pretty bad in noisy environment like all open headphones does)

still.. the most important point is, i think right now in the market, we probably cannot find an iem at its price range that sound anything close to the isine 20 (assuming that we EQ and listen to the isine in a noise free environment)

Point taken

I use my LCD-i4 while driving and outside too, even in markets/stores while waiting in queue. Not bobbing your head is the difficult part in those situations is the difficult part.

 

[Ripley]

yeah, as you can see by my eq settings i've posted here a few times, this brings them up to what i consider a natural bass sound. That 13db bass boost is a shelf, not a peak boost.

Preamp: -13 dB

Filter 1: ON LS Fc 100 Hz Gain 13 dB
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1000 Hz Gain -6 dB Q .9
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4000 Hz Gain 5.5 dB Q .1

When I first received my iSine10s, I loved their open sound but found the midrange to be a bit honky/resonant. This is using a Chord Mojo connected to a Vorzuge Pure II+. The three PEQ profiles posted by the Audeze rep, KMann, completely cleared up the midrange resonance, but it seemed like at the cost of a lot of midrange detail. I was still listening to my iSine10s nonstop, but I couldn't resist constantly trying to tweak the settings.

I was skeptical when I first saw your PEQ settings, since they seemed so simple by comparison, but I'm glad I gave them a shot. As soon as the music started, a big grin spread across my face. Now we're talking. I did dial back the bass a tiny bit (dropping the low shelf to 10 dB), but my ears are now very happy campers. Thanks for posting these settings!

 

[AlwaysForward]

RE: the BASS

Well, I had similar impressions about needing EQ until I started using Large size Comply tips. Now I've got everything I wanted from the open back planar cans without the need for EQ. I've got the isolation, comfort and sport models. All sound absolutely excellent while each has a slightly different sound presentation.

 

[Carlsan]

I found that high gain on my DX200 also does the trick. The iSine 20's love the power.

 

[Br777]

When I first received my iSine10s, I loved their open sound but found the midrange to be a bit honky/resonant. This is using a Chord Mojo connected to a Vorzuge Pure II+. The three PEQ profiles posted by the Audeze rep, KMann, completely cleared up the midrange resonance, but it seemed like at the cost of a lot of midrange detail. I was still listening to my iSine10s nonstop, but I couldn't resist constantly trying to tweak the settings.

I was skeptical when I first saw your PEQ settings, since they seemed so simple by comparison, but I'm glad I gave them a shot. As soon as the music started, a big grin spread across my face. Now we're talking. I did dial back the bass a tiny bit (dropping the low shelf to 10 dB), but my ears are now very happy campers. Thanks for posting these settings!

Cool! Glad to hear someone tried it and liked it! yeah there will never be a one bass fits all setting Even my own preferences change over time in different ways.

 

[TwinACStacks]

PRICE does not indicate TOTL performance. In fact in many cases it simply represents poor investment and falling prey to Hype. I can think of several VASTLY more expensive iems and even cans that aren't as good as the isines, 10 or 20's

JMHO

TWIN

 

[Beanlipe]

Well I sold my HE400s and got myself the iSine10's but as much as I'm trying to love them there are some songs that the vocals sounds so weird and somehow "incomplete". I might try to tweak the EQ as you guys suggested but I'll probably end up selling to get a HE400i.

At first I was very impressed with the bass punch and the vocal seemed like they were really inside my head with a lot of clarity but sometimes the voice sounded thin, not sure if any of you guys had the same experience.

I let it playing overnight to burn in a little and that seemed to help a tad much but still I agree with the DMS3TV review, seems like there is a dip on the freq around 3k or up that really messes up some songs.

 

[RojasTKD]

RE: the BASS

Well, I had similar impressions about needing EQ until I started using Large size Comply tips. Now I've got everything I wanted from the open back planar cans without the need for EQ. I've got the isolation, comfort and sport models. All sound absolutely excellent while each has a slightly different sound presentation.

Complys have never worked for me, but perhaps I'll get around to trying them with the iSine, as I don't have to try an insert them in my ear (as I understand it).

Ya, one of the main reasons I picked these up was because I kept reading about its deep and articulate bass. If you are someone who doesn't EQ and expecting deep bass, you will be very disappointed. It needs a lot of EQ for that in the lower EQ bands.

Basically, if you don't like to EQ, skip the iSINEs. But EQ makes them TOTL IMO.

I found that high gain on my DX200 also does the trick. The iSine 20's love the power.

With my portables (Shanling M1/M2s and Axon 7 phone) I need to engage some EQ to give them the bass boost I like. I rather not have to us EQ, but I prefer the added bass.

Running off my more powerful NFB-11 it's less of an issue. I still like the bump the bass a bit, as I prefer the Harman response curve over the diffuse field equalization.

IIRC I've seen a few reviewers mention the the Audeze line of LCD headphone offer nice linear extended bass, but not a lot of it. Audeze seems to use a tweaked diffuse field equalization curve (with a more tamed highs).

Unfortunately, I missed out on the iFi IDSD Black Lable sale a few days ago, as I just just bought a new DAP and didn't have the funds. But I hope to be ready for the next one. I think the X-Bass switch would be a great way to add that extra bass kick to the iSine.