Agreed. Took a couple days to get used to the in ear hooks but they're great now, from the gym to the desk.
My quick recap of the 10 with 3.5mm no EQ so far with the 20 getting in tomorrow or friday:
- Very open/airy. Just as open, if not a bit more than my HD700. Basically no isolation low/no volume.
- Surprisingly little leakage. If the HD700 is a 10/10(rated by my GF in a quiet living room), the 10 is a 3/10 when perceived volume matched. Leaks a little less than apple air pods.
- Good imaging in every direction. Where the HD700 gets a little fuzzy center soundstage, the 10s are near pinpoint throughout.
- Soundstage a hair smaller than the HD700, a solid bit larger than the Nighthawk.
- Bass is quick, very good extension. I can "feel" EQ changes in the 10-20hz range where the HD700 doesn't respond or respond very little.
- Mids much more full than the HD700, but that was expected.
- Highs are, again as expected, more tame than the HD700 but still carry plenty of detail. Just enough to get all the tingly good stuff without being too fatiguing.
- More of a "wet" overall sound. The HD700 were mainly clinical, slightly "fun" to me(I like their bass and treble, don't crucify me), these are much more fun but manage to be just as precise, resolving, and snappy.The main thing I miss was a sort of "crack" the HD700s gave to bass kicks. I think it was more a trick of the tuning, but I'll live.
- If the HD700s are a 10 in comfort(they are to me), these are a solid 8-9. Sometimes the ear hook pressure can cause a bit of a sore point after 3-4 hours. A quick break fixes that.
- If you're a low volume listener, these should be on your radar. They do low volume very well.
- These are the best I've heard for gaming so far. I'm chalking that up to the great imaging with large soundstage but straight into your ear.
So far my preferred EQ(if any) is a +4db bump to the 31hz range, +3db bump to 62, -2db to 2k, +2db to 4k, +4 to 8k, +3 to 16k. But I've been leaning more towards just getting used to the stock signature.
In summary I'm over the moon with the unique presentation of the music with these. Having that big airy openness with great imaging being pumped directly into your ear canal is really awesome and IMO a step forward in portable headphones and headphones in general. The only issue I see is these falling into a negative echo chamber with people looking them over thinking(like I thought a couple weeks ago) "when would I use these?" The answer to me has been all the time, everywhere. For purchasing decisions, these should be seen as a unique full size set with a novel presentation that can be wrapped up into a tiny carrying case and used anywhere apple airpod levels of leakage are tolerated.
The main negative is Audeze basically killed 3 other products with this release imo. To me, the regular Sine, EL8 and EL8c are just not in the picture anymore compared even to just the i10 with analog cable. Hopefully I get to hear the LCD series one day, and the LCD in ear that I've seen talk about.
Comparisons to the i20 (hopefully)tomorrow
