[davide256]

I can confirm that the Meze 99 classic cable fits and sounds far better than the stock cable in Sine. And that the sheepskin ear pads work well, add enough height that the metal grill inside the ear cups no longer presses uncomfortably against my ear lobes

 

[Chessnaudio]

How does the Audeze Sine compare with the Focal Elegia?

 

[phthora]

How does the Audeze Sine compare with the Focal Elegia?

The bass on the SINE has more detail and presence, especially if you struggle to get a seal with the Elegia. The mids are more resolving on the SINE, more forward and more natural on the Elegia. The Elegia has wider soundstage, but it's still pretty typical of an closedback. Treble on the Elegia is more present and more prone to peaks. The SINE is more polite, but also smoother in the treble. They are about even in separtion and imaging. The SINE is much more capable of taking EQ without distorting and getting to high volume without clipping. The SINE are more secure on the head and more premium in build, but they clamp your head like you killed their father. The Elegia more heavier (or at least feel so), but they sit well on the head. However, they are very prone to frequency responses changes depending on positioning and seal (which can be difficult be get right).

More subjectively, I'd take the Elegia for vocals, and the SINE for everything else, particularly bass heavy music. I'd take the Elegia for comfort, but the SINE for portability. If you like to tinker with EQ, it's the SINE. If you like to pad-roll, it's the Elegia (but some folks on this thread have pad-rolled the SINE with some apparently excellent results). Overall, if you can put up with the clamp, the SINE is IMO is the better headphone for sound quality.

 

[Chessnaudio]

The bass on the SINE has more detail and presence, especially if you struggle to get a seal with the Elegia. The mids are more resolving on the SINE, more forward and more natural on the Elegia. The Elegia has wider soundstage, but it's still pretty typical of an closedback. Treble on the Elegia is more present and more prone to peaks. The SINE is more polite, but also smoother in the treble. They are about even in separtion and imaging. The SINE is much more capable of taking EQ without distorting and getting to high volume without clipping. The SINE are more secure on the head and more premium in build, but they clamp your head like you killed their father. The Elegia more heavier (or at least feel so), but they sit well on the head. However, they are very prone to frequency responses changes depending on positioning and seal (which can be difficult be get right).

More subjectively, I'd take the Elegia for vocals, and the SINE for everything else, particularly bass heavy music. I'd take the Elegia for comfort, but the SINE for portability. If you like to tinker with EQ, it's the SINE. If you like to pad-roll, it's the Elegia (but some folks on this thread have pad-rolled the SINE with some apparently excellent results). Overall, if you can put up with the clamp, the SINE is IMO is the better headphone for sound quality.

Thanks. I own the Sine. I was wondering if a cheap Elegia is worth getting. I ordered some pads instead. The concise breakdown was really helpful

 

[mobbaddict]

So after some time using the custom made pads I've switched back to the Yhcouldin over-ear pads. The custom made ones sound really nice and clean but I realize now they were a bit too mid-centric for my tastes, and probably too similar in some ways to the stock pads. The Yhcouldin provide a more relaxed sound signature and a deeper / less upfront (almost ethereal) soundstage.

Below you can see the difference between the three pads: the Yhcouldin have much more depth in comparison, which gives them this relaxed sound signature. The custom made pads sound just big enough to improve comfort and bass over the stock ones, which is great if you like the stock sound signature.

 

[mobbaddict]

So after some time using the custom made pads I've switched back to the Yhcouldin over-ear pads. The custom made ones sound really nice and clean but I realize now they were a bit too mid-centric for my tastes, and probably too similar in some ways to the stock pads. The Yhcouldin provide a more relaxed sound signature and a deeper / less upfront (almost ethereal) soundstage.

Below you can see the difference between the three pads: the Yhcouldin have much more depth in comparison, which gives them this relaxed sound signature. The custom made pads sound just big enough to improve comfort and bass over the stock ones, which is great if you like the stock sound signature.

Okay I need to amend my last post because I found a way to make the custom made pads sound correctly for me. The key here is to place the pads lower than how you would normally wear an on-ear headphone. I typically extend the headband this way, leaving a 1 inch long hole:

And I place the headphone on top of my skull and the earpads resting a bit on the edge of my jaw (this will wake up the bass for some reason). Swiveling the cups is optional as I noticed it reduces airyness and doesn't necessarily improve bass impact.

Honestly I find it extremely tricky to find the right position (and then you have to memorize it for everyday use) but when properly placed the headphone will retain its stock tonal response (near HD600 level) with plenty of added dynamics and bass impact. These pads now sound much more transparent and impactful then the bigger pads I mentioned above. Most recommended.

 

[mobbaddict]

For anyone looking for a case for his Sine, I recommend this hard case from Aenllosi (the one one made for the Sennheisers portable headphones), it seems to be a much better fit than Audeze's own travel case. Paid €16 for these. The pads fit without any issue (these are not Vesper Audios though).

 

[alpha80]

^Thanks again for the recommendation THUN

Scored a used Audeze Sine for a little over a bill, and they’re a really great dark-neutral closed back on-ear. FR & clamp is a lot like a Planar BeyerDynamic DT250-80. And the construction seems as durable as a Beyer, but much more luxurious with all the solid metal and soft leather. This with its 3.5mm cable could be a portable end game for many who like flat bass and mids, and very laid back / dark upper mids and treble. The shape of the on-ear pad is actually quite good to get a decent seal for most human ear shapes.

Two questions for everyone on the board who has heard/owned AUDEZE SINE:

1. Has anyone done any pad/physical mods to make them more bright/tangy? I have read that the Vesper Circumaural takes away a tiny bit of bass (which I’m fine with), in exchange for significant boost to the very laid back / dark treble/upper mids.

2. I have also read the Cipher Cable adds about 3-4db of bass, and has an EQ app stored in its volume/mic, that saves the EQ setting in itself. Does this cipher cable work on all Apple products once the EQ is set ? Like for instance, if I plug it into any lightning to usb or lightning to 3.5mm convertor and then plug them into a MacBookPro’s USB or 3.5mm, will the EQ setting still work seamlessly ?

If so:
I want Audeze to release a white/cloud-grey SINE with a light cloud grey Cipher cable.

 

[Chessnaudio]

So my Vesper Audio pads finally arrived. And what a difference in comfort! I can't say to the sonic differences to the standard pads, but between the clamp and my glasses the SINE were unusable after an hour or so. Extremely enjoyable now. A nice warm laid back sound signature with a tad of sparkle in the treble region, with great passive noise reduction. Sound stage is not that big and vocals are intimate. But what a nice chill headphone. I think I'm good in closed back k for the foreseeable future.

 

[rbmusicman]

I bought B-Stock Sine with cipher cable this last black Friday. It’s been great love the headphones and sounds so good with the sine cable. All of a sudden today I was listening to music with my iPhone through the sine cable and it stopped hearing music. All the buttons still work and iPhone still shows headphones are connected but no music sound playing through my headphones. I tried connecting it to another iOS device, does the same. I have the 3.5 cable, and I have an Hidizs s9 pro and a THX Onyx but it’s not the same as the cipher cable. I’m bummed because I don’t think Audeze will do anything since these are out of production.

 

[mobbaddict]

I bought B-Stock Sine with cipher cable this last black Friday. It’s been great love the headphones and sounds so good with the sine cable. All of a sudden today I was listening to music with my iPhone through the sine cable and it stopped hearing music. All the buttons still work and iPhone still shows headphones are connected but no music sound playing through my headphones. I tried connecting it to another iOS device, does the same. I have the 3.5 cable, and I have an Hidizs s9 pro and a THX Onyx but it’s not the same as the cipher cable. I’m bummed because I don’t think Audeze will do anything since these are out of production.

I know the bass can be frustrating with the Sine without EQ but you can improve that with full-size pads. To me they can sound very neutral when properly fitted, very similar to my Avantone planar which is a studio headphone. They'll never be a bass cannon though if that's what you're looking for (which is where the cipher probably came in handy).

 

[Chessnaudio]

How much Juice does the SINE need!? I'm hitting Volume 75/100 on 4.4 balanced High gain on my Hiby r5! I'm confused because 1. It was designed to be portable and 2. It is rated at 18 ohms.
Someone a bit physics savvy please help

 

[mobbaddict]

How much Juice does the SINE need!? I'm hitting Volume 75/100 on 4.4 balanced High gain on my Hiby r5! I'm confused because 1. It was designed to be portable and 2. It is rated at 18 ohms.
Someone a bit physics savvy please help

Volume itself is not really an indication how well your source is driving the headphone. I see that the R5 is putting out 1 full watt in balanced mode, is that correct? That's plenty of power for the Sine. Have you tried them on a desktop amp? They might sound better. The best indication of how well a planar headphone is driven is the sharpness of the transients. On my K5 pro (1 full watt as well) I find that the Sine have great transients.

 

[Gorktastick]

Volume itself is not really an indication how well your source is driving the headphone. I see that the R5 is putting out 1 full watt in balanced mode, is that correct? That's plenty of power for the Sine. Have you tried them on a desktop amp? They might sound better. The best indication of how well a planar headphone is driven is the sharpness of the transients. On my K5 pro (1 full watt as well) I find that the Sine have great transients.

How much Juice does the SINE need!? I'm hitting Volume 75/100 on 4.4 balanced High gain on my Hiby r5! I'm confused because 1. It was designed to be portable and 2. It is rated at 18 ohms.
Someone a bit physics savvy please help

It definitely needs a fair amount of power. I even messaged Audeze a few months ago, asking the same thing, and they confirmed that they do, indeed, need a good amount. I can't even get remotely enough power from the Cipher cable that came with it, which is pretty lame, considering the cable/dac/amp was specifically made for these headphones. I find I need to use a desktop amp to power them properly, although I haven't tested some of the newest portable dongles that seem to be coming out that have a good amount of power.

 

[mobbaddict]

It definitely needs a fair amount of power. I even messaged Audeze a few months ago, asking the same thing, and they confirmed that they do, indeed, need a good amount. I can't even get remotely enough power from the Cipher cable that came with it, which is pretty lame, considering the cable/dac/amp was specifically made for these headphones. I find I need to use a desktop amp to power them properly, although I haven't tested some of the newest portable dongles that seem to be coming out that have a good amount of power.

They sound okay out of my THX Onyx dongle (180mw) but I enjoy them more out of the desktop amp. The transients just feel sharper. The funny thing is that I do enjoy my full-size planars more on the Onyx.