[Arttt]

Sine arrived!
First impressions are :

Great build quality and ergonomics!
Sine is very solid build, it doesn't have aura of fashion item and it doesn't scream luxury, instead it looks like Batmobile from latest batman movie...
Looks very cool and new leather smells nice.

Fit is good, headphones sit stable on ears, clamping force is fine for my taste, I like a tight fit.
One criticism is that headband doesn't have fixed bars, it simply slides on, no marks no bars. I would prefer headband with fixed bars/marks for size adjustment.

Now to the sound

I was a bit worried that Sine wouldn't live up to all the hype it got from head-fiers and reviewers, and after opening a pretty box and pressing play I will be disappointed...

Well, I'm not disappointed !

My Sine came with Cipher lightning cable that has dac/amp build in it, and here are my early impressions of Sine straight of the box from iPad Air with Cipher cable.

First I notice is a solid low end, punchy and multi layered , it doesn't sound at one pitch or better say like bass coming from one place and is on one note, no... Here it coming from all over the places, you can actualy here how different instruments have their on bass notes and how bass "moves" , I'm surprised a little on ear phone can do that .

Bass is tight and clean, and well balanced. But this headphones are not " serious/snobby " sounding headphones that wanna do everything "right" in terms of bass, it's rather musical and about listening pleasure than doing things strictly by the book...

Mids, if I to describe Sine mids with one word, I would choose " consistent " . It has body it has fluid flow it has good level of detail and it has good seperation, add to that good levels of refinement and pretty good imaging and there you go - Sine mids...
Soundstage is well build. Sound has depth to it and all well placed but size of it is so so, well after all it is on ear, and for on ear its realy good. It's just when a headphone sounds as good as Sine you kind of , without meaning to do so, start to compare it to a full size flagships... But then you go like, huhhh wait, it's on ear ))

Highs are very smooth, not so much air thou.... But crispy ,maybe just a little rounded but I wouldn't call it rolled offfffffff highs, it fits good in sound character of Sine.
Altogether this is not only the best on ear, it's one of the best headphones I heard - on ear in ear over the ear open closed... No matter price and driver type or design, in terms of pure musical enjoyment , Sine won't disappoint , just keep in mind it's a portable on ear and don't demand soundstage of hd800 neutrality of hd600 and bass extension of lcd2 or speed of he560... And you will enjoy music from something like iPad Air with a taste of high end, I'm not joking ...


P.s
Cipher cable makes difference... Mostly in volume and lowend

 

[jjsoviet]

I agree that the Sine is one of those headphones that punches well above its size: tight low-end, excellent instrument separation, sparkly but refined treble. Sure the soundstage is not that expansive, but again it's an on-ear portable, and for it to be even compared to full-sized, open cans is a feat in itself.
 
It does need quite a bit of power though. The FiiO A1, while adding more power and body, isn't powerful enough to drive the Sine with full authority as I have learned. However, the X1 I got yesterday does a pretty good job driving the Sine (I'm at level 80-90 volume most of the time) and adds that bit of midbass bloom that I particularly liked on my V-Modas.
 
That said, I feel the Sine can still benefit from more power. Looking at the AK Jr, DX80/90, and X5 II as my main DAPs, or just see if a DAC/Amp will be better considering that streaming services are more convenient for me.

 

[newyorker4life]

So I've just picked up a pair and I love them. I find the size a bit awkward with my ears but so far find them comfortable as long as I have them back a bit otherwise the pressure on the side of my head gets to me a bit.

I've never heard a planar before and the detail and separation is incredible. Absolutely love listening to them and I can get them properly loud so now I'm using it as an excuse to take my dog for longer walks! Out of my phone it's too quiet (but the phone is underpowered) so I've been using a JustAudio uha-120 amp and they sound amazing and can really hit a good volume if I want. I've got an LG G5 that I bought because of the B&O Hifi Plus module but the one I got is busted so I had to send it back to LG so haven't been able to try them out yet.

The one thing I'm really curious about is the cable. I'm happy with it but want to get the absolute best sound out of these that I can. Have many people replaced the stock cable? How much of an improvement in the sound do you notice?

Have you tried the cipher cable or is this non-cipher cable ?

 

[jjsoviet]

Have you tried the cipher cable or is this non-cipher cable ?

He has an LG G5 so no Cipher cable unfortunately. It's only compatible with Apple devices.

 

[brent75]

I'd be so curious to hear other people's rigs using Sine - specifically around volume discussions.

On my Cipher version straight into iPod, I couldn't go past 50% without it getting uncomfortable and painful levels. Usually I'm at 40%.

 

[jjsoviet]

I'd be so curious to hear other people's rigs using Sine - specifically around volume discussions.

On my Cipher version straight into iPod, I couldn't go past 50% without it getting uncomfortable and painful levels. Usually I'm at 40%.

Well the Cipher is a DAC/amp section in of itself, so the volume level is much higher out of it compared to the standard 3.5mm cable if I recall.

 

[FragmentedGod]

Have you tried the cipher cable or is this non-cipher cable ?

Non-Cipher cable.  I've got the LG G5 so will be using the hifi dac once it's repaired/replaced, but I don't have an iphone or anything compatible with the cipher cable so didn't buy that.  For my Ultrasone Pro 900 I've got a cable from www.toxic-cables.co.uk, which is amazing, but I don't want to just go buying a new cable for these if sonically the difference isn't going to be that great.

 

[Arttt]

i couldn't get pass 60% volume level on iPad air, on iPhone 6  maybe 70% maxxxxxxx , all thou it gets loud enough on iphone6 its not as full bodied , refined and hard punching as it is on iPad air . With Cipher cable.     And i haven't even tried EQ ...

 

[Trogdor]

I posted this on the SINE CES thread but I figured this wouldn't be thread crapping too much if I did the same here (I wasn't sure which one was actually more active to be honest).

Anyway, I did an extensive three way shoot out between the EL-8 (open and closed) and the SINE. I also had the pleasure of listening to both through the Cipher as well.

If you're curious, check out my review.

 

[brent75]

  Well the Cipher is a DAC/amp section in of itself, so the volume level is much higher out of it compared to the standard 3.5mm cable if I recall.

Yes, you're correct. I'm curious about the people who are claiming 90% or so required to make it listenable (implying some seriously low powered sources)...as well as the Cipher folks who listen at high percentages (implying some seriously loud listening levels).
 
Just a funny observation about the vast difference in equipment, plus the vast difference in how loud we like to listen.

 

[Arttt]

switching back and forth with cipher and 3,5mm cables , difference in SQ is bigger than i would like it to be ...
macbook pro retina ssd/Audirvana Lossless music / Sine 3,5mm cable  sounds less engaging and full-bodied than iphone6/Sine Cipher cable with Spotify streaming .
 
once switched to 3,5mm , volume discrease along with body in mids , dynamics got weak ,less punch ,  less warmth and sound got a bit grainy...
 
its silly that you can use Cipher with iPad/iphone only ...maybe there is an adapter so i could connect Cipher to macbook but theres a chance it won't work anyway...

 

[Sonic Defender]

  switching back and forth with cipher and 3,5mm cables , difference in SQ is bigger than i would like it to be ...
macbook pro retina ssd/Audirvana Lossless music / Sine 3,5mm cable  sounds less engaging and full-bodied than iphone6/Sine Cipher cable with Spotify streaming .
 
once switched to 3,5mm , volume discrease along with body in mids , dynamics got weak ,less punch ,  less warmth and sound got a bit grainy...
 
its silly that you can use Cipher with iPad/iphone only ...maybe there is an adapter so i could connect Cipher to macbook but theres a chance it won't work anyway...

That is because they use DSP with the Cypher, or at least that is what I suspect. You could recreate closely the same effect with equalization if you had some idea as to which frequencies were being processed with the DSP they use.

 

[jjsoviet]

Anyone using the Sines with dedicated DAPs like the X5 II, DX80/90 etc? I'd like to know which ones will pair with the Sine the best.

 

[thefitz]

  Anyone using the Sines with dedicated DAPs like the X5 II, DX80/90 etc? I'd like to know which ones will pair with the Sine the best.

I use the Sine with an original X5 and an E12, and it's great.

 

[jjsoviet]

 
I use the Sine with an original X5 and an E12, and it's great.

 
Does it need the E12 for a good output volume or can the X5 drive the Sine well enough by itself? I tend to not bother with amps anymore because of the bulk they present unfortunately.