[acia]

  Well, I never use my Sine at home..........only when I'm traveling or moving, so it's definitely portable for me. Isolation is not the best but leakage is sensational. Cipher cable not much of an improvement sonically for me over the normal cable but for phone calls and Siri it's great. People that are saying the Cipher cable is a must have item and radical improvement over the normal cable have active imaginations. The Sine is plenty durable-I toss mine around many times each day and it's not a concern. I will say that it IS quite easy to get nicks and scratches on the leather covering the cups though. 

mine chipped within 24 hours, without any manhandling.  
 
for passive isolation, it's worse compared with bose qc 15, without active noise-cancelling switched on.  
 
of course, with active noise-cancelling, it's a night and day difference, say in tube, or in traffic or even in restaurant.
 
thus, would be nice if audeze could release a bluetooth with apt-x and noise cancelling.  bose qc 35 doesn't have apt-x, thus, i will pass.
 
for the cipher cable, my own experience is it does at least have boost in volume.  not sure about the quality.

 

[acia]

   
What mod?
 
I don't think it's fair to compare a "mod" with a stock headphone, do you? And lot of T50rp mods out there cost more than the Sine. If you modded yourself that's great but that's not something everyone is willing to do. But you can also mod the Sine, especially since it has removable ear pads. I just did one that helps the soundstage by pushing the drivers further away from the ears, took less than 5 minutes: 
 


All I did was stuff some speaker padding under the pads, I'll trim some away to make it neater later. Also, Audeze has plenty of open headphones already, I think they have that area covered.

you may try putting those padding inside the pads.  take the pads out, and turn it inside out, you would know what to do next.

 

[SubBassBass]

-

 

[Slaphead]

Are you kidding? Max volume? Presumably headphones can go 105-120 decibels or even higher with an amp. Any exposure to sound close to 85 decibels within a 3-4 hour listen would be damaging to your hearing and thus uneeded to claim such distortion at high volume since I'm not willing to go levels that high.

- And how does Sines "distortion" make it not portable? That's like saying your knife ain't sharp enough for portability. And why bother claiming the sources of the iPod, iPad and iPhone 6? All of which support 24 bit resolution and dacs/amps are already bypassed with the cipher cable.

I think you made a mistake in buying an "on-ear" headphone, since you shouldn't expect much out of this headphone in terms of isolation.

- Spending $300 dollars on an amp, to get rid of distortion on a on-ear headphone with little isolating abilities (in comparison to over-ears) and a flat frequency response only then drowned out by a crowd of cars and people; the HA2 amp solution seems like a waste of money to me. Just get the cipher cable if your traveling. Done.

The two best isolating headphones that I've come across are the Sennheiser HD25 and the Beyerdynamic DT1350, and both are on-ear headphones. The SINE's isolation in comparison is abysmal.

So the question remains as to whether the SINE's are suitable as portable headphones? Well for me not. Even when listening at, for me, relatively loud volumes the cacophony of an averages city's ambient noise drowns out the music coming from the SINE. Even sitting next to two people having a conversation on a train the SINE fails in that the conversation is often just a audible as the music.

There's no doubting that the SINEs have an excellent detailed sound when used in a quiet environment, but the DT1350 comes very close, with a similar tonality, but just losing out a tiny bit with detail, and a slightly narrower soundstage. Get them into a relatively noisy environment and the DT1350 trounces the SINE due to it's much superior isolation.

Mind you that shouldn't really be surprising as both the DT1350 and the HD25 were both designed and marketed specifically to be used by audio professionals in noisy environments. The SINE on the other hand was designed and marketed as a blingy consumer fashion headphone, albeit with very good sound quality.

 

[acia]

Sound quality wise, the Audeze Sines are revealing and thus does not handle lower resolution very well. Some people are already complaining about its poor sound quality unless amped sufficiently so only adding Bluetooth with apt-x and noise cancelling while these headphones have planar magnetic drivers, would leave the Audezes heavier, "very battery hungry", and more people complaining over its sound quality. Comfort would also be an issue since the pads are too thin over the weight of these headphones,

On a unrelated note, requesting Bluetooth and noise cancelling would also leave others more to judge on build quality.
This is terrain audeze usually don't touch at and unless you read forums about their shoddy build quality (e.g. LCD 3)
you can bet it'll be a risk.

https://www.mezeheadphones.com/meze-99-classics-walnut-silver-wood-headphones
 
oh yes, even this is electroplated, not even asking for pvd.  but with just paint?  chipped in 24 hours.  it's kind of a joke.
 
not to mention patches of glue on the surface of the driver grille.  though it can't be seen with the pads, still little attention to details.  
 
oh, the lcd-3 thread is indeed very revealing.    thanks.  warned about this brand in the future.
 
my buddy said shouldn't even waste any money on audeze or the like any more once he got the stax.

 

[SubBassBass]

-

 

[sxr71]

The two best isolating headphones that I've come across are the Sennheiser HD25 and the Beyerdynamic DT1350, and both are on-ear headphones. The SINE's isolation in comparison is abysmal.

So the question remains as to whether the SINE's are suitable as portable headphones? Well for me not. Even when listening at, for me, relatively loud volumes the cacophony of an averages city's ambient noise drowns out the music coming from the SINE. Even sitting next to two people having a conversation on a train the SINE fails in that the conversation is often just a audible as the music.

There's no doubting that the SINEs have an excellent detailed sound when used in a quiet environment, but the DT1350 comes very close, with a similar tonality, but just losing out a tiny bit with detail, and a slightly narrower soundstage. Get them into a relatively noisy environment and the DT1350 trounces the SINE due to it's much superior isolation.

Mind you that shouldn't really be surprising as both the DT1350 and the HD25 were both designed and marketed specifically to be used by audio professionals in noisy environments. The SINE on the other hand was designed and marketed as a blingy consumer fashion headphone, albeit with very good sound quality.

I couldn't have said it better. I actually have the HD25 and the T50p instead of the DT1350. They are both built for the purpose. I'm an idiot for buying this for portable use in all honesty. Then again they lied about the intended use. Every time I bought a product from some upstart headphone "audiophile" company I've been burned. This is no exception. I'm sure they'll replace it but what a hassle and I'm sure this will break again if I attempt to travel with it.

 

[Schopenhauer]

Audeze is hardly "some upstart 'audiophile' company".

 

[sxr71]

Audeze is hardly "some upstart 'audiophile' company".

Where were they a decade ago? Ask that question about Senheiser or Beyerdynamic. Only in the alternate universe of Head-Fi would it be considered an established company. The products are still made like amateurs made them.

 

[Schopenhauer]

Sounds like you have it figured out.

 

[brent75]

I couldn't have said it better. I actually have the HD25 and the T50p instead of the DT1350. They are both built for the purpose. I'm an idiot for buying this for portable use in all honesty. Then again they lied about the intended use. Every time I bought a product from some upstart headphone "audiophile" company I've been burned. This is no exception. I'm sure they'll replace it but what a hassle and I'm sure this will break again if I attempt to travel with it.

 
Good grief, man - get a grip.
 
 
(for the record, I love the Sines + Cipher...I use them every night when I'm walking the dogs...they serve as awesome portables for me...and I'm sorry you seem so displeased...but I hardly think anyone lied to you)

 

[brent75]

And while we're at it...why did the pitchforks suddenly come out regarding the word "portable"?
 
People who are raking Audeze over the coals for supposed "lack of portability" are basically acting like Audeze came to their house and told them personally Sine is the end-all, be-all portable headphone.
 
Does it even say it anywhere on the box/packaging? (I just remember lots of verbiage about how it's an on-ear planar magnetic...lighting connector...etc)
 
And if you go to the product page, there's ONE instance...and it's a buried bullet point that says "Light weight and folds flat for ultimate portability"
 
It's not like they're screaming "PORTABLE PORTABLE PORTABLE" in all their messaging...but people here are suddenly acting like Audeze stole their girlfriend and lied to their face.

 

[captblaze]

  And while we're at it...why did the pitchforks suddenly come out regarding the word "portable"?
 

 
I would tend to believe its misplaced anger. instead of dogging out Audeze, a good hard look in the mirror is in order by anyone who bought before trying. any apple store will allow you to demo if they are in stock. so there is little to no excuse for anyone to blame Audeze or anyone else for that matter

 

[MidFiMoney]

Just my two cents:  The Sine is an awesome portable headphone with a couple of flaws - I've yet to come across a "perfect" headphone for any purpose. The isolation is definitely lackluster but that's a good thing for commuting and use at work IMO. Albeit, they are entirely useless on an airplane. The style and form factor are also great for portable use but it definitely should have come with a low-profile hard case (like the Oppo PM-3). The pouch that was provided is a good joke at best. They are very nice headphones and they are built well. However, they are susceptible to damage if not properly stored. I think Audeze mostly got it right though. It's not for everyone and it's not for every use case but it is a pretty solid option if you want great-sounding and great-looking cans on the go. I can't speak for the Cipher cable but I'd imagine it's better than carrying around my HA-2 (even if it doesn't perform at the same level). I wonder when they're going to start selling that thing. It feels like I've been waiting forever :/
 
P.S.
 
Nothing against the HA-2 btw. I'm a big fan of Oppo and all the products that I've tried from them (HA-2, PM-3, PM-2)

 

[subguy812]

 
ditto!  definitely NOT drivable by phones!  and sugar built quality for the price point.  
 
great if they could produce bluetooth noise-cancelling planar.  adapter for micro usb of android would be much appreciated.  can't find it anywhere.

Easily drivable by HTC10..sorry