[HardstyleLoco96]

Yes exactly. I listened to them again today and it's like the whole lower range just came alive. Not that they are suddenly becoming bass monster (I think they actually have a bit of bass roll off) but the whole tonality has switched from being slightly mid-centric with the stock pads, to being relatively more focused on bass and lower mid-range. And yet I can still hear the clear top end. It's the kind of trick a Stax SR-007 can pull out. It's really a great tuning. Doesn't it make the DX a bit too dark for you though?

With no EQ, it makes a very very very lush tuning and acoustic guitars, my my it's a pleasure to listen to. I wouldn't say dark, as the earpads seem to give a little boost up top especially with extension. But warmer, maybe. But I use the DX with EQ and it's a completely different beast with EQ. The low end is full, close to LCD levels but with faster transients. It's very punchy and quick. Lower mids, some of the best lower mids I've heard. Upper mids and treble are smooth with a analytical aproach yet full and never thin. The combo of the earpads, and eq with the DX make it into one of the best Audeze headphones I've heard. I'd happily take it over the new LCD-X 2021 any day. Its that good. But yes it leans to warmer sounding, but not dark without eq. It doesnt mute the treble, it enhances it a touch but the low end does become beastly. And very impressive at that

 

[mobbaddict]

With no EQ, it makes a very very very lush tuning and acoustic guitars, my my it's a pleasure to listen to. I wouldn't say dark, as the earpads seem to give a little boost up top especially with extension. But warmer, maybe. But I use the DX with EQ and it's a completely different beast with EQ. The low end is full, close to LCD levels but with faster transients. It's very punchy and quick. Lower mids, some of the best lower mids I've heard. Upper mids and treble are smooth with a analytical aproach yet full and never thin. The combo of the earpads, and eq with the DX make it into one of the best Audeze headphones I've heard. I'd happily take it over the new LCD-X 2021 any day. Its that good. But yes it leans to warmer sounding, but not dark without eq. It doesnt mute the treble, it enhances it a touch but the low end does become beastly. And very impressive at that

The way you describe it it sounds a lot like what I hear with the Sine. The midrange is definitely super lush with those pads. What's interesting is that the Sine already has an almost perfect frequency response on paper according to oratory's measurements. So either the fit can be compromised with the stock pads and these help securing it and improving the low end response, or maybe they just tame the upper midrange a little bit, providing a warmer response overall.

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

I think what it is mostly, is that the ear is still close to the driver, but due to the over ear design of the earpad, its creating a much more secure and proper seal around the ear. So low end appears to be more but it also could be due to the thickness of the pad. But not only FR improves as I do feel soundstage, imaging and overall dynamics improve a fair bit. Personally, it's a massive upgrade over stock pads. I can imagine for you, stock earpads sound small in comparison to the new ones. The overall image sounds like a full size headphone, thats what it did for me for the DX. I can't listen to stock earpads now. They sound horrible to me. Mids sound too forward and honky, I hear a slight sub roll off. Treble has a peak around 9.5k - 10k that is a bit bothersome. Treble is too warm and lacks air. These new earpads fixes all that and drastically improves soundstage and imaging. The DX is decently wide for a on ear. Close to the LCD-X with stock earpads. But with the new earpads, the whole sound opens up and the full potential I could hear is finally brought out, and its f$%king AMAZING. I am beyond certain if the Sine and DX were to be reviewed with these earpads, the LCD-1 would be out of the question. For me personally, the LCD-1 doesn't come anywhere near to how amazing the DX is with these earpads. Inferior clarity and detail. Slower transients, small soundstage with slugish imaging, low end that lacks speed, proper sub and mid bass separation, mids that lack weight and treble that I personally found peaky oh and build yeah, nah build is no where near as good as the DX. Im not hyping the DX, but damn, it sure does impress me. So soo good

 

[mobbaddict]

I think what it is mostly, is that the ear is still close to the driver, but due to the over ear design of the earpad, its creating a much more secure and proper seal around the ear. So low end appears to be more but it also could be due to the thickness of the pad. But not only FR improves as I do feel soundstage, imaging and overall dynamics improve a fair bit. Personally, it's a massive upgrade over stock pads. I can imagine for you, stock earpads sound small in comparison to the new ones. The overall image sounds like a full size headphone, thats what it did for me for the DX. I can't listen to stock earpads now. They sound horrible to me. Mids sound too forward and honky, I hear a slight sub roll off. Treble has a peak around 9.5k - 10k that is a bit bothersome. Treble is too warm and lacks air. These new earpads fixes all that and drastically improves soundstage and imaging. The DX is decently wide for a on ear. Close to the LCD-X with stock earpads. But with the new earpads, the whole sound opens up and the full potential I could hear is finally brought out, and its f$%king AMAZING. I am beyond certain if the Sine and DX were to be reviewed with these earpads, the LCD-1 would be out of the question. For me personally, the LCD-1 doesn't come anywhere near to how amazing the DX is with these earpads. Inferior clarity and detail. Slower transients, small soundstage with slugish imaging, low end that lacks speed, proper sub and mid bass separation, mids that lack weight and treble that I personally found peaky oh and build yeah, nah build is no where near as good as the DX. Im not hyping the DX, but damn, it sure does impress me. So soo good

Yes you're right the seal is probably changing everything, that's what I meant by fit. But on the other hand I don't hear the bass as being overly boosted. The Quad Era-1 with the leather pads has more boosted bass (less neutral) for instance. With the Sine the bass just feels right to me. There's a bit of roll-off below 60 hz but after that it seems quite linear and much fuller than the stock pads.

Comparing with the stock pads, I can see how someone would like the latter better though. The midrange is more upfront and clearer, so in a way it can sound more detailed and transparent. I think it's a matter of taste so if one is happy with the stock sound of the Sine, I'm not sure if the pad change is needed. Personally I like the fuller sound of the leather pads better. I have SR-007 vibes with this setup (with lesser transparency of course). The fit is quite picky though and I need some time to adjust the pads correctly though. I'm going to order the perforated leather pads I found on aliexpress to see if transparency can be improved again.

 

[Trikiay]

Hey there folks. I have the Sine and absolutely love it to death but I hate the stock cable it comes with, and I was wondering if there are any 4-pin XLR balanced cable options for it. The length of the cable should preferably be about 5-6ft. Let me know if you have any recommendations that fit those requirements. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mightygrey]

Hey there folks. I have the Sine and absolutely love it to death but I hate the stock cable it comes with, and I was wondering if there are any 4-pin XLR balanced cable options for it. The length of the cable should preferably be about 5-6ft. Let me know if you have any recommendations that fit those requirements. Thanks in advance!

Hey mate, I use this cable with mine and use an XLR adapter/extension cable.

 

[Trikiay]

Hey mate, I use this cable with mine and use an XLR adapter/extension cable.

Ahh, interesting. But I’m guessing it won’t be quite as neat of a fit as the stock Sine cable right? Cause it doesn’t have the tilt at the connectors like the stock Sine cable does. But if this is the best we can do, then that’s fine with me, I’ll get this one. Thanks for your help! Should I get the 4.4 or 2.5mm version?

 

[Mightygrey]

Ahh, interesting. But I’m guessing it won’t be quite as neat of a fit as the stock Sine cable right? Cause it doesn’t have the tilt at the connectors like the stock Sine cable does. But if this is the best we can do, then that’s fine with me, I’ll get this one. Thanks for your help! Should I get the 4.4 or 2.5mm version?

They do loop out the back slightly, but it's never bothered me. I use the 2.5mm version + a 2.5mm extension cable into a Drop 2.5mm > XLR adapter.

 

[Trikiay]

They do loop out the back slightly, but it's never bothered me. I use the 2.5mm version + a 2.5mm extension cable into a Drop 2.5mm > XLR adapter.

Cool, I’ll probably do something similar as well. Thanks for the idea and recommendations! I appreciate it

 

[Sonic Defender]

If you can, frankly I would get the 4.4 termination size as it is more robust than 2.5 and has become broadly adopted.

 

[Vesperaudio]

Hey there folks. I have the Sine and absolutely love it to death but I hate the stock cable it comes with, and I was wondering if there are any 4-pin XLR balanced cable options for it. The length of the cable should preferably be about 5-6ft. Let me know if you have any recommendations that fit those requirements. Thanks in advance!

We have many cabling options for sine.
Pls pm me if need details.

 

[mobbaddict]

So I've used the Sine quite a bit this summer with the leather pads from Aliexpress, using a THX Onyx dongle for portable use (nearly 200mw power). I also took the time to compare it at home with my two fullsize planars (Avantone Planar and Quad Era-1) running on a desktop amp (Fiio K5 pro).

For a start I found out that the Sine seems to really shine when fed with a lot of power. I hear much better transients and dynamics off my Fiio K5 pro when I'm at home. The Sine doesn't sound bad at all on my portable setup but at the end of day I think it's more appropriate to use it on a desktop rig (at least with the gear I have). I don't really see the point bothering with portable gear if I don't hear everything I know the Sine can deliver. IEMs can deliver similar technicalities while being much more practical on the go. I know it doesn't make sense for some people to use the Sine on a desktop rig since it was designed for portable use (which I think was the main mistake from Audeze), but it does have the advantage of being much lighter than any fullsize planar. It's just great for casual listening.

Desktop listening is when the Sine truly shines for me. Technically I would say it's in the same ballpark as my fullsize planars when it's properly fed. The Quad was my first good planar and I was always impressed by its speed, even in direct comparison with my Stax Lambdas (not saying that the Quad beats them but matching electrostats speed was unexpected). The Sine is very close to the Quad and it's faster than the Avantone, it sounds surprisingly open and transparent. I don't hear it as being closed-in at all, even if I do hear the physical limitations of the soundstage. Those limitations are precisely what makes them sound so immersive and addictive compared to an open-back headphone. On the other hand I will admit that Quad in particular delivers a more spectacular soundstage and better separation/layering, but its imaging is also slightly artificial versus the super cohesive one of the Sine. I feel like I moved to the closed-back camp now, open-backs just sound boring to me after a while.

In terms of sound signature those three headphones share a similar general approach (think HD600) with some variations here and there. The Avantone has the most organic balance once you slap some aftermarket earpads on it, it's super smooth and well balanced with full-bodied mids and neutral low/top end. The Quad fares better then I remembered with the stock leather pads, it does have a pinch of brightness and a somewhat exaggerated bass response but it's still well balanced overall, making for an exciting and pleasing sound. The Sine sounds in between with the main focus being put on the midrange. Compared to the Avantone, it's a bit lighter in the low range and it has more forward upper-mids. But it's still in the range of what I consider to be neutral. The Avantone may actually have a tendency to smoothen the midrange so I do appreciate how revealing the Sine is here. It also has an exciting sound a bit like the Quad in a way, but with less dark mids and more neutral low/top end. I wouldn't change much in the tuning of this headphone to be honest, I think only the bass response could be improved to make it sound fuller but the rest is almost perfect. I suspect the bass limitation still comes from the earpads which are not as big as the ones found on fullsize headphones. Yet I recommend trying those pads as they do really help with the bass response and overall presentation.

For my personal use this headphone is a keeper and I need to question myself if I want to keep those fullsize headphones that will like get less head time. In my mind this also begs the question of how much better high-end closed-back planars can be when this is so good for a fraction of the cost?

 

[mobbaddict]

Found a couple of custom-made pads for the Sine
https://m.fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005003149972595.html
https://m.fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005003188467678.html
The first set is fairly expensive but looks quite nice. I wonder if they could improve bass response, hmm...

 

[Mightygrey]

Found a couple of custom-made pads for the Sine
https://m.fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005003149972595.html
https://m.fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005003188467678.html
The first set is fairly expensive but looks quite nice. I wonder if they could improve bass response, hmm...

I think you should definitely take one for the team and report your findings!

 

[mobbaddict]

I think you should definitely take one for the team and report your findings!

Have I might do that, except if someone is faster than me of course