iBasso IT00 – crazy good!
Not a full review – received the IT00 a few days ago so posting my impressions. (Thanks to Minidisc in Sydney – great service as always!)
The short version – these are
ridiculously good for sub $100 iems.
Simple, tasteful design which is very comfortable. The cable is fine – preformed earhooks fit me well (YMMV), the cable is reasonably soft, not tangly, not much cable noise, right angle jack. Nothing to get excited about but it’s satisfactory.
Bass: Controlled with good extension and plenty of impact. My test music for bass is the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack, which has a lot of distinct rumbling base sounds layered on top of each other. The IT00 does a great job of delivering the visceral grunt of a track like “Wallace”, while also presenting the details. I own the IT04 (both have 10mm graphene drivers) and bass quality is on par with the 04.
Mids: Tuning of the bass and mids is very similar to the IT01, but the 00 has less energy in the 5 – 8K area. The effect is that the mids are less recessed than on the 01, and the overall sound is more balanced. Despite the similar looking graphs, the tonality and resolution are clearly better on the 00. Not quite as resolving as the ER2XR, but also not as lean sounding. A bit of extra thickness in the mids gives vocals a pleasing fullness.
Highs: Crisp, smooth and no sibilance. The highs are quite interesting in that these are not bright iems, but they have great soundstage. There is clearly less treble energy than the Tin T4 for example, and they have a non-fatiguing sound that can be enjoyed for several hours. (I like the T4 but it gets a bit much after an hour or so). The 00 has quite a wide soundstage and good imaging (considering the price, great imaging). Looking at a graph I would assume that the price for dialing back the 5 and 8K peaks would be a narrower, more intimate stage – but not at all. I use Yosi Horikawa for testing soundstage and imaging and the 00 goes toe-to-toe with the T4 on width and depth and sense of location (although I think the T4 has a bit more height). The 00 Is not for treble-heads, but playing tracks I know well I had no sense of anything missing from the treble.
X factor: While I think these are very competent, well-tuned iems, I find the standard review format of Bass / Mids / Highs / technicalities etc often misses the standout qualities of an iem. It’s like describing the taste of a meal by explaining the balance of salt, sugar and acid in the flavour. The information may be accurate but it can be hard to tell whether you will enjoy the flavour. So running with the food analogy – I would describe the IT00 as ‘delicious’. Sometimes people praise earphones by saying they can hear details in songs they never heard before. These are in no way lacking in detail, but their virtues are not forensic. Playing favorite songs with the IT00, they just sound ‘right’. It’s like my nanna’s pasta sauce – I have tried making it, I use all the same ingredients and it turns out pretty good – but hers just tastes better. So sure, the IT00 punches about its price point, great value, yada yada yada. But what I really like about these earphones is that they are so damn
pleasurable. When you seek the specific pleasure of chilling out and losing yourself in some tunes, the IT00 delivers satisfaction like your favourite comfort food.
