Wireless is obviously the future.
But when it comes to sound quality and connection speeds having a hardwired connection is the
best way to go… for now.
thats where these Audeze iSine 10 WIRED earphones come in.
These are Planar Magnetic In-Ear Headphones with funky looks and a steep price tag.
So are they worth the money?
Lets find out.
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So, if you're not an audiophile then you might not know about the company Audeze.
In short, they make high fidelity headphones for people who want to get the best sound
quality when they listen to music.
So thats why these wired in ear headphones cost a whopping $400. and the Audeze isine
20 which are a slightly upgraded version of the iSine 10 go for $600.
Lets go over what comes in side the box cause theres a lot to cover.
you get your headphones and you'll notice that they don't have wires attached to them.
you also get a soft shell carrying case that made out of weaved nylon and what I'm assuming
is faux leather.
inside the carrying case you'll find a few things.
first you'll notice that are two cables (more on those in a minute), theres a USB drive
that has the instruction manual saved on to it.
you get a total of 3 silicon ear tips, 3 silicon ribbed ear tips, 2 pairs of ear hooks, 2 pairs
for ear locks, cleaning tool and a cable management clip.
Both of these cables are flat and have soft touch rubber on them but they have different
connectors on them.
you'll notice the audio jack cable is pretty standard and theres no inline controller or
mic on it.
the other cable is where things very interesting.
this cable has a lighting jack on it and theres a really big inline controller on it as well.
there are tree buttons, volume up, volume down, and a multipurpose button in the center
and theres a mic as well.
but this thing is much more than an inline controller…
its also a DAC or a digital-to-analog converter.
basically what it does is that it amplifies the signal from the iPhone, and converts it
from digital to an analog signal.
this gives you a much better signal and as a result better sound quality.
at this point you might be wondering “wait, so can you only use these ear phones with
Apple products” Well remember you get two cables, one with an Auxiliary jack and one
with a lightning Jack.
Although you can use these head phones with any other device using the Auxiliary jack,
you get a much better listening experience with the lighting jack cable cause of that
built in DAC.
they sound better and they are much louder with the lighting jack cable.
Unless you're going to be using your own DAC with the other cable.
But the DAC isn't the reason why the Audeze iSine 10 are so special.
These headphones are special because they use planar magnetic technology.
in traditional earphones they use a traditional dynamic driver which basically is a cone-shaped
diaphragm and voice coil with a magnet behind them.
this technology has been around for a very long time and its cheap to make.
So whats the problem?
the cone shaped speaker will produce very inconstant sound in various frequencies.
this is what causes poor sound quality, muddled bass and blown out highs when the volume is
turned up high.
Also this style of speaker will deteriorate over time when you use them.
Planar Magnetic headphones on the other hand are much more detailed and they give you consistently
good sound quality no matter at what volume you’re using them.
And in the past having planar magnetic headphones meant large over the ear head phones attached
to an amp cause they required a lot of power to get the sound going.
But now Audeze managed to shrink down this technology to what it is today and thanks
to advancements in technology they don't require as much power so you can use them with your
phone now.
so heres the million dollar question… or at least $400 question, how do these ear phones
sound?
well to put it simple…
they sound amazing.
for starters if you're going to be using these headphones you really shouldn't be streaming
your music, you should have the files stored locally on your phone in the highest quality
setting like i did.
this is something where you really have to try for yourself to see how great they are.
Audeze also has an app for these head phones.
you cant do much except for updating the firm wear and you being able to set 2 equalizer
set ups.
I really wish they took the jaybird approach with this app and had multiple EQ profiles
set up and let you down load community generated EQ profiles as well.
but keep in mind the EQ updates directly to these head phones like the jaybirds, so your
EQ settings will follow you from device to device like the Jaybird X3 do.
Although the Audeze iSine 10 sound like nothing I've ever heard before, when it comes to comfort
they're so so.
First, the portion that actually goes into your ear canal is a little bigger than other
earphones on the market.
I actually had to use the smallest ear tips with these earphones when i usually use mediums
with other on the market.
they also cause me sore spots from time to time after i wear them for long periods.
Although the iSine 10 are huge, they are very light weight and when you put them on they
aren't very noticeable.
One big disappointment though are the ear hooks.
they do a great job of keeping the ear phones in place but they are very stiff and I'm constantly
worried they are going to snap.
I just wish we got silicon ear hooks like the powerbeats or silicon ear fins like the
beats x and jaybird x3.
cause i wasn't able to get the ear locks to agree with me either.
also, even though these are in ear headphones, they don't really block out much ambient noise…
if any.
And theres a lot of sound leakage so if there are people around you they will be able to
hear what you're listening to.
Also, do you remember that built in DAC on the lighting jack cable?
well its heavy and it has a tendency to pull out your head phones if you're moving a lot.
thankfully Audeze threw in a cable management clip, what i did was attached it right under
the DAC and i clip it to my shirt.
and there you have it, an easy fix.
So are the Audeze iSine 10 worth $400? absolutely, making Planar Magnetic in ear headphones is
no easy feat.
But should you get them?
well unless you're somebody who needs to have the best sound then no. remember, although
these head phones sound incredible they score very so so in the comfort department, and
they don't really do well when it comes to noise isolation and theres a lot of sound
leakage (but they're designed that way) so you'll want to listen to these in a private
environment.
And they're not water proof so its not like you can work out with them.
The Audeze iSine 10 is a very precise piece of hardware, theres a very specific time and
place for it.