IEM general discussion thread

To be guest I had 5 minutes as they were packing up. I will try for a good hour next week and give more details.

 

Honestly if it didn't immediately sound wrong within the first seconds of listening that's a good sign already. I literally couldn't stand the iSine when I heard it.

The iSine 20 seems to have some similarities to the SR-003 measurements on IF, just with the bad stuff emphasized. And the SR003 measurements on IF were made with the headband, which makes it less neutral.

 

Yeah, SR-003 with headband is a bit of a weird fit for me. Makes the sound somewhat mid-centric and bright. I prefer regular deep insertion with foam tips to absorb a bit more of the "Stax shout" (tm) and then it's perfect tonality.

LCD i4 sounded good to me at LAAS anyhow, but the fit was super weird (and uncomfortable) coupled with the Lightning cable so my guess as to how it actually sounds like is as good as yours. It sounded a bit "artificial" or "digital", which may suggest that Audeze might have had some DSP done there.

Certainly, it wasn't bad, bass was impressive, but that's all I could say about it. SR-001/002/003 still reign supreme for planar IEMs ("planar" in the sense that the diaphragm is "flat", not as in "planar magnetic") for me, and then at the top end, there's Andromeda + some other IEMs that I don't quite like the looks of (too fancy?).

 

In case anyone doesn't like the memory wire on their Litz cable, I've successfully taken them off of mine following some of the hints from this post on Ad-Fi. My main issue with the memory wire is the necessity to bend it into shape every time and my suspicion that it contributes to mechanical noise conducted along the cable (a.k.a. "microphonics"). After removal, they're better but still a bit noisy. If these had heatshrink earhooks like a lot of the recent Asian upgrade cables are using, they'd be perfect.

There are 2 layers of heatshrink and the wire is inside both of them. The tricks to not damaging the cable are to cut along the wire so the blade hits that instead of the sheath of the precious cable underneath, and to use scissors (Swiss Army Knife are perfect) to cut the heatshrink in a spiral pattern following the twist of the cable. The latter avoids having a sharp edge against the sheath of the actual cable. At the MMCX connector, the outer heatshrink layer can be removed by carefully cutting around the outer circumference, as there's another layer underneath. Then flip the inside layer of heatshrink inside out and cut it against the remaining edge of the outer heatshrink (sorry, I didn't have enough hands to take a pic of this step). Then use some small side cutters to cut the wire, again being careful not to cut the precious cable.

STEADY HANDS REQUIRED. ATTEMPT THIS MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

 

@deafdoorknob suggested I try this trick he found in a Japanese IEM geek magazine to further reduce the mechanical cable noise of the Litz cable. The original purpose of the mod is to prevent MMCX connectors from spinning on the IEM, but he thought it might also help dampen vibrations travelling along the cable to the IEM. I think there's a bit of improvement. All credits to original Japanese IEM geek who thought of it and @deafdoorknob.

Anyway, take a largish bore tip that will fit snuggly over the MMCX connector and slide it on. Then connect it to the IEM and slide/squish the tip down so it overlaps the female MMCX connector on the shell.



If it works for you, then trim the flangey part off and Bob's your uncle.

 

to further @gixxerwimp re. the mmcx cock rings, they also act as a prophylactic against debris and minimise dodgy contacts for promiscuous cable swappers.

 

I don't think that's fair. DSP assistance allows speaker and headphone designs that were not previously possible. I don't fault Audeze for optimizing the iSines' nonlinear properties and using DSP to get the linear part right. I think that's the future, really, of both headphones and speakers. Headphone amps will also hopefully step up and start including DSP. One thing that would help the industry greatly is a common library of measurements ("tunings" in Harman speak) that could be shared and loaded to headphone amps.

See also another of my favorites, JBL's 7-Series studio monitors.

Disclaimer: I have a review of the iSine 10 coming out shortly.

 

As a Mac/iOS guy I didn't really notice that limitation.

Still, Audeze made the EQ curve public. So in truth anyone can use it with a DSP-equipped source (computer?) or universal headphone amp (such as the miniDSP HA-DSP, when the MFi certification goes through). A DSP amp/power bank a la Oppo HA-2SE with Cipher tunings and the EQ app would be a nice addition to Audeze's lineup, but I don't know anything about their product plans.

 

Trivial: The model code (HS1551 CU) is confusing af. I kept messing up the material (brass) with copper because of the code (CU).

Acoustune produces the HS1551 CU, a funky looking IEM which was showcased during the last KLAV show. I was totally floored by the sound it delivered. I hooked it up balanced (using a custom made Pentaconn-MMCX cable the booth provided) on the WM1A, and it blew me away with how smooth the entire frequency was. Bass and the vocals were so sweet (no noticeable midbass bump or I kinda tolerated it), didn't even hear any sibilance or harshness. Full of emotional which reminds me of my TG334. Totally in love with it and will definitely get one when my finance permits.

Side Note: Another user listened to the same unit and feedback was that the Aluminium version HS1501 AL was smooth and the HS1551 CU was a little harsh. My experience was opposite of that. Aluminium one sounds more technically capable, with better separation and all that, but lacks the sentimental/emotional part of the vocals.

 

May have to try that out at Zepplin I guess. Looks like a shrunken turbo.

 

If the knurled knob on the red one is CNC'd from solid brass, they gotta be pretty heavy. Is the knob just used to grab them with?

 

Can they be got in the US at reasonable price? Amazon has them at 1k.

 

one side of my F111 went quiet all of a sudden, could still hear sound faintly. swapped channels, cable, and source to confirm.

been using it all day, but channel went with absolutely no warning. thankfully there is still 6 months left in warranty, but disappointing for something that is theoretically "well built".

 

yes i have a silica lined peli for the little Porker... fingers crossed

let's hope 2 week sustained 92% humidity in hk is to blame

thanks

 

My iSine 10 review came out yesterday. I'm curious what you think of my description of their sound through an analog cable vs through the Cipher cable.

http://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/headphone-earphone/audeze-isine-10-ear-headphone-cipher-cable-review