iSine LX Review: How Does it Compare to iSine 10 and 20?

Audeze recently in 2018 announced a new product to their headphones lineup called iSine LX. This is the fourth headphone in their lineup.

These headphones are basically a simplification of previous headphones. These headphones share the same technology as that of iSine 10 or iSine 20 and also uses the Audeze's Fluxor Magnets and Uniforce voice-coil technologies.

The fact that makes this headphones standout is that these are planar magnetic in-ear headphones, which is less common to see.

Why you may need to choose iSine LX instead of iSine 10 or 20? The low price of the iSine LX is the main selling point for the product.

The iSine LX comes under $200 whereas the other iSine variants cost you almost double.

Audeze, by maintaining the same technology as that of previous headphones, has significantly lowered down the cost.

Last year Audeze launched a plugin called Reveal which is available for free on their site.

This plugin allows you to master mixing and composing using Audeze Headphones. The iSine LX is the first headphone to support the plugin.

Now let's take a deeper look at what the headphones have got to offer you.

Note: iSine 20 has clearly a better audio quality than iSine LX. iSine 10 is comparable to iSine LX in terms of audio quality.

Audeze LX Review

What's in the box?

The iSine support 3.5mm jack and as well you can buy these headphones with a lightning cable that allows you to plug this device to the iOS devices.

The cable also includes a built-in DAC that allows conversion of digital audio right inside your iOS device.

Also, when the headphones are used with the lightning cable, there's a dedicated iOS app that allows you to tweak the equalization.

The USB-C version of the headphones is not available especially for Android devices and PC.

Along with these cables, the package also comes with ear tips and ear hooks of various sizes which is great for finding that perfect fit.

• Three sizes of eartips
• Two pairs of ear hooks
• 3.5mm cable / Lightning cable

You can also get a iSine Accessory Kit for $25. This includes 4 sets of ear hooks, 2 sets of earlocks, 3 sizes of ear tips, 1 cleaning tool.

This is absolutely worth the money as you need a bit comfier out of these earphones.

Design

The headphones are light and very comfortable to wear for a long time due to the nature of plastic used in the construction of the headphones.

These headphones come with 30mm planar magnetic drivers. The size of the drivers gives the bigger outer part of the headphones that sit outside the ear.

The headphones are large being in-ear headphones.

The design of the earbuds is semi-open. This is due to the fact that the earbuds come housed with big drivers and need some space to perform. So, with these earbuds, you can't expect music not to be leaked out.

Due to the open design of the headphones, the earbuds are only suitable for use in your home or in potentially quiet places.

As you'll see in the next section these sound similar to iSine 10. But the design of the housing seems cheaper than iSine 10.

As of now, the headphones are only available in white color. It'd have been nice if the company released the headphones in different colors like black and grey.

Sound quality

The consistent performance of the headphones is a pleasure to hear. The headphones perform really shine in upper-mids and treble range.

That means the treble-heavy tracks involving guitars, and acoustics turn out to be exceptional.

On the other end, the bass is tight and controlled. You can't call it as "bass-heavy", but the bass is certainly punchy and compliments the mids and treble very well.

The semi-open back design of the headphones combined with large 30mm drivers gives you a great soundstage experience, especially when hearing to acoustic guitars. 

The noise isolation is pretty poor with these semi-open headphones. The sound leaks to and fro. The headphones are more suitable to be used in the quiet environment.

The planar magnetic drivers used in these headphones deliver you accurate sound and fast response without any distortion and makes you feel that the music is coming alive.

When Mozart – Die Zauberflöte was played with these headphones, the focus and the clear distinction between the notes were notable. The treble is great, and the bass is balanced and controlled.

 The bass performance can be increased a bit as there'll be little distortion when playing low-ends with Reveal App's Equalizer in place. Again, I need to test it with different setups to make this claim.

The headphones can be compared to iSine 10 and is slightly lagging behind iSine 20 and the performance difference is noticeable.

Using these headphones with Comply foam eartips makes a good difference to the warmth of the music than the silicone counterparts. I recommend Comply 600 Eartips. But again it's a personal taste and varies across genres.

Comfort

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Due to the all-plastic design, the headphones are very light and you can easily wear these on for hours without any discomfort.

The form factor play an important role in the comfort these headphones has got to offer. Although these headphones appear bulky being a in-ear headphone, they are very comfortable

The package also comes with three different sizes of ear tips so that you don't have a trouble finding a perfect fit for your ears.

Wrap up

Overall, these are good earphones to have. But being new earphones they are nothing better than iSine 10 and iSine 20 except for the significant reduction in price.

The design of the earphones is average in terms of looks. But the comfort of the headphones is awesome due to the lightweight design.

If you want to pay half the money of iSine 10, treat yourself with iSine LX and get the same audio quality. But yes, design feels a bit cheap with iSine LX than iSine 10 or 20.

Hope you liked my iSine LX review. Let me know what you think in the comments section.