Audeze Sine on-ear headphones review
Being an avid music listener, I — like many of you — appreciate good sound. After thoroughly using the Audeze Sine on-ear headphones, I can safely say these are a great pair of cans. Read on to find out why.
Design
One great aspect of the Audeze Sine is that its overall design is stunning. The Sines are completely handcrafted with a sturdy aluminum frame and minimal branding across the side. When picking them up, there’s no denying these headphones are made with the utmost quality and attention to detail from the delicate stitching, leather padding, and a modern design. Since these headphones are an on-ear design, I did find them to be a bit uncomfortable after about 30 minutes of wear. This may be due to the fact that they have a very tight seal on your ears — to help ensure they don’t fall off — but in my opinion, I would have liked a more comfortable design for longer listening sessions.
Sound Quality
Having tried and tested a myriad of different headphones in the past, I can say unequivocally the Audeze Sines are one of the best on-ear headphones I have ever had the pleasure to listening to. In terms of sound, the highs are moderately detailed, mids are crystal clear (which comes in handy for those who are vocalists or musicians) and bass performance is fantastic but not too overpowering. Sound quality has a lot to do with these featuring planar magnetic technology and also integrating a lightning port cable to listen to your music at a higher resolution than your standard 3.5mm port.
What I was most impressed with was that you can customize your music playback using the Audeze app. It features a 10-band equalizer that changes EQ in real time so if you want to increase the bass or tone down the mids then doing so is completely possible. Once you have saved the presets, the audio preset travels with the cable when switching devices, so your listening preferences are always preserved.
Comfort
I briefly touched upon the comfort of the Audeze Sine headphones, but long story short — they become increasingly uncomfortable for me after about the 30-minute mark due to their extremely tight seal. Although I already expected this to some degree since they’re on-ear headphones, I do think that Audeze could have come up with a less clamping pressure design to cater for those that have long listening sessions.
Also, the Sines are advertised as a pair of portable cans, but there is no actual way to fold the headphones into a smaller size and slip into a case. If you do need these for travel and have limited space on your carry-on, then these may not be the best option for you. In the past when testing Audeze’s higher priced headphones — such as the EL-8 – the comfort was no issue at all, but for those that higher quality sound at the cost of comfort, then these could be a perfect fit for you.
Pricing & Conclusion
As I’ve mentioned before, these are without a doubt one of the best on-ear headphones I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Not only are they stylish, but the Sines have amazing sound quality and feature some pretty awesome technology as well. At $499, the Audeze Sine headphones are a bit pricey for the average consumer, but if you value great quality sound and are looking for something that a bit more professional looking — then these are most certainly for you.