It just came in!
While not quite as lifelike as my SF 03 towers, it's far clearer than my bose in ear.
My in ear Bose has some heavier bass, and loud highs but the mids isn't clear and that's where the vocals are. The iSINE 20 in ear is clearer and sounds more balanced (for lack of experience describing sound). If I had to complain I'm used to stronger bass, the equalizer doesn't do much. The silicone tip size helps the most. The smallest one preinstalled from the factory had very little base, the largest tip is a big improvement.
The bad news:
Ergonomics. Bose is far more ergonomically correct. My iSINE20 comes with either earhooks, or the surefire earlock retention rings. I love my bose StayHear silicone tips. The surefire earlock retention rings come in two sizes M and L, but they really feel like XS and XL. Their M isn't big enough to grip in my ear at all, and the L is so big it's hard to get in. The L ring gets a crinkle in it and if not just right it pushes the earphone out. After about 30 minutes the ear tip starts feeling hard like it will bruise my ear. The iphone control cable is a bulky compared to bose; it does have to store a DAC too so that's some extra weight on an ill fit headphone.
Then I switch to the plastic hooks. It's taking weight of my ear canal so that's good. The hooks feel cheaply made compared to the rest of the package, and they are flat instead of following the curvature of the head. While the hook is between my ear and my head on the top of the ear, on the back of the ear the hook hangs out past my ear a little bit. It feels strange. It's a small challenge to get on and off; instead of popping in on with one hand like I'm used to I have to use 2 hands for each side.
My next problem is that the device isn't recognized by my iphone about 3 times. I don't think that's a problem with Audeze, I think that's a failure on Apple's part.
Will I keep them? I'm not sure yet, but probably. After I got the right silicone tip in I really love the sound. I'm not sure I'll get past the ergonomics. I expected more from high end earphones. I'll post an update after a week or so exercising in them.
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