Audeze Sine Review

The Audeze Sine is an unconventional if pricey masterpiece we were privileged to get our grubby hands on. Uber-stylish with all the comforts of home, it won a special, closely held place in our heart- and ears.

Olympus has fallen and we are in the dark ages! No clearer evidence of this monumental fact exists than Apple’s decision earlier this year to ditch the old but still excellent 3.5mm cable of fame and culture and start using a newly devised tech it rather solemnly promised would change our lives forthwith -the Lightning jack. Trust the rest of the rather dazed world, they soon meekly followed suit like up to no good kids before an ogre of a dad resolutely laying down the law with the business end of a hickory stick. The Audeze Sine is the earliest of such efforts, or rather a hermaphrodite as it also sports a 3.5mm jack. Pure audio paradise though can only be experienced when you use the Lightning port. With the newfangled cable -dubbed ‘Cipher’- available as a separate accessory priced at $50. And adding a custom amplifier, DAC with 24-bit audio resolution as well as a DSP.

Don’t expect chunks of gold and silver in the well-designed box like we did. Instead, you get a quarter-inch adapter, a large felt traveling pouch, and a flattish dual-pronged 3.5mm cable. And of course the Audeze Sine,  magnificently clad in leather like a Hell’s Angel biker,  conventional looking yet eye-arrestingly premium and stylish.

The egg-shaped earcups are well padded as are the headband to ensure an ultra-comfortable fit that is secure, adjustable, classy and able to be worn for long periods without undue discomfort. Inside the Audeze Sine you hit pay-dirt with its planar magnetic drivers, which differ considerably from the dynamic speakers used in most other headphones and are three times larger, with subsequently bigger egos and audio footprints. Which along with a rather long list of quoted stats from the manufacturer on the rather novel tech are supposed to yield way better sound quality than what you were formerly used to. And they do deliver in frighteningly large spadefuls.

Slip it on and the Audeze Sine boasts truly swoon-worthy, a rapturous sound that gloriously slinks from the highs to the lows and all that’s in-between like a cat walking siren on the runway.  Its clearer, scalpel-sharp, and fuller than anything we and our largish ears have ever yet experienced on this green earth. While no distortion was ever present no matter the track played or the volume setting. We can only describe the surreal experience in one word-fabulous!

Price is a Midas-like $500, which to us was rather a cheap price to pay to get such a thickly delicious piece of paradise as the Audeze Sine totally is. The eminently audiophile-worthy headphone comes totally recommended and is a jack-of-all-trades and future-proofed to infinity. Use the 3.5mm cable to listen to music in the conventional, time-honored way and the Lightning cable if you are a die-hard Apple fanboy. Either way, it delivers all the wonders of Eden and more besides.