With a lot of brands coming out into the IEM scene buyers have a lot of options these days and the budget to mid range price range is dominated by Chinese brands that provide excellent value for money.
ISN audio made a wave with their H40 hybrid earphone, both buyers and consumers were impressed by its lower end thump and good amount details. Riding on the success of the H40 ISN audio has come up with a single dynamic driver IEM D10. It houses a 9mm dynamic driver to do all the hard work in the world of multi driver IEMs. It doesn’t have any fancy technology behind it either. Priced at $175 it comes in only one color which looks kind of brown under artificial light and dark blue under the sun.
Get one for yourself from here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000866600699.html?spm=2114.12057483.0.0.1ea619bcBEWxMj
https://penonaudio.com/isn-audio-d10.html
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:-
My unit came in the older package which is smaller and looks tidy, the newer package is bigger and spacious. The zipper carry case coming with the older package is nothing like the newer premium looking faux leather clasp case. The older package comes with a karabiner but the newer set gives that a miss and adds a cable clip.
What remains the same are the set of tips and the cleaning too.
BUILD AND COMFORT:-
The D10’s shell is made out of resin and it feels fairly solid to the hand. Few layers of resin over the back plate give it a uni-body kind of feel. The semi custom type shell design give is an ergonomical feel inside the ear. The longer than usual nozzle plays a role of giving it a secure feel. The 9mm dynamic driver has a breathing vent just aside the MMCX port.
The D10 is very comfortable inside the ear, there isn’t a single bothering attribute to it. It can be worn for hours without any discomfort. The size is not big and should fit most of the ears.
HOW IS THE CABLE:-
These days there most of the brands are trying to provide better cables with their IEMs and ISN has one of the best cable for under $200. With S4 printed on the cable slider I would like to assume that this stock cable uses a slightly less premium components with the exact wires. Each core has 63 strands of single crystal copper with silver plating on it. The cable has similar aesthetic to the BQEYZ Spring 2 cable but the ISN cable is lighter and suppler. It has little to no memory problem.
The most remarkable feature about the cable is its lack of cable guides, big relief, what cant other brands do this? The 3.5mm jack, MMCX pins and cable splitter barely have any stress reliever. What’s interesting is the body of the cable splitter can be moved out of its place with a bit of effort, exposing a simpler rubber tube at work. The cable slider is fairly smooth but doesn’t slide down on its own.