This and That:
I like to refer to it as “IT01 v2” (or “’new’ IT01”), as it differs a little from the very first iBasso IT01. Officially, it’s still listed as just “IT01” even though it replaced the “old” IT01 a good while ago (therefore it’s a silent update/facelift).
So what’s the difference between the “old” and “new” IT01? As far as I know, it’s only the nozzle while the rest is presumably identical to the “old” IT01. While the original IT01 had “regular” nozzles with a mesh filter that couldn’t be removed, the IT01 v2 has got threaded mesh nozzle filters that can be removed in order to clean them if necessary (therefore, the IT01 v2 has got the same nozzle design as the IT01s).
Other than that, the IT01 v2 looks identical to the discontinued IT01 and comes with the same accessories as well as packaging, too (plus additional protective mesh filters).
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Plenty of nice accessories and ear tips. An additional pair of protective mesh filters comes included, too.
New nozzles help with reducing the effect that the ear tips have on the tonality (because the nozzle output is very close to the single-flange ear tips’ output).
Very high quality cable – very supple, with twisted (above y-splitter) and braided (below y-splitter) conductors, and just generally visually highly appealing and of high build and material quality.
Protective storage tin that is nicely cushioned on the inside. It would have been better looking if iBasso had their logo on the lid instead of the generic looking “iBasso Audio” inscription.
I really like the shell design.
Very comfortable fit in my ears (shells are among the very best in terms of comfort for my ears).
Sound:
Largest included wide bore translucent black silicone tips (same type as the ones that were already installed). Low impedance sources.
Tonality:
Heavy sub-bass with smooth, only very slightly elevated middle and upper treble.
The bass elevation starts around 600 Hz and peaks very low around 30 Hz, here with a quantity of ca. 13 dB above diffuse-field neutrality-flatness, and remains at this level down past 20 Hz, with the upper bass around 120 Hz being elevated by around 9 dB and the fundamental range around 275 Hz by about 5 dB. Therefore, as one can also hear, it’s a mainly rather sub-bass driven sound signature with some moderate warmth and fullness.
Quite warm and thick in the lows and fundamental range, although just slightly less than my Shure SE215m+SPE and a bit more sub-bass-oriented.
Except for bit more warmth added to low voices (no midrange bleed/overshadowing), the midrange sounds mostly flat and accurate (pretty much correctly flat central and upper mids). Correct timbre here in the central and upper mids, which is nice.
The treble is mostly smooth and only slightly elevated in the middle treble around 6 kHz, but broadly and not narrowly, and only leads to a very slight amount of metallicness at times (far from obtrusive/annoying), and in the upper highs (also broadly here, so to my ears it got rid of the “old” IT01’s 9 kHz peak and moderate treble brightness; most likely due to the closer proximity of the nozzles to the ear drums due to the redesigned nozzles that are closer to the ear tips’ output).
Super treble extension past 10 kHz is good with some elevation around 12.5 kHz.
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So yeah, less bright in the highs than the “old” IT01 to my ears, with an improved 6 kHz range and without the 9 kHz elevation. Therefore less v-shaped and bright in the highs sounding, but a bit fuller and warmer in return.
The 9 kHz elevation on the “old” IT01 was something that I liked (wasn’t obtrusive at all but added nice snappiness and crispness to cymbals), but I really don’t mid the IT01 v2’s smoother treble response, and especially like that its middle treble around 6 kHz is milder wherefore it lacks the “old” IT01’s occasional middle treble metallicness almost entriely (it only comes thorugh very rarely and very mildly).
In conclusion, it’s a bassy in-ear that is tuned very well.
Resolution:
… is on a high level.
High driver control, good note separation.
Pretty fast and especially very controlled bass response for a dynamic driver. Only a bit of typical dynamic driver softness (also due to the bass quantity), but far from being boomy or lacking control.
Good treble separation.
Midrange resolution and speech intelligibility good as well, but bit behind the quality of the lows and highs in comparison.
Not Balanced Armature level separation, control and cleanness, but indeed very good dynamic driver performance.
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Really capable dynamic driver. Easily better control and precision than the vast majority of other dynamic driver in-ears in the same price range.
Soundstage:
Neither the largest nor the smallest soundstage in terms of pure size. Doesn’t feel cramped though.
Only very slightly more width than depth. Therefore mostly round. Definitely realistic dimensions.
Precise and clean separation, placement and layering.
Conclusion:
Really nice dynamic driver in-ear – well executed bass-oriented tuning with mostly smooth, only very slightly elevated treble response, high technical performance and quality accessories.