Sone096 New

We tested the Sone096 New across three genres over a 40-hour burn-in period (though factory burn-in has reduced the required time from 100 hours to just 25).

Track 1: “Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever” (Lossless Apple Music) The dynamic range of this track is notorious for blowing out cheap earbuds. With the Sone096 New, the whispered intro is dead silent (no hiss, thanks to the 112 dB sensitivity rating). When the distorted guitar crashes in at 2:30, the drivers do not flinch. The separation between Billie’s vocal track and the layered bass synth is holographic.

Track 2: “Steely Dan – Aja” (192kHz/24-bit FLAC) This is the ultimate test for any "new" audio equipment. The drum solo by Steve Gadd is often compressed into a single plane. On the Sone096 New, you can locate the exact position of the hi-hat (high right), the snare (center-left), and the kick drum (dead center, chest-level). The transient response is immediate—percussion hits stop and start with zero decay blur. sone096 new

Track 3: “Daft Punk – Random Access Memories” (Dolby Atmos via USB-C module) Using the new USB-C digital module (which bypasses the phone’s internal DAC), the Sone096 New unlocks spatial audio that actually works. Giorgio Moroder’s voice moves from the "center" channel to the "phantom center" so smoothly that you will check if you accidentally enabled surround sound on your laptop. (You didn’t. The IEMs are just that good.)

Solution: Force software rendering by editing config/nexus.ini and setting renderer=swiftshader. Restart the application. We tested the Sone096 New across three genres

Given the price point (MSRP $649 USD – a $100 increase over the original), the Sone096 New is not for casual listeners. However, it is a no-brainer for three specific groups:

The headline feature of the Sone096 New is what the engineers call "Tri-Engine Calibration." Unlike traditional planar magnetic or single-dynamic driver setups, the New model utilizes a triple-processor DSP chip that operates in parallel with the analog signal path. This is not a simple equalizer. The result is a soundstage that feels physically

Here is how it works:

The result is a soundstage that feels physically wider than the original Sone096. During testing with Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack, the pipe organ notes did not just sit in the ears—they vibrated through the jawline, while the highest string harmonics remained crystal clear, never brittle.

While the original sone096 required third-party wrappers for macOS and Linux, the new version ships with native binaries for all major operating systems. Windows users will also notice a dedicated PowerShell module.

Solution: Disable Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) in your BIOS or add --no-smt flag to the launch command. A patch is in beta.