Audeze LCD i3 : Liquid Crystal Sound
: 1. BASS
2. Natural timbre
3. Technical powerhouse
4. Tasteful packaging and plentiful accessories
5. Robust build
6, Extremely easy to drive
: 1. Needs cipher to sound its best
2. Comfort might be an issue for people with smaller ears
3. Doesn't isolate
Audeze is a staple for planar aficionados and has released hit after hit over the last decade. LCD i3 and i4 are successors to their isine lineup and improves upon them even further. i4 is the 2500 USD in ear Audeze flagship while i3 is priced at a modest 900 USD.
Packaging, Build quality, Comfort:
LCD i3 comes packaged incredibly well. The overall presentation is a treat to the eyes. As accessories you get two different sets of tips (slick and groovy), different sizes of ear hooks and a pair of ear fins. Audeze’s proprietary cipher v2, regular 3.5mm cable and cipher BT module are bundled in as well. The huge chonky ass carrying case and foam storage thingy for the earpieces are excellent as well.
As for general build quality, the earpieces are built entirely of magnesium so fairly lightweight despite their size. I find the comfort good enough. It doesn’t seal like traditional in ears but gently rest on the ear canal opening. Planar drivers used here are pretty big, stay outside of your ear and the sound is delivered via some sort of waveguide mechanism. On prolonged use, some wearing fatigue might develop at places the ear hooks anchor on. They are open back and have zero isolation but outside noises won’t bother in quite environments when music is playing.
Sound:
Fit is very crucial for optimum sound on i3. With slick ear tips, sound is wonky and bass lacks definition and impact. However things change dramatically with groove tips and ear fins. I’ll describe the sound as natural, lively and upfront. It retains that Audeze house sound so expect loads of bass slam and lower midrange warmth. Treble response is excellent. Strings and wind instruments sound incredible. I like the vocals on this especially male vocals. They are not as natural and effortless as Sennheiser HD 600/650/800s or Sony IER M9 but very close and that is a commendable fit for a planar as planars generally struggle with vocal rendition from my observation (ToTLs like LCD 5,Susvara and D8000 being exceptions). Another impressive thing to note is that there are very smooth sounding and there is no listening fatigue as upper midrange shout and sibilance are completely absent.
As for technical performance, easy S tier. Extremely resolving and has awesome soundstage that makes them sound like a full sized open back planar. Supreme in ears for general digital content consumption and gaming.
Now, all these goodness can be achieved only via the included Cipher cable that implements Audeze’s proprietary DSP. With the regular cable, sound is ok but kinda meh. Bluetooth cipher cable is an abomination and produces worse sound than fake Sony buds. It’s a good freebie but kinda useless. Cipher cable uses lightning connector so its limiting for non iOS/windows users but fortunately both ugreen and anker has compatible adapter (Albeit a bit expensive at 30 usd).
Comparisons:
HD 650: 650 sounds better overall to me. Its not as bassy but there is an effortlessness in the Sennheiser sound that has not been replicated by any other brand yet (They have been relevant for decades while hype beasts died after all). But 650 is difficult to drive and i3 doesn’t need any DAC amp as you get the cipher cable so from a convenience standpoint i3 is the optimum one. I3 has way better bass as well.
IER M9: M9 sounds 100 usd better than it. More natural, more effortless. But i3 is very close
Dunu ZEN/ SA6/ Oriolus Isabellae: i3 is significantly better on all fronts
Sony WF 1k XM4: Timbrally and tonally very close but xm4 loses out handily in technicalities due to Bluetooth limitations. XM4 still keeps up though and remains an anomaly with Sony EPEX 11 tips
Final A4000: A4k has larger Soundstage. But gets slaughtered by i3 on every other front.
Value:
Worth 900 usd? Absolutely. These are well worth their price tag and a very safe purchase
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