[Shmuel]

Great write-up, junmoe. Thanks.

Any suggestions for an aftermarket cable with a 4.4mm balanced connector for my Sony wm1a?

 

[Fafner]

Hi everyone,

...

That's all for my first impressions.

All I can say is that I clearly advise anyone to try them if you have the opportunity.

I fully agree with your opinion, I'm enjoying them since a couple of weeks and they are astonishing. I'm driving them balanced from an SP1000 and I can't stop getting stunned at how this portable setup sounds. Totally different from what one is used to for an IEM, it just doesn't sound like one.
Personally I started using them with the locks and haven't even tried the hooks, I simply can't stand the idea of having to detach the hooks each time I want to store them in Audeze's plastic support (such a detail would have deserved more attention, Audeze). Not such an hassle with the locks. I must admit I struggled to keep them in place at the begin, until I actually took my time and read the manual, LOL. Once I figured out the correct way, they work very good for me. Actually, this is the first IEM I don't have issues with.

 

[normie610]

Great write-up, junmoe. Thanks.

Any suggestions for an aftermarket cable with a 4.4mm balanced connector for my Sony wm1a?

Looking at previous comments, some people recommended to stay with the stock SPC cable since it gives the best sound sig. However, since you'd be needing the 4.4mm connector, perhaps you could try SPC aftermarket cables so that it wouldn't change much of the sound? I myself is ordering Norne Audio Silvergarde S cable for my i4, hopefully it isn't gonna be too bright. If it is, I can always play a bit with EQ to tame the higher frequencies.

 

[Junmoe62]

I fully agree with your opinion, I'm enjoying them since a couple of weeks and they are astonishing. I'm driving them balanced from an SP1000 and I can't stop getting stunned at how this portable setup sounds. Totally different from what one is used to for an IEM, it just doesn't sound like one.
Personally I started using them with the locks and haven't even tried the hooks, I simply can't stand the idea of having to detach the hooks each time I want to store them in Audeze's plastic support (such a detail would have deserved more attention, Audeze). Not such an hassle with the locks. I must admit I struggled to keep them in place at the begin, until I actually took my time and read the manual, LOL. Once I figured out the correct way, they work very good for me. Actually, this is the first IEM I don't have issues with.

Yeah, about the box, I have to agree! That doesn't seem like a very thoughtful design unfortunately... maybe they came up with the hook concept too late in the process, after realizing the locks were not working for everyone?! Who knows...
Things even get worse with the iSine20, because it looks like you can't even wrap the Cipher cable auround it in a normal way. You need to wrap around, then fold the cable on itself where the Cipher is to be able to keep wrapping around... There probably is a better way, but I admit it, I got outsmarted by the box... not very proud of myself...
Stil, I'm not gonna complain to much for a small detail like that, when one see the amazing work accomplished by Audeze's team for releasing an almost flawless never seen before product! I'd choose the flawed carry box anytime!

Concerning the cable, do you guys know if it would be possible to remove the 3.5mm and swap it for 2.5mm TRRS. I believe that should be possible with that cable but just want to make sure before destroying it.
I know that is not the right thread for asking that, but I'm wondering why manufacturers don't do more cables like the Dita Awesome Cable, or at least 2.5mm TRRS, since it just requires an adapter to switch to other sizes or TRS, which the opposite isn't possible?
Does it degrade the SQ or something?

 

[jamato8]

Does this use a standard 2 pin connection?

 

[Ricky64]

As I usually fall asleep with music, can anyone tell me how the i4 would handle being rolled over upon? Would it dislodge or break? thx

 

[kubig123]

Does this use a standard 2 pin connection?

yes, very convenient.

 

[ciukas]

Some of my initial impressions:

@davehutch You were right. Not only surprised but blown away by the quality, depth and impact of the bass. A few posters mentioned the clean, punch, and taut bass - and yes, it is all that - but just wow, the i4 definitely have the means to rattle your brains if you have tracks demanding it. This whole time I thought my shure se846 were excellent in the bass section, especially in the iem sphere. se846 is up there. Well, it got left behind in the dust.. it's not even close. The bass depth and impact is much much stronger in the i4. I dont usually listen to hardcore techno in my leisure time, I go to Berlin for that.. I just dont see how bass heads could want more out of headphones unless they're prepared for bleeding into the mids. I'm new to EQ, but I totally buy the 900hz to 5hz flat bass response claim... and I'm curious to see how it'd take EQ. I don't have my LCD2 w me but from the feeling of auditory experience from the se846 to LCD2 wasnt nearly this drastic in the bass area. I remember wanting the LCD-X after hearing my friend's cans back in Paris but not anymore. I'm very happy w the i4's bass response.

Further general impressions after using the i4 w the Hugo 2 with crossfeed on (level 2) and filter 1 (neutral) fed by the RWAK240 (Moon Audio Silver Dragon optical):

First off, I'd like to amend some of my previous initial impressions of the LCDi4 after spending more time with them and the Hugo 2. I found the eartips on the se846 to be fairly worn out, leaving an improper seal which explains why I found the bass response so anemic in comparison to the i4 in my initial impressions. A quick eartip swap reminded me just how powerful the bass response in the se846 really is. In certain frequencies, there is more rumble in the bass, probably around the 60-80hz. It simply hits harder. But it is also less controlled, less textured, slower, less agile, less extended, and feels more 'compressed' in comparison to the i4. It is also more one dimensional... The bass in the i4 is more organic, fuller, controlled, slams faster, and certainly digs deeper. The Hugo 2 crossfeed function also adds a decent boost to the bass of the i4 that is very welcome, it's near perfect... but using the RWAK240 solely as playback, I sometimes wish for more quantity in the bass. Not more slam, just more bass quantity, like maybe 2-3db more. With the Hugo 2, not really much of an issue at all. I could dial it in with EQ but I'll get back to that later.

The same fullness in the bass somehow transfers to the midrange. Unlike other iems, it's very hard to separate the coherency and fullness of sound that I think is so clearly the winning trademark for the i4. It's especially appreciable when scaled appropriately with the Hugo 2. What a big but expected reveal the i4 proved to be. Other posters have said it but it's true, the first thing you notice when hearing the i4 is just how natural, 3-dimensional, and how lush everything sounds. Everything sounds incredibly musical. I initially expected perhaps a slightly bass shy, precise, open soundstage type of iems when I got them, but instead was greeted with an incredibly pleasing tonality and lushness without any loss of transparency or speed. I've never heard the LCD4 but I've been told the i4 already matches its bigger brother technically and tonally with the use of Roon EQ. The only difference being perhaps the slight loss in bass quantity.

I would never call the se846's midrange and treble clinical but in comparison, it sounds quite a bit more shrill, more digital. The LCDi4 vocals, however, can sometimes seem a little bit distant, especially with the RWAK240, and to a much lesser extent the Hugo 2. I would love to have the vocals brought a bit more forward to balance out the clarity and imaging of the instruments. The se846 vocal forward positioning is slightly more preferable for my taste. Something fixable over EQ but again, more on that later.

I also found the soundstage depth and imaging very impressive. There was simply more room for instruments layering, and the speed and dynamism of the i4 helped resolve imaging with greater clarity than the se846. However, unlike others I didnt find the i4 to be that much more wider in terms of soundstage.. They certainly cast a wide soundstage but not that much wider than the se846. The i4 simply sound much more open, deeper, and much bigger.. They are incredibly involving, and much less fatiguing than the se846, I think because of how lush and natural the i4 sounds.


Some A/B comparisons with the se846: (Note, YT vids linked only for convenience sake but I wouldnt bother listening to them. Tidal hifi/flac quality is much higher)

Cygnet Committee - David Bowie
Opening guitar sequence sounds fuller, has much more depth. se846 does well w the low notes, but sounds tinny and harsh on the higher notes. Guitar bass noticeably deeper with the i4.




Colors - Sisters of Mercy
Vocals more alive, his gruff deep baritone voice is so much more haunting. Much more weight. Guitar notes for some reason is unfocused on the se846 and sounds unreasonably harsh.. not sure why. Needless to say, the guitar riffs sounds amazing on the i4.




Personal Jesus - Marilyn Manson
i4 much much more controlled w the guitars. Again for some reason, listening on the se846 was painful in comparison. Guitars much more forward, sounding much shrill than the vocals. Quite a bit of sibilance w the se846, not much at all with the i4 maybe the warmer and fuller tonality helps masks it... more analog sounding.




Winston Churchill's Boy - Benjamin Clementine
The se846 does very well with this track. Beautiful piano, violin, and transition to bass and vocals. The i4 simply does more... more weight and fullness everywhere, most importantly in this soulful track, much more depth in the violins, vocals. Timbre is much better.




Stop Suffering - Tropic of Cancer
Holy bass for both iems! Opening 10 secs shows just how deep and impactful the i4 bass is. So full, so warm, and head rattling. In contrast, the se846's bass is excellent as well. It cant match the depth and fullness of the i4s, but the se846 hits slightly harder in a certain frequency range... so it gives a very pleasurable ear rattling bass, very very well done, instead of giving a head rattling bass of the i4.
Vocals are a little thin on the se846. More ethereal as intended on the i4.




Now I'm not going to feature full scale orchestra works simply because it'll end up being a pale image of the real thing. It's like trying to admire the full scale and majesty of an Anselm Kiefer monumental work on a 4k monitor. There's just no way.

In Tempus Praesens - Sofia Gubaidulina
Fantastic... the i4 resolves every note w such weight and natural warmth, really highlighting the spiritual nature so present in Sofia's work. Not a bad performance by the se846... in some ways I thought they hyper resolved more, but it sounded more artificial, more digital. Separation of instruments also much superior on the i4. Big gap. Still a pretty good showing by the se846 within the parameters of its performance.




Koyaanisqatsi - Philip Glass
Track sounds so epic with both iems. But again, church organ pedals so much more textured, so much deeper with the i4. Timbre is more natural, more weight. Bass vocals from Albert De Ruiter spine tingling. The se846 did hit a little harder in the opening church organ pedals, again at a certain frequency, but not as full sounding.




Some deep house/techno...

Tikal - Jonathan Kaspar
In this test, I could see some people preferring the se846 over the i4. Bass has a certain growl that the i4 has but doesnt quite match, especially around the 2:40 mark. It's more primal on the se846 whereas the i4 is more balanced. While I found the bass notes on the se846 deeply alluring, I thought they muddied up the toe tapping drums of the track. The i4 kept both deep impactful bass as well as the clarity and warm tonality of the drums. Euphoric.




Birth (Adriatique Remix) - Andre Lodemann
Bass bass bass. So deep, so delicious, so nasty. The i4 wins hands down because of how hard it slams and how deep it goes. Bass is never overpowering... very clean track rendition.




Now on the subject of EQ, I think that the settings provided by Dr. Manivannan are helpful in most genres but not quite applicable for electronic music. The convolution filters work extremely well for rock and pop music, I found that the settings helped vocal imagining, and generally adds depth to instruments. These settings didnt quite transfer to electronic or even some synth based music, I thought that the i4 lost some speed and transparency... which is not quite the right match for digitally composed music, where transients are crucial. Still sounds wonderful, but not quite there.

That's all fine and good for Roon EQ, but despite my non stop tinkering I couldnt get the EQ settings on my RWAK240 to present a slightly deeper bass and slightly more forward vocals without the feeling of having a clumsy dark veil over the music. Raising the volume didnt help. I think the EQ setting on the AK240 just isnt good enough. Not a problem at all since the i4 performs outstandingly with the Hugo 2 even without EQ.

I couldn't be happier with the performance of my i4. I was extremely satisfied to hear how much they scaled up with the Hugo 2 relative to the scaling up of the se846 to the former. Very intrigued and excited to see how much more realism and depth can be added with the addition of the Davina next year.

Also, I can't quite stress enough the practical benefits of having such superlative performance in a tiny package. I've already hung out with them for hrs on the patio on a hot summer day w a bottle of rose, and taken them on a 3hr road trip to the beach, activities that would be unthinkable with the larger LCD cans. Thank you Audeze! Next up, please make the LCDi4 but closed back. I need smth of that caliber to listen to on the plane or train!

 

[Zarium]

Well, I use it directly from my iPod touch 6th gen using NePlayer app (with a bit of EQ-ing), and it sounds amazing. I tried with the Mojo, couldn't hear any significant improvement, in fact the Mojo makes it a bit warmer and losing a bit of sparkle therefore I decided to drive it directly from my lowly iPod touch. So I guess the Sony has more or less enough juice to make the them shine.

Wow, it's good enough just out of your iPod touch that you don't hear any significant improvement with the Mojo? I've been ambivalent about getting them because I prefer to be able to drive my earphones straight out of my iPhone with satisfactory results and not have to add an external amp and from all the posts in this thread I thought you'd need at minimum the Mojo (which I have) to do justice to the LCD i4. I currently have a iSine 20 and they're just amazing and such a joy to listen to with the Cipher cable setup, but if the i4 straight out of an iPhone sounds even better than that, I might just have to...

 

[All Day Breakfast]

Well, I use it directly from my iPod touch 6th gen using NePlayer app (with a bit of EQ-ing), and it sounds amazing. I tried with the Mojo, couldn't hear any significant improvement, in fact the Mojo makes it a bit warmer and losing a bit of sparkle therefore I decided to drive it directly from my lowly iPod touch. So I guess the Sony has more or less enough juice to make the them shine.

I'm confused, how did you connect the lcdi4 to an iPod touch? Does Audeze provide a lightning cable? Does the iPod touch have a headphone jack? Did you use that?

 

[normie610]

Wow, it's good enough just out of your iPod touch that you don't hear any significant improvement with the Mojo? I've been ambivalent about getting them because I prefer to be able to drive my earphones straight out of my iPhone with satisfactory results and not have to add an external amp and from all the posts in this thread I thought you'd need at minimum the Mojo (which I have) to do justice to the LCD i4. I currently have a iSine 20 and they're just amazing and such a joy to listen to with the Cipher cable setup, but if the i4 straight out of an iPhone sounds even better than that, I might just have to...

It is definitely good enough for i4. One note though, I'm not using the stock Music app, instead I'm using NePlayer app which brings significant sound improvement (and you can EQ) plus you can turn up the gain if you think it isn't loud enough.

Compared to my iPhone 7, the iPod touch 6th gen has deeper and more powerful bass impact and yet still retains the clarity and sparkle so it's a really good match for i4.

 

[normie610]

I'm confused, how did you connect the lcdi4 to an iPod touch? Does Audeze provide a lightning cable? Does the iPod touch have a headphone jack? Did you use that?

iPod touch 6th gen does have 3.5mm output, so no need for lightning cable. You can use the lightning to 3.5mm dongle that Apple provided for iPhone 7 if you'd like, but it will slightly decrease the bass impact although it brings out cleaner sound with more resolution.

 

[Zarium]

It is definitely good enough for i4. One note though, I'm not using the stock Music app, instead I'm using NePlayer app which brings significant sound improvement (and you can EQ) plus you can turn up the gain if you think it isn't loud enough.

Compared to my iPhone 7, the iPod touch 6th gen has deeper and more powerful bass impact and yet still retains the clarity and sparkle so it's a really good match for i4.

I see. Does that player itself bring sound improvement without using any EQ if compared to the stock Music app? I use the stock Music app with 320kbps files and I'm quite accustomed to its UI, so I'm a little averse to having to switch to another music app. Does NePlayer preserve playlists and my settings etc. from iTunes/Music app (so e.g. if I sync music across, it'll automatically show up on NeMusic like how it would with the stock Music app).

If you run the i4 out of your iPod touch using the stock Music app, is the sound quality a huge step down that it's very noticeable?


I use an iPhone 6S Plus so thankfully it still has a 3.5mm jack...and I think it's really quite good enough for me. I don't know if the iPod touch 6th gen has an even better DAC/amp than my iPhone though; if it does then my mileage would vary with the i4. Nevertheless, my shop ordered an i4 and it should be arriving sometime next week so I'll be able to check it out. They're actually offering me an incredible price for it (lower than retail after currency conversion!) but the offer is only going to last until the end of this month...maybe I shouldn't have gotten the iSines.

 

[normie610]

I see. Does that player itself bring sound improvement without using any EQ if compared to the stock Music app? I use the stock Music app with 320kbps files and I'm quite accustomed to its UI, so I'm a little averse to having to switch to another music app. Does NePlayer preserve playlists and my settings etc. from iTunes/Music app (so e.g. if I sync music across, it'll automatically show up on NeMusic like how it would with the stock Music app).

If you run the i4 out of your iPod touch using the stock Music app, is the sound quality a huge step down that it's very noticeable?


I use an iPhone 6S Plus so thankfully it still has a 3.5mm jack...and I think it's really quite good enough for me. I don't know if the iPod touch 6th gen has an even better DAC/amp than my iPhone though; if it does then my mileage would vary with the i4. Nevertheless, my shop ordered an i4 and it should be arriving sometime next week so I'll be able to check it out. They're actually offering me an incredible price for it (lower than retail after currency conversion!) but the offer is only going to last until the end of this month...maybe I shouldn't have gotten the iSines.

1. Yes it does bring improvement even without EQ. It gives better detail and resolution to the sound. For me, I'd give a bit of boost at 25-63 Hz frequencies.

2. Yes NePlayer preserves the playlist etc. of the stock Music app and it does it seemlessly. However, you can't play DRM protected songs (e.g. downloaded songs from Apple Music subscription).

3. To my ears yes the step down is noticeable. I'm now only using the stock Music app for Apple Music subscription.

4. Lucky you for the discount

 

[All Day Breakfast]

iPod touch 6th gen does have 3.5mm output, so no need for lightning cable. You can use the lightning to 3.5mm dongle that Apple provided for iPhone 7 if you'd like, but it will slightly decrease the bass impact although it brings out cleaner sound with more resolution.

Thanks, that's very interesting that the small iPod Touch amp can perform so acceptably. I'm under the impression the built in DAC is decent. I use the dongle with my iPhone and SE846s. I should have thought of that!