[EagleWings]

All these talks of having a separate amp to power the i4's, how will the Bottlehead Mainline fair with these?

Also, how big are the nozzles? I absolutely love Comply tips and would love to fit the P-series over these.

Tbh, I don't feel the i4 is a power hungry headphone. Just a decent amount of power should be sufficient. Any current generation DAPs or Amps should be able to handle it. When I mentioned 'i4 needs power' I was referring to something a bit more powerful than a player or smartphone with a weak output. My iPhone is able to drive the i4 to deafening levels, but there seems to be an impedance mismatch, that the i4 sounds a bit thin and bright and lacks low end extension.

Also here is one of the reasonings behind why Audeze recommends using desktop class amplifiers for i4. Any IEM or headphone would scale higher with better gear. But the problem with using IEMs with desktop amps is, IEMs are usually sensitive and efficient. Desktop amps are built with full size power hungry headphones in mind. These amps have very high output power and sometimes high output impedance that may not work well for IEMs. But i4 is like a full size headphone in an IEM like format. It can handle the power of the desktop amps while taking advantage of the performance boost they offer.

 

[kubig123]

Tbh, I don't feel the i4 is a power hungry headphone. Just a decent amount of power should be sufficient. Any current generation DAPs or Amps should be able to handle it. When I mentioned 'i4 needs power' I was referring to something a bit more powerful than a player or smartphone with a weak output. My iPhone is able to drive the i4 to deafening levels, but there seems to be an impedance mismatch, that the i4 sounds a bit thin and bright and lacks low end extension.

Also here is one of the reasoning behind why Audeze advises using desktop class amplifiers for i4. Any IEM or headphone would scale higher with better gear. But the problem with using IEMs with desktop amps is, IEMs are usually sensitive and efficient. Desktop amps are built with full size power hungry headphones in mind. These amps so very high output power and sometimes high output impedance that may not work well for IEMs. But i4 is like a full size headphone in an IEM like format. It can handle powerful amps.

Not sure which dap you use for your test, but I feel that also the WM1Z cannot drive the i4 to the full potential, even if the volume is enough the sound is not full an both resolution and soundstage are not teh same when I use the Hugo2, may be this is why for you the i4 sounds dull...

 

[EagleWings]

Not sure which dap you use for your test, but I feel that also the WM1Z cannot drive the i4 to the full potential, even if the volume is enough the sound is not full an both resolution and soundstage are not teh same when I use the Hugo2, may be this is why for you the i4 sounds dull...

First of all, the reason I say the i4 sounds dull without EQ is because, i4 doesn't have sufficient presence in the upper mid-range, particularly the 2.5-6khz frequencies. I wish I had the tools to capture the frequency response to show you guys. This region is required for the instruments to sound right. It is not that Audeze intentionally went for this tuning. It was consequence of the design. It doesn't sound horrible without an EQ. It's just that, the FR without EQ is not Audeze's final intended FR for the i4. They get to the intended FR through the DSPs.

First time I tried the i4 was on a Hugo 2. And even on the Hugo 2, it sounded dull without a DSP or EQ. My main player is the LPG which I use with the i4. It has a class-A amp that is not only capable of handling high loads, but also capable of maintaining linear impedance to avoid impedance mismatch.

If the i4 doesn't sound good on the 1Z, it is possibly an impedance mismatch. This is one of the misinformation that is popular on head-fi, where people have come to believe that loudness does not always equal sound quality. That is true when there is an impedance mismatch. Voltage = loudness, its as simple as that. If your headphone or IEM does not sound good on a device, although the device is able to drive the headphone loud enough, then what you possibly have, is an impedance mismatch, as the analog section of your source is not able to handle the power requirement of the transducer in a linear fashion. That was over simplification but you get the gist.

 

[kubig123]

thank for the explanation.

 

[All Day Breakfast]

My iSine 20 came with 2 pairs of very plasticky ear hooks, one clear and one black and not so comfortable
The LCD i4 also came with 2 pairs of ear hooks, both black, but the material is more rubbery and more comfortable

The early iSine 10/20 shipped with 2 identical sets of earhooks, one set was clear and one set was black. At some point in 2017 they added a new, somewhat longer, slightly more flexible set of earhooks when they introduced the grooved tips. I am under the impression from all that I’ve read that the earhooks for the sines and i4s are the same earhooks depending on when you purchased them.

 

[commtrd]

SO is there a stand alone EQ app for win7 that could be used to demo this info for myself? I am using JRiver with flac files and would like to hear the difference for myself. Might learn something.

 

[Solarium]

Just ordered a pair from Audeze to demo... perhaps it's good enough that I'll keep Will look forward to make some comparisons to my Encore.

What's the consensus on what tips to use? I love the Comply P-series, will they fit?

Also, do people use full sized amps for these? Will I blow these out if I use the Bottlehead Mainline?

 

[kubig123]

Just ordered a pair from Audeze to demo... perhaps it's good enough that I'll keep Will look forward to make some comparisons to my Encore.

What's the consensus on what tips to use? I love the Comply P-series, will they fit?

Also, do people use full sized amps for these? Will I blow these out if I use the Bottlehead Mainline?

Great, I'm sure you'll be impressed.

As tips I would start with the groovy silicon tips that come with the i4, I would focus first to find the best fitting (ear hook or earlocks).

Never tried the Bottlehead Mainline but you'll be surprise how much you can push them with an amp, I'm afraid your eardrums will blow before the i4...

 

[Solarium]

Great, I'm sure you'll be impressed.

As tips I would start with the groovy silicon tips that come with the i4, I would focus first to find the best fitting (ear hook or earlocks).

Never tried the Bottlehead Mainline but you'll be surprise how much you can push them with an amp, I'm afraid your eardrums will blow before the i4...

Will try the groovy silicon tips, what's the bore opening size with the i4? I got a bunch 3mm and 5mm tips.

The Mainline goes to 2W, and the i4's can handle up to 3W, which is extraordinary considering it's a IEM.

BTW, are they serious that the bass extends from 900hz to 5hz flat? How is that even possible? I never got to hear LCD bass, but I'm definitely a fan of good non-bloated bass. How is the bass of the i4's compared to the Noble Encore or the Shure SE846's?

 

[lithiumnk]

If you use a desktop software or a Neutron Player on Android that have fully featured PMEQ, try this:

Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 60Hz, Q = 1, Gain = +3dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 1,600Hz, Q = 3, Gain = -3dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 2,800Hz, Q = 1.5, Gain = +6dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 5,500Hz, Q = 0.8, Gain = +3dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 10,300Hz, Q = 2, Gain = -6dB

If you have a Lotoo Paw Gold you cannot adjust Q greater than 1, so here is what I use:

Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 60Hz, Q = 1, Gain = +3dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 1,400Hz, Q = 1, Gain = -2dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 2,800Hz, Q = 1, Gain = +5dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 5,500Hz, Q = 1, Gain = +3dB
Filter = Band Pass, Freq = 10,300Hz, Q = 1, Gain = -6dB

As for the 10,300Hz filter, try to adjust the Frequency from 10,000Hz to 10,700Hz until you don't hear the treble peak. If you are tolerant to treble, this peak shouldn't bother

I have applied the pmeq settings in Roon but there is no sound output at all. I have enabled pmeq in DSP settings & disabled audeze presets.

 

[EagleWings]

I have applied the pmeq settings in Roon but there is no sound output at all. I have enabled pmeq in DSP settings & disabled audeze presets.

Dude, if you are using Roon, go with Audeze's i4 preset DSP. The only reason I am forced to go with EQ is because I am using a device without Roon. What I am essentially trying to do with my EQ is trying to get close to that DSP.

 

[lithiumnk]

Dude, if you are using Roon, go with Audeze's i4 preset DSP. The only reason I am forced to go with EQ is because I am using a device without Roon. What I am essentially trying to do with my EQ is trying to get close to that DSP.

Thanks!

 

[commtrd]

Dude, if you are using Roon, go with Audeze's i4 preset DSP. The only reason I am forced to go with EQ is because I am using a device without Roon. What I am essentially trying to do with my EQ is trying to get close to that DSP.

Got Neutron on my new Note 8 (ios refugee-android convert) and loading entire library onto sd card. Will try the EQ in Neutron to check it out. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jalo]

Dude, if you are using Roon, go with Audeze's i4 preset DSP. The only reason I am forced to go with EQ is because I am using a device without Roon. What I am essentially trying to do with my EQ is trying to get close to that DSP.

@eagle Wings, with the LPG, do you have the standard version or the Diana edition. I recently listened to the i4 in Hong Kong with my Sony 1Z with 4.4 out and I have to crank it up to 110/120 on the volume pot. The volume seems to be enough but I felt the soundstage of the i4 is not fully open up. For instance, I felt I can hear the size of the sound stage (left and right) which gives me a sense of soundstage limitation, I also tried the Hugo2 and it is a little bit better. Compare to my Lab2, there is no limit or definition on the size of the soundstage, music will just float outward until it dies or decay naturally without giving a sense of the size. I wonder to myself whether the i4 can do it with more power or more voltage as they say that is what planner needs, more voltage and not wattage. I am interested in the i4 but did not want to add an additional piece (Hugo2) to my travel. I have the LPG Diana addition, but my go to Dap at the moment is the 1Z, will your eq setting works in the 1Z? Thanks.

 

[commtrd]

Re: discussion on impedance matching between amp and phones... I never really considered that but will pay more attention in the future. Looking at getting a Chord Hugo TT or else a Schiit Yggy/Rag combo but leaning more towards the TT at this time. Have the Mojo for going mobile with Note 8 so good there. Assumption being that all phones and amps would just naturally be compatible and maybe not so.