[pspivak]

Good afternoon,
I agree with Mikey99 regarding the cipher cable, but the “clearly inferior” comment is a bit harsh. I agree that using a good android device and a better amp; I have used the Centrance HiFi M8 and the iFi micro iDSD and they were better. But for me this is a portable/travel solution. I have a good home set up for listening at home when I need to use headphones, otherwise I use speakers.

Now for something really cool. I had some custom inserts made for a set of Stax SR-003. I still have the inserts and they mate right up to the LCD i4 nozzles. Gives a bit of isolation and they sound luscious! I also can forego the hooks, broke 4 so far.

Right now? Year of the Cat by Al Stewart.

 

[havenlau]

Thanks again to @KMann and the team at @Audeze for the smooth RMA, I'm back up and running with another pair, been testing them a day now, so far seems problem free and as good as I remembered!

Back to listening...

 

[farout]

I started experiencing pain in my ear canal. Has anyone experienced something similar with the i4 or other IEMs? I've never really used IEMs before these aside from Apple earbuds. It's sort of a needle-like burning sensation that develops around my ear drum and persists hours or even days after listening.

Update: Must have been related in part to a head cold and possibly aggravated by artifacts from the Duet 2. Cleared up now.

 

[Mikey99]

Good afternoon,
I agree with Mikey99 regarding the cipher cable, but the “clearly inferior” comment is a bit harsh. I agree that using a good android device and a better amp; I have used the Centrance HiFi M8 and the iFi micro iDSD and they were better. But for me this is a portable/travel solution. I have a good home set up for listening at home when I need to use headphones, otherwise I use speakers.

Now for something really cool. I had some custom inserts made for a set of Stax SR-003. I still have the inserts and they mate right up to the LCD i4 nozzles. Gives a bit of isolation and they sound luscious! I also can forego the hooks, broke 4 so far.

Right now? Year of the Cat by Al Stewart.

That is pretty cool, it would be good to not need to use the hooks. Would you have a photo of what this looks like?

 

[kp297]

I wrote a quick write up on my perspective of the LCDi4, I hope you like it!
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/how...the-world-kishore-patel.892822/#post-14585446

 

[Mikey99]

Look at what just happened to my brand-new LCDi4s! The cover just popped off while I was listening and cannot be reattached. My excellent dealer will be replacing them immediately.

The cover looked to be rather cheaply attached, looks like a bit of glue. Anybody else have quality issues?

 

[cj3209]

Look at what just happened to my brand-new LCDi4s! The cover just popped off while I was listening and cannot be reattached. My excellent dealer will be replacing them immediately.

The cover looked to be rather cheaply attached, looks like a bit of glue. Anybody else have quality issues?

Yah, my Audeze logo popped out...both of them. They are held together by glue.

 

[7onyMustDive]

To sum up my experience with the Audeze LCDi4 after almost a year owning them:

Pro:
-I don't think anything touches the LCDi4 in terms of mobile performance. Literally an iphone X with Tidal, to Cipher cable to LCDi4, you have the most portable TOTL audiophile listening experience in the world. Detail is amazing, incredible treble, that planar bass...and you can even talk through the cipher cable for telephone calls to boot! Then when you're home plug it to whatever high-end DAC you own and you got something that competes with some of the world's best headphones!
-Audeze's customer service is amazing. Always quick to respond and delivers every time.

Con:
-I do think QC should be much better for a 2.5k USD lvl iem. From personal experience and some incidents from this forum (cipher cable issues, seams lines, glue issues, driver issues, etc.) there's seems to be quite a lot of QC issues with the LCDi4. I know inherently producing an ultra thin diaphragm driver inside such a small package is subject to lots of variability but I do feel on both product design and construction, the LCDi4 's quality could be more consistent.

 

[havenlau]

The stock hook was leaving some bad markings on my ear and it got pretty uncomfortable after 2 hours, so I modelled the stock ones with a slight bend:

quick clean up:

side by side with stock

installed, you can see the added angle:

they are 30 times easier to take on and off, not to mention the added comfort, they no longer squeeze the edge of my ears, they are still a bit rough, I am planning on buying some of the rubber tubes that someone linked here before, that should make these one of the most comfortable open back i have tried

 

[edwardsean]

Did you mean "modeled" or "modded"? Did you 3-D print those? That's kinda cool, but if you just heat up the stock hooks you can bend or reshape them as needed.

I used a heat gun at first but it heats the plastic too fast and it becomes too pliable. A hair drier works well.

 

[havenlau]

Did you mean "modeled" or "modded"? Did you 3-D print those? That's kinda cool, but if you just heat up the stock hooks you can bend or reshape them as needed.

I used a heat gun at first but it heats the plastic too fast and it becomes too pliable. A hair drier works well.

I modelled and 3d printed them, just because how fragile the stock ones are I thought it was worth the little effort, I can also just print more whenever I need to

The shape of the stock ones don't fit my ear very well, I might need to adjust the curvature a bit with my printed ones later on, but yeah bending it a bit is definitely miles better than stock

 

[Chessblitzer2017]

You should offer that as a service too others for $ @Haven

 

[Mikey99]

Look at what just happened to my brand-new LCDi4s! The cover just popped off while I was listening and cannot be reattached. My excellent dealer will be replacing them immediately.

The cover looked to be rather cheaply attached, looks like a bit of glue. Anybody else have quality issues?

Thanks Audeze and Stefan for the instant response, just picked up my replacement from Stefan today. I had to go back to my SE846 for a day while waiting, made me realize even more how great sounding the LCDi4s are.

 

[sahmen]

Has anyone compared the LCDi4 with the Hifiman RE-2000? Not that I really need another iem, but they have it on sale for about half the price, and that just made me curious. If you have auditioned both, and would like to share your impressions that would be really appreciated.

Thanks

P.

 

[ufospls2]

Has anyone compared the LCDi4 with the Hifiman RE-2000? Not that I really need another iem, but they have it on sale for about half the price, and that just made me curious. If you have auditioned both, and would like to share your impressions that would be really appreciated.

Thanks

P.

I've owned both. The LCDi4 being open backed kinda makes it an unfair comparison. However, both are great within their class. I highly recommend the RE2000, it is a killer IEM. The soundstage is great for an IEM, not as expansive as the LCDi4, but super for a closed back. Check out the below link for my initial impressions on the RE2000. Let me know if you have any questions

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the...-end-dynamic-iem.851656/page-25#post-14336667