[Quantralef]

Interesting: ex-CNET's 'The Audiophiliac' claims in his review to hear no discernible difference between the LCDi3 and the iSine 20 and sees no reason for an upgrade...

 

[clerkpalmer]

Interesting: ex-CNET's 'The Audiophiliac' claims in his review to hear no discernible difference between the LCDi3 and the iSine 20 and sees no reason for an upgrade...

Still an excellent review overall. The xelento is awesome and he says the i3 blows it away.

 

[Quantralef]

@clerkpalmer
Of course the i3 is excellent. But so is the iSine 20...after having spent a lot of time, energy and money to finally make it shine . Please don't misunderstand..I really and truly love my iSine 20, so much even that I'm wondering how much better the i3 can possibly be.
Maybe the guys from headphonia.com will shine a revealing light on the subject in the near future..

 

[518141]

Even if "The Audiophiliac" is not my reference for audio reviews, it was informative. But I´m not really surprised that there are obviously not very large differences between i3 and isine20. The i3 is the successor of the isine20 and maybe more a evolution instead of a revolution in terms of sound quality. I don`t think Audeze reinvented the wheel with the i3. Nonetheless I´m sure that there are sonic differences between both.
But I don`t care about that fact much because I don´t own the isine20 and still interested in the i3. It´s just a unique and special headphone which attracts me. I like the technical basis and would prefer it probably to the most iems because of the ability displaying the soundstage. Also i3 has better accessories.

 

[clerkpalmer]

For those who dont love the iem form factor the i3 is really a completely different animal. There no need to jam anything deep in your ears. This is a huge selling point for me. They just rest in your ears and have a soundstage like a full size open back. While I prefer full sized cans, the portability of the i3 means i really only need one total headphone.

 

[slowpickr]

Interesting: ex-CNET's 'The Audiophiliac' claims in his review to hear no discernible difference between the LCDi3 and the iSine 20 and sees no reason for an upgrade...

Thanks for the link. I had already decided to save the money and stick with my 20s. $900 is just too expensive (for me anyway). Lot's of other great things can be had for cheaper without hitting the bank account so hard.

 

[wasupdog]

I do think the i3 sounds better than the 20 but it's not a huge jump. There is a big jump from the 20 to the i4 though.

 

[joshnor713]

It is kinda what I suspected. It's from $600 (20) to $900 (i3), but the increase seems more attributed to the packaging. You're getting two extra cable options (whether you want them or not) and new/better earpiece chassis. After factoring in profit, don't see much room for sound development in there. But then Audeze did say it's a new diaphragm...

 

[Devodonaldson]

I do think the i3 sounds better than the 20 but it's not a huge jump. There is a big jump from the 20 to the i4 though.

You ain't kiddin'! Had the 20 over a year and loved them. Found the i4 for good price with payment plan and pulled trigger. After a week with the i4, going back to 20 it just felt muddy, under extended, and just ok. Shows how great the i4 truly is

 

[rkw]

I do think the i3 sounds better than the 20 but it's not a huge jump. There is a big jump from the 20 to the i4 though.

The next obvious question is how much of a jump from i3 to i4? A fair number of people have asked, but I haven't seen any direct comparisons. All I've seen are people who heard the i4 months ago and comparing with the i3 by memory.

 

[518141]

... But then Audeze did say it's a new diaphragm...

This is one of the reasons why I´m pretty sure that there are sonic differences between i3 and isine20. Also i3 have a different housing. Apart from that the music examples of "the audiophiliac" are a bit dusty...hrumph...

 

[MacedonianHero]

You ain't kiddin'! Had the 20 over a year and loved them. Found the i4 for good price with payment plan and pulled trigger. After a week with the i4, going back to 20 it just felt muddy, under extended, and just ok. Shows how great the i4 truly is

I find the instrumental separation and sound staging improved on the i3 over the isine20. The isine20's are still a brilliant tour de force, but the i3 have overtaken them. That said, the i4 on a Hugo2 can rival many top flight full sized desktop setups.

 

[Fishdo]

Has anyone tried the i4 cable with the i3 or 20?

I cannot remember who mentioned here that he had both the i4 and i3 or was getting the i3...

Audeze sell the i4 cable as an accessory for I think $399 or $499... I just wondered if using the i4 cable with either the i3 or 20’s made any difference or improvement?

Or indeed any after market cable ... I know with my 20’s the oem 3.5mm cable wasn’t up to much and I definitely heard some improvements using a ‘better’ cable with or without a DAC ( in my case a mojo and Topping)

Also have any owners used the i3 with a DAP (wired and or wireless) rather than the iPhone or Android phone? If so what were your impressions please?

The i3’s are officially released today in the UK ,though there have been some dealers offering them before today, so I’m sure we’ll start seeing plenty more impressions on here...

OOI.. would that lightning to USB C adapter work if Audeze were to upgrade their cipher cable with a USB C connection... given that Apple will apparently be replacing the lightning connection with the USB C on the next iPhone (2020) ... so no chipped adapter would be necessary like the CCK etc just a straightforward adapter ....

I’m only wondering if we can expect some of the Apple device users to be moaning about the USB C connection like the Android guys have here...

 

[aaronholttheartist]

Has anyone tried the i4 cable with the i3 or 20?

I cannot remember who mentioned here that he had both the i4 and i3 or was getting the i3...

Audeze sell the i4 cable as an accessory for I think $399 or $499... I just wondered if using the i4 cable with either the i3 or 20’s made any difference or improvement?

Or indeed any after market cable ... I know with my 20’s the oem 3.5mm cable wasn’t up to much and I definitely heard some improvements using a ‘better’ cable with or without a DAC ( in my case a mojo and Topping)

Also have any owners used the i3 with a DAP (wired and or wireless) rather than the iPhone or Android phone? If so what were your impressions please?

The i3’s are officially released today in the UK ,though there have been some dealers offering them before today, so I’m sure we’ll start seeing plenty more impressions on here...

I’ve been using a Schiit Magni 3 as my main amp to drive these with vinyl or dragonfly cobalt as my source. I originally used them with a silver dragon v1 cable, good sub bass but dynamically I wanted more transients and treble. That cable is a little too smooth sounding to me on the lcdi3.
I’ve been using an 8 wire braid that’s 4 wire copper, and 4 wire silver from triton audio. It’s better with treble and mids but I’ve lost some of the low end thump I really got from the silver dragon cable.

I’ve been eyeing the lcdi4 cable, and also possibly some similarly priced options from effect audio that could get me more treble range and thumping bass at the same time. I will chime back in if I find anything new.

 

[aaronholttheartist]

Has anyone tried the i4 cable with the i3 or 20?

I cannot remember who mentioned here that he had both the i4 and i3 or was getting the i3...

Audeze sell the i4 cable as an accessory for I think $399 or $499... I just wondered if using the i4 cable with either the i3 or 20’s made any difference or improvement?

Or indeed any after market cable ... I know with my 20’s the oem 3.5mm cable wasn’t up to much and I definitely heard some improvements using a ‘better’ cable with or without a DAC ( in my case a mojo and Topping)

Also have any owners used the i3 with a DAP (wired and or wireless) rather than the iPhone or Android phone? If so what were your impressions please?

The i3’s are officially released today in the UK ,though there have been some dealers offering them before today, so I’m sure we’ll start seeing plenty more impressions on here...

OOI.. would that lightning to USB C adapter work if Audeze were to upgrade their cipher cable with a USB C connection... given that Apple will apparently be replacing the lightning connection with the USB C on the next iPhone (2020) ... so no chipped adapter would be necessary like the CCK etc just a straightforward adapter ....

I’m only wondering if we can expect some of the Apple device users to be moaning about the USB C connection like the Android guys have here...

WWG1WGA

While the cipher cable has eq that I enjoy on the lcdi3, I do not think the dac or amp are driving the headphone near their full potential. Sound stage and clarity is much higher to me with a good cable, dac, and headphone amp.