Introducing the LCD-i3

[Matias]

The isine 20 does indeed benefit from EQ. Although the sad part is that a $10 aliexpress earbud has better tonality than a $600 earphone lol. It's a love and hate relationship with these planar earphones.
You'd also think they would provide a better cable than the dollar store sphagetti noodle.

I think this was deliberate. They wanted the low distortion and high resolution of planars but could not change tonality enough to be flat, so they embedded EQ on the Cipher or Reveal DSP plugin. If a buyer knows this beforehand and makes a conscious decision to buy them, as we did, and apply EQ afterwards, I see nothing wrong. Best of both worlds: the low distortion and high resolution of planar and sounding balanced to boot.

The cheap cable sucks though, agreed.

 

[EvilKillaruna]

Just use my own setttings for APO and make your i3 sounds like "almost-i4". Unfortunately you can't use normal fixed-band equalizer to make them sound like this.

Also, for the cable, I concur. Even MMCX are possible if you are persistent enough.

My custom, fully handmade 8-core copper cable /w bubinga wood. Surprlisingly, it sounds better with stock i3, while my other cable, 8-core silver-coated copper, which sounds better with i3+APO and i4 on the other hand.

The cable choice should be related to your posssible upgrade path and method of listening this headphones in my opinion (and based on some time with both cables).

 

[Matias]

Still waiting for those cables to be available for purchase.

 

[DreamMan]

@EvilKillaruna

Beautiful cables. Look really good.

Braided yourself or bought that way? Which cables are they?

And the wood splinter is also very nice.
With the connectors, there are 2pin to mmcx adapters in between?!

 

[EvilKillaruna]

Still waiting for those cables to be available for purchase.

Still working on them.

@EvilKillaruna

Beautiful cables. Look really good.

Braided yourself or bought that way? Which cables are they?

And the wood splinter is also very nice.
With the connectors, there are 2pin to mmcx adapters in between?!

Thank you very much.

Braided myself. My own brand "Fanatum", as a derivative from the name of my blog.

Yes. Otherwise I could not test this cable properly because I am forcing myself to keep as few headphones as possible. What is more, iSines, i3 and i4 are one of the most comfortable headphones for me to wear and use for long period of time. If not the only one.

 

[Dawnrazor]

I think this was deliberate. They wanted the low distortion and high resolution of planars but could not change tonality enough to be flat, so they embedded EQ on the Cipher or Reveal DSP plugin. If a buyer knows this beforehand and makes a conscious decision to buy them, as we did, and apply EQ afterwards, I see nothing wrong. Best of both worlds: the low distortion and high resolution of planar and sounding balanced to boot.

The cheap cable sucks though, agreed.

Its sad that these need EQ. I am all set to buy some Audeeze but the eq is problematic. 1st of just implementing it will be a problem in my system long story but I use ASIO and dont want to add another software program to the mix. Thats a recipe for disaster and will impact sq ime. All those eq programs tend to kill imaging and make a flat 2d sound

2nd the fiddle factor. Omg i would be messing with things all the time i bet.

it just seems like polishing a turd. Thats probably my audiophile biases which I am working on but man who wants ro mess around to fix some headphones. Plug and play.

 

[davehutch]

Its sad that these need EQ. I am all set to buy some Audeeze but the eq is problematic. 1st of just implementing it will be a problem in my system long story but I use ASIO and dont want to add another software program to the mix. Thats a recipe for disaster and will impact sq ime. All those eq programs tend to kill imaging and make a flat 2d sound

2nd the fiddle factor. Omg i would be messing with things all the time i bet.

it just seems like polishing a turd. Thats probably my audiophile biases which I am working on but man who wants ro mess around to fix some headphones. Plug and play.

I use these straight out of my Mac USB port, via an Anker USB-Lightning adapter. I already tweaked the EQ using my iPhone so that EQ is permanently stored in the Cipher cable. Plug and Play. Fantastic sound. All I did was lift the 4KHz region by about 6-7dB and add a slight bit of sub-bass at 32Hz. No additional software required if you can borrow someone's iPhone or if you have one of your own.

 

[Dawnrazor]

I use these straight out of my Mac USB port, via an Anker USB-Lightning adapter. I already tweaked the EQ using my iPhone so that EQ is permanently stored in the Cipher cable. Plug and Play. Fantastic sound. All I did was lift the 4KHz region by about 6-7dB and add a slight bit of sub-bass at 32Hz. No additional software required if you can borrow someone's iPhone or if you have one of your own.

Thanks. That does sound plug and play and i have an iphone. Though i dont think that arrangement would work for me.

Assuming the volume is controlled by the computer in that arrangement it would be problematic. I would use these mostly while working. I have 2 computers one for work and one for music only. I use a dedicated i phone for control and the volume is handled by the headphone amp. No monitor or mouse or keyboard. So it would be a big deal to adjust to using the computer to control volume. And that doesnt include the digital vs analog vc debate.

Also if i saw right, cipher is only 24 bit. The player software only supports 32 bit asio. My hardware is setup for 32 bit. I think there is a work around but need to check.
Glad it works for you. For me i think it would be best to do the eq in computer software.

 

[davehutch]

Thanks. That does sound plug and play and i have an iphone. Though i dont think that arrangement would work for me.

Assuming the volume is controlled by the computer in that arrangement it would be problematic. I would use these mostly while working. I have 2 computers one for work and one for music only. I use a dedicated i phone for control and the volume is handled by the headphone amp. No monitor or mouse or keyboard. So it would be a big deal to adjust to using the computer to control volume. And that doesnt include the digital vs analog vc debate.

Also if i saw right, cipher is only 24 bit. The player software only supports 32 bit asio. My hardware is setup for 32 bit. I think there is a work around but need to check.
Glad it works for you. For me i think it would be best to do the eq in computer software.

Yes, you're right that the Cipher cable supports 24bit/48KHz as a USB DAC, so you would need to find a workaround. However, the volume can be controlled from the Cipher cable. On my Mac, the system output sent to the Cipher cable adjusts with the + and - buttons on the cable. I set Apple Music to maximum and then adjust the music level via the cable.
The Cipher also allows you to change tracks (Next and Previous) as well as Play/Pause.

Hope you find a solution that works well for you.

 

[Dawnrazor]

Yes, you're right that the Cipher cable supports 24bit/48KHz as a USB DAC, so you would need to find a workaround. However, the volume can be controlled from the Cipher cable. On my Mac, the system output sent to the Cipher cable adjusts with the + and - buttons on the cable. I set Apple Music to maximum and then adjust the music level via the cable.
The Cipher also allows you to change tracks (Next and Previous) as well as Play/Pause.

Hope you find a solution that works well for you.

Thanks. Thats good info on the vc.

 

[Matias]

Just received my new cables for the LCDi3 made of silver plated copper conductors for 14 usd. Look and feel much better than the cheap original one. Mine is the 2 pin 3.5 mm version of the link below, but they have 2.5 and 4.4 mm variants as well.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000264338232.html

 

[Dawnrazor]

Bought them. With maybe 20 min on them they are good. Need burn in and i think they sent the cipher bluetooth cable but i cant see how to charge it. Time will tell.
Fairly comfy so far...

 

[Pcppps]

Just wonder. Is that these earphones no longer come with lightning cipher cable? Does audeZe still produce one?

 

[davehutch]

Just wonder. Is that these earphones no longer come with lightning cipher cable? Does audeZe still produce one?

Nothing on their website under the i3, i4 or accessories. I'd better look after mine!!
@Audeze can you confirm please and what happens if I have an issue with mine Lightning Cipher cable in the future?

 

[ampherio]

it’s possible to connect the cipher V2 cable to a usb 2.0/usb 3.0, not usb-c

I have an Imac late 2012, and I want to see if they work by usb