[Haxion]

Get this, it works great:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SS9VDWD

I finally got an LCD i3 just before Christmas and have been using it heavily for the past couple weeks. The above cable (with 4.4mm end) into my Fiio M15 sounds okay. From a 2.5mm balanced connection on a Fiio BTR5 connected to my phone it sounds nasally and not very good. But then I installed "Wavelet" with the EQ profile for the LCD i3 and it sounds great. Way, way better than stock. Honestly for the $550 I paid for the LCD i3 (used) I would be really disappointed save for this EQ.

Unfortunately the Wavelet app doesn't work on my M15. I'm not sure if there's a different solution. These work great for travel and lighter setup with just my phone and BTR5. Not sure I'll keep them for just that, we'll see.

Thanks! I just ordered that cable.

Re: EQ settings I think these headphones just need a fair bit of EQ to really sound great, but when EQ'd properly they are amazing. I had the same flat/congested impressions you did without EQ, though the default tuning of the cipher bluetooth cable is pretty good. I am using Neutron Player on an iPhone and it has AutoEq profiles for the i3 (along with like a thousand other headphones) that sound excellent; using the parametric EQ feature and BowWazoo's suggested curve is a bit better still.

 

[jtallaj]

Hi folks, I just received a set of LCD-i3's for Christmas, and they sound amazing-- the only set of headphones I've ever listened to that don't sound like wearing headphones, if that makes sense. Just sound filling space. For those who haven't tried it, the EQ profile BowWazoo posted above really improves things over a wired connection.

That said, I have a couple questions. First, can anyone recommend a reasonably priced (~$50 or less) 2.5mm balanced cable for these headphones? There are a few on Amazon but because the 2-pin connector needs to be notched for the LCD-i3 (and not necessarily for other headphones) it's not clear if all of them will fit. The stock cable feels cheap and gets tangled easily but I likewise think dropping a ton of cash on cables is pretty silly.

Second, I'm running these through an iFi xCan (which has a 2.5 balanced output) and occasionally the bluetooth cipher cable; the xCan was about $300 when I bought it two years ago. What would I have to spend on a DAC/Amp, preferably a portable one, to get very noticeably better sound than the iFi? I know a lot of people like the Chord Mojo but when I was shopping for the xCan and reading reviews it seemed like the Mojo is definitely an improvement but not necessarily worth it at double the cost.

Maybe too late, but I have never been disappointed with Hart Cables:
https://hartaudiocables.com/collections/iem-cables/products/pc-2-dual-2-pin-iem-cable

 

[Haxion]

Get this, it works great:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SS9VDWD

I finally got an LCD i3 just before Christmas and have been using it heavily for the past couple weeks. The above cable (with 4.4mm end) into my Fiio M15 sounds okay. From a 2.5mm balanced connection on a Fiio BTR5 connected to my phone it sounds nasally and not very good. But then I installed "Wavelet" with the EQ profile for the LCD i3 and it sounds great. Way, way better than stock. Honestly for the $550 I paid for the LCD i3 (used) I would be really disappointed save for this EQ.

Unfortunately the Wavelet app doesn't work on my M15. I'm not sure if there's a different solution. These work great for travel and lighter setup with just my phone and BTR5. Not sure I'll keep them for just that, we'll see.

I bought this cable, and I'm not sure if it's the switch to balanced input, the headphones now being properly "burned in" after a couple weeks of regular use (Audeze claims this is done already at the factory, I think?), or both, but they sound truly amazing with this setup (driven from an iFi xCan). They now sound a lot better even without EQ, and the difference is much less noticeable when switching the EQ on or off in Neutron player. Have you noticed any improvement after a few weeks?

 

[davehutch]

Bit of an odd one but I wondered if I could ask someone to see if they if they replicate the following issue please?

You'll need a Mac (preferably M1), the LCDi3 with Lightning Cipher cable and an Anker USB-C/Lightning Audio Adaptor

Make sure the Audeze are unplugged and then open either the Music App or Safari (Open them from a closed state, not minimised)
Play some audio through your Mac's internal speaker
Now please connect your Anker/Audeze combo

Two questions:

1. Does your Mac recognise the Audio/Anker as a 'Lightning Audio Adaptor and select it as the new audio output?
2. Does the audio switch over and play through the LCDi3?

In my case, I can only 'yes' to question 1.

Can anyone comment on this please? It crashes my sound preferences when I connect it. Thanks

 

[Pcppps]

Today the neutron app suddenly recognizes my anker cable which connects to my cipher cable for lcd i3. (it fails to do so in the past)

 

[davehutch]

After contacting Audeze and getting nowhere at all (they simply said they don't support third-party cables, despite recommending that cable in the first place), I've managed to make a workaround for this issue:
I've written a Shortcut to run a Terminal Script that resets the CoreAudio on the Mac so a simple double-click now does the trick.
Not ideal but it works

 

[jltimp]

Anyone have a recommendation for tips that fit the i3? I hate the included tips.

 

[TamakiHIFI]

I've been watching a lot of Headfi forums during this time, information about LC-I3, how to help make this headset better...
In many ways, (a quick note: I'm just an immature enthusiast who has only been a student and an office worker for four months, circling around these headphones all day).

LCD I3, there is a mysterious magic guiding me, his sound field is wide and large, and the headset is light, everyone can find their favorite sound on this headset (Audeze EQ for IPHONE)
It's almost like I'm obsessed with him...
Ever since I first bought these headphones, I've been reading the Head Fi forum, Amazon's introduction...
At the beginning, I just wanted to take care of the headphones, so I bought a moisture-proof box for her. When I was not working, I was just an ordinary student, but I just had a desire in my heart, I wanted super good sound quality...
I don't understand Spotify or Qobuz, but I do.
Flac is a lossless sound quality format, and I've taken a lot of 4K music videos from Youtube, like Alan Walker...
Martin Garrix, along with many of his favorite DJS and musicians of the time, downloaded their videos.
MKV in my student mind also know that.MKV is also lossless format, so I often download these musicians 4k Youtube videos into.
MKV, through the shift application, to turn the movie into.
Flac

Actually, all this happened two or three years ago. I just kept wondering when I could hear the best music.


Because I didn't have much money, I was just a student, so I ate 0.3~0.4 USD snacks and even drinks all day long. All I had was an I5 3000 series host, so I started the journey of application program...
I even called an app king at the time. It was called Jetaudio, and I kept telling my community friends that it was BBE VIVA, that it was BBE, that it made sound losseless...
Go around and give it to a lot of people and see what the difference is

Ok, have no what, in the end just emptiness and loneliness, my students journey, ascended on high school coming from countries, but I don't satisfied, your family, your teacher, and a man care about you, I just feel behind has been secretly in series knives, one family complained, high school teacher's hands are the flavor of business interests, even if have a good teacher, I am very grateful,
It's just that at that time, I didn't want to take on all this.



The reason I remember dropping out of school was that my family kept holding up signs and screaming, "Suspension, suspension."



All right...
I think the above text is a bit off topic with LC-I3, just want to tell me when I got the headset, what was my process, why I want to protect it, will want to improve it...




I have a feeling of looking up to high-priced applications. When I was suspended from school, I used red envelope money to buy a set of audio equipment, including Klipsch R41M+ Lepy 2024A+ and some basic audio source cables and speaker cables. This is also the time when I started my enthusiast journey.
I tried a lot of things during this time...
In fact, this is where I met Roon, the most expensive application in the world. I saw Audeze's brand in this application. I just went online on my shopping website as usual, saw a pair of LCD I3 and bought it...
.

The seller is very kind to me, or she is also an enthusiast. The accessories he attached to me are Anker USB A and Ugrren Lightning to Type C and Audeze i3 Lightning and Blue...
.
So I opened the door to all evil
In my beginning, I have to play audio, think that a good sound equipment, headphones or audio, must have to expand the machine can play strength...
I went and bought an Aiyima A5 Pro which was very cheap

However, I used it for two or three days, but I couldn't understand it at all. At that time, I was a working student and just a working person. I started to read the article about Lcd I3 by Head Fi, and everyone was fascinated by the Iphone SE + Audeze i3 + Lightning EQ line.
I also bought one Iphone SE and was really surprised...
You can adjust any EQ on it, the sound gets better, your ears are covered by the sound of the music, the singers sound better...
.


After a day or two of using the Iphone SE, I found that the drawback of the Iphone SE is very serious. You can't listen to music for more than one or two hours on the device. So I opened the forum for LCD I3.
I'm an IPHONE SE user, but the sound quality on the IPHONE XS is better...
Something like that, or I'm an iPhone 11 user and it's really improved...
.


So I bought an iPhone XS 256GB phone. It really improved, but what was it lacking?
, bigger battery, longer life, better sound, Spotify for longer, Netroun...
At this time, I am using the EQ setting of Audeze HQ provided by everyone on the Head FI forum. Can I change the high voice to a higher one?
Because I like Aimer's voice best...
.


B: Yes, but I find that I can't accept the sharp sound. I think it should have a mixed effect, with 70% treble and 10% bass and so on.








I went to see a person who replied to the article, he is the one who induced me to buy eight-core single crystal copper wire, I don't know what to call her, but he has a great love for EQ, his slogan is "I can restore LCD I3 to LCD I4..."

It has ten new versions and the most equalizers I've ever seen, of course.
I'm using his EQ Settings now, because he's my predecessor.






So I began to follow her way, to buy eight core wire
In the process of waiting for the delivery of the product, I went to some HIFI chat communities and asked, they were surprised that I didn't go to the audition and bought the LCD I3 headset directly...
Some people even say that you may suffer a loss in this way. For example, 400 (there is a headphone player in our group who plays monitoring recording) she only chose her headphone after listening to it for many times in the headphone shop, and even the shop owner knows her.
.


Other groups said, you live only 10 kilometers away from the headphone shop, there are many headphone enthusiasts, they want to enter the headphone shop would have to walk around several counties, so I clench my teeth, I will listen to today...
I went to the second largest earphone shop in the area because of the holiday these days. My purpose was just to improve my LCD I3 earphone, but I didn't know what I wanted, so I said I wanted to listen to the earphone expander, and the clerk politely took me to their listening room.


At this time, I finally understand that if you only have the expander of earphone, even if you are given the expander of ten thousand yuan, your earphone is a kind of ordinary earphone without any taste. At that moment, I am clearly equipped with four core wires of single crystal copper.
It's even more exaggerated than the Iphone XS+ Lcd I3 Lightning cable I carry around. It's tasteless...
.


The shop assistant also gave me the Settings of IFi Zen DAC + IFi Zen CAN. To be honest, it is the same as the first option. I don't like it, but I borrowed a pair of Audeze LCD 3 headphones in this store.
.


Back to the point where I handed my headphones to two clerks at the same time and asked if there was anything that sounded like a sound coming from my headphones, my LCD I3 headphones were on the high pitch and the sound was covered by the whole row


At the moment, a shop assistant shows me the Earmen Sparrow, which almost looks like the setup for my LCD I3 EQ, and I love it
'Do you accept open or closed headphones?' I said yes

He showed me the Tago Studio headphones, and I told him about the high pitch and sound preference. I also liked the headphones very much, just like a rose sticking out of the lawn
It was at this point that I realized that there are headphones other than Audeze that attract people




That's how much I play LCD I3....
At first, I bought a moisture proof box to protect the headset, and then I bought two iphones to improve the sound quality. After meeting the opinion of EQ God, I bought eight-core single crystal copper wire. Later, I went to a headphone shop to try listening, and bought Zermen DAC...... on the Internet

Thank you for watching this article. I've been using these headphones all my life.

 

[Haxion]

Having owned these headphones since Christmas, I can say pretty confidently that the best upgrade to make them sound truly great is a balanced cable (this one from Amazon is cheap, and perfectly fine: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07STC9YZ3?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details) to replace the stock one, and a Qudelix 5K as a source. The 5K supports parametric EQ on any input audio (with all the autoEQ presets built in), and using the curve BowWazoo suggested a few pages back with the bass bumped up a little bit, they sound better than anything I've ever listened to by a wide margin. I can't recommend the 5K enough, I don't think there's a device out there with this feature set unless you want to spend many times the $139 price.

 

[TamakiHIFI]

I just wanted to add a thought:
If you want the best Audeze LC-I3 setup in the world, opt for the Lightning Dac cable, which is basically Anker's USB-A adapter,
During this period, I purchased Aiyima A5PRO (DAC) and then upgraded the eight-core single crystal copper and silver wire (600 pieces), and then matched with a new external DAC device (Earmen Sparrow).

It's just I found that if you want the best LCD I3 in the world
In fact, you don't need to buy them at all.

All you need is an iPhone (to change your EQ) and an Anker USB-A adapter (to use Lightining, the magic EQ cable)


Although this line will result in a limited sound quality of 24Bit 48000khz, but, even if you keep looking, there is no way to find the feeling of this sound, right?
These days I have listened to a lot of Aimer records and HIFI level songs, which will make people sing together with the feeling, happy and joyful, only Audeze Lightning line

 

[whatdidyoulearnabout]

Having owned these headphones since Christmas, I can say pretty confidently that the best upgrade to make them sound truly great is a balanced cable (this one from Amazon is cheap, and perfectly fine: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07STC9YZ3?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details) to replace the stock one, and a Qudelix 5K as a source. The 5K supports parametric EQ on any input audio (with all the autoEQ presets built in), and using the curve BowWazoo suggested a few pages back with the bass bumped up a little bit, they sound better than anything I've ever listened to by a wide margin. I can't recommend the 5K enough, I don't think there's a device out there with this feature set unless you want to spend many times the $139 price.

Curious how this compares with the lightning CIPHERv2 cable, which I believe is already balanced and definitely heavily-EQed? I haven't really been able to match that sound, even with medium-high-end DACs (Topping D70s), parametric EQing (software, admittedly), and headphone amps (Woo Audio WA7), to be honest.

 

[Haxion]

Curious how this compares with the lightning CIPHERv2 cable, which I believe is already balanced and definitely heavily-EQed? I haven't really been able to match that sound, even with medium-high-end DACs (Topping D70s), parametric EQing (software, admittedly), and headphone amps (Woo Audio WA7), to be honest.

I can only compare it to the Bluetooth v2 cable (as Audeze doesn’t make the lightning cable anymore), but compared to the Bluetooth cable it’s a very significant improvement. Before I bought the 5k a tech at Audeze had provided PEQ settings that are pretty close to the cipher cable’s (they’ve been posted a few times in this thread); the tuning I mentioned above is somewhat similar but sounds a richer and with stronger bass. The 5k PEQ sounds better to my ears than my ifi xcan + software PEQ via neutron player, though the difference is more subtle.

 

[whatdidyoulearnabout]

Audeze doesn’t make the lightning cable anymore

Wow! That is quite a shame and news to me. Without that I don't know if I'd even recommend this IEM. According to these unscientific impressions I made awhile back, I felt that the lightning CIPHERv2 blew the bluetooth one out of the water to the extent that it made the i3s sound on par with IKKO OH10s (admittedly, IKKO OH10s with the XD05 Bal amp, so cost-wise, I guess roughly on-par with the i3s alone).

 

[Cocosan]

I just wanted to add a thought:
If you want the best Audeze LC-I3 setup in the world, opt for the Lightning Dac cable, which is basically Anker's USB-A adapter,
During this period, I purchased Aiyima A5PRO (DAC) and then upgraded the eight-core single crystal copper and silver wire (600 pieces), and then matched with a new external DAC device (Earmen Sparrow).

It's just I found that if you want the best LCD I3 in the world
In fact, you don't need to buy them at all.

All you need is an iPhone (to change your EQ) and an Anker USB-A adapter (to use Lightining, the magic EQ cable)


Although this line will result in a limited sound quality of 24Bit 48000khz, but, even if you keep looking, there is no way to find the feeling of this sound, right?
These days I have listened to a lot of Aimer records and HIFI level songs, which will make people sing together with the feeling, happy and joyful, only Audeze Lightning line

Thanks for sharing your journey and experience with the i3 - its a very interesting read. I have the same passion to find the best sound for it as well, however my motivation is a bit different - because I don't want to feel bad about making this purchase.

LCD i3 is flawed. It has amazing technicality, but completely ruined by tuning.
I use 3.5mm & 4.4mm primarily. The sound of the Cipher cable is great, but I find its usage very limited. (And yes I have the Anker adapter too)

Anyway, this is what I have now:
- Original silicon tips
- 3.5mm and 4.4mm Bronze cable from Moon Audio.
- AutoEQ Parametric EQ with Crinacle's measurement (https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...s/crinacle/harman_in-ear_2019v2/Audeze LCD-i3)
- Qudelix 5K

The real saviour here is the Parametric EQ. The difference is so large that it's now a completely different beast where LCD i3 could finally show off its real capability. You can hear amazing bass every subtle details with amazing clarity. More importantly, it just sound 'right'. It is way better than the Cipher sound.

Moon Audio cable bring out a bit more bass, which is very nice.

While my primary source is the Hugo 2, but I am equally just as happy when driven directly from my Macbook pro, or with Qudelix 5K (amazing device) when I need wireless audio.

My IE900 definitely hated all these because now its not getting much attention at all

My next step is to find a good replacement tip. The original tips slide off the nozzle too easily and I am having problem finding suitable tips that will fit the wide nozzle without splitting..

 

[davehutch]

My next step is to find a good replacement tip. The original tips slide off the nozzle too easily and I am having problem finding suitable tips that will fit the wide nozzle without splitting..

I have the same issue. I once spent half an hour trying to find one that had fallen out into a bush with small dark berries that all looked like eartips!
Just thinking again, I might try a small dab of thread lock to see if that does the trick