[Wes S]

Yeah I felt like my current IEMs were a bit too far ahead of the iSine10 for me to find proper uses for it, while the lcdi4 has a few too many inconveniences in its usage to justify its price. This sounds like a really good tradeoff though

Wow! I just looked at your iems in your info page, and I can see why the iSine 10 did not cut it. I only own the Campfire Lyra II, and Comet, along side the iSine 10, so they all compliment each other. I finally have my home system all finished, so I am starting to upgrade my portable side of things, and figured an upgrade from the iSine 10, was a good place to start, and then I saw this thread.

 

[qsk78]

Apple MS forecast is about 12% of a Global Market for 2019, so 12% of population need the lightning connectors only. So the rest is non-lightning...mainly type-c and micro.

 

[mvvRAZ]

Wow! I just looked at your iems in your info page, and I can see why the iSine 10 did not cut it. I only own the Campfire Lyra II, and Comet, along side the iSine 10, so they all compliment each other. I finally have my home system all finished, so I am starting to upgrade my portable side of things, and figured an upgrade from the iSine 10, was a good place to start, and then I saw this thread.

All of these are really good IEMs too

I think you can probably get a larger upgrade on the more neutral IEM though than you would on the lcdi3 vs isine 10. Maybe something like an Andromeda or a FIBAE7?

 

[Devodonaldson]

Favoring Apple and neglecting Android is a no-buy for me. I'll look back if Audeze ever does the right thing and give Android users equal treatment with a USB-C Cipher cable.

I think it's less about neglecting Android and more about an ecosysten that doesn't have a set standard. Not all USB c Android phones function the same way. Not all USB c DACs function with Android phones. It has to do with how each phone may be wired just a little differently. That's not a problem with iOS as apple phones have one set standard. It is currently impossible to make a usbc accessory and say that it will work for all USB c Android phones. I think that is part of what this is about. For the record I have had an iPhone 7 as solely a music player for one year. I've been using Android phones since the 2007 g1, will continue to use Android flagship devices, and won't buy apple phones to use as phones. I'm Android for sure, but didn't want to deal with resampling with all my USB DACs so bought a used iPhone 7 for audio use

 

[joshnor713]

I think it's less about neglecting Android and more about an ecosysten that doesn't have a set standard. Not all USB c Android phones function the same way. Not all USB c DACs function with Android phones. It has to do with how each phone may be wired just a little differently. That's not a problem with iOS as apple phones have one set standard. It is currently impossible to make a usbc accessory and say that it will work for all USB c Android phones. I think that is part of what this is about. For the record I have had an iPhone 7 as solely a music player for one year. I've been using Android phones since the 2007 g1, will continue to use Android flagship devices, and won't buy apple phones to use as phones. I'm Android for sure, but didn't want to deal with resampling with all my USB DACs so bought a used iPhone 7 for audio use

I still believe it's about neglect (or laziness or lack of wanting to put funds into the effort, whatever). They could do it just fine. Sure, it won't work with all Android phones, but most. Look at stuff like the Dragonfly or bunch of USB-C Dac adapters out now. Works seamlessly with most Android phones.

 

[ProzacMessiah]

I think it's less about neglecting Android and more about an ecosysten that doesn't have a set standard. Not all USB c Android phones function the same way. Not all USB c DACs function with Android phones. It has to do with how each phone may be wired just a little differently.

The Anker USB-C adapter makes everything okay, but Audeze can't make a USB-C cable themselves because so complicated. Whatever. Not offering a cable for such a large market is disappointing.

I still believe it's about neglect (or laziness or lack of wanting to put funds into the effort, whatever).

Or an agreement with Apple.

Regardless, this is a great example of how removing the 3.5mm headphone jack is user-hostile. That's right, you're part of the problem too, Google. In olden times, Audeze would have tuned these to sound as good as possible from the headphone jack and that would have been that. Now, you have to consider which of the connection options are available to you and how the headphone sounds using various protocols. Did they put all their effort into getting it to sound right using the Cipher cable and phone in (no pun intended) the analog tuning? It only costs $900 plus the right combination of dongles and sources to find out.

 

[utdeep]

Um, I'm an Apple fan boy. Unfortunately, most of their latest gear EXCEPT the iPhone uses USB-C. Also, the Bluetooth cable for the LCD-I3 uses MicroUSB. Haven't seen one of those since I dumped a Chord Mojo a few years ago.

 

[Nailzs]

Happy owner of a iSINE10 here. Looking forward to a review of the LCD-i3.

 

[MFHRaptor]

C'mon Audeze.

Introduce the Mobius 2 already!

 

[roxrite]

Jeez, what's with the misinformed whining?! Please do some fact checking before you post!

Lightning connector has been used on iPhones SINCE the iPhone 5 from 9/12, and is still in use today. Also, while I'm NOT an Apple fanboy, I don't understand the Android fanboys who constantly talk about how Android has majority market share? iPhone is 7% of the market?? On what planet? A simple google search indicates iPhone has more like 40%+ market share in the US, and iPad around 25% tablet market share, making it the dominant tablet (though that market is shrinking).

While the need to use the cipher cable is a VERY MINOR inconvenience, the benefit it provides is HUGE. If you need to use an extra adapter for your source that IS a little more annoying, but it's really not that big a deal if you think about it and stop crying at your keyboard over first world problems (while spouting drastically exaggerated incorrect statistics).

On what planet?
Well on planet earth.
You really to recognise that the USA isn't the whole world.
Come to Europe or Asia and you will search for a looong time to find the 40% markets share.
It's annoying that audeze is charging this much without providing a solution for android by themselves.
Android users don't even get the additional eq that ios users get.
So the best thing again is to use 3.5 mm and eq yourself a headphone that costs almost a grand to make it even listenable....

 

[Madcat207]

Favoring Apple and neglecting Android is a no-buy for me. I'll look back if Audeze ever does the right thing and give Android users equal treatment with a USB-C Cipher cable.

Agreed. I liked the idea behind my iSine10s, but was always unhappy with the sound from 3.5mm vs cipher. Beind a solid android user, i was further put off with the outright refusal to support USB-C over a very weak excuse of "not all android works the same". Never had that problem with 4 USB-C phones (LG V20, Huawei P10, Razor Phone 2, S10+) when using various devices.

It makes me really sad, since i have received otherwise excellent support from Audeze (LCD-2 driver died, got it replaced quickly and professionally), but ill be passing on something that COULD have got my money had they cared to support it..

 

[clerkpalmer]

Kmann, I have a set ordered. Can you provide more specific details on the differences between the isine20 and the i3 aside from the housings? Is more information available on the differences in the drivers?

Also, how would you characterize the differences between bt cable over apthd versus the cipher cable? I have heard mixed reviews on the bt cable overall. I am switching to android but have an iPhone at my disposal that I could use as DAP.

 

[Smugsie]

My experience with the iSine 20's have been really rough. Starting with the below-average cable, driver failure, cheap earhooks, no USB-C support, and the honky midrange that hasn't been addressed in the i3 according to this review here from majorhifi.

On certain jazz tracks or choral tracks (like those of Scala and the Kolacny Brothers), the mids can almost appear a little weak. But rather than some failing of the Audeze LCD-i3’s sound, I think this results from my ears just wanting to hear more. Granted, some tracks can still sound a little wonky – like U2’s With Or Without You. With some of Bono’s vocals registering in the high-mids, they can sound kind of stretched or distorted at times.

Not exactly acceptable for a $900 pair of earphones, but I look forward to seeing more portable planars from Audeze.

 

[Wes S]

My experience with the iSine 20's have been really rough. Starting with the below-average cable, driver failure, cheap earhooks, no USB-C support, and the honky midrange that hasn't been addressed in the i3 according to this review here from majorhifi.

On certain jazz tracks or choral tracks (like those of Scala and the Kolacny Brothers), the mids can almost appear a little weak. But rather than some failing of the Audeze LCD-i3’s sound, I think this results from my ears just wanting to hear more. Granted, some tracks can still sound a little wonky – like U2’s With Or Without You. With some of Bono’s vocals registering in the high-mids, they can sound kind of stretched or distorted at times.

Not exactly acceptable for a $900 pair of earphones, but I look forward to seeing more portable planars from Audeze.

I really think these iSine 10 and 20's are very picky with sources, but they can sound amazing with the right music and amp/dac.

 

[Deckard916]

Would love to get these w/o the BT and Cipher cables, unless the Cipher is a different tuning than the V1 / V2 that came with the isines. Maybe we'll see the i3 in the reveal app?