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Audeze LCDi4 planar magnetic open in/over-ear - 2500$??!!

2019-01-20
hello everyone and welcome so they would like to give you my personal view my personal opinion on the ODC LCD I for at $2,500 in here or here in Europe even more expensive for three thousand euros so first of all I would like to thank one of my viewers for sending me them for providing me them for review otherwise I wouldn't have had the chance to get such an expensive gear so this can really be called high end although it's not in India but a planar magnetic head phone like those from Wi-Fi men also all the others from Odyssey or from mr. speakers but it's worn like an in-ear so a miniaturized version of a planar magnetic head phone although you can see that Wi-Fi still quite big but then the sound is led through this pipe or whatever food is path into your ear so you work the mic like usual in ears but the experience it'll be different so you read it's some kind of outside your head localization unlike with most normal in years which sounds rather closed inside your head so here the soundstage is really quite extreme so different to most other Indians I have heard also the fit or seal is not crucial you just have to get sure to get the pipe inside here also comes with some helping accessories accessories like this ear locks here unfortunately don't work well without them yeah it tends to fall out because it's simply too heavy although the sedi fault is made out of magnesium which is quite it's not that heavy like this one it still tends to slip out so it doesn't work that well for me with these ill looks but it also comes with your hooks that i mounted on the ice and here they work more like some glasses so you put them beside your ear or behind your ear and then they stay quite quite well inside but of course not that comfortable to carry around before an import sound we will do this later some other effects it's an open design so when you have them inside your ear you still get everything around you like an open headphone this can be an advantage or a disadvantage so it's the complete difference or opposite of the automatic ef4 or whatever which blocks completely and also has a more intimate soundstage this sounds broader or more open but it's hard to judge for me which one is more realistic for example with my banner recordings the automatic sounds way more precise I can localize any sounds was precisely also the front ones one here it sounds rather more to the sides everything it's nice for normal recording stall binaural ones as it gives you a broader soundstage but for banal recordings which are meant to be listened with headphones in the Odyssey in easier don't work that well they are not as precise as the a thematic which really has a totally precise localization I am having quite a hard time to judge them correctly also because after having heard the ice I'm ten which is way cheaper three hundred dollars or together with this cipher cable around four hundred yeah I tend to think that this one is way better especially regardless of price I mean two thousand five hundred dollars so you would expect it to be perfect or close to perfect and you can get great gear for this price as sennheiser HD 800 s costs maybe 1500 euros so have the price of this and the problem is we had a sound just sucks it's horrible I know that they are meant to be used with some equalizer but without equalizer I mean unusable completely off that tonality is is just weird and although it's getting it gets reading reviews already people saying that with the stock came it sounds so good you just need a great amp yeah trust me they sound just off I'm aware that all these he claims them to be used with some equalizer so they provide some VST plug-in which allows you to it's called pure I think pure yeah so there is some equalization built-in which you can turn on but it still sounds off I mean if they provide a headphone which cost two thousand two thousand five hundred dollars and then an additional equalizing this equalizing should bring it to a level which is spot-on just perfect but the frequency response is just weird and yeah I'm sure most of you who take this topic seriously here the classic from Floyd it all sound reproduction and let me let me call something from him mr. Toole says frequency response is the single most important aspect of the performance of any audio device if this is wrong nothing else matters and this is what I was always saying I don't care if it's fast if it has the lowest distortion distorted distortion drivers or whatever the frequency response is just off even with some equalizing for the I sign it comes with this cipher cable unfortunately this first generation the first doesn't work well I mean it works with a CDI for - but it doesn't probably it probably doesn't have the correct profile so it's rather meant for the I sign 10 and I sent 20 and although the I sign also sounds off without this cable or without just with the stock cable with the cypher cable it improves a lot and you have an additional app also from from Odyssey which allows you or key gives you an option for some additional 10 band equalizer and with this equalizer you can bring it to really some high level I would say and to such a level that I'm considering keeping it mmm this guy wants to sell his unit and I had a listen and I think regardless of the price and friends that the I intend is simply way better maybe the stronger distortion or I'm not sure but even the fact that the SVI 4 has the image slightly shifted toward towards the right side so the right drama is definitely the other than the left this fact alone makes it completely unacceptable for a unit priced that high $2,500 so imagine you can get you can get a mr. speakers if flow - for this money which parry sounds way better but of course it's not as comfortable still I have a little bit problems with wearing them so without these hooks every time putting them on is a little bit of a hassle so on you have to - don't simply put them inside your ear but have to use them like this and then look they fall out again so like this they okay this is a little bit heavy here this remote it comes also with some clip that you can clip it to your to your shirt or whatever and the nice thing is you can let them inside because they don't block anything unlike the thematic which blocks everything so it depends what you want if you want some isolation take the automatic if you rather want to stay mmm isolated this does the trick and with additional equalizing through the app together with this cypher cable I'm enjoying them a lot while the LCD I fall is unacceptable for me yeah the packaging is quite ok comes also with this additional carrying carrying pouch here some additional tips some tips are rifled which is quite nice because they don't fall out death that much from a year but apart from that there is not that much inside only these ear hooks and a locks like this so for me personally the ear hooks work better but here there are more one like a headphone yeah you may be know them because KS k k CS okay KSC 75 is also one like this with some kind of ear hooks so I don't want to talk about sound the sound stage is definitely quite impressive for an Indian but as already mentioned it's not necessarily realistic or precise it just brought but compared to the automatic I tried comparing it with music also with my neural recording so I found the automatic to be a little bit more intimate but also more realistic somehow mmm still it's an impressive and really enjoyable especially the I sign 10 while this is quite disappointing and I tried to offer you some sound samples with this ears measurement system and this is not an easy task because they react completely different than my usual in years so although I can put them inside here they don't sound like in reality so I had again some hard time to equalize them I used the provided if use filled pocket or compensation curve which comes with this mini DSPs system and then starting from this I adjusted some slight bands in order to make them closer to what I'm hearing in reality so please keep them with a little bit of a reservation don't take them too seriously but I think the general sound characteristics is captured quite well so first I will yeah I will show you my usual track from Sony's region with its stock cable how it sounds so yeah it really sounds like this I mean close to this but you should get an idea so lots of treble sizzle some strange muddiness in the presence region and again somehow too much bass so compared to the original source it's far away therefore the frequency response is just something some some some mess some some zigzag and I'm not sure how people who are listening to this with its stock cable regardless which aim they are using the amp doesn't color the sound the sound remains like this they become a bit slightly more dynamic or whatever but the sound does that that color the coloration or the the formality is like this so the only thing I can we can try is maybe try different equalizing with this is it called pure no reveal sorry the pure reveal with this reveal plug-in I will use analog from so Poisson process freesia as it's always yeah consists of some repeating patterns so it's always small as the same and I will simply switch between different equalizing so first you will hear again the original track then the tuning with its stock cable then with this reveal plug-in then let's switch on the cypher cable which is the first game so it doesn't work well for this but still you should hear the difference and maybe yeah let's also switch between the ACD I fall and the I sign at the same time so to get a better idea and we will stop with the cypher cable plus my equalizer in which look like which looks like this and you can see i reduced eight and four kilo hertz also reduced based slightly because with its stock tuning with the cypher cable there is too much bass boost it doesn't sound flat anymore I mean it doesn't sound flat anyhow but bass is too much so like this I think that I sign pen sounds really great why the CDI for still sounds off so I will simply switch for all equalizing always playing the sedi for first then the I sign and at the end we will stop at the final tuning which is cypher cable plus make you although I read I had to readjust the EQ for the CDI for a little bit reduced well completely because this resonant peak was still there so I had to yeah Mallis cut away the entire treble to make it sound except though so let's have a listen again yeah I think it would hear the final result which is cypher cable plus equalizing the I sign 10 was ok it was still not like the original source but it's reinjure able to keep in mind there is some slight coloration with the recording in reality it sounds better and but the general tuning is captured well I think and if I compare the I sign 10 against this it's not you had 10 times more expensive I would expect something 10 that not timber may be twice as good or really close to being perfect but it's just horrible I mean it's unacceptable what you get here and there are people who who think who claim the CDI for is a step up over the ice and time I haven't heard the ice on 20 I know it has I think slightly less space but the overall tuning from what I've seen from some other measurements is small is the same they are all slightly off therefore yeah let's check out some frequency response frequency - pitch frequency response measurements still done with this mini DSP system but as the coupling as the impedance is so different to hit to a human ear yeah also keep the measurements rather relatively don't see them then in an absolute way compared to many other in is they look just different so here I have the LCD eye for in raw in gray and with diffuse field compensation in black yeah and you can see yeah I think I will take away this raw measurement you can see yeah there is lots of zigzag here there is some peak at 8 9 kilo Hertz also some strange one at 4k nodes and the high peak at 13 kilo Hertz if I overlay the I sign here both by the way with with the stock cables so no equalizing involved film you can see up to one key nodes they are equal so a rule of flat line but then yeah it starts to become a little different but all have some zigzag but the Iceland has more response in the 5 kilohertz region and not SPE treble if I I will take away the ice and again and let's look at the sedi fault with this reveal plug-in so you can see it raises the 3 kilohertz region travel remains modest untouched a little some deep here at 10 kilohertz and it also raises bass hmm I will overlay the I fall with it with the cypher cable which is yeah the wrong one I would need the second generation which probably would have better equalizing but let's say look anyhow so with the cypher cable and it looks like this raises the entire the entire 3 4 kilohertz region also raises base rather lower base so below hundred Hertz mm the buffer at rest there is not that much and it also lowers the speak slightly at at 13 kilo Hertz I will overlay the high sign also cypher cable and you can see yeah it looks still mall is the same or I don't know a little bit different but yeah I'm not sure but last one is yeah I've a CD I fall and the I sign with EQ and although both looks similar still the I sign somehow gives a better result I mean I compared back and forth between my HD 600 which becomes quite modest sounding against this also compared against the automatic er 3 XR so they are not the same but with the cypher cable and the equalizing which I showed here it's quite ok with articulating there is too much let me see again I sign cipher there is too much in the 3 4 5 6 up to 7 kilo Hertz so I tend to reduce this because it sounds just too harsh but with equalizing if you reduce this it becomes really ok and I can join them a lot really maybe because of the different sound stage because they are quite comfortable to care at all to where I don't need to take them off all the time which is quite a hassle with the etymology if you go shopping and someone talks to you and then you have to screw them in again while this you simply stop music the remote works nicely stop music in here I can everything what the other one says so I can leave them inside here get a very nice sound but this is not possible with the LCD I fall it would need additional equalizing get rid of these Peaks I have know what it is but it sounds just just just unusable and unacceptable to me yeah I hope you could hear it from the recording still it doesn't represent the sound in hundred-percent but the general idea the general representation should have been called quite well and this is what what makes me quite shocked again how companies can ask such such an amount of money for such crap and then they they provide you a better one which is really usable I mean I'm not sure what makes this worse than this because the sound in the end is much better it's really it's so far that I would call this one of the best yeah assume that you are using the cypher cable with additional equalizing I'm not quite sure why they didn't get the equalizing right with this reveal plug-in I mean this reveal should sound the same as the cypher cable if you ask me if they take this equalizing thing seriously I mean they have so much they could take all these Peaks I'm not sure from what I heard it's designed like this to minimize distortion and then afterwards you can add some equalizing but it doesn't work well I still have to equalize it to make it sound acceptable not because I like it that way because then it sounds normal without it doesn't and this is a bit shocking disappointing and this puts me again in contrast to all the other reviewers who are praising all this the I sent em yes assumed that you are using the cypher cable with some additional equalizing it can be really enjoyable to such a degree that I'm willing to spend some amount of money $300 to get this for myself because it's really it's great it is great but this one isn't let alone the fact that it costs $2,500 I mean you can get really great stuff with the speakers for $2,500 or headphones I would take 3 4 different pairs not necessarily planar McNair but simply some really great something ones so why should I help with this and then get such a creepy sound I know there will be again lots of hate because I'm the only one who says this is crap but it is the reality I'm sorry the I sent n-no it's really great if you use it like intended with the cypher cable I know that reviews he took this cable and tweed threw it away immediately it was only for iOS users the problem is this this there is a DSP inside and some equalizing which obviously does the job it also has some amps or you're bypassing the internal ampere it works quite well but still you need to hassle with the app then the equalizing are stored within this remote or cable and if you attach it to some other iOS device you will still get the same preset you you have two presets but you cannot switch between them so you would need again this app yeah it's a pity they could have added effort but maybe even three presets one off one your favorite one and one yeah but I don't understand why they don't get the tuning right if they ask you to equalize it then they should provide equalizing switch are really great which which offer you a usable frequency response shall I quote mr. tool again no frequency response is the most important aspect of a sound every everything else doesn't matter so it can have the best imaging the best resolution whatever but if the frequencies responses off I don't care about this product still I'm really satisfied with them with the I sine 10 the only thing I'm getting here with the right one I'm getting some crackling as if it was some driver flex while with the left one not so this worries me a bit but apart from that you could possibly be here from the recording that the ice antenna was nicely centered a little bit different soundstage compared to the original recording why this had the sound more shifted towards the right mmm I'm sure many won't probably even notice but place I'm some some pink noise and put them inside like this then turn them around and it should still sound the same but in this case it doesn't you can hear that the sound shifts out of the left or to the right so yeah this was my take on the odyssey LCD I for playing a magnetic open in here over your headphone whatever quite unique but quite disappointing at the same time why the I sign which is from the same family that's a much better job so I can recommend this if you have some areas device with this reveal plug-in it's not usable but with with this cipher cable I would like to try maybe the second version the second gen to try if if you changes something I mean another change or another improvement is that it works with the SDI for two but I would be interested if they may be adjusted equalizing but it's a very strange product idea is great wearing if you get used if you adjust to the ear hooks it's quite nice that doesn't follow out so maybe even more stable than the normal in here because it doesn't really rely on the seal here but you really you rather have to to get the sound somehow inside your ear so I rather see this as some kind of path into your ear not as some traditional in-ear headphone and the result with equalizing is really really impressive quite unique and beside the automatic er 3 X I which I still I'm still waiting for the EF 4 XR which hasn't arrived yet but these two are definitely my high-end recommendations yeah I think this was it I hope you liked this little bit also on my new viewers my new subscribers who come from set reviews so I hope I didn't disappoint you but this is this disappointing if you take the price into account which is just shocking yeah I'm really shocked yeah so thanks a lot for watching I hope I covered everything feel free to ask questions but I will definitely and keeping probably this is unusable I would never spend that much I wouldn't take this even for 200 for one tenth why this is nice to some degree really really yeah I'm not as entertaining as the trivial sorry but I just want to give you my facts my my yeah and this was it I hope you liked it anyhow thank you for watching until the next video bye
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