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Audeze LCD-1 just landed!


Icarium

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They said the new ones will be $650. The trade in program is if you turn in your originally LCD-1s then it'll be 50 percent off and if you don't then its 15 percent off.

great deal IMO..the exchange program one....

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Well given that its still cheaper than the headdirect one.. it just has to sound about that good and it's a pretty good deal ;p The headdirect one did sound quite good at canjam, but I vastly prefer how this one looks/is constructed as far as durability looks.

Had not thought of it that way. But $650 is a lot of money and it better sound good I would say. I hope you think it does though because you and I generally agree :)

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We'll have to see.. I mean pretty much the only two things that really bothered me were the lack of high extension and how at times it seemed to fall apart with complex/distortion heavy music (Fast paced indie rock with a lot of things going on at once)... and the latter issue may have been related to high extension. If that's all fixed then it may eclipse the AD2k for me in that price bracket and then its well worth anything up to 1k ;p As it stands the LCD-1 already does pretty good, but the AD2K is just better for me though about ~100 bucks more new.

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If the LCD-2 sounds better than the LCD-1, then I think the price is pretty reasonable. I don't have a pair of LCD-1, but I think the upgrade program is fair unless they gave the impression that it was going to be better.

They should try to improve the cable and the headband though.

this is probably not common knowledge but the stock cable on the lcd1 does not use the shield as a shield. The 2 signal wires are tied together as the positive and the shield is used as a ground signal. The cable itself is heavy, although flexible, it retains some of its prior shape and even in my short use, managed to continually twist upon itself - so agreed on all fronts, the original cable is a serious faux pas ..dB

For interconnects this might be OK, but for headphone cables.... :palm:

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We'll have to see.. I mean pretty much the only two things that really bothered me were the lack of high extension and how at times it seemed to fall apart with complex/distortion heavy music (Fast paced indie rock with a lot of things going on at once)... and the latter issue may have been related to high extension.

This is what I addressed in the mods and feel I succeeded. I also thought the mid was a little forward for my tastes. The reason it falls apart with fast indie is the relative lack of damping - it is damped, don't get me wrong but when things get going, you really need tight control .

We will see if Marc and Steve feel this has been achieved.

As far as the lcd2 - my suspicion is that the new frame will adress the bottom end primarily. Control the leak of the backwave and provide a chamber for the bass ( this could be a good or bad thing ) . For current LCD1 owners - I would look into finding a friendly neighbourhood wood worker and get him to make cups to fit the driver in so that it is sightly recessed and can seal properly. Choose the shape to match some off the shelf pads you fancy.

..dB

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well considering that the LCD-1 cost 400$ and still got sold out..and noe here they are offering a new headphone with a completely redesigned frame, better pads, much better looking aesthetics and an advanced driver all for a 250$ inccrease in price is just phenomenal.

And I don't think they'd be daft enough to release something new to the market that sounds worse than the old model at a hgiher price.

So i suggest let the headphones do the talking.

If the headphones an deliver on the sound quality then the price will be very well justified.

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Is it just me, or does the woodwork (finishing) and the overstuffed Denon pads look familiar?

Dear God please set our minds at ease, that they did not outsource to Lawton Audio!

If not, then I'm interested.

Agreed. I didn't know that they were overstuffed because I'm not that familiar with Denons/Lawton but can see that the pads do look quite stuffed now. Hopefully that means it is easy to open them up and make the pads angled ourselves, if they aren't already.

The wood in the first two pics look a lot better finished/shiny than the crude orange wood that doesn't even look well-sanded/smooth in the other pictures. Hopefully the first two pics are of the finished version and the others are of some prototype.

I'll be happy to compare. My memory of the Donuts is still pretty vivid.

Great, thanks.

Methinks it's a good time to be a member of Team Planar.

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The reason it falls apart with fast indie is the relative lack of damping - it is damped, don't get me wrong but when things get going, you really need tight control .

It falls apart with fast indie? What tune is that? How should it sound and what happens instead?

(I haven't noticed the problem yet, so I'd like to listen specifically for it....)

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OK, A few quick words about my initial impressions of the Audeze 1. This is swt61, posting on Marc's CPU.

Through the balanced Beta22...

A very smooth, clear presentation, quite familiar to the Donut MkII sound (that's a really good thing IMO). Very resolving and fast, with a pretty good sound stage as orthos go.

The one real difference I notice over the Donuts is the top end. These Audeze (bare in mind these are the dBel modded units) are very hot! I didn't know that an ortho could be this hot. Now personally I like my top end just a bit softer, but I know that Marc likes his treble just short of irritating, and these are perfectly suited to his listening preference. Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't call them harsh, and I'd most likely become accustomed to the sound quickly enough. They're just a bit brighter than what I've been using lately.

Bass is really nice. Plenty of low end info, as far as I'm concerned. Though I have not heard a stock pair, I'll say that I'm quite impressed with this version.

Through the Pass F5...

The F5 isn't what I'd call a highly colored amp, but as compared to the almost dead neutrality of the Beta22, it's subtle flavoring is noticeable. The F5 has a slightly more euphoric sound. Somewhat tube like in presentation. The top end driven by the Pass is just about perfect to my ears.

All in all a really nice headphone, and more solidly built than the pictures mislead. Can't wait to hear the 2s now!

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Hey Steve

thanks for your impressions. The top end on these is particularly sharp - most headphones roll off at the top end while these sounded pretty smooth to 20kHz to me. My initial impression of the lcd one is that the bass had a tendency to "lose it" and the mids were a little more forward than my normal preference. The mods I made addressed this - thightened up the bass, pulled in the mids - the process probably did push up the top end a little, but I felt it brought it all more in balance. The bass quantity can be increased by creating a seal between the baffle and cup. I found the bass to be very good but not as present as say the T50 or some of the vintage yamaha's ( especially the HP3/50 series) . At least now I know what your donuts sound like ;)

It falls apart with fast indie? What tune is that? How should it sound and what happens instead?

(I haven't noticed the problem yet, so I'd like to listen specifically for it....)

I use a complex drum/rhythm piece to test for a drivers ability to keep it all together with complex pieces - the way it sounds when it loses it , is that it becomes less coherent - sounds congested if you like.

..dB

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Any ideas on how hard they might be to drive in the new form?

The LCD-1 were super easy to drive..seems they made the new drivers even mroe efficient..so pure win all around from what's being reported from RMAF

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