Audeze LCD-2

[cetoole]

Got more important things to buy, like a car, eh Bryan? I hear you, moving is definitely going to delay me getting a pair of these, as nice as they look.

[Aura]

Got more important things to buy, like a car, eh Bryan? I hear you, moving is definitely going to delay me getting a pair of these, as nice as they look.

that and JfuckingH Audio...

at least i won't be alone

[dBel84]

Great review. I have to ask you this tough, how do this fair with very fast and aggressive music?

For me ortho headphone were primarily rock, metal and hard-core phones. I really like my stats and AMT for all and any kind of music with one exception, I was using YH-100 and my other ortho phones for very fast, loud, aggressive and complex music with a lot of stuff going, they would not get confused and had a kick to them that even the best stat did not deliver.

P.S. Can I copy your review to Wikiphonia?

From past experience, I think we have similar sound preferences and although I don't listen to music akin to your "unique tastes" , I feel the LCD2 does it all - keeps it together with the best of the well damped vintage and detailed enough for low level listening.

and of course - edit as you please ..dB

[Icarium]

Got my pair today as well. I am very impressed. I am probably picking up a second pair.

Before

The New World

Close up.. jealous LCD-1s?

Pads

Nice and improved detachable cable? check!

Nice frequency response graph for my pair of headphones? Check!

Care/Warranty/Manual printed on extremely nice paper and well put together? Check!

Wth? Some wood care polish stuff and a cloth to apply it? Check as well!

And a case that the HE-90 would kill to live in? Check check.

Sucks to be you HE-90 living in a sham of a case with its hard carton cut out under a deceptive blue velvet layer

Clearly Audeze has come a long, long way from the LCD-1s and they've brought their A game. For a 2-3 man operation they did not fail to deliver on a professionally manufactured and packaged product. No off the shelf chassis the sequel. No sir.

But the real question is of course how they sound!

Well the answer to that is they sound good. Listen to them from my AD1 Balancing Act sourced by my modded Assemblage DAC3 they sound damned good. I have not shot them out against my Qualias/K1K/AD2k yet, but these certainly sound competitive even factoring in a hit after new toy syndrome fades.

My complaints with the LCD-1 were as follows:

1. Highs.. I couldn't hear above 16khz where with some phones I'm able to hit 17/18khz which is sad because just a couple of years before I could hit 20khz

2. Fell apart a bit with distortion heavy, fast, complex raw music with a lot going on.

3. The cable was a bit unwieldy (My bad since I made the recommendation ;p Whoops).

With the LCD-2

1. Highs I can maybe hear 17khz though that might be wishful thinking... also I've been to a few live shows since I've last tested my hearing so that may be user disability. I think they do better though.

2. Listening to some distortion heavy, fast, complex raw music and it's manhandling it with 0 issue.

3. The cable is not only vastly improved in build quality and while it's still thick, it isn't nearly as bad and is real durable feeling. Also <3 detachable. <3 it to hell. Every headphone should have detachable cablesif I had my way. Mmm qualias having detachable cables.

What it has improved on:

1. Bass. God finally I have a headphone that has top tier bass I feel. The only thing that maybe edges it out is a properly amped O2. Maybe not even then. Would have to shoot it out to really say since it's been awhile since I've heard the O2/BHSE combo or O2/WES or mmm O2/T2 which I have yet to hear! The extension. The tightness. The speed. The impact. So perfect. Maybe a bit more tone and resonance, but I feel like those are tradeoffs against speed and so no thanks.

2. It's simply a more complete and refined and balanced sound. The LCD-1 had its sound signature which had its quirks. I sadly could not say that it was a better headphone even for the money when compared to the AD2k for me :/ These though... well any urge I had to buy T1s is now gone except for the fact that it's closed.

3. Comfort. Wow these are comfortable. Almost HE90 comfortable which is the most comfortable headphone I've worn. You have to remind them that they are on your head and when you do you just bask in their comfort for a moment. Then with their ungrip you worry if a 8-10k headphone is going to slide off your head. I didn't like that much which is why I sold them. LCD-2s, better than broken in hd650s since they grip more even when broke in. On par with comfy beyerdynamics. Comfortable, durable headphones, but not really my sound.

4. Construction/Look/Quality... off the charts here. Really. Almost as glamorous as the nicest AT woodies, but with nicer cable/boxes imo and overall I think a little bit more consistency. There were always little bits of each AT woody I've owned where I'd be like man rest is so nice, but they kinda skimped in this ridiculous nit picky small area. I can't think of any specific examples right now, but I don't get that with these.

5. Imaging/soundstage. The soundstage doesn't sound immediately all that wide, but when you get far away sounds in a song you are like whoa okay I guess they can go that far. And then you note that sound versus a more mid-centric sound and all the distances in between and how they are laid about for your musical palate to enjoy and then you realize that these headphones can image with the best ;p

6. Speed/Effortlessness... up another notch. The power too. The power that some headphones flaunt with their boomy one note bass and their sluggish heavyhandedness... yeah none of that with these headphones. By the time you realize the power and depth that these things can deliver in the note... right when you brace yourself for the impact the thing is already dancing away and moving onto the next note. So effortless. Like when Jet Li punches at a dude's face but then stops right before impact and the force of the punch blows the guy's hair back... yeah it's like that.

Okay that's enough for now. Time to enjoy. May or may not post impressions against other headphones and other amps. I can't wait til my Dynafet is complete.. I guess my Balanced Gilmore Reference and Dynahi will have to do for now.

[Deadneddz]

wow...congrats Icarium. Thats great news on the imaging and overall balance and refinement. These look super promising and makes me really glad that CJ is just right around the corner...

[dBel84]

Congrats DanC , I got the review pair back from NoNoNoNoNoNo tonight and have been thoroughly enjoying listening to it again - this is truly a fine piece of gear..dB

[Smeggy]

I must save cash for these.

[Salt Peanuts]

Damn, that is some nice packaging. I take the case is real wood?

[swt61]

I take the case is real wood?

Yeah for sure. It looks like stained Pine to me, but it's really nice craftsmanship, and if they spent more than that on the case I'd be a bit miffed.

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

My LCD-1 feels the need to upgrade to it's better-looking friend...

It's a very nice touch that they include a frequency graph for the particluar headphone. Is the serial number also engraved on the headphone somewhere?

[Currawong]

It'd be fucking hilarious IMO if these basically knock off the top-tier dynamics. A 3-person operation that tells the German makers where to go would be hilarious. Must (unfortunately) add these to my list. So much for thinking it'd be over last year.

[faust3d]

In the ortho thread a couple of folks would fantasize about ultimate orthodynamic headphones. Some creative folks piad attention to their fantasy and this is the result. I guess this is how dreams come true.

[deepak]

How are they compared to the Qualia?

[Icarium]

More focused and tighter feeling but that might just be the smaller soundstage. Speed tough to say possibly feels faster. Bass is much more present. Mids toss up. Highs it loses to Qualias.

Comfort toss up in two different directions (Qualias are light but dont grip well because I'm using large size and LCD-2s are pretty comfy but are heavy and grip better. Neither is perfect in the way HE-90s were for me... if you throw in fit then clearly the LCD-2s win, but if I switched to a small or medium then its more of a toss up).

In the end Qualias are more laid back and Audeze are more punchy and have better bass. Otherwise it all about evens out, but that's without doing any direct comparisons so this probably isn't useful.

Edited May 13, 2010 by Icarium

[deepak]

Very nice. I appreciate the impressions.

[atothex]

Wow. I am thoroughly impressed with the step up in detail/craftsmanship/professionalism/everything.

[mrarroyo]

Those LCD-2 sure look nice, and I hope to be able to listen to them one day. Enjoy them.

[xand1x]

Serious ortho wars..HE-5/HE-5LE/LCD-2/HE-6 pending..dang need to get to a meet real soon! Congrats on the purchase Dan they look great!

[Asr]

More focused and tighter feeling but that might just be the smaller soundstage. Speed tough to say possibly feels faster. Bass is much more present. Mids toss up. Highs it loses to Qualias.

In the end Qualias are more laid back and Audeze are more punchy and have better bass. Otherwise it all about evens out, but that's without doing any direct comparisons so this probably isn't useful.

Hrmm so would it be fair for you to say the LCD-2 sounds more like the AD2K? If so, not exactly what I was hoping for - but I guess I'll find out for myself soon enough. I have to add, the aesthetics of the LCD-2 are pretty cool. Something about it just speaks to me.

Serious ortho wars..HE-5/HE-5LE/LCD-2/HE-6 pending..dang need to get to a meet real soon! Congrats on the purchase Dan they look great!

CanJam '10, stat.

[dBel84]

I have only spent 2 sessions with the AD2K and wouldn't describe them as being similar to the LCD2. Have you ever heard any of the yamaha orthos? They sound ortho and they have the yamaha sig just bigger all round ..dB

[Asr]

Nope, no real experience with any orthos other than the HE-5 (if it counts). But my interest just went back up.

[dBel84]

well HE5 has the ortho sig too - overall not bad but had that bump in the mids and rolled off the low bass. It just really needed some TLC to kick it up a notch but no one seemed interested in any serious modding and the pair I had didn't belong to me so I was limited in what I could do with them.

Not a problem as I foresee some cheap HE5's in the FS section. The LCD2 is not perfectly air damped, I wish I could say it was but it still relies on trusted methods to control the driver. This also means that it can be tweaked to suite individual desires. It is a great all rounder but based on my experience with the vintage stock, this large driver which delivers immensely deep bass can be tuned to anyone's tastes. Many if not most will not mod it as it sounds stupendously good stock.

..dB

[mypasswordis]

Yup, I'm guessing I will definitely need to tune it to my tastes if I ever decide to get one. It looks like the mids are slightly bumped and then the lower treble really hits a low point, from the frequency response graph, so shifting the hump over and trading bass for treble will be optimal for something flatter.

[K3cT]

This seems very promising. The vintage Orthos I've heard have yet to capture my attention (and I'm not really fond of messing with my headphones anymore after owning the D2000) while the HE-5 is too fucking bright.

[Icarium]

Nope, no real experience with any orthos other than the HE-5 (if it counts). But my interest just went back up.

Yeah they don't really sound like AD2ks except that they do a lot of similar things for me like the AD2ks. The soundstaging/imaging/speed but better. The soundstage is definitely wider though but still similar. The sound signature is more neutral overall and the bass vastly better in quantity/extension and just overall presence. The AD2ks crush on highs though and possibly mids but that might be just because they are mid centric so it seems lusher than it should be. The LCD-2s don't make me want the AD2k mids and are quite beautiful themselves and dare I say more accurate? Was listening to some Mark Knopfler HDCD yesterday and it was just blowing my mind. Not a one music pony headphone by any means.

I don't know if these are going to deliver the sort of highs you yearn for but maybe dbel84 can help you out with some mods there.