Audeze LCD-2

[oqvist]

The O2 comparisons came from the fanboys. The idiots claim this is the best headphone ever made so naturally, to them, it is superior to the SR-007.

Coming from a Stax fanboy . I have gotten pm from several of non LCD-2 fanboys that it indead has a similar signature. Some comparisons are due to that I believe.

Is it really closer to the HD 800 in signature? I mean all I read about the HD 800 is that it

[K3cT]

I have to make sure I never listen to a good O2 rig.

Indeed, it's pure venom. I think only forbigger's O2 rig (Neko DA100 + KGSS + O2 Mk2) was able to present music in that planar-y way that no dynamics can achieve.

[dBel84]

For many of us "orthoheads" the initial discovery of orthos was a "poorman's" route to the stat fiefdom. There are similarities but there are also differences which have to be acknowledged. The stat membrane is free of the limitations of requiring a voice coil and as such can be significantly thinner and lighter. This translates to audible differences in presentation. Orhto's are relatively free of amplification restrictions. I love the fact that I can plug my headphones directly into my iRiver DAP and enjoy the sound it produces while scaling accordingly with equipment that I add to the front end. I am no stat guru and I am not sure that I ever will be. I spent a fair amount of time with the O2 powered by the T1, I have also spent time listening to the lambdas and Koss's ESP950. They are all great sounding headphones. I still preferred the orthodynamics I had at my disposal, not necessarily because I thought that they were technically better but they offered me what I wanted to hear and I could tune them to suite my tastes specifically. I love to tiker and there is something rewarding in taking a sub $100 headphone and changing it to sound better than most off the shelf headphones. Stats fall into this category too as I am sure Smeggy and Birgir can atest too. I defferred tuning headpones for others for the longest time as it is a painstakingly personal process and there is no gaurentee that others will hear what it is that I hear. I know at least 2 folk who have similar hearing to mine. The offering from Audez'e represents a modern take on this old technoilogy and I happen to think they have the approach right. I don't believe in perfect as it is subjective and one man's perfect is far from anothers'. It does offer most everything that Wualta had been striving to achieve with his ortho thread - modern production ortho with characteristic ortho sound. Fostex never gave up on theirs and have been producing an ortho range all along. Problem is that they do not offer the same full sound without a little modification. Ideally, one of the modern manufacturers will produce a low cost ortho ( much like the grado SR60) that will allow anyone being introduced to this hobby to sample this planar technology. It won't be to everyone's tastes , and thus the hobby continues. (along with all the bickering that unite us and encourage the amiable enjoyment of distilled beverages ) ..dB

[spritzer]

I do agree these headphones are similar but you can drive the SR-007 off a 200$ amplifier with good results. The SRM-323 is a very nice unit so any claims of needing truly insane amps are just utter fucking BS. The LCD-2 is by no means something you should be driving off a cheap amp either, it will clearly show you what amps aren't up to snuff.

Coming from a Stax fanboy .

I'm not a Stax fanboy since I fail the biggest requirement which is blind devotion. I applaud Stax when they do something correctly but I'm also their harshest critic when they fuck up. A fanboy sees nothing wrong with his most admired product and even goes on the attach should anything negative ever be posted, just like those LCD-2 idiots do all the time.

[swt61]

The O2 comparisons came from the fanboys. The idiots claim this is the best headphone ever made so naturally, to them, it is superior to the SR-007.

OK. I don't read the thread over there, so wasn't aware of that. To state they'll surpass a good 02 rig is ridiculous, but they are one of my favorite non electrostats.

Pretty bold. How and why? At the risk of making you repeat yourself I may have missed it maybe you could just link me to an earlier post.

The HD 800 is a pretty compitent headphone, and I'm not tearing it down at all. But I do think the LCD-2 is every bit as fast, refined and detailed, but the more forward nature makes it the winner in my book. It really comes down to a taste thing. I think HD 650 lovers will prefer the laid back nature of the 800. To me the LCD-2 sounds closer to a live performance (at least as close as a headphone can get).

[Eric5676]

The HD 800 is a pretty compitent headphone, and I'm not tearing it down at all. But I do think the LCD-2 is every bit as fast, refined and detailed, but the more forward nature makes it the winner in my book. It really comes down to a taste thing. I think HD 650 lovers will prefer the laid back nature of the 800. To me the LCD-2 sounds closer to a live performance (at least as close as a headphone can get).

See? My wallet really dislikes these kinds of posts, folks. People can get funky and tempting ideas during moments of weakness and such when they feel intrigued and an A/B would so simple...

[swt61]

Coming from a Stax fanboy . I have gotten pm from several of non LCD-2 fanboys that it indead has a similar signature. Some comparisons are due to that I believe.

Is it really closer to the HD 800 in signature? I mean all I read about the HD 800 is that it

[manaox2]

I dunno. I like the HD650 and prefer the LCD-2 over the HD800 which I found hard to find a good rig to match with. The LCD-2 seemed to mate better with common rigs and was just more appealing of a sound all around then the HD800 on any rig I'd heard from my experiences at several meets. I also prefer the O2 with a decent amp more then all others by a decent margin though. I feel fairly certain that I could happily sell the HD650 if I was picking up the LCD-2.

[swt61]

Yeah, I never cared for the HD650. Technical merits were good, but I just can't abide that laid back nature. I have some of the same issues with the 02 as well, though to a lesser degree, though it's technical merits are the best I've heard to date.

So for me the LCD-2 would be my first choice over all but my K1000, just because I like the sound signature so much.

[n3rdling]

I'm really not sure why these are so often being compared to the 02s.

It's an unfair comparison IMO. They're not in the same price range.

However, I like the more forward nature, and they don't require an expensive specialty amp. But to expect the same detail and refinement as the 02 is unrealistic.

IMO a comparison to the HD800 makes more sense, and IMO the LCD-2 wins on all accounts.

Also I guess it's a taste thing, but to my ear they trounce all of the HE series orthos by a fair margin.

I compared them to the O2 because people over there were bitching about not having enough impressions of it vs the O2, were claiming the LCD2 was the best headphone in the universe, and mainly because the O2 is just what I instinctively compare other headphones to. I agree it might not be fair since they're not in the same price range, but I did clarify that the LCD2 is great for being under $1000 IMO. Also, HD800 is kinda poopy

[spritzer]

This reminds me to bring a small SS amp to the Senn distributor here so that the SR-007 can poop on the HD800 again. Last time they said it wasn't fair to pit a 1960's tube amp against the Auditor so a modded 727 should be a "fair" comparison...

[Solude]

I'll be comparing my second LCD-2 pair to the O2. Hopefully fairs better than the first which I hope have a detached driver or some other major fault.

[Currawong]

It's valid to compare the O2 with them. These people who think that something can better the Stax need to be put in their place.

[Icarium]

Just like the people who think there are dacs better than audio gd dacs huh? ;p

[Smeggy]

I can only compare them to what I've heard and what I like in general and the LCD is by far the best of the commercial phone I've heard. Having said that, I still end up wearing my TPs far more than any of them. Not to say mine are better or anything, just that I've spent enough time getting them right for me. Everyone has their personal prefs in sound and like Steve, to me the LCD beats the 800 for sound sig. I also feel the HE-5 is nowhere near the LCD in any department except air. Not heard the HE-6 or O2.

In the end it comes down to what we like listening to and as we all know, no one phone will suit all people. I do think the fanboys, as usual, are going way overboard. I still look in on the thread at h-f but rarely post.

[Kabeer]

In the end it comes down to what we like listening to and as we all know, no one phone will suit all people. I do think the fanboys, as usual, are going way overboard. I still look in on the thread at h-f but rarely post.

I agree, its just personal taste. I preffered the LCD2 to the O2 (although i had a really weak setup). Also someone who came to my house and heard my LCD2 preffered it to his prior O2 rig as well (o2+717).

Thats not to say that some may prefer it the opposite way around. Its just a taste thing. The important point here is there is a headphone with TRS termination that can compete in the league of the O2, that in itself is rather cool.

Personally, my favourite headphone is actually still 30+ years old (yet i recognise its tehcnically inferior to both the lcd2 and o2)

[dBel84]

The YH1000 deserves to be heard at least once - it is hard to escape it's midrange "fluidity" . I know people love comparing headphones but I have said this many times, we all look for different things. I am generally not a grado fan but I really enjoyed listening to JP's vintage RS1's. I was taken by ortho's from the beginning - hard to describe but there was something about those vintage headphones that was both acoustically satisfying and appealed to the frugal value in buying them. The LCD2 sort of defies this "cheap bastard" war cry of the ortho heads. In the high end world it would still be good value but this is a relative thing.

With all this stat ortho raving going on now, what is it going to look like when transmission audio release their ribbon ear speaker ?

..dB

[spritzer]

Now that is a headphone I want to hear. If they don't fuck up the chassis design then it could be something spectacular...

[monsieurguzel]

The problem is that this concept was shown on their webpage about a year ago and there hasn't been any word of updates or what not. I'd be super excited about this too and hope that such a headphone will eventually come out instead of just being fantasy. Btw, has there ever been another ribbon speaker headphone before?

Also, as a technology, how good are ribbon speakers? I only know about ribbon tweaters in speakers, but not much about full range ones. Do they have more/less distortion than orthos/stats and how much power do they usually need to run properly.

The YH1000 deserves to be heard at least once - it is hard to escape it's midrange "fluidity" . I know people love comparing headphones but I have said this many times, we all look for different things. I am generally not a grado fan but I really enjoyed listening to JP's vintage RS1's. I was taken by ortho's from the beginning - hard to describe but there was something about those vintage headphones that was both acoustically satisfying and appealed to the frugal value in buying them. The LCD2 sort of defies this "cheap bastard" war cry of the ortho heads. In the high end world it would still be good value but this is a relative thing.

With all this stat ortho raving going on now, what is it going to look like when transmission audio release their ribbon ear speaker ?

..dB

[dBel84]

Just look up apogee - they are imho AWESOME . FWIW, the LCD2 took about 2 years to come out after initial grumblings ..dB

[Dusty Chalk]

Also, as a technology, how good are ribbon speakers? I only know about ribbon tweaters in speakers, but not much about full range ones.

They're supposed to be TEH AWSUM, though I've never heard them myself. Quite a few of those who've tried it don't go back to anything else, they spend the rest of their time upgrading their amps. So although I would say the fanboyism is raving mad, I wouldn't say they were rabid, as they don't spend a lot of energy waxing eloquent about how much they like their speakers. I suspect this is because they are too busy actually listening to their speakers.

[Nebby]

Perhaps it's a fringe benefit of headphones that you can listen to a headphone while raving about them on a forum?

[luvdunhill]

Quite a few of those who've tried it don't go back to anything else, they spend the rest of their time upgrading their amps. So although I would say the fanboyism is raving mad, I wouldn't say they were rabid, as they don't spend a lot of energy waxing eloquent about how much they like their speakers. I suspect this is because they are too busy actually listening to their speakers.

(raises hand)

[Dusty Chalk]

Perhaps it's a fringe benefit of headphones that you can listen to a headphone while raving about them on a forum?

No, I've seen a lot of rabid fanboyism about speakers, too.

Usually dynamic, though.

[Nebby]

True enough, there's definitely fanboyism about speakers as well.