Wow. That's cool. I haven't found a phone that 3X better than just about any phone-- even if I put better in quotes. Glad you found your Nirvana.

The silver maple does seem like a super-unique/rare find.

To each his own, but using your own language you are implying the LCD2CB is a super-great headphone... "Meze is a great..." but not seriously comparable to "the LCD2CB..." Now, I think that's a stretch. :ksc75smile: But again, to each his own. Maybe setup and synergy are want make them...

I mean closed headphones are hard to get perfect. I'd imagine it'd take so much extra cost to get the same sound quality that an open phone can achieve. Take for example - to this day, to my ears - the open $500 Hififman Sundaras are slighter better than the $900 Audeze LCD2CBs. But Sundara's...

Wait. wait. wait. I think I misspoke or miscommunicated. I don't want to be irresponsible. They are not on the same level. The LCD2CB is better, but more like 5-10% better, which for those in this hobby is more than enough to pay an extra $500 to obtain :smile_phones:. A $200 Massdrop - wow...

Yes the plug-in is free. My point was it takes DSP (for me) to say the LCD2CB is demonstrately better than the Meze 99. The $500 is the price difference between the two phones ($900 LCD2CB;$350 Meze 99) I guess that's actually $550. Wow

From other posters I realized I had the Neos and not the Classics... so I bought the Classics. After listening briefly along with the Audeze LCD-2 Closed Backs (LCD2CBs) I had the current summary (posted in the Audeze LCD2CB impressions forum): Other Thoughts / Other Phones But, with that...

I'd agree with the above re: LCD2CB v XC; I guess the XC is a bit hotter after listening to more tracks on both phones. After listening to the LCD2CB I don't see a reason to pay more for the XC... other than the XC's wood and possibly some soundstage benefits the LCD2CB is more coherent...

Re: studio use of XC or even the LCD2CB. I guess. They're both heavy and I couldn't imagine wearing them for 8-10 hours. Re: XC hotter ... Could be. Yes, the XC has more treble energy and a bit more soundstage width. I don't have measurement tools so the LCD2CB could be on the warm side of...

I guess the XC is a philosophical concern. I mean it feels like Audeze is trying to make an audiophile grade closed back phone. I don't think that's a good strategy because the use case for closed back is (I think) people who want high quality but a fun phone. Think about it: I'm on a train...

Yeah, I definitely plan to report back. But I think your sense is right. I guess the hard things between these two phones is they seem to have very different sensitivity Plus, they open up at different volumes so getting them to both bloom on the same tracks at the same time is difficult. But...

This is exactly how I felt about the Elegia!* It sounds like the perfect phone in many ways, but I needed a little more weight and warmth and so the LCD-2** closed back is better for me. Great way to communicate it. I will say the Meze 99s are in the same category as the LCD-2, but for $200-$300...

One final thought. I can’t recall the sound signature of the CD3000s but the look and sense of excitement I had with them originally reminds me of the 99s. They’re so lightweight and isolate well. I’m really impressed and happy. I’ve wondered if today’s closed back could even be close to an open...

One thing-- this phone is having trouble being transparent with Fly by Sugar Ray. It's still fun and lightweight, but the music feels like it's wrapped in thin plastic wrap. I think it has trouble resolving some musical elements -- or is it uncontrolled bass? Idk, but I'm comparing the 99s to...