After picking up a pair of Audeze LCD-X, I wanted a neutral amp to drive them with. I looked around in the $200-$500 range and came away with a few choices, and I ended up going with the THX AAA 789 from Drop. If you’ve read prior reviews of mine, you may already know that I primarily work on music with my headphones, so while a pleasant experience is a nice bonus for me, a brutally honest presentation of my music is most important. If my listening chain is making my music sound better than it actually is, I risk stopping work on it when there could...

I’m writing my second headphone review this month. The first was for the Audeze LCD-1, which impressed me enough to pick up an older pair of Audeze LCD-X. I will attempt to make some comparison of the two, as well as pit the LCD-X against my longtime daily use Hifiman HE-400i. I had the LCD-1 for a week on a loaner tour recently, but still those comparisons will have to come from memory alone. Further, to get to know the LCD-X as fast as I can so that I can trust them to make critical mastering decisions (more about why I use headphones for that...

Today, I’m writing a review of the new Audeze LCD-1, their entry-level (for Audeze) high sensitivity planar magnetic headphone for audiophiles and audio producers (like me) alike. My primary point of comparison is another moderately priced planar headphone from Hifiman, the HE-400i, which has been my daily driver for my production work the past few years. I was about to start saving for a pair of Audeze LCD-Xs when Todd announced this review tour. I was interested in getting a taste of the Audeze house sound before spending four figures on a pair of...

I was selected to be on the Ananda loaner tour for North America and jumped at the chance to try them. I wanted to see whether the Ananda could replace my daily driver HE-400is or perhaps complement them in my music workflow. I’ve had a month with the headphones and was offered a discount on a new set if I wanted to purchase them after the tour in exchange for my honest opinion. Read on to find out whether I’ll be taking Hifiman up on that offer! The Hifiman Ananda is a high-end headphone from, of course, Hifiman. I am a regular user of their HE...