Just ok, but not the best!

Purchased one of the later batches of the LCD2 rev.1's back in '2010' just few months before the rev.2 came out.

A quick review on these is that, they have a slightly dark sound signature, the bass on these are absolutely great but the bass extension and bass impact on these are good but not excellent (same applies to the LCD2 rev.2's which I will write a short comparison in a sec). The mids on this thing is absolutely nice for those who luster for a bit more clear vocal reproduction, an SS amp would benefit dearly over a tube amp, not to say that a tube amp pairs up badly with the LCD2's it depends on what you want with your overall music listening experience.

Comparing these to my HD800's, CD950's and Lambda Pro's is that they don't have the best soundstaging, instead of being in a wide open auditorium, the LCD2's restrict your listening experience to that of being in a narrow but very long hallway.

To wrap up this short review, the only difference I've managed to spot between extensive listening between the LCD2 rev.1 and rev.2 is the latter is slightly, only tad bit forward with the mids, treble sounds a slightly clear but bass is slightly hollow and reduced compared to the rev,1's which is also slightly darker than the rev.2's. Neither is best, just the LCD2 rev.2 improves only to a very slight point that people didn't favour from the rev.1's, while the rev.1's retained the 'original' bass quality.

The only reason I gave it some con's is because:

1. the weight

2. I listen to a wide range of genre's, mainly electronic based music, for fast breakbeat/dnb (150bpm+) and hardcore techno, the LCD2's are slightly slow and can sound congested or muddy sometimes, my HD800's (even though it has reduced bass), it and my Lambda Pro's sound extremely well with fast dnb music, just one thing the LCD2's aren't perfect for, even though there bass reproduction is good as it is)

3. there is a bit of decay to certain music I listen to with the LCD2's, sounding slightly unnatural, but yet again I don't think these can's are aimed for the neutral crowd as there is bass emphasism on these.

4. slightly rolled off highs, listen to some classical waltz with some vocal's and you will know what I'm talking about.

5. Not worth $995, the LCD2's would be attractive at maybe $600-700 most.

Test and review was done on a wide range of equipment (some from memory)

Violectric V100/V200

Little Dot MK VI+

Beta 22 2 channel and 3 channel

Assorted balanced cables

Martin Ross balanced DAC with HP output

FLAC source via digital toslink > Creative Fatality Pro digital out port > my PC.

4 Stars overall, I think it's because of my expectations from having an extensive library of headphones I've owned and auditioned before that has put the LCD2's out of my recommended Top 5 list.