Review LCM-A1d
I was watching LEAR for some time, particularly their range of custom headphones. LEAR has a good reputation in the field and turned heads with their innovations like the hybrid LCM-BD4.2. When they recently the LCM-A1d, a single dynamic driver custom IEM, whose sound signature is tunable via a integrated potentiometer and starts selling for 2’000 HKD (260 USD, 233 EUR), I got interested. For some more dollars theres is an option to get a semi-rigid shell which is a bit softer than the usual acrylic polymer, but harder than silicone.
Here are the specifications of LCM-A1d (copied from LEARs website)
- Driver: 10mm CCAW, 5u diaphragm, neodymium magnets, LEAR custom tuned dynamic driver (note from the reviewer: CCAW = Copper-clad aluminium wire)
- Frequency response: 20~20kHz
- Impedance : 33ohm @1000 Hz (Adjustable knob at 4'o clock maximum position )
- Sensitivity : 110dB @1mW ((Adjustable knob at 4'o clock maximum position )
I didn’t own a custom IEM before and thought that’s a rather interesting package and asked LEAR for are a review sample. LEAR offered a discount for a review pair. With the deal done I ordered an all-clear LCM-A1d with semi-rigid shell. I sent my ear impressions start of September and received the completed phones at my place about seven weeks later, so subtracting one week for shipment of the impressions and the completed earphones, the total build time was less than 6 weeks, so just as announced. Email correspondence with LEAR on ordering and other questions (in particular with Tatco Ma) were very timely, accurate and friendly.
I will report my experience with the LCM-A1d below as follows:
1) Accessories, earphone quality /build, fit
2) Isolation, Sound quality
3) Frequency response discussion
Here we go:
1) Accessories, earphone quality /build, fit:
When I unpacked the shipment (I wont go into the “unboxing” details in this review), I got a black box containing a stainless steel protective can intended to store and transport the CIEMs. Its lined with a green soft rubber. Also included were a tiny screwdriver to adjust the headphones and a cleaning tool and a small leaflet with some instructions. There is also a small cleaning cloth.
The can looks like inspired by cosmetic product packages. It will sure turn some heads. While its looks can be debated you can be sure that it’ll protect your IEMS from some hard knocks. I am not sure if its waterproof (and I wont try). It is rather big and heavy and built like a tank its made of solid metal (maybe 3 mm steel), which could be a disadvantage for those who travel a lot (packing and also customs inspection at airports). I noticed that a smell developed in the can when closed for longer time, kind of like from a glue or rubber stabilizer agent. Not sure if this only my can or if others observed this too.
Anyways, now, on the A1d:
It’s a large-bodied CIEM (protrudes a bit out of the concha) with “mildly recessed" 2-pin plugs. I chose a fully transparent A1d so you can see what’s inside.
The large black 10mm dynamic driver sits at the beginning of single sound bore with a diameter of a 3-4 millimeters. The driver is connected in series with a tiny “knob” which is in fact a potentiometer (lets call it “pot”) at the upper side of the earpiece. With the provided tiny screwdriver the soundsignature can be adapted by turning the pot. The pot is only accessible when taking the IEM out of the ear, when inserted into the ear, the pot is covered by the ear (cymba may be the correct anatomical term?). Next to the potentiometer there is also a small black pressure vent. When you insert the A1d into your ear(s) you will hear a clicking sound, which is the driver itself responding to the increased air pressure (Tatco Ma of LEAR told me its called the “driver flex”), which is perfectly normal. You may sometimes hear clicks when wearing the IEM when outside air pressure is rapidly changing (for example during airplane ascents / descents or a train running into a tunnel etc).
Given the size of the shell its relatively empty given is not completely filled with polymer. That provides a low weight.
The “semi-rigid shell” is not made of acrylic and is bit softer, but still significantly harder than most silicones. It will surely protect the interiors of the CIEM. Below is a scale from LEARs webpage quantifying the hardness of the semi-rigid polymer on shore scale for those interested in the matter:
So its basically comparable to shoe sole. On request, LEAR would not disclose more details about the polymer. Fair enough. I expect they did the homework on skin compatibility and leachables etc.
Cable:
I ordered LEARs standard braided transparent cable (I think LEAR calls it the C2 cable) with low-profile 3.5 mm TRS gold-plated connector (easily fitting all mobile phones with protective cover). On the IEM end, there are 2-pin connectors. I presume other cables with the same connector will also fit the A1d. The C2 cable’s looks and feel and usability is good, its flexible and there are virtually no microphonics when worn over ear. There are memory wires close to the connector which do their job as expected. Given I have no cable alternatives I wont review any SQ correlating with different cables.
Fit:
Out of the box, the A1d fitted me very well. For custom IEMs, first-time-right-fit is very important. Sending back the IEMs for refit is costly (another set of impressions) and usually takes time which annoys customers who were looking forward to their usually expensive products. However, my pair of A1d sit tight in the concha, seal is maintained during most movements, even when I move my jaw. I wore them now in many instances for > 1 hour uninterrupted without any pain or discomfort.
In total: Good effort LEAR for the great fit. By the way, I just read on their website that LEAR offers now up to 1 year of free refit service. Nice.
So summing up the first part of the review:
IEM build quality is professional and durable; semi-hard-shell is a great innovation and worth a try. You get high quality accessories, too. Most importantly, IEM fit was excellent out of the box.
Isolation.
Noise isolation is very important for me given that I travel a lot so I want to keep backgound noise out to enjoy music at low volume and protect my ears from too high sound pressure levels. With the semi-rigid shell, the LCM-A1d provide very good sound isolation in almost every situation, very good for a vented IEM. Isolation is comparable with my UM3x fitted with medium sized Comply foam tips. With some low volume music playing on the A1d, I can hardly hear any backgrond noise. I give it a 7/10 for isolation.
Sound quality setup:
To assess sound quality, my source was a directly connected off-the-shelf FiiO X5 second gen playing lossless format. I do not use equalization, but do use high gain on the X5ii. Music was reproduced from lossless files equivalent to CD or higher resolution.
Listening evaluation:
I would like to keep this part of the review rather short given that subjective impression is so much dependent on each persons physiological prequesites of each ear (age, anatomy, damage etc) and personal sound signature preference. I will therefore try to complement my impressions with a more fact based analysis using frequency responses (see further below).
I have now roughly listended 30+ hours to a variety of genres.
Sound stage
In total, spatial resolution / sound stage is very broad which I like a lot. Soundstage comparable to my (triple-driver) UM3x which is a big achievement.
Low frequencies
So this is part where ther A1d really excells. The large dynamic driver delivers a mighty punch. Also, the bass spectrum is tunable via the integrated pot. With the potentiometer turned fully clockwise to its end, the A1d produces a very strong deep, fast and slightly dark bass. Turned all the way counterclockwise, bass is significantly reduced. Music featuring lower spectrum bass e.g. electronica like some of chemical brothers songs, hip hop or some modern movie sound tracks or male vocal (e.g. Seal) really do sound terrific. However one realizes that a very strong bass drowns a bit the rest of the frequency spectrum. So I would advise to reduce lower frequency a bit with the tuning the pot to fit the genre.
Mids
Mid range frequencies sound a bit neutral but acceptable and particularly get along well when bass is reduced a bit. I advise again to repeat audition of the same song with different tuning settings.
Highs
I perceive the high to be a bit recessed, for example upper spectrum vocals. This is a bit emphasised when the bass is fully turned on. An example are cymbals or high pitched electric guitars can sound thin and harsh. Its not overly annoying, but noticable when you pay attention.
As a comparison to the A1d, I owned the Shure 215 and I do own currently a Hifiman Re-300h. The A1d sound is, in my opinion, clearly superior to both. Potentially its not a fair comparison given that these are differently built IEMs but they are all single dynamic drivers. Another unfair comparison: when I use my UM3x right after the A1d I perceive I get a more balanced whole audible frequency spectrum. Personally, I tend to like the UM3x more than the A1d in terms of sound signature. Others may love the A1d for its massive bass.
So my audition verdict is that the A1d nothing fundamentally wrong with the A1d. Mid /high can appear out of balance depending on pot settings. THe A1D may fit certain musical genres better than others. When you are a person overanalysing each song then the A1d is not for you. Its for fun and modern music ("Boom boom, yeah").
Objective measurements:
I wanted to complement my subjective listening experience with some experimental data. I thought this could be done generating and interpreting a couple of frequency response graphs, particularly with different pot settings.
I use the Vibro labs Veritas coupler device, the FiiO X5ii as DAC for output of frequencies and FuzzMeasure to establish a couple of frequency responses. Yes, you are right, the Veritas is not a standardized coupler, but for the purpose of establishing a relative differences in frequency response with different potentiometer settings I think its use is just fine.
I generated three three frequency response graphs (average of 10 measurements) of the left driver with three different potentiometer settings (fully counter-clockwise or 0 oclock with no bass enhancement, middle setting, fully clockwise setting or 9 oclock). There are no other changes of the setup except for the pot setting. (I would have loved to provide overlays but the full Fuzzmeasure license for 99 USD was a bit too high investment for this review.)
0 oclock:
middle setting:
9 oclock:
You will notice that the pot has a significant effect (increase of up to 10 dB) on the entire region below ca 1500 Hz with a broad peak at about 60 Hz, which is in the lower bass region. Please note that the horizontal frequency axis is, as usual, logarithmic, so in linear terms the affected part is in fact rather a small (maybe a 10th) of the overall “audible” spectrum.
Its also evident from the data that everything above 1500 Hz up until 20 kHz remains virtually independent (which is also a good confirmation that my measurements were resonably accurate) from the pot settings.
The region above 5 kHz is also -10 to -30 dB less intense relative to the below 1kHz region, depending on pot setting. This may explain the audible difference in the mid / high range. Its also evident that there are couple of “sharp” peaks between 10 – 20 kHz, with considerable peak to trough intensity differences of up to 10 dB. This may account for the harshness of the upper frequency spectrum.
A frequency response does not need to be totally flat (because the architecture of the ear will also amplify certain parts of the frequency spectrum) but significant amplitude differences could account for imbalances and the peaks in the upper spectrum for harshness.
A short side-note on impedance:
The A1d seem a bit on the upper end of IEMs. LEARs webpage its 30 Ohms at 1kHz. But in real settings, it needs quite some power to drive the A1d than compared to the UM3x (which was rated around 50 ohms if I remember correctly). Pot settings increases / decreases impedance by perhaps 20% less power required. With DC resistance measurement, I got ca 130 Ohms at 0 clock setting and 30 Ohms at 9 oclock (max bass setting), so its likely 100 Ohms SMD pot.
In practical terms: I need to crank up the volume on my iphone 5s almost to 75% to get to average sound pressure from the A1d whereas this setting would be too loud to listen to on my UM3x. So the overall impedance of the A1d may be more than indicated.
I would definitely recommend an amp or DAC/amp to drive the A1d.
Oh yes: there is no hiss with the sources I used. The A1d is not sensitive.
Summing up, my final verdict is as follows:
The LCM-A1d, is a comfortable and fun, entry-priced CIEM with good clarity and spatial resolution. Not only bass-heads will love its deep, thundering bass which creates a great athmosphere. It fits great to genres that feature sound in the <500Hz spectrum. Its lower bass frequency range can be accurately tuned with the pot and wont change any of the mid / high range. I can heartily recommend the semi-hard shell material.
In total as custom IEM , the LCM-A1d provides great overall performance for its price, starting at 260 USD / 240 EUR (not taking impressions into account) which is below other entry market CIEMs (see for example http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/breaking-mold-survey-entry-level-custom-ear-monitors).
