About me: I am no audio professional, nor do I have/had a super-extensive collection/experience with sound gear. However, I am a long-time musician, having played in church, school bands, and a lifetime student of the piano. So my perspective is one of a pianist, and also of someone who just loves music (I listen to all genres with preferences changing with mood). I am slightly treble sensitive, and generally prefer a neutral sound with a slightly dark tilt. I value natural timbre and precision of attacks/decays, and is the first thing I listen for in headphones.

Packaging

The case is very nice and seems like you can throw it off a multi-story building with no damage to the contents (I didn't test that). Opening the case reveals the headphones. Underneath the headphone tray is a space for accessories. My particular LCD-3, as mentioned in the title, were manufactured in 2016, so they came with the flat cables and old headband (also, it has the brown pads/band).

Construction and Comfort*

The headphones themselves appear to be very well made and give off a vibe of being high-quality; the construction being mostly of wood, metal, and leather. They are very heavy (haven't weighed them myself), which might contribute to the quality feel.

However, the weight does make them somewhat difficult to wear for long periods of time with the old band. The top of my head where the band touches gets fatigued and I have to adjust. The leather pads are slightly warm (because they're leather), but otherwise are very comfortable. I have not personally experienced any neck pain, but I do think that this can be a problem for those of slender necks.


However, if you have the new suspension band, comfort is vastly improved and the only real factor for comfort will be the physical weight of the headphones themselves. The suspension headband does an excellent job in distributing the weight evenly across your head and I personally have had no issues with wearing the headphones for hours on end.

The adjustment mechanism for the headband is a little bit fussy but once adjusted you never have to worry about them moving on you.



Sound

The words that come to mind when describing the sound of the LCD-3 is powerful, dynamic, and liquid. It has fast, accurate attacks and great dynamism, but retains a liquid quality throughout its range that makes it smooth, addicting, and easy to listen to. This headphone matches my preferences nearly perfectly, and are versatile enough to play every genre well.

• Bass: Bass extension is excellent, and its quality is fantastic. There may be slight bloom in the bass, but this might just be a product of its smooth sound combined with its dynamism. At any rate, bass drum hits have good definition and resolution, while bass instruments like the tuba are reproduced with faithful timbre.
• Mids: Liquid. This is where the LCD-3 really shines; the tones just flow together in a beautiful symphony. Cello reproduction in particular really impressed me; the LCD-3 was able to reproduce that slightly airy, wood quality of sound that good cellists make. Vocals are slightly recessed (in comparison to the Sennheiser HD 650), but are even with the instruments and the vocal quality was able to give me chills whether it was Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Thirty Seconds to Mars, or Aerosmith.
• Treble: Although it is dipped slightly from the very upper mids/low treble, the LCD-3 mostly neutral here as well. There's a slight peak at 8k, but the peak is inline with the bass and mids and thus doesn't really stick out to my ears. The treble then rises and is elevated in the 10k+ area, which makes it have some sparkle and air. As odd as this is to say, the LCD-3 is actually the most neutral stock Audeze that I've heard.

Soundstage* is moderate in size, maintaining naturalness. I never felt that it was overtly intimate or large. Imaging is reasonably precise, with clearly identifiable placement of instruments. On initial listen it will suffer from having a stage that appears to be split between left/right on the ears (not uncommon among planars in my experience), but after brain burn-in this trait disappears.

Conclusion

The 2016 LCD-3 is a tremendous performer in the world of headphones, and seems overlooked in favor of the LCD-4 and LCD-2. After trying it out, I think it deserves a second look from serious audio enthusiasts who like dynamic, slamming cans. These have plenty of both and retain good detail retrieval and liquidity in its sound that makes it very nice to listen to.

With its slam and dynamics, I can't help but think that these are somewhat muscle car-like; large, heavy, and powerful. Definitely worth a shot if you can find a pair to audition!

That being said, I have to knock off half a star due to the potential annoyances in its comfort. Those with the new headband may find them more comfortable, but the weight will definitely remain an issue for some.



Edit 11/31/2018: Added another picture
Edit 12/3/2018: Added soundstage and imaging notes.
Edit 12/6/2018: Updated comfort notes.
Edit 5/9/2019: After gaining more experience, I modified the sound section. It's clear to me now that these are overall still slightly tilted warm a la Audeze house sound, but these are the most neutral headphones I have. I still think they're superbly liquid and dynamic; just don't expect a dark sound at all.