Quote:
Originally Posted by
KevinR70 
Here's an update on my Leben/LCD-2 issue. Apparently, Leben has made some changes on the headphone out. Here is an email I received from my dealer.
"Leben mentioned to me that the latest production runs of the Leben, they have dropped the voltage from 1v to .08 v on the headphone output. This was to reduce any noise levels with very sensitive headphones. If the sensitivity of the headphones is below 80db it may be difficult to obtain proper results, they say."
Not really sure what that means from a current standpoint, but the headphone out on my Leben does not have enough current to drive the LCD-2's effectively.
I've got an email into Matt to see if I can ship my unit back to Leben to maximize the headphone out for the LCD-2.
Another update. To start, I can't say enough about the excellent customer service that Matt Rotunda, owner of Pitch Perfect Audio, provides. He actually ended up sending me his own personal 120v 300X (with stock mullards) to try with my LCD-2. It turns out the 300X is incredible with the LCD-2 (and my other hp's), none of the issues I was having with the XS and the LCD-2. The X is also dead silent with all my headphones, no buzz/hum like I was having with volume turned all the way down with the XS. Matt thinks there may be something wrong with the headphone out of my XS since there was such a dramatic change with the LCD-2 going from the XS to the X, with what in his opinion was a minor design change on the headphone out of the XS. I ended up returning the XS (I assume it will be sent back to Leben to see if there is an issue with the headphone out) and buying the X from him. I couldn't be happier. Icing on the cake is cosmetically I prefer the X more than my replaced XS. The gold, green and wood are all darker on the X. The gold and green don't contrast as much and look great with my gold marantz sacd player. I haven't had time to take the cover off the X, but I assume it has GE 5751driver tubes. I am planning on doing some tube comparisons later on today between the stock mullards and GE 5751's vs amperex bugle boys and sylvania triple mica gold 5751's, but it sounds awesome right now stock.
