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nspindel said:

Hmmmm....  $1500.....  That's $600 more than I paid for the LCD-2's.  Let me qualify what I'm looking for.  These would be a secondary pair of cans that I'd use only when the LCD-2's would be annoying to others.  If I'm all by myself, I'd be using the LCD-2's.  I'm sure the ED8's are great, but for secondary pair of headphones, it doesn't make sense to pay more than what I paid for my primary headphones.  Ideally I'd like to find something that costs substantially less than the LCD-2's.  Just doesn't make sense to budget that much for headphones that I'm only looking to use as a secondary pair.  Thanks for the suggestion, though.
 
 

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You might want to take a look at the Kenwood KH K1000. Best described as "closed HD650".
 
 

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bbophead said:

I was surprised that I heard very little difference between all the amps I tried which for me begged the question, what's all this talk about needing more power for the LCD-2?
 
My journey (I've also tried the HE-5LE) has led me to believe that I'm not a planar headphone fan.  I guess I'm stuck loving the pushed up highs and colored sound of most dynamics.  I sure did love that low bass of the LCD-2, tho'.  I'd love that in a dynamic.  Anything that comes close?  I'm thinking D7000.  
 
Thanks for your reply.

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I never understood this "LCD2 is hard to amp" business myself. These drive fine out of an S9 for crying out loud. These are one of the easiest top-tier cans to drive by far. 
 

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codeninja said:

I'm certain that M50 sounds a lot better than LCD-2 from a Zune. 

 


 

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You'd be surprised. The LCD2 sounds better than an m50 out of an S9. And yes, I've tried it.
 
 

mochan said:

I never understood this "LCD2 is hard to amp" business myself. These drive fine out of an S9 for crying out loud. These are one of the easiest top-tier cans to drive by far. 
 

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I love HeadFi because I see almost any arguments making full circle. Anything is possible here.:rolleyes:

Variety is the spice of life.

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mochan said:

I never understood this "LCD2 is hard to amp" business myself. These drive fine out of an S9 for crying out loud. These are one of the easiest top-tier cans to drive by far. 
 

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Driving and doing them justice are two different things. They are easy to drive but difficult to attain their maximum potential. They scale incredibly well with better equipment.
 

Ok, thanks for all the advice. Several pairs to check out now. Fortunately I don't need them yet. I'm still trying to get to know the LCD-2's really well, in the quiet confines of a dedicated room. Unfortunately that luxury will not last forever...

I have a fiio and it drives the lcd-2's just as well as my b22 or m3 did, the e9 can easily put enough voltage and current into the lcd-2's (1w into 16Ω).
I think the problem here is that Alghazanth does not like the lcd-2's and people need to rationalize this by telling themselves it must be his amp, dac, cables, etc.
The lcd-2's are not the best load for an amplifier as they are fairly low sensitivity and low impedance but any half decent amp can easily power them.
 
People need to just start accepting that everyone has very different tastes and that if someone hates a certain pair of headphones an amp is not going to change that.
I personally found the d7000 to be lacking detail and have fairly poor prat, but it was overall a fairly nice headphone.

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brasewel said:

Driving and doing them justice are two different things. They are easy to drive but difficult to attain their maximum potential. They scale incredibly well with better equipment.
 

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Perhaps. But I've never been a believer in uber-expensive amps. Mid-fi amps I find can drive pretty much anything I need them to, and drive them well. Maybe not 100% Potential but 99%, maybe even just 95% is good enough in my book.
 
Attaining the highest potential has little to do with "better" equipment IMO. (and are we defining "better" as "more expensive?")
 
The important thing in my book is matching the sonic characteristics of the gear to get the best synergy. You can do that with a modest mid-fi setup.
 
 

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jackmccabe said:

 
People need to just start accepting that everyone has very different tastes and that if someone hates a certain pair of headphones an amp is not going to change that.
 

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Ditto that. Amps and DACs don't really "fix" things and the effect they have on headphones is woefully exaggerated in most cases. There are some amps that have a really distinct sound quality that can balance out the sound of a certain piece of gear and "fix" it but for the most part the sonic changes are not that great. I still cannot appreciate the statements of some people who initially hated a headphone and after plugging it into a different amp said it was a "night and day" difference and that all of a sudden they love the sound.
 
It's placebo IMO but then a lot of things factor in here and as long as it works for someone, more power for them.

It seems to be fashion lately that everybody with tin ears suddenly becomes a placebo expert.....

I think the same principal for speaker systems applies for headphones? My bright sounding detail retrieving speaker matched with warm amp sounds well balanced. D7000 is warm sounding and a good bright sounding amp should balance it out, IMO. I've been eyeing on Burson, but it seems also a warm type...

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kees said:

It seems to be fashion lately that everybody with tin ears suddenly becomes a placebo expert.....

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Great assumption, did you ever think that maybe it is just the truth.
I have done multiple comparisons with a large range of amps and generally found they make little difference. (I have perfect hearing)

 
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kees said:

It seems to be fashion lately that everybody with tin ears suddenly becomes a placebo expert.....

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jackmccabe said:

Great assumption, did you ever think that maybe it is just the truth.
I have done multiple comparisons with a large range of amps and generally found they make little difference. (I have perfect hearing)

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How much a little difference make to your perception is subjective. I do enjoy the LCD-2 very much straight out of my Ipod. Maybe I would use that combo over any dedicated dac/amplifier/other headphone then LCD-2 I have heard actually. But it´s nowhere showing all the LCD-2 can do even though the synergy is there. Which is the most crucial thing to me anyway.
 
As for the ED 8 mentioned earlier for me it need different amps then the LCD-2. LCD-2 is solid state for me as neutral as possible. The ED 8 needs the softening from my tube and more bottom and a bit more warmth. Still they are totally different headphones quite a bit of yin or yang. ED 8 is downright horrible out of my Ipod touch.  DX 1000 go along with the same systems as the LCD-2 for me though they do have different signatures as well.
 
KH-K1000 I haven´t heard. The description like a closed HD 650 make it sound like the worst headphone in the world though
 

I completely agree that different headphones need different amps, the hd800 for example sounds much better with tubes.
Although with the lcd-2's I found any half decent moderately powerful amp could easily drive them to their full potential.
 
I also generally try to listen objectively so I very often perform blind tests to reduce placebo/bias.