Some OVERRATED High End Gear. - Page 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrln 

The LCD-2 is my biggest disappointment probably. Muddy, congested and poor soundstaging. Not to mention they weigh a ton (but that´s to be expected).

 

edit: and easily the most overrated thing is all balanced headphones and headphone amps in general. Sure, they might be a small difference, but it´s nowhere near the trouble and the added cost. 

I don't know what source you used, but when I was at a meet I heard the LCD 2 out of a Imod and a amp that I don't remember and it sounded like your description. But when I played it out of my rig (the one in my signature) they sounded spectacular.

Also balanced is a pretty big difference IMHO.

The rig was an Audio-gd REF7 + Phoenix combo, and the LCD-2 was balanced. The same rig sounded glorious with the Senn HD 650 and the HD 800. The LCD-2 just wasn´t my cup of tea I guess. 

The LCD-2 is indeed a reference quality headphone, and sounds even better balanced to me but I recognize that it could have something to do with the quality of the cable.

I find its soundstage to portray what is on the recording pretty accurately, without any limitation or exaggeration.

For gear, it's all a matter of taste.

For me, Grados, Ultrasone, Singlepower amps are weak when it comes to high dollar performance. However, I love AKG and some people feel that AKG is terrible.

Let's say this:

I happen to love lobster but some people think that it is nasty. There are people out there who are die hard sushi lovers and will pay top dollar for it. Others will think that breaded fried chicken is much better.

^^^

Yes until I got my Woo WA5LE I don't like the AKG K701, until I tried them on my WA5LE and even better still is my Liquid Fire with the K701's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs 

For gear, it's all a matter of taste.

 

For me, Grados, Ultrasone, Singlepower amps are weak when it comes to high dollar performance. However, I love AKG and some people feel that AKG is terrible.

 

Let's say this:

 

I happen to love lobster but some people think that it is nasty. There are people out there who are die hard sushi lovers and will pay top dollar for it. Others will think that breaded fried chicken is much better.

i wonder sometimes, is it a matter of taste or is it, different expectation and/or different standard? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by fhuang 

i wonder sometimes, is it a matter of taste or is it, different expectation and/or different standard? 

 

Combination of all three .

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrin 

Especially if the research behind the article involved the harm of cute little froggies by too curious researchers!

It doesn't seem to make sense though since live music would easily trigger this reflex. Maybe it only triggers in the presence of high-end speakers.

No doubt you could plot a cost to reflex ratio.  At > $10k+ perceived detail and SQ is surely beyond comparison even when switched off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baird GoW 

I don't know what source you used, but when I was at a meet I heard the LCD 2 out of a Imod and a amp that I don't remember and it sounded like your description. But when I played it out of my rig (the one in my signature) they sounded spectacular.

Also balanced is a pretty big difference IMHO.

I run the LCD 2 out of an iPod and a portable amp and I'm very happy with it how it sounds.  I don't describe it as muddy or congested. I also use it on a full rig and yes it is a bit better, but I have always found the R1 to be easy to drive out of portable sources, and although I had a rough patch with the R2 at first, nowadays the R2 is grooving just fine on the same portable setup. 

I think some people just don't like the sound of the LCD2. Nothing bad about that, it happens.

IMO, the original LCD 2s had terrible soundstage as I felt that it was seperated to very distinct, left, centre and right channels of sound. However, I find the rev2s to have great soundstage, very coherent with smooth transition on demanding pieces of music. Still not the widest though

Expensive sources are really overrated. Most modern digital sources are, for practical purposes, perfect. So expensive sources have to distinguish themselves through coloration

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antony6555 

Expensive sources are really overrated. Most modern digital sources are, for practical purposes, perfect. So expensive sources have to distinguish themselves through coloration

Which expensive source have you tested in your regular setup with your regular source? Please describe your impressions. What are the prices of those tested?

If you can't answer, you have no business making the above statement.

I've never been motivated to. So let me rephrase that: most modern sources measure effectively perfect.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert 

 

Which expensive source have you tested in your regular setup with your regular source? Please describe your impressions. What are the prices of those tested?

 

If you can't answer, you have no business making the above statement.