The Audeze LCD-2 Ortho thread (New) - Page 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by SP Wild 

Just a followup on my LCD2 REV1 and movies.  I watched a few more movies and I am back to square one.  Neutrality depends on the material at hand.  On one CGI animated movie (studio voices) I had to take down treble by 5 DB at 8-12 KHZ because the details were too strong for the scene at hand.  On one movie the LCD2s were severely starved of top end and the whole presentation was muffled and bloated, this was a lower budget movie with real time speech.

 

I felt that on average the LCD2s R1s were quite good with CD music material, I will sample with more movies until to get a better understanding.  Seemed so silly to make such quick conclusions and post about it with a sample size of 1.

That's pretty bad when you have to turn down the treble of the R1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarriorAnt 

You are going to find neutrality in movies old or new is going to vary greatly from movie to movie. The same will be true with TV shows.  

Movies, TV shows, music. There should be a standard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grokit 

 

Movies, TV shows, music. There should be a standard.

Its like anything else. Depends on the mixer, the mixing house, equipment at hand...

I asked about having the L3 drivers put in my 2 since it's back at the factory for replacement driver (left died).  Anyone counting now: one week shipment, 8 days at their factory, 0 response from them about the unit.  They did reply about the L3 driver stating that it would be "impossible" to perform.  So anyone entertaining upgrade can dismiss that idea.

I know being without them is no fun, but I'm sure RMAF had them slowed down pretty bad. After all, they are only a 3 man operation.

Probably

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMF2010 

I know being without them is no fun, but I'm sure RMAF had them slowed down pretty bad. After all, they are only a 3 man operation.

I am pretty certain manufacturing (and service?) is outsourced to a contract manufacturer so that should have made no difference. But another change might be in the offing for the LCD-2 , so the delay to fix your HP as they might not  have any (old) transducers. Just doesn't make any sense to be out of stock of a current product for 3-4 weeks if they were not employing a new manufacturing process/ implementing changes.

I have the rev2's.  They were only 6 weeks old when it happened.  My issue is they don't even confirm that they don't do a simple confirmation that they received them and they are expecting to be completed on whatever date.  I would think they are just popping in a new driver.  It's not like these have to be rebuilt.  Unless of course there's been a change to drivers again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarriorAnt 

Until the LCD-3 came out I never considered replacing the LCD-2 r.2.   But now there is a contrast for me to scrutinize the LCD-2 in a way I hadn't had before.  So I spent this evening again listening to them.  I'm trying to find some reason, any reason to not like them but I cannot.  I love them.  If anything I listen too much to them and I can't get anything done. Every time one track ends I want to hear just one more track. Maybe now I can stop thinking about the LCD3 and instead spend the extra $1K on HD tracks...

Ha! I can identify with "Every time one track ends I want to hear just one more track". This is why I'm staying up later than I should and find myself yawning at work the next day.

A couple months back I bought my LCD-2 r.2 in mint/babied condition from Tink97, as he has a preference for the r.1 which he went back to. I have the travel case, and bought a used/mint leather headband mainly as an aesthetic upgrade. The contoured foam headband just seems so out of place on headphones of this caliber. 

The LCD-2 r.2s have kept me busy rediscovering my music collection for some time now. The audio chain here is: FLAC via Foobar2000 w/ATSurround plugin > M2Tech HiFace converter in KS mode > AUNE DAC modded > Schiit Lyr amp running Amperex E88CC A-frame orange globe logo 6DJ8s > LCD-2 r.2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4nradio 

 

Ha! I can identify with "Every time one track ends I want to hear just one more track". This is why I'm staying up later than I should and find myself yawning at work the next day.

 

A couple months back I bought my LCD-2 r.2 in mint/babied condition from Tink97, as he has a preference for the r.1 which he went back to. I have the travel case, and bought a used/mint leather headband mainly as an aesthetic upgrade. The contoured foam headband just seems so out of place on headphones of this caliber. 

 

The LCD-2 r.2s have kept me busy rediscovering my music collection for some time now. The audio chain here is: FLAC via Foobar2000 w/ATSurround plugin > M2Tech HiFace converter in KS mode > AUNE DAC modded > Schiit Lyr amp running Amperex E88CC A-frame orange globe logo 6DJ8s > LCD-2 r.2.

 

I made a few tweaks to my rig that really improved the signal out to the R.2 and the width of the soundstage widened more than I thought possible with the LCD-2 R.2.   

I'd be interested in hearing about your tweaks, software or hardware. I wasn't happy with the Dolby Headphones plugins and various combinations of others, but then I found ATSurround and I'm very much enjoying it. It solves the blurring of instrument / vocals positioning I was noticing and IMHO is well worth the ~$10 USD price.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarriorAnt 

I made a few tweaks to my rig that really improved the signal out to the R.2 and the width of the soundstage widened more than I thought possible with the LCD-2 R.2.   

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4nradio 

I'd be interested in hearing about your tweaks, software or hardware. I wasn't happy with the Dolby Headphones plugins and various combinations of others, but then I found ATSurround and I'm very much enjoying it. It solves the blurring of instrument / vocals positioning I was noticing and IMHO is well worth the ~$10 USD price. 

 

 

Is that ATSurround only available for windows?  Is it a VST?
 

Yes, it looks to be a Windows only plugin, and I see no reference to VST:

http://www.andrewlabs.com/products/atsurround/

It's available for Winamp and Foobar2000. You can also download a trial version before paying for it. The trial adds some random noise at points in the playback of your audio source, but the clear sections are enough to decide if you like it or not though.

I am finding that Head-Fit as recommended by Leeperry to have the best sound quality from an audiophile point of view, it is more transparent than the J river one.  It doesn't expand the stage as big as J River, but it does snap the soundstage in place and proper imaging.

I was using this, and noticed that the soundstage on my LCD2s were below me to the right, I play with positioning to center the stage and find that my earpads are not even and is skewering the stage.  The right pad is shallower than the left, my earlobe just touches the felt on the right but I need to compress the foam a fair bit on the left for it to do the same.  This makes a vast improvement when they are equal - the image and stage is centered.

That's poor QC.  My one definitely suffers from channel imbalance, not from the drivers, from the earpads.  Can't go back, must get new pads.

You have the old style pads I presume? I was obviously quite lucky with mine based on what I seen but also they can and was improved in symmetry with the new versions. I am a bit curious how people feel it affect the sound those who have changed on their Rev1s from old to new style?

Yeah, the original pads, A very early R1.  It explains why sometimes I hear recording dependent resonances, these disappeared always eased with X feed on, but now it still manifests itself on skewed stage.  Correcting the balance even without the X feed, the resonance eases and the sound is more stable.  Its all phasing errors that causes instability in the sound that fatigues with me I believe.

Edit:  Just tried my HD650s with the Xfeed on - same thing, skewed soundstage, to right.  Shift jaws around affects positioning and staging, could my own ears have a channel imbalance balance themselves?  I have always suspected this.  Back to the LCD2 - Shifted placement of headphones towards the front minimises pad depth difference, better.