New Audeze LCD3 - Page 223

MH, in regards to the article: I am no expert in ortho designs but there's no audio signal passing in the magnets, or is there?

 

For an article trying to provide some physical explenation on the design, it's too bad if it's divulging erroneous information...

 

I don't think it does either, unless you count the magnetic field moving the driver as the "audio signal" but seems like a stretch? The differences in thinner thickness of the driver and magnet quantity was interesting though.

 

Edited by MacedonianHero - 1/27/12 at 9:03pm

That is an interesting article.

I would agree that the hd800 are finiky. Good article. Its nice to know what the actual differences are between the 2 and 3. Has anybody had a chance to tell if the lcd3 scale better with better equipment than the lcd2 did? Where is that k-01 when you need it?

Absolutely 100%, the LCD-3 scale up up and up. I just managed to recently try them on my main rig's source, a Moon 750D dac and transport combo, going balanced to my littledot mk6+ and single ended to a woo wa5. The difference between that and say a Schiit Bifrost, Zodiac or Benchmark is amazing. The soundstage is phenomenal, almost speaker like holography and imaging. Furthermore, the detail easily surprasses my 802Ds.

 

 

Passing an audio signal through the magnets makes no sense so as usual, SG hasn't got a clue what he's going on about. 

 

He says the diaphragm is circular? I thought audeze's orthos were rectangular. 
 

 

 

Edited by mwilson - 1/29/12 at 6:44am

just reporting back here. lcd-3s have been running virtually nonstop 4 days now. mids have definitely opened up. still has room for improvement though. feels like volume is slightly unstable.

Will love to try the LCD-3 on the little dot mk6+. Sounds like good synergy going on there.

That article is a bit weird.  The drivers are clearly rectangular, they use bar magnets.  Unless there's a circular diaphragm inside the rectangular driver which seems doubtful since there'd be extra magnets on the corners not being used.  There's even a rectangular opening in the earpads.  And I thought I remembered Audeze saying it was just the diaphragm that was improved?  They said over and over again "all new diaphragm".  If it was a new magnet structure I'd think they would have advertised that.  And if they added 33% more magnets wouldn't that add a lot of weight to the headphone?  Unless they redesigned the frame, which it doesn't seem like they did.  Weird... 

Edited by rhythmdevils - 1/29/12 at 9:23am

Does anyone know if the LCD-3s are on display at any store in the NYC area?  I regret "upgrading" from a late model rev. 1 to an early model rev. 2 LCD-2, and now am debating whether to double-down on the LCD-3s (or revert back to the rev. 1s).  Once they've fixed the channel imbalance/driver issues, that is.  Thanks in advance.  

 

@ mwilson + rhythmdevils

A few pics to help you guys out:

Shot of the HE-6 driver assembly:



Diagram of how a round diaphragm Yamaha ortho works, note the similarity in exterior appearance:



From headphones.com's LCD2 page:



For Comparison the square Fostex TR50 naked driver and assembly:

All of this technical talk about the design of the LCD-3 is interesting, but way above my head.  I'll just offer some layman's thoughts.

 

I've now owned my LCD-3 for over 2 months--I ordered on the first day of the pre-order.  The reports of production variations and veiled/recessed midranges are definitely alarming, but I can't say whether my unit suffers from these problems.  I brought my unit to a meet in Virginia yesterday, and if anything, people seemed to think the midrange was one of its strengths (though we didn't have any other 3s to compare with).

 

I've definitely grown to enjoy my 3s more with time.  This is partly because, after a few weeks of bending the headband and stretching it over the arm of my couch, the clamping force is tolerable for at least 1-2 hours at a time.  It's still far from what I would call comfortable, and trying out the SR-007s yesterday reminded me just how lightweight headphones can be (and still sound amazing).

 

For whatever reason, I'm appreciating the LCD-3's sound more too.  There are some times when I'm not very impressed by or immersed in my listening session, but there are lots of variables--my mood, the quality of the recording, ambient noise, etc.  Overall though, the sound I'm getting feels very honest, realistic, and detailed enough that I don't see any immediate need to upgrade my source or amp.

 

Now I'm on an obsessive quest to find the best-recorded music I can.  My recent favorites:  the Living Stereo box set sounds consistently amazing, and the K2HD re-master of the Getz/Gilberto album is just stunning.  I had probably heard that album hundreds of times before, but hearing that re-master on the LCD-3s is like hearing it for the first time.  Getz's sax has never sounded so pure, immediate and real.

Can you compare the sound of your LCD3 and UERM?

 

I've seen all those before, and took a similar picture of the HE6 when it was in prototype stage.    What are you referring to specifically?  None of those pictures are of the LCD-3 driver and it doesn't make the article make any more sense to me...

 

The original T50 uses similar bar magnets and a circular diaphgram, but they taper the magnet length at the sides of the driver to make it "round".  If Audeze used a round diaphragm they would probably have done this, and the whole headphone would be a more normal size and the earpads wouldn't be face huggers.