New Audeze LCD3 - Page 447

 

Just don't go on extended vacation. 

 

 

Great work. It is quite amazing how much they seem to vary, particularly one of the LCD-3s looking totally different at the high end (but looks like a different smoothing is applied)! If I was going for one of those LCD-3s I would go for 2613590 out of the three. One of the other pairs rolls off lower down the mid, and the other has a hump in the same area. As 2613590 sits between the other two, statistically it is more likely to be the more accurate although a sample size of 3 is a little prone to error :) However I have an LCD-3 pair already that looks extremely like this graph.

I was talking about this on another thread about RSA, so I thought it worthwhile to repeat here that I feel

Ray Samuels' B52 amp it a match made in heaven for the LCD3 (and LCD2s), giving them glorious bass with lots of wonderful bass

texture, bass details (hard to do), and power without boom, along with a sense of life and texture in the mids,

where vocals stand out as organic and liquid but not syrupy at all.

I feel the B52 is THE amp to get for Audezes. I own this combo.

I noticed something curious on the LCD-3s that I never noticed with the LCD-2s. If you are listening to a piece of music that has fairly obvious bass, and lift the cups slightly away from your ears the bass actually gets stronger and deeper than when the pads make a seal around your ears. This seems like the opposite of what I would have expected. Unless it is because there is a seal, that effectively the drivers are having to cope with a greater air pressure against your ear.

 

The easiest way to hear this is to play something with a fairly deep and prominent bass, and to use the cable connecters on the headphones to pull the cups slightly away from your ear. It is a fairly obvious difference.

 

This phenomenon is true with all planar magnetic cans (both Hifiman and Audeze), the reason being that by design, the planar bass, like all other frequencies, is being produced evenly across the entire surface rather than unevenly around the outer rings of dynamic diaphragms, you get a very directed bass response with lots of air volume being moved.

 

Guess that's not the reason, see the proceeding post.

Edited by jerg - 11/10/12 at 7:11am

 

Yes, and I would add you're talking out of your behind here, please send me the references when you find them.

 

jonstatt, what you're hearing is the free air resonance of the driver, which is typically in the 80-120Hz range for Audeze and other Staxes. There is a large difference when the seal is off because the diaphragm couples strongly to the sealed earcup in front of it (e.g. volume made up from the earpad, baffle plate surrounding the diaphragm, and diaphragm itself is sealed). Essentially, you should hear a strong upper bass / mid-bass hump and no low frequencies. 

 

Once you get into porous (e.g. non-leather) pads and perforated baffle plate (most dynamics) or even perforated diaphragm (HD800 ring driver), the effect should be much less pronounced, which is fairly intuitive (you're not breaking a seal).

 

You can see some illustration on the numerical side of things in my sig.

I find that effect more pronounced on the HE500 with velour than my Audezes with leather, so I think it can't be so much about breaking the seal.
Edited by ardilla - 11/8/12 at 3:21pm

Yes, there's no perfect seal ever, but the effect should be the most drastic for a sealed design (see differences between the ported 007A and sealed 009 design and the respective free air responses at the same mic position: http://www.head-fi.org/t/498292/my-diy-electrostatic-headphones/435#post_8607847.

The earpad stiffness also plays a role (see simulation results) but basically, it does not change the fact that this increase in midbass when shifting the headphone away is an observation if the driver free air resonance. Planar / large diaphragm explenation is meaningless (and I know Audeze made such meaningless comment when we discussed inconsistencies in the measurements, e.g. they claimed the large diaphragm size made measurements repeatability all the more difficult, which makes no sense whatsoever).

Tried a Moon Silver Dragon on my LCD3s (formerly using Black Dragons, which I liked a lot also).

Findings:

1. Major improvement in the bass, which is clearer with more detail and more transparent and well integrated with rest of the spectrum.

2. More detail in the mids without any harshness or abrasion.

3. Highs nice and extended but not piercing; also fuller highs.

A superb cable for the LCD3s, now making them a top phone for me.

Hi,

 

I just got my LCD-3's, and I like them. They don't seem as great as I thought they were last time though...is that because I'm currently driving them:

 

Crappy CD Player>Mjolnir>LCD-3

 

whereas before I was using:

 

Audirvana+>Gungnir>Mjolnir>LCD3?

 

They seem too sparkly and bright.....I'll have my Gungnir back soon soI'll be able to tell...also do they need break in?

I'd say perhaps. The Gungnir adds a ton of detail that is missing.

 

Personally, I almost returned my LCD-3's within the first week. I was at first "underwhelmed" compared to the LCD-2's.

After well over a month I truly began to appreciate the LCD-3's. Brain/ear burn-in, expectation bias, etc. 

I now find the LCD-3's an improvement in all areas over the LCD-2's.

 

Keep us updated on your feelings on the LCD-3's once you get Gungnir back in the mix.

Tubes are better for LCD3s in my playing around with them. (So what is happy kittenland if you don't mind me asking?)

San Diego, but I can't buy a single other thing! :D:D:D

Finally got a pair as well and they are absolutely fantastic. I've certainly heard them before and loved them but now I have a set and think they're terrific. IMO they are significantly better than the LCD2 and have beautiful highs. While the LCD2 are nice they are a bit lacking in treble energy for my taste, and the soundstage on the LCD3 is definitely more expansive. Not to mention, they are gorgeous headphones with fantastic woodwork.

Just as good as the HD800 but in different ways. Both have specific traits they excel in. The LCD3 is definitely the more relaxing phone to listen to and has excellent bass response, while the HD800 is more analytical with a wider soundstage. I love both and wouldn't give up either.