New Audeze LCD3 - Page 483

Quote:

Originally Posted by MightyChimp 

The OCD in me wants to scream. 

 It's not Audeze's fault you have a lop-sided head!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olias of Sunhillow 

Great comparative discussion over the last two pages with a lot of valuable divergent opinions.

 

I'm currently evaluating three different rigs. Each uses my Grace m903 and Clearaudio Concept table as sources.

 

SRM-727ii > SR009

EC Super 7 > HD800

Bryston BHA-1 > LCD-3

 

There's a lot of similarities here. Each rig pairs a top-level transducer with an excellent-but-not-endgame amplifier. Each has distinct strengths and weaknesses. And most importantly, each is getting about the same amount of head time at the moment. I prefer the LCD-3's visceral bass above the refined Stax and polite Sennheiser bass. I actually prefer the Senns for treble -- the LCD-3 sometimes sounds overly shelved, while the SR009 is often too pointed for my preference. The SR009 is easily preferable for soundstage -- the Audez'e is too limited, while the HD800 sometimes feels exaggerated and unreal.

 

Right now, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the LCD-3. It won last night's Court of the Crimson King remix shootout with just the right combination of detail and aggression. The SR009 is a close 2nd, but I'm not finding enough value in it at the moment. An upgraded source and amp would probably help, though I'm not much in the mood for chasing holy grails at every level of the signal chain right now. And for all their imperfections relative to the Stax, the Sennheisers hit a sweet spot where sound quality and value intersect.

 

This is a fun (if occasionally frustrating) ride. Stay tuned!

Great post, staying tuned! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by okw3188 

I have a LCD3 with an early S/N# 231xxxx, just last week, both side of the metal housing for the mini xlr connector got loosen & literally dropping off from the wooden housing. 

 

I send it to the local agent & they claim that Audeze's advice is to glue it back.

 

My concern is that the wooden slot for the metal housing is already loosen and no matter how they re-glue it back, the damage is already done. So, with frequent change of cable, the metal housing will be loosen again.

 

I would like to check if anyone has this problem before and how Audeze request to this manufacturing defect, thank you. 

I received Sankar's email after 2 days, he offers a full replacement replacement for my set. So, I guess my local dealer is trying to make a fast one on me.

I would like to caution fellow owners of Audeze when dealing with their local dealer with warranty aspects. Perhaps mine is just an exception and I bought it in Singapore. Lesson learnt, is always communicate with Audeze, rather than agent/dealer. 

Before Sankar's reply, I had given up hope on my set. But now, I'm another satisfied owner of Audeze LCD3, thank you Sankar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by okw3188 

But now, I'm another satisfied owner of Audeze LCD3, thank you Sankar.

Sankar's a good guy, no doubt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neo Zuko 

I was talking about the LCD 3 on a PC forum and the guy was like the LCD 3's are bad for Blu-Ray movies and I was like really? That cant be, I never hear them but for what I understand they have great bass for a headphone, have decent ability to play music, some call them the best headphones in the world, if they are not good enough what is? And he said something about a surround sound setup with headphones, and I was like really why would I use some artificial foggy processing vs high end audio? Then he said something that does not weigh a pound, has better soundstage and air.

Well we didn't agree, it's not all about soundstage and air, it's about the total package. And I've been reading here long enough to be like I know, your a HD 800 fan right? In any case it brought a question to my mind, just how good are the LCD 3's at movies?

That guy isn't smart.

I love LCD-2/3 for listening to music with, but that doesn't mean they are great for watching movies with. I definitely prefer using surround speakers, and they don't even need to be high end ones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danz03 

I love LCD-2/3 for listening to music with, but that doesn't mean they are great for watching movies with. I definitely prefer using surround speakers, and they don't even need to be high end ones.

But there not "bad" for movie watching..

Personally, I think all headphones are not great for watching movies with, unless they are surround headphones etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danz03 

Personally, I think all headphones are not great for watching movies with, unless they are surround headphones etc.

Hm, I loved watching Dexter with my DT880's but despised watching it with speakers.. Oh this hobby.

Dolby has a new headphone 7.1 (or was it 11.1) processing coming out that's supposed to be almost as good as the Smyth Realiser, but without the custom room matching and head tracking.  People who heard it at CES said it was truly remarkable and the best they had ever heard, and works with two channel headphones.  The HD800 or LCD3 would be fantastic with this, as they only demoed it with much cheaper phones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ 

Matter of preference.  I prefer the LCD3 to the 009.

 

And I definitely agree with Jude if he said the LCD3 have the best overall combination of any phone, and certainly the best bass.

X2, I also slightly prefer the LCD-3 over the 009.  Never heard the 007 though..

Edit:

Continued here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/649056/two-high-end-bakoon-headphone-amp-japan-version-not-international-version/15#post_9174528

Oh no, not again… (my wallet says)

I listened to Bakoon Products SATRI HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER HPA-21 driving LCD-3 today at the Stockholm HighEnd Show (http://highendmassan.se, I’m in the show team). World premiere! I should probably write this in another thread but I’m so tired now…

The sound was so clean! And none of the attenuated treble that you may feel that the LCDs have. “S”, cymbals etc. are somewhat more noticeable. I could easily take the setup at the show and live happily forever after. Of course I don’t know how much the amp is responsible for that sound. I’m listening to exactly the same songs with my own equipment now and it doesn’t sound as good, more reminiscent of the voltage output of HPA-21.

Show setup:

PC with JRiver MC – Lindemann USB DAC, battery powered – Bakoon HPA-21 – Toxic Silver Widow cable – LCD-3 (serial number 261xxxx)

Home setup:

PC with JRiver MC – Lynx Hilo – Bryston BHA-1 – Red Astrachan cable (from Swedish Audez’e importer) – LCD-3 (RMD’d late August)

I don’t know how the Lindemann USB DAC compares to my Lynx Hilo.

I don’t know how the Toxic cable compares to my cable, maybe it has some more treble (if it’s really trebly).

And the LCDs could sound different too, of course.

The PHA-1 at the show is a pre-production unit. It has the final sound, but the front is secured with double-sided tape. It is battery powered, the battery lasts for up to 7 hours. It’s heavy.

For more information on HPA-1 read Srajan Ebaen's Preview in 6Moons: http://6moons.com/audioreviews/bakoon3/1.html

The HPA-21 has two HP outputs, voltage and current. The sound is very different IMO. You could almost compare to SE (voltage) vs. balanced (current) sound. The current output has a higher volume level, which makes it hard to compare of course.

The voltage output sounds “normal”, more like my BHA-1. The current output opens up the sound, makes everything clearer with more space, details and dynamics. It is almost as if something has been vacuumed away compared to the voltage output. If you believe the manufacturer that would be the distortion...

HPA-21 only has SE outputs, no balanced. If it sounds that good, I don’t care.

It would have been nice to have balanced inputs though, especially since my DAC only has balanced outputs...

The preliminary price is SEK 29,995, which should translate to $ 2,995. Ouch.

Some crappy pictures:

I will continue to listen to HPA-21 tomorrow, I’ll see if my initial impressions last. Sorry if I got something wrong, I’m very tired now…

Good night.