♦ LCD-2 ♦ VS ♦ HD 700 ♦

The HD700's seem to be getting a lot of mixed reviews at the moment with many of them not very positive. I strongly recommend you try to listen to a pair first.

The LCD's don't have the widest soundstage but unlike the HD800's they are not artificially wide either. I feel that mine do have good depth though. I find the LCD's do have excellent detail retrieval and a very clean sound (if thats what the recording is supposed to sound like) but does it in a powerful full bodied way rather than a stripped down lean presentation where it would be more obvious.

I'd take the LCD-2s personally, as they work with a large variety of music. The HD700s I had for a few weeks were good with classical and jazz but didn't have enough punch in the bass for everything else. Not to mention the hot treble which was unpleasant with modern music.

Paired with a good tube amp I think the treble issue would be fixed (same deal with the HD800), but I have to disagree with the punch. 

I felt the HD700 had more kick than the HD800 and LCD 2.2. That's one of the things I really liked about them. Everything else was pretty meh.

I'd pick the LCD 2 over them as well, but not for that particular reason.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong 

I'd take the LCD-2s personally, as they work with a large variety of music. The HD700s I had for a few weeks were good with classical and jazz but didn't have enough punch in the bass for everything else. Not to mention the hot treble which was unpleasant with modern music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorbidToaster 

Paired with a good tube amp I think the treble issue would be fixed (same deal with the HD800), but I have to disagree with the punch. 

 

I felt the HD700 had more kick than the HD800 and LCD 2.2. That's one of the things I really liked about them. Everything else was pretty meh.

 

I'd pick the LCD 2 over them as well, but not for that particular reason.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong 

I'd take the LCD-2s personally, as they work with a large variety of music. The HD700s I had for a few weeks were good with classical and jazz but didn't have enough punch in the bass for everything else. Not to mention the hot treble which was unpleasant with modern music.

Maybe they've fixed the FR to give more bass. I did use them with the Stacker II and slightly warm-of-neutral tubes. I'll have to try and get a listen to a production pair then.

The "kick" of the HD700 bass is at least partially attributed to how its bass frequency range is tuned; any FR graph would show that it has a gentle but significant and extremely broad hump stretching all the way from 10Hz to 1kHz, with the highest point at 80~250 Hz, where the visceral part of the bass is. It's not nearly as dramatic a hump as certain other dynamic cans though (cue Grados) so the effect from this tuning should at most be subtle compared to phones tuned with extremely flat/neutral bass.

I am interested in the debate between these 2 cans as well.

I love the look of the HD700, but I got a feeling that I will like the sound of the LCD 2 better.

If you have the proper amp the LCD 2 is flat out better, IMO. HD700 pulls away in a few places, but the LCD 2s are fantastic cans.

Quote:

Originally Posted by haquocdung 

I am interested in the debate between these 2 cans as well.

I love the look of the HD700, but I got a feeling that I will like the sound of the LCD 2 better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorbidToaster 

If you have the proper amp the LCD 2 is flat out better, IMO. HD700 pulls away in a few places, but the LCD 2s are fantastic cans.

 

What is a good one that not going to burn my pocket?

Many have reported great sound from the O2, but all the amps I've tried with the LCD 2s were no doubt 'burn your pocket' amps. 

I'd look more into the O2, but I can't recommend it because I haven't heard the pairing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by haquocdung 

What is a good one that not going to burn my pocket?