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girls generation said:

Just got the LCD3, will be comparing to the LCD2 on the Gungnir and Mjonlir with a high quality cable. Then I will be getting an HD800 to compare with one of the two Audezes.

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 Congrats! Still lovin' my LCD-3s!

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macedonianhero said:

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girls generation said:

Just got the LCD3, will be comparing to the LCD2 on the Gungnir and Mjonlir with a high quality cable. Then I will be getting an HD800 to compare with one of the two Audezes.

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 Congrats! Still lovin' my LCD-3s!

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and with your 009's you listen to the how much??  

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longbowbbs said:

and with your 009's you listen to the how much??  

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Gotta admit...a whole lot less. But they are my second favourite headphones of all time.

The LCD-3s are my current favourites but basically I have not had the luxury of even trying the 009s yet (and for my wallets protection, I should make sure I don't do!)
 
But I have to say that I really do not like the HD800s. Try putting them on a digital electronic piano like a Yamaha Clavinova and they give a very unrealistic timbre rendition of a piano. The LCD-3s (and 2.2s as well) give a very very good piano timbre reproduction.
 
With music as well I always feel with the HD800s that someone turned the treble up too high.
 
I know people love this headphone and I am only posting to illustrate that if there were such clear answers, we would all choose the same one. The fact is this is very personal. I have extremely fine tuned and receptive high pitched hearing. I find it almost hurts my ears if the treble is too much. That's not to say I like a muddied warm sound either. I need good treble in my daily life..I find it very hard to hear people on conference calls if they use a speaker phone and the treble is all gone, whereas my colleagues have no such issue. I need good clear treble, but I absolutely detest over-blown treble. To my ears, and probably my ears only, the HD800s sound way too bright.

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jonstatt said:

The LCD-3s are my current favourites but basically I have not had the luxury of even trying the 009s yet (and for my wallets protection, I should make sure I don't do!)
 
But I have to say that I really do not like the HD800s. Try putting them on a digital electronic piano like a Yamaha Clavinova and they give a very unrealistic timbre rendition of a piano. The LCD-3s (and 2.2s as well) give a very very good piano timbre reproduction.
 
With music as well I always feel with the HD800s that someone turned the treble up too high.
 
I know people love this headphone and I am only posting to illustrate that if there were such clear answers, we would all choose the same one. The fact is this is very personal. I have extremely fine tuned and receptive high pitched hearing. I find it almost hurts my ears if the treble is too much. That's not to say I like a muddied warm sound either. I need good treble in my daily life..I find it very hard to hear people on conference calls if they use a speaker phone and the treble is all gone, whereas my colleagues have no such issue. I need good clear treble, but I absolutely detest over-blown treble. To my ears, and probably my ears only, the HD800s sound way too bright.

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I share that opinion actually; there's a naturalness and organic quality to the general ortho tonality, that makes my ears not like HD800 even though it is clear they have superb technical finesse.

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jonstatt said:

 
With music as well I always feel with the HD800s that someone turned the treble up too high.
 

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I felt this way when I first tried them, and still continue to experience hot treble [size=10pt]occasionally even after finding an amp that pairs well with them.  The 800s are sensitive to what you feed them with.  Even still, you need to equalize them for recordings.[/size]
 
They are not perfect by any stretch.  If you could take the LCD2's tone, and combine it with the 800s sound stage, you'd have a much better headphone.  If you do take the time to equalize and amp, you can actually get the 800 close to that, but it takes work.  First impressions usually steer people away from that.

I just got to reading your review, Max. Very nice job. You didn't single-handedly convince me, but you have encouraged me to save up and purchase an HD800. After hanging around Stax, I have found that overblown bass (relatively speaking) completely takes me out of my element and hinders my enjoyment of most music. It seems that the HD800 is the perfect headphone for a classical lover like me who collects high-fidelity recordings. The upcoming Anax mod only sweetens the deal.

twifosp said:

If you could take the LCD2's tone, and combine it with the 800s sound stage, you'd have a much better headphone.

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Don't agree, it would be far too dark and lack air which makes the HD800 soundstage work.

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maxvla said:

Don't agree, it would be far too dark and lack air which makes the HD800 soundstage work.

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Possibly not exactly Audeze voicing, but more along the lines of SR007mk2, where low~mid treble is recessed back, and upper treble is emphasized uniformly.

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maxvla said:

Don't agree, it would be far too dark and lack air which makes the HD800 soundstage work.

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I said it would be a much better headphone, not the perfect headphone.  Also, it was kind of implied to include the air and separation as properties of the HD800 sound stage.
 
Personally, by parametrically equalizing, I don't want for much with my hd800s.  Anything that I liked about the LCD2, I am able to duplicate with the HD800, but it just takes effort to produce it, with amping and equalization.  I think many people with complaints about them tend to go with their first impressions, which isn't a bad thing.  But if you work with them, you can alter the sound to suit your preferences.  With the LCD2, you pretty much are stuck with one voice.

The LCD2.2 isn't really dark, It is a warm sounding hp. But only sounds dark in comparison to 'bright headphones'. A/B the LCD2's next to the HE 500's and the HE500's actually sound darker from the treble downwards. The LCD2's have flat bass and so with this comes warmth.  
 
IMO you simply can't compare a bright headphone such as the HD800 to the LCD2's in order to determine which is the best. They are simply too different for this. It would be like comparing a Bentley to a Ferrari.
 
 When I've spent sometime with my K701's (another bright headphone) and then change to my LCD2's, the sound is terrible. This is because my ears have adjusted to the emphasized treble. It then takes a long time to adjust to the more warmer natural sound of the LCD2's to fully appreciate it again.  
 
At the end of the day, you're either gonna like one or the other. If you have already become acustomed to emphasized treble and airy soundstage (the two go hand in hand) then you aren't going to appreciate a more natural sound. A natural sound will be dull and lacklustre in comparison because your ears will be craving the bite and air of artifical treble. And vice versa. Listen to the LCD2's for a week and most other phones will sound anemic. Not saying one is better than the other. After all, hifi for me is getting the most enjoyment out of your music not getting the better technical experience. The LCD2's aren't perfect by any means, they are overly warm and could use more breathing space for the dynamics. But they seem to be getting another kicking in this thread again. And its simply because they have become very popular. I've seen this happen before on head-fi and it is a real shame. A little over a year ago it was the LCD2's that were the top dog and it was the 650's that were getting the kicking, why? because the 650's had become very popular. A lot of the same people who where doing that are on this thread. Swings and round-abouts. And a lot of BS.

lugbug1 said:

The LCD2.2 isn't really dark, It is a warm sounding hp. But only sounds dark in comparison to 'bright headphones'. A/B the LCD2's next to the HE 500's and the HE500's actually sound darker from the treble downwards. The LCD2's have flat bass and so with this comes warmth.  

IMO you simply can't compare a bright headphone such as the HD800 to the LCD2's in order to determine which is the best. They are simply too different for this.

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So which is it? They aren't dark, OR they have flat bass? You contradict yourself right out of the gate.

Why do you think flat bass and aren't dark are contradictory?  Your post makes no sense.  Saying 'they aren't dark, but their bass is emphasized' would have been more of a contradiction.

Because their bass clearly has more volume than the treble. That is something no-one can claim otherwise.

With lower treble, you can call a headphone dark, or you can say the treble is proper level and that the bass is elevated. 6 or half a dozen.

FWIW the LCD has been the most difficult of my headphone to get right. When I finally added the CSP2+ as preamp into the Decware Taboo I discovered their potential, specifically their dynamic range. It wasn't worth the effort. $2200 of amplification and several hundred more on tubes still puts the LCD's 4th on my headphone queue. I have to admit the change was considerable; among the strongest spins I've experienced in this hobby. More often than not tweaks are small in the net-percentage of things, but this was a little different (akin to the HE6 out of a speaker amp vs. Lyr or something). 
 
Have you listened to the HE6? Outside of my SR007, only the HE6 can get in the ring with the HD800. On an overall scale of enjoyment I'd even place it ahead with certain speaker amps.