[K3cT]

Damn it Tyll. Now I really have to order those new, thicker pads.

 
Based on my experience with the Grados, swapping pads has more significant effects than swapping cables. I'm not sure how significant it's going to be for the LCD2's case though.

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

My first pair were quite early.  I wonder if the rolled off treble thing might be to some degree be old news.  It's possible the LCD2 is a bit quicker now and the impression of poor treble might currently be overstated as a result. 

Couldn't the improved treble response be from the increased angle of the new pads, which direct those HF sound waves into the ear better than the old ones?

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

 

Couldn't the improved treble response be from the increased angle of the new pads, which direct those HF sound waves into the ear better than the old ones?

Dunno. My experience, like K3cT's above, is that pads can make a lot of difference. I think it's mostly got to do with absorption, but could be angle. Jus' don't know. Heck, they could have done some tweaking to the driver too.
 

 

[grokit]

My thinking is that HF sound waves are more directional than LF sound waves, so the angle of the drivers should have a pretty profound affect on the perceived highs.

 

[oqvist]

Quote:

Dunno. My experience, like K3cT's above, is that pads can make a lot of difference. I think it's mostly got to do with absorption, but could be angle. Jus' don't know. Heck, they could have done some tweaking to the driver too.
 

There is times when I hate this place... If I ever get tooth ache again I will take it as an excuse to try the new pads. I can´t say I am hunting for anything though. LCD-2 is just perfectly balanced on my better solid state amps and warm and beautiful on my tube
 

 

[jax]

In the speaker world, when a manufacturer updates a driver, they usually take the opportunity to make full note of the improvement and often denote the new addition with some kind of suffix to the model number.  It would surprise me to find out that Audeze updated their driver and made no mention whatsoever about it.  The other cosmetic updates are not game changers, but a modification to the driver is certainly something that should be noted, IMHO, especially if it changes the response in some way.  I think that's something the customers would want to know.  Given that it also has potential to sell more product to previous owners, I doubt that is the case. 

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

My thinking is that HF sound waves are more directional than LF sound waves, so the angle of the drivers should have a pretty profound affect on the perceived highs.

It might, certainly.
 
Here's some pix:
 

 
 

 

 

[ardgedee]

The pad on the left looks like an avant-garde armchair. The pad on the right looks like a lopsided but delicious frosted chocolate donut.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

You can get very good copies of many of the designer chairs for a lot less $.  But if you're going for the premium build and materials you can certainly pay quite a bit for it.  You don't even have a category for my favorite - the most comfy chair I've sat in, and it did happen to be in someone's listening room: The Hans Wegner Ox Chair.   You could buy all the chairs on your list, a pair of LCD-2's and a Leben 300XS for the price of one Ox Chair (licensed version).  You can find the same chair made in China for less than the cost of a pair of LCD-2's (it won't be made with leather, nor nearly as well built, but many would be hard pressed to tell the difference). Anyway, it's a very comfy chair.

That Ox chair looks interesting.
 
We've had the Ekornes Stressless chairs for many years and haven't found anything more comfortable yet.
 
These are the models we have.

Something about how the back (lumbar) and headrest articulates to fit your body as you recline, makes it more comfortable and supportive to me than anything else I've tried.

 
 

 

[jax]

It would be interesting to see if the cushioning has changed as I think someone indicated.  I wonder how much each pad with crush down with the same weight of say a hardcover book of medium size might provide....something that might simulate the force of the headband.  It also appears that the sound chamber within the pad has become smaller(?).
 
Quote:

It might, certainly.
 
Here's some pix:
 

 
 

 

 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

It might, certainly.
Here's some pix:

 

 

If you note the angle of the driver to one's ear remains essentially the same, between old and new cushion.  The fact that the seam line is more rounded on the original gives the illusion of lower angle.  Very close the same in reality.  In an extreme near-field and enclosed environment, I suspect there's not a significant sonic difference.  That's what I observe with my two pair, old and new..
 
 

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quote:

In the speaker world, when a manufacturer updates a driver, they usually take the opportunity to make full note of the improvement and often denote the new addition with some kind of suffix to the model number.  It would surprise me to find out that Audeze updated their driver and made no mention whatsoever about it.  The other cosmetic updates are not game changers, but a modification to the driver is certainly something that should be noted, IMHO, especially if it changes the response in some way.  I think that's something the customers would want to know.  Given that it also has potential to sell more product to previous owners, I doubt that is the case. 

We have no good reasons to think that Audeze made any changes to their driver, but it certainly happens to headphones, without any public announcements.
 

 

[KingStyles]

I just received my lcd2 today. I was looking at the freq. graph that comes with it and it seems to show that my pair has a little more high energy than some of the other graphs that I have seen posted.

 

[rhythmdevils]

I sure hope Audeze doesn't think they need to add treble to their headphones to try to make everyone happy. 

 

[Skylab]

Same here. However, that FR graph still has a gradual shelf of almost 10dB between 1 and 3 kHz, and nowhere is the treble higher than the 1
KHz level. Not rolled off, but far from hot in the treble.