[MacedonianHero]

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dleblanc343, I share your disapointment with the LCD-3 regarding their shelved upper mids/treble. It's not so bad with bad modern treble-boosted masters because both flaws kind of neutralize themselves, but with more neutral music like yourself I find the coloration too much and the uneven transition in the mids makes the sound less transparent than it should. That's why I only listen to them with a little EQ from 2 to 12 kHz. The change in clarity to my ears is amazing, and the bass sounds tighter, the vocals livelier.
 
On the the other hand, I was surprised to read you find the Gungnir/Mjolnir combo colored and not very good with LCD-3. I don't claim it's totally neutral but it certainly pairs very well with my EQ'd LCD-3, much better than with my HD800. My old Bifrost/Lyr combo sounds "muddy" in comparison.

 
A wise man once said that (correctly I might add) that there is a plethora of "bright" sounding headphones and I for one am glad that Audeze didn't follow suit and introduced a neutral but NOT bright take with the LCD-3s.  I don't understand why so many want all headphones to be on the brighter side of things....don't we have enough selection there?
 
With regards to the LCD-3, while I enjoyed them with Schiit Audio gear, I found that the synergy that existed with the LCD-2s was lacking with the LCD-3s. Being more revealing headphones = harder to get the upstream setup "right" (like the HD800s that way). But get it right (like through a Liquid Fire w/ a quad of E88CC Siemens, a B22, or even my GS-X), then they do scale up very nicely. 

 

[wuwhere]

Are the headphones bright? Even Stax owners say Stax are bright.

 

[Solude]

Nods.  Well minus the LF

 

[MacedonianHero]

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Nods.  Well minus the LF

What took you so long? 

 

[Solude]

Working on a B22 build on the off chance that the new high power GS-X doesn't do it for me /facepalm

 

[MacedonianHero]

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Working on a B22 build on the off chance that the new high power GS-X doesn't do it for me /facepalm

, never mind, I'm not that surprised. 

 

[IPodPJ]

Working on a B22 build on the off chance that the new high power GS-X doesn't do it for me /facepalm

The balanced B22 is fantastic with the LCD-3, and if you are planning on using them balanced the low gain of 2 provides plenty of power. Even at the loudest I listen I dont go further than 2 o'clock on my attenuator (or 12-1 o'clock with the HD800). If you are doing an unbalanced build than you may want to use a gain of 5, depending on how loud you like to listen. The lower the gain though, the cleaner the output will be.

 

[MacedonianHero]

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The balanced B22 is fantastic with the LCD-3, and if you are planning on using them balanced the low gain of 2 provides plenty of power. Even at the loudest I listen I dont go further than 2 o'clock on my attenuator (or 12-1 o'clock with the HD800). If you are doing an unbalanced build than you may want to use a gain of 5, depending on how loud you like to listen. The lower the gain though, the cleaner the output will be.

Yep...a balanced B22 will be Solude's second go round. 

 

[Solude]

Yep sold my balanced B22 pre/amp a few months back.  Definitely going to be 2ch, gain of 8x, remember the lower the gain, the higher the feedback.

 

[IPodPJ]

8x sounds awfully high for single ended with the LCD-3. Are you driving speakers as well? You just won't get much travel out of your attenuator, and if you're using a pot (depending on which one) you may not get as even a balance between channels at lower levels.

Any reason you've chosen a 2ch over a 4ch? I presume you're doing a single chassis then?

 

[FrenchChemist]

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A wise man once said that (correctly I might add) that there is a plethora of "bright" sounding headphones and I for one am glad that Audeze didn't follow suit and introduced a neutral but NOT bright take with the LCD-3s.  I don't understand why so many want all headphones to be on the brighter side of things....don't we have enough selection there?
 
With regards to the LCD-3, while I enjoyed them with Schiit Audio gear, I found that the synergy that existed with the LCD-2s was lacking with the LCD-3s. Being more revealing headphones = harder to get the upstream setup "right" (like the HD800s that way). But get it right (like through a Liquid Fire w/ a quad of E88CC Siemens, a B22, or even my GS-X), then they do scale up very nicely. 

 MH, I don't want bright HP either! But the 5-10 dB dip in the upper-mids/low treble is too much and not smooth enough to my ears. A smaller (0-3 dB) and more progessive dip would be better IMOHO. And no, I don't consider LCD-3 as neutral as you do. My personal neutral references are the Paradox and the Koss ESP950. I do consider LCD-3 and HD800 equally close/far to neutral : one is slightly dark, the other slighly bright.
 
I'm afraid I cannot afford a more expensive gear than the Gungnir/Mjolnir pair. But while I agree with you that the Bifrost/Lyr synergy was not so good with LCD-3, I find that is much better with the Gungnir/Mjolnir combo. Have you listened to them with LCD-3?

 

[preproman]

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Yep sold my balanced B22 pre/amp a few months back.  Definitely going to be 2ch, gain of 8x, remember the lower the gain, the higher the feedback.

 
 
Yaeh, why not the 4 board fully balanced 2 enclosure build with 8X gain?  Why going back to the B22 anyway?  We have to get these Dynahis made 

 

[knopi]

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but with more neutral music like yourself I find the coloration too much and the uneven transition in the mids makes the sound less transparent than it should. That's why I only listen to them with a little EQ from 2 to 12 kHz. The change in clarity to my ears is amazing, and the bass sounds tighter, the vocals livelier.

 
Hope people from Audeze read this, I have similar opinion..(only heard LCD2 though but I am sure it is similar in this way)

 

[Solude]

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But the 5-10 dB dip in the upper-mids/low treble is too much and not smooth enough to my ears.

 
You mean like speakers from across the room?

 

[MacedonianHero]

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 MH, I don't want bright HP either! But the 5-10 dB dip in the upper-mids/low treble is too much and not smooth enough to my ears. A smaller (0-3 dB) and more progessive dip would be better IMOHO. And no, I don't consider LCD-3 as neutral as you do. My personal neutral references are the Paradox and the Koss ESP950. I do consider LCD-3 and HD800 equally close/far to neutral : one is slightly dark, the other slighly bright.
 
I'm afraid I cannot afford a more expensive gear than the Gungnir/Mjolnir pair. But while I agree with you that the Bifrost/Lyr synergy was not so good with LCD-3, I find that is much better with the Gungnir/Mjolnir combo. Have you listened to them with LCD-3?

 
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Hope people from Audeze read this, I have similar opinion..(only heard LCD2 though but I am sure it is similar in this way)

 
Certainly everyone is entitled to their opinions. But I (and most I dare say) LCD-3 owners are very happy with the way that they are voiced with their unique sound. With regards to "more detail" with more treble, that's "fake detail" IMO. Grado is very well known for doing this by cranking up their treble (though much, much higher than you suggest). But then again, if you're not happy and a little EQ gets them to where you want them to be, then all the power to you. I personally love them as is.