[drarthurwells]

First impressions on the Audeze LCD-3 (made in May 2016) received today, as used with the
 
Bada PH12 amp (stock, not yet modified) and Eastsound E5 Platinum Reference Edition CD player.
 
I have stuck with my Sennheiser HD600 with Cardas cable for many years now, and recently bought the LCD-3.
 
I was afraid of buying the LCD-4 because of reports from some of difficulty to drive them and because I wasn't sure the extra cost was justified in terms of the degree of better sound.
 
The first thing I noticed was that the Bada PH12 amp had more than enough power to drive the LCD-3, and perhaps even do better power-wise than with the HD600. My first thought was that I should have gotten the LCD-4 which the Bada could have easily driven.
 
At first listen for a few minutes, the differences between the HD600 and LCD-3 seemed slight but after a few minutes I started to notice the quality improvement with the LCD-3 which became even more apparent after 15 minutes.
 
Low level detail and tone timbre was superb so that quiet orchestral passages were beautifully played.
 
Inner detail as well as tone edge detail was superb as were transient attacks - had something of an electrostatic (Stax) character..
 
Sound stage was open and most importantly each instrument was precisely localized in space in a 3-d imaging relative to other instruments. I hate a liquid sound where different instruments bleed at their tone edges to connect together and make a muddled sound stage. The Bada PH12 amp excels among many other amps in this regard.
 
Tone timbre was accurate and natural to the best degree I have heard on any headphone (including the top Stax model I had years ago but never used with my present amp and CDP).
 
Makes me wish I had gotten the LCD-4 though I still have doubts that the sound improvement is enough to justify the cost difference.

 

[pbui44]

Congratulations on the LCD-3 purchase. This setup is the best setup I have ever heard with the LCD-3:



Notice that there is one balanced connector on one amplifier, making the setup a dual mono. $12k setup that will make you lost in the LCD-3's sound. I guess a Gungnir Multi-Bit and Mjolnir 2 setup will work very well with the LCD-3, but if you have the money...

 

[drarthurwells]

Wow! Nice set up.

 

[drarthurwells]

Just got new headphone cables - XLR plugs to headphones and 1/4 stereo  plug to amp.
 
These are made with 8 cores of 24awg pure silver wire and teflon sleeving in a 7 foot length that I found on Ebay for $158.
 
 
The stock Audeze cables are fine but I got a slight overall improvement with the new silver cables. Resolution is better with increased revelation of inner detail and tone body timbrel nuances.
 
The unmodifed BADA PH12 holds its own in the company of my other superb components, as indicated not only by the improvement noticed in the new LCD-3 but also by the more subtle improvements of the new silver cable. The fact that the Bada PH12 can reveal these improvements speaks well of it quality. Can wait to get the Audeze King amp, but wait, in looking at its 4K USD price I find it can wait. I also prefer to wait with new models as slight improvements always come after the first year of their introduction.
 
I think at this point that the LCD-3 is the second best HP you can get where the LCD-4 is the best. Not sure the extra cost is justified by the improvement though.
 
Sennheiser is working on a Planar HP and I look forward to hearing it. Might be the next best thing!

 

[SkyFireXl]

I've had my LCD3 for about a year now and am still loving them!

I recently upgraded my Oppo HA-1 to the Chord Hugo TT and I must confess that in my opinion the Chord really is an improvement in terms of pairing with the LCD3. Everything just feels bigger now

I'm still on the fence about the LCD4. They are definitely different sounding but
I'm not sure they're better.. Need to audition for longer I guess...

 

[drarthurwells]

All tube amps suck - rich musical sound but inaccurate. They sound nice in low budget systems where low resolution amps mask the defects in the system.
 
All solid state amps suck - detailed, high resolution and accurate, sound but with a lean tone body and when the amp designer tries to add some richness to the tone body it reduces accuracy and resolution.
 
Best headphone amp design is the hybrid - tube pre-amp and solid state. Audeze and HiFiMan know this.
 
Get a Bada PH12 (about $600 USD from cattylink.com) and ask them to ship with 3 Chinese Shugang 6SN7 tubes instead of the Russian (Electro Harmonix) tubes it comes with. Then use two Chinese Shugang 6SN7 in the back and one Sylvania Jan 6SN7 W GT (be sure it is the W model) in the rear. Most accurate sound you will hear for under $2000 and holds its own to any headphone amp at any price, if used with a top planar headphone (the higher the impedance the better) and a top source and good silver cables.
 
Bada PH12 is a great amp but must use right tubes - never found any Russian tube (like the Electro Harmonix) in 6SN7 that was any good at all - coloration and distortion in all of them. Bada must be used with care in one regard - you must never take a tube out of it before the amp has been turned off and kept off for 18 hours or more. Otherwise you might short out a mosfet (costs less than $10 for a new one though).
 
I am enjoying extremely natural and realistic sound from CDs now with the Audeze LCD-3 and hope to upgrade to the LCD-4 or other top planar HP in the future.

 

[brocrusher]

Audeze posted an article by Mark Cohen the CSO of Audeze stating which amps he recommends for LCDs.

https://audeze.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001679626-Headphone-Amp-Suggestions

 

[benshabat]

Very helpful. Thanks!