[jlbrach]

i think the problem with the 4's is quite simply the price....they are better than the 3's and are outstanding cans under any circumstance or any objective review...the issue i think is that at 4K people expect them to be head and shoulders better than the 3's and the competition...if they were 2K i think they would be getting nothing but raves.....the truth is the differences between the best cans are really subtle and the differences are narrowing not expanding........if you are driving a 50K BMW and the replacement is now 100K even if it is better you are going to be disappointed if it isnt tons better......my bottom line is this...the 4's are better than the 3's and if you can afford them they are well worth it...if 2K is as much money as you are willing to pay for cans then dont sweat it and get yourself one of the many fantastic cans in that price range....

 

[rumina]

If it was the new V2, it has twice the power of the older design. 8.2 watts into 16 ohm. That still likely makes it over .6 watts at 200 ohm load which should be plenty to drive the LCD-4. I'm using the Soloist at 4watts and it drives the 4s plenty loud. Even the Audeze The King amp is only(?) 6 w at 20 ohm and it it drives them with ease from what they say.

I think Audeze recommendaton with 4-6 watt is right, the tricky part is how the amp can deliver this power. The classic ab desing needs to ramp-up the power when the headphone needs more power, often the result is a more agressiv sound experience (think of a petrol engine who needs to rev up first), a class a amp can deliver the power whitout delay and sounds in the first moment more smoothly. In reality a class a amp don't change the sound like class ab desings, thus are more transparent and real to the source signal. My experience is that hard to drive headphones are often underrate because they need a better match with the amp the play with. I can not comment a lot about the lcd-4 burson combo because i don't have them at home, but my feeling is that you need to choose wisley a good partner for the lcd4. Gernerally when i compare two amps and i think they sound similary i peek inside and i chose the one whitout op-amps and bigger heatsink (this for class a and ab designs). And as you see in my avatar even my cat loves hot gear

.

 

[Pale Rider]

  ROFLMAO !! 
 

+1. It's funny, and I still like mine.

 

[potkettleblack]

I'd like to offer my services for those that are struggling with the recent news. I'm available to talk in private messenger between the hours 09:00 and 17:00.

Whatever you're going through, big or small, don't bottle it up. I am here for you if you are worried about
The future of Audeze, feel upset or confused, or you just want to talk about your future options as an audiophile.

 

[oal100]

I am not sure if the five stages of grief from kübler-ross are actually a good way to explain something which is, fortunately, evitable. Be it as it may, I too had the chance to try the lcd-4. And I am a proud owner of lcd-3. Though a newbie, here's my opinion:
 
Imagine you sit in a beautiful building with lots of windows. You know (from lcd3) what is the weather outside. And you keep getting the feeling you cannot feel what is going on outside. This is what I felt.
 
The lcd4 is much more designed for a specific experience...very warm and flattering for the ear. It is like a well crafted sales pitch. However, I am the guy who likes much more the - sometimes brute - truth. In that sense, i would never change from lcd3 to lcd4 with around 2000$ in between.
 
If it were less, I could consider it.

 

[rumina]

The life is to short for only one headphone, grab the one that fits your actual mood, that is the thing i love the most about headphones, you can have more the one...ore 5 6 7 ....

 

[dan.gheorghe]

I'd like to offer my services for those that are struggling with the recent news. I'm available to talk in private messenger between the hours 09:00 and 17:00.

Whatever you're going through, big or small, don't bottle it up. I am here for you if you are worried about
The future of Audeze, feel upset or confused, or you just want to talk about your future options as an audiophile.

Funny ) However, I don't think that a review or someone's opinion should change your own feelings about a headphone. Those aren't news, it's just a review, someone's opinion, that's all. I don't hear the LCD-4 with different ears right now, nor do I look at them differently. Will post my review on headmania soon, so watch out for the "news" )

 

[potkettleblack]

I am not sure if the five stages of grief from kübler-ross are actually a good way to explain something which is, fortunately, evitable. Be it as it may, I too had the chance to try the lcd-4. And I am a proud owner of lcd-3. Though a newbie, here's my opinion:

Imagine you sit in a beautiful building with lots of windows. You know (from lcd3) what is the weather outside. And you keep getting the feeling you cannot feel what is going on outside. This is what I felt.

The lcd4 is much more designed for a specific experience...very warm and flattering for the ear. It is like a well crafted sales pitch. However, I am the guy who likes much more the - sometimes brute - truth. In that sense, i would never change from lcd3 to lcd4 with around 2000$ in between.

If it were less, I could consider it.

The wall of fame means more to some than you've considered. There is no movement on that decision.

Have you compared your 3's with the LCD X?

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

My apologies guys, I just added a paragraph and image of LCD-4 EQed.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...essive-lcd-4-planar-magnetic-headphone-page-2

 

[captblaze]

  My apologies guys, I just added a paragraph and image of LCD-4 EQed.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...essive-lcd-4-planar-magnetic-headphone-page-2

 
 
if i have to EQ a $4000 set of headphones, i will pass.
 
i for one appreciate your candor and willingness to be critical regardless of the manufacturer or the fan boys reaction

 

[oal100]

not to the lcd-x. I'm afraid I haven't tried those with the setup. But maybe I've get the chance during the next visit to the headphone store. I also want to check against the hifiman 1000 to be realky sure of my opinion. I was flabbergasted, to say at least. I could not imagine the lcd4 to be so dull, being a showpiece of audeze. Again, I clearly state I'm a newbie.
 
I mean, what I found stunning was the difference between opera and single voice. For example:
La Traviata with sutherland, pavarotti: The chorus was bold and powerful. So in those frequency bands with lot of information it seems to perform well.
Mahalia Jackson: Her voice was dull and in no way as powerful as expected (and in reality).
 
I keep thinking there was quite a lot "sound design" involved. Which is wanted by a lot if people but is not what I personally strive for.
 
Honestly, I will try again with another amplifier.

 

[oal100]

   
 
if i have to EQ a $4000 set of headphones, i will pass.
 
i for one appreciate your candor and willingness to be critical regardless of the manufacturer or the fan boys reaction

sorry the link doesn't work?

 

[jlbrach]

The LCD-4 is a clear improvement over previous LCD models both technically and musically with better clarity, and bass through mid-range control and evenness. Audeze LCD line fans will be tickled pink with the LCD-4
 
I am a big fan of Ty's work and read his reviews religiously but in this case this seems a bit strange to me....unless this review is simply a rating based upon performance/price i am confused here.....up until quite recently one could have read tons of reviews that suggested that the LCD-3f's were perhaps the best HD in the world....go on Audezes website and read through the reviews provided which are numerous.....along comes a new model which Ty suggests far surpasses the 3's technically and musically and yet this HD is in essence panned by Ty......i do understand one being disappointed in a HD that is 2X the cost of the previous model in terms of improvement on a cost basis, but if the 4's are a big improvement over a universally lauded current model then it seems to me that this should be  a good not bad review....Ty it seems does not care for the audeze sound relative to others and that is fine and i actually like that he is honest and open about that...I am not a fanboy and do not care what one individual reviewer says about a product but in this case as described this seems a strange conclusion

 

[bfreedma]

 My apologies guys, I just added a paragraph and image of LCD-4 EQed.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...essive-lcd-4-planar-magnetic-headphone-page-2

 
 
if i have to EQ a $4000 set of headphones, i will pass.
 
i for one appreciate your candor and willingness to be critical regardless of the manufacturer or the fan boys reaction

There isn't a headphone made that doesn't benefit from EQ. From the bottom of the price ladder to the top.

When someone produces a headphone with the perfect frequency response, a significant portion of this community will drop everything and move to it. Not everyone, as some people prefer non neutral cans (nothing wrong with that), but whichever manufacturer can overcome the current technical limitations in designing and building a totally neutral headphone is going to sell a shipload of product.

 

[captblaze]

There isn't a headphone made that doesn't benefit from EQ. From the bottom of the price ladder to the top.
 

 
when i was a younger man and into the "Klipsch" sound I had a parametric EQ to correct the treble spikes and flatten the sound. It was all I could think of to correct the mistake i made in mismatching my gear and the source material i was listening to.
 
now that i have the income and the experience of 30+ years chasing the sound I want to hear, my choice is based entirely and matching everything in the chain to provide my ears with what i want to hear (i would suggest that to anyone who asks me). Instant gratification or getting the next best thing is counter productive to going end game. and to me end game is about the sound i want to hear and as close as to how the cat on the mixing board intended the recording to sound. If the engineer has a tin ear then you will get a metallic sound. Poor recorded material or poor mixing can be overcome with EQ, but i dont have the time or desire to "remix" every track i listen to. And it is possible to have to remix every track on an album if you get a tin ear engineer.
 
to sum things up...
 
my gear choices are based on the sound i want to hear combined with the patience to not leap at every new product that may or may not overcome the poor source material that is way more prevalent than gear cable of providing all 7 billion plus pair of ears on mother earth  a similar sound experience. My audio collection is an accumulation of 30 + years of source material from all analog to every combination of that and pure digital. To remix everything all the time defeats the enjoyment and spending $4000 and having to EQ on top is the ultimate deal killer in my world.