[shaafmasood]

A few days in now and very happy with this purchase. They're big, but not uncomfortable in the slightest. And the sound is excellent. Will do some more detailed comparisons to my HD800S and my Clear OG down the line.

Lcd x vs focal clear og, please detailed review them asap
Im wanting to buy between these two

 

[franloro]

I am hoping for some advice for a buying decision from you guys out there. Just ordered a brand new LCD-X and now I am torn whether to drive it with an Astell&Kern HB1 or rather a Qudelix 5k. The A&K HB1 got excellent reviews, but does however only have a 5 band EQ.

I would be grateful for any options of people who may have run the LCD-X with either or even both options.

Thank you very much to everyone taking the time to respond!

 

[Kevintj604]

I am hoping for some advice for a buying decision from you guys out there. Just ordered a brand new LCD-X and now I am torn whether to drive it with an Astell&Kern HB1 or rather a Qudelix 5k. The A&K HB1 got excellent reviews, but does however only have a 5 band EQ.

I would be grateful for any options of people who may have run the LCD-X with either or even both options.

Thank you very much to everyone taking the time to respond!

In my opinion all the LCD-X 2021 needs to sound phenomenal is a sub-bass boost. It requires very little power so both the Qudelix and HB1 will have no problems driving them. I'm assuming budget is a concern as well as Bluetooth functionality if you'd settled on both of those options as opposed to something from iFi or Woo Audio.

Between both I'd chose the Qudelix. It's got much better functionality for honing in EQ options and it's phenomenal for IEM's or other headphones in a collection. The HB1 app support is horrendous and even though i'm a huge fan of A&K products I'd only be looking at their DAP's if I was considering a purchase from them.

I personally use a iFi Gryphon for my LCDX and it's by far the best sounding source I've used with them. I prefer it over my Questyle and Cayin which are both over $2000.

 

[ishmeister]

I am hoping for some advice for a buying decision from you guys out there. Just ordered a brand new LCD-X and now I am torn whether to drive it with an Astell&Kern HB1 or rather a Qudelix 5k. The A&K HB1 got excellent reviews, but does however only have a 5 band EQ.

I would be grateful for any options of people who may have run the LCD-X with either or even both options.

Thank you very much to everyone taking the time to respond!

I've got an LCD-X and the Qudelix. I've been very impressed with the 5k - the mobile app and chrome plugin are great. I don't use it with the LCD-X a lot because I have a desktop stack. But occaisionally if I need to move out of the office and elsewhere in the house it works great. I've got a 4.4mm balanced cable for the LCD-X with a 2.5mm adapter that I use with it and there's plenty of power.

 

[franloro]

In my opinion all the LCD-X 2021 needs to sound phenomenal is a sub-bass boost. It requires very little power so both the Qudelix and HB1 will have no problems driving them. I'm assuming budget is a concern as well as Bluetooth functionality if you'd settled on both of those options as opposed to something from iFi or Woo Audio.

Between both I'd chose the Qudelix. It's got much better functionality for honing in EQ options and it's phenomenal for IEM's or other headphones in a collection. The HB1 app support is horrendous and even though i'm a huge fan of A&K products I'd only be looking at their DAP's if I was considering a purchase from them.

I personally use a iFi Gryphon for my LCDX and it's by far the best sounding source I've used with them. I prefer it over my Questyle and Cayin which are both over $2000.

Thank you so much for your response! IFI products are great, but AFAIK none of them do EQ (at least not in the below 1000 USD bracket I checked). Actually I have not come across any desktop DAC-AMPs below a grand which would EQ, but maybe I missed some.

 

[franloro]

I've got an LCD-X and the Qudelix. I've been very impressed with the 5k - the mobile app and chrome plugin are great. I don't use it with the LCD-X a lot because I have a desktop stack. But occaisionally if I need to move out of the office and elsewhere in the house it works great. I've got a 4.4mm balanced cable for the LCD-X with a 2.5mm adapter that I use with it and there's plenty of power.

Ahh, thank you. This is really reassuring! I have not really come across desktop DAC-AMPs which would EQ (at least in the below 1000 USD bracket).

 

[frankiewilde]

I am hoping for some advice for a buying decision from you guys out there. Just ordered a brand new LCD-X and now I am torn whether to drive it with an Astell&Kern HB1 or rather a Qudelix 5k. The A&K HB1 got excellent reviews, but does however only have a 5 band EQ.

I would be grateful for any options of people who may have run the LCD-X with either or even both options.

Thank you very much to everyone taking the time to respond!

you have to buy a cable or an adapter to be able to use the Qudelix with your LCD-X

 

[franloro]

you have to buy a cable or an adapter to be able to use the Qudelix with your LCD-X

yes, I understand. , I thought I would go for mini XLRs to 2.5mm balanced on the Qudelix end

 

[franloro]

In my opinion all the LCD-X 2021 needs to sound phenomenal is a sub-bass boost. It requires very little power so both the Qudelix and HB1 will have no problems driving them. I'm assuming budget is a concern as well as Bluetooth functionality if you'd settled on both of those options as opposed to something from iFi or Woo Audio.

Between both I'd chose the Qudelix. It's got much better functionality for honing in EQ options and it's phenomenal for IEM's or other headphones in a collection. The HB1 app support is horrendous and even though i'm a huge fan of A&K products I'd only be looking at their DAP's if I was considering a purchase from them.

I personally use a iFi Gryphon for my LCDX and it's by far the best sounding source I've used with them. I prefer it over my Questyle and Cayin which are both over $2000.

so when you say you are using the Gryphon that means you are quite happy running the LCD-X without EQ? Just curious, are using it to produce music or (as I would) just to listen to music as a consumer.?

 

[Kevintj604]

so when you say you are using the Gryphon that means you are quite happy running the LCD-X without EQ? Just curious, are using it to produce music or (as I would) just to listen to music as a consumer.?

I don’t need to EQ anything except adding a sub bass boost. The iFi Gryphon adds an analog xBass that sounds phenomenal. I also really like the warmth of its Burr Brown DAC so that’s all it requires in my opinion.

I use it to listen to music. If I was producing or mixing/mastering it’s not the best option for that use case. Especially if you’re thinking of EQ’ing a mastering tool. If that’s the use case the MM500 or even the MM100 would be a better choice as both of those headphones are specifically designed for Mastering/Production.

Both the Qudelix as well as the HB1 are portable Bluetooth dongles so now I’m very confused with the use case. Are you thinking of using the LCDX paired with one of those in a studio production environment?

 

[franloro]

I don’t need to EQ anything except adding a sub bass boost. The iFi Gryphon adds an analog xBass that sounds phenomenal. I also really like the warmth of its Burr Brown DAC so that’s all it requires in my opinion.

I use it to listen to music. If I was producing or mixing/mastering it’s not the best option for that use case. Especially if you’re thinking of EQ’ing a mastering tool. If that’s the use case the MM500 or even the MM100 would be a better choice as both of those headphones are specifically designed for Mastering/Production.

Both the Qudelix as well as the HB1 are portable Bluetooth dongles so now I’m very confused with the use case. Are you thinking of using the LCDX paired with one of those in a studio production environment?

No no, I am not going to use it for production. Just to listen to music. Sorry if my previous note was confusing. I am just considering the 5K and the A&K HB1 because of their EQ capabilities, which none of the IFI's do have. And almost all of the reviews of the LCD-X I have watch on YouTube say the Audezes do massively benefit from EQ'ing which sent me down that route. Other than that an IFI Hip Dac 3 or Gryphon or IFI Zen would be perfectly fine. That's why you saying you are very happy with the LCD-X without EQ may be good news. My other thought was was that with Bluetooth 6 arriving in 2024 I reckon Apple (I am on the Apple Eco system) will finally stream lossless over BT, which means I will need to invest in new a new DAC-AMP 12-18 month down the road. If the 5K bridges me reasonably over till then and I write it off there is not much harm done at as cost 100 odd bucks.

 

[Kevintj604]

No no, I am not going to use it for production. Just to listen to music. Sorry if my previous note was confusing. I am just considering the 5K and the A&K HB1 because of their EQ capabilities, which none of the IFI's do have. And almost all of the reviews of the LCD-X I have watch on YouTube say the Audezes do massively benefit from EQ'ing which sent me down that route. Other than that an IFI Hip Dac 3 or Gryphon or IFI Zen would be perfectly fine. That's why you saying you are very happy with the LCD-X without EQ may be good news. My other thought was was that with Bluetooth 6 arriving in 2024 I reckon Apple (I am on the Apple Eco system) will finally stream lossless over BT, which means I will need to invest in new a new DAC-AMP 12-18 month down the road. If the 5K bridges me reasonably over till then and I write it off there is not much harm done at as cost 100 odd bucks.

Ah, I get it. All good. I personally love the LCDX tonality but agree that some people might want to dial them in a bit with EQ. The Qudelix would be your best bet for that.

 

[Lookout57]

This may be controversial to some of you, but I've never used EQ on any headphone or IEM. To me, using EQ is a band-aid. If you need to EQ to get the sound you want, then you should get something that has that sound out of the box.

I found two headphone/cable combos that work with my two sources, WM-1Z with Mr Walkman firmware and TA-ZH1ES. On the WM-1Z I mainly use my LCD-X with the DHC Complement C balanced cable. This combo has plenty of natural sub bass to go with a wide smooth soundstage with excellent details. Before the Complement C, I used a AXIOS Cu. So switching to a cable with full 18.8awg of pure OCC copper litz for all four signal wires versus a cable that had 16 cores of 24awg copper that drops to 8 cores at the headphone end made a huge difference and improved the bass. But if I want a warmer sound with more bass then I'll use my MD-Z1R with a DHC Prion4 balanced cable.

So between the two headphone cable combos I have two different sounds that can fit whatever my mood is (AKA music).

 

[franloro]

This may be controversial to some of you, but I've never used EQ on any headphone or IEM. To me, using EQ is a band-aid. If you need to EQ to get the sound you want, then you should get something that has that sound out of the box.

I found two headphone/cable combos that work with my two sources, WM-1Z with Mr Walkman firmware and TA-ZH1ES. On the WM-1Z I mainly use my LCD-X with the DHC Complement C balanced cable. This combo has plenty of natural sub bass to go with a wide smooth soundstage with excellent details. Before the Complement C, I used a AXIOS Cu. So switching to a cable with full 18.8awg of pure OCC copper litz for all four signal wires versus a cable that had 16 cores of 24awg copper that drops to 8 cores at the headphone end made a huge difference and improved the bass. But if I want a warmer sound with more bass then I'll use my MD-Z1R with a DHC Prion4 balanced cable.

So between the two headphone cable combos I have two different sounds that can fit whatever my mood is (AKA music).

interesting way of thinking about it

 

[ishmeister]

This may be controversial to some of you, but I've never used EQ on any headphone or IEM. To me, using EQ is a band-aid. If you need to EQ to get the sound you want, then you should get something that has that sound out of the box.

Thing is, there is no headphone I can think of that has the tonality of my LCD-X with my personal EQ out of the box.