[Anaxilus]

Quote:

When I watch the movie Iron Man, I can imagine being Robert Downey Jr.
 
But that doesn't make it real.

And if he were actually in front of you live, what then?  Is he real now?  WTH?!  You watch your music concerts on screen?
 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

Oh I see, so the timbre is spot on when you sit in the back, up in the nosebleeds.  If this is used as a reference do you know how many phones suddenly become 'accurate'?  Sorry, I use the first couple rows (disregarding any pit/line of sight issues) or playing the instrument as my reference.

There are too many different types of "live" music to generalize what it sounds like, even to just one person.
 
 
Quote:

And if he were actually in front of you live, what then?  Is he real now?  WTH?!  You watch your music concerts on screen?

This was a reference to recorded music. And Iron Man isn't real so he can't stand in front of me.
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

 

There are too many different types of "live" music to generalize what it sounds like, even to just one person.
 
If you include mixed, amplified music applied to acoustic performances then the notion of timbre can go right out the window.  Unless it's electronic and then I would point folks to Ultrasone.  They have perfected the art of making the unnatural sound unnatural.  ;P

This was a reference to recorded music. And Iron Man isn't real so he can't stand in front of me.
 
Robert Downy, Jr in an Iron Man Suit sure can.  

 
I get what you are saying and I also get what he's saying.  This is why I cruise w/ two sets of IEMs and two sets of phones.  One for the recording and one for 'compensation' when many tracks seem to need assistance one way or another.  Hell, n3rdling swears by the 009 and still has more ToTL phones than I have toes.  

  I'd like to have that problem.
 

 

 

[Jian]

Quote:

Huh? Quite a few non-electrostatic headphones provide better detail resolution than the LCD-2. Examples: HE-6, HD800, T1, W5000. The LCD-2 (and LCD-3 for that matter) are actually quite low on the detail pecking order in my experience.

 
You are right, it is a mystery that why we hear so differently. In fact I suspect that we have different concept of "detail resolution".

 

[googleli]

Listening to this on the LCD3. Simply sublime.
 

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
Quote:

 
See...that's just the thing. Jazz at the Pawnshop will provide micro details with just about every single headphone out there. It's one of those recordings that sounds good on anything...much like those Chesky recordings everyone plays at audiophile trade shows. You have to try to make those things sound bad.
 
The recordings I played were some Blue Note recordings, a Frank Sinatra recording and a particular Riverside recordings of Bill Evans, all of which are usually missing at audiophile meets and trade shows. These are all recordings I know by heart and know extremely well so when I say the LCD-3 is not resolving across the spectrum, I can bet my life on it. The R1 and R2 are no better either. Well...maybe the R2. Sometimes, the real test of a piece of stereo equipment comes not in how well it reproduce an excellent recording but in how it reproduces the flaws within a normal, mediocre recording. 
 

 
See, Jazz at the Pawnshop was only one of the recordings I used. I too also used some pretty old and crappy Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Louis Armstrong albums that have been with me for about 20 years. They were the recordings that helped me come to the conclusion that the LCD-2s were better at poor recordings as the LCD-3s revealed quite a bit more. Skylab (another Head-fier who's ears I trust) came to the exact conclusion as well in his review (though with different sub par recordings). 
 
The LCD-3s were better at extractting details with both world class and really bad recordings over the LCD-2 r2s. The argument that a headphone can do this better with a good recording over headphone "B" and then the opposite is true with poor recordings just doesn't make sense to me.
 
This is a simple fact to me after owning and listening to them exclusively since Day 1. You may prefer the more über realistic presentation of other headphones, but as I mentioned , when real life is your standard, the LCD-3s are among the very best at doing this to my (and many other's) ears.

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
Quote:

 
You are right, it is a mystery that why we hear so differently. In fact I suspect that we have different concept of "detail resolution".

 
Completely agreed. For example, I do not understand how anyone could even think the W5000s were even mediocre let alone good. Just goes to show that we all appreciate different things. To me, thet were simply a bright mess with AWOL bass. The headroom graphs are among the very worst I've seen too.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

According to DHC's marketspeak, it's actually less:
 
"Oxygen-free copper was invented a long time ago to combat oxidation in copper, as copper oxides are not good conductors and you do not want them on the inside or outside of your wires.  DHC's OCC copper goes beyond typical OFC, OFHC, or CDA101 copper (which is 4N pure oxygen free copper) because the OCC casting process naturally removes gases from the metal during the heating steps."
 
http://doublehelixcables.com/store/index.php?main_page=page_3
 

 

 
 

I hate to disagree with my friend and colleague, but that's incorrect.
 
Regular ol' ETP copper is an oxygenated copper. During the smelting process, very precisely controlled amounts of oxygen are used to scavenge impurities and take them out of solution. This has the result of increasing the conductivity of the copper than if they were left in solution.
 
The problem with ETP copper comes when it's heated in a reducing atmosphere such as hydrogen. This can result in embrittlement caused by the hydrogen reacting with the oxygen. And it is to address problems such as this that oxygen free copper was invented. And because oxygen free copper can't use oxygen for impurity scavenging, it has to have a higher inherent purity in order to achieve the same conductivity as ETP copper. Its use in audio cables was for nothing more than buzzword marketing.
 
And the oxidation we're talking about here is surface oxidation. And neither OCC, OFC nor ETP copper are any more immune to this. All will develop surface oxidation when exposed to air.
 
se
 
 

 

 

 

[googleli]

Yes, Jazz in the Pawnshop is one of the albums which made me feel the LCD2 actually has a soundstage... Haven't tried it on the LCD3 but I can imagine the creaminess of the saxophone. Let me try now.

 

[googleli]

I think the K2HD version of "Louis and Ella" is actually one of the best albums I have, not sure why you call it crappy.

 
Quote:

 


 
See, Jazz at the Pawnshop was only one of the recordings I used. I too also used some pretty old and crappy Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Louis Armstrong albums that have been with me for about 20 years. They were the recordings that helped me come to the conclusion that the LCD-2s were better at poor recordings as the LCD-3s revealed quite a bit more. Skylab (another Head-fier who's ears I trust) came to the exact conclusion as well in his review (though with different sub par recordings). 
 
The LCD-3s were better at extractting details with both world class and really bad recordings over the LCD-2 r2s. The argument that a headphone can do this better with a good recording over headphone "B" and then the opposite is true with poor recordings just doesn't make sense to me.
 
This is a simple fact to me after owning and listening to them exclusively since Day 1. You may prefer the more über realistic presentation of other headphones, but as I mentioned , when real life is your standard, the LCD-3s are among the very best at doing this to my (and many other's) ears.

 

 

[Wapiti]

Quote:

And because oxygen free copper can't use oxygen for impurity scavenging, it has to have a higher inherent purity in order to achieve the same conductivity as ETP copper. Its use in audio cables was for nothing more than buzzword marketing.

 
 
 

Amusingly, almost all copper wire is OFC, even the wiring in your walls.  Moreover, the highest purity copper has no greater conductivity. 
 
Oxygenated copper does produce a lovely green patina however.
 
Regarding high frequency content: a trumpet can produce harmonics exceeding 50kHz (I both play and record).  Very few instruments even begin to compete with this. 
 
A full orchestra produces both a great deal of treble energy and tremendous bass.  Both are regularly missing in any form of music reproduction. 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

I think the K2HD version of "Louis and Ella" is actually one of the best albums I have, not sure why you call it crappy.

 


 

That was not the album I was referring to. Louis Armstrong put out more than just Louis and Ella.

 
I've got some of his really early recordings...all mono and all crappy quality, but still great music!
 
 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Yes, Jazz in the Pawnshop is one of the albums which made me feel the LCD2 actually has a soundstage... Haven't tried it on the LCD3 but I can imagine the creaminess of the saxophone. Let me try now.

If you want to hear sound staging on a recording (that isn't just percussion), I'd recommend the binaural recording of Up Close by Ottmar Liebert...simply outstanding. Even my "on-stage" Grado HF-2s can sound incredibly vast. Just goes to show how much of the sound staging is on the recording.
 

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

 
Amusingly, almost all copper wire is OFC, even the wiring in your walls.  

 

 
No, it's not. The most common electrical grade copper is CDA110, which is oxygenated ETP copper.
 
Quote:

 
Oxygenated copper does produce a lovely green patina however.

 
No more so than oxygen free or any other copper.
 
se
 
 

 

[googleli]

Ok great LCD thread as usual. Ten pages of tissue paper discussions, and now whether oxygenated copper sounds more creamy.