[rhythmdevils]

I think soundstage goes along with my general idea that if you didn't like the LCD-2 you won't like the LCD-3 either.  If soundstage was important enough for you to chose HD800 and T1 despite preferring the tone of the LCD-2, I don't think the LCD-3 will change that. 

 

[Naim.F.C]

Quote:

I think soundstage goes along with my general idea that if you didn't like the LCD-2 you won't like the LCD-3 either.  If soundstage was important enough for you to chose HD800 and T1 despite preferring the tone of the LCD-2, I don't think the LCD-3 will change that. 

 
Ok, thanks for the response. I shall rest my curiosity for the time being.
 
One big area I think Audeze have catching up to do however, is in actual design ergonomics. The LCD-2's whilst absolutely gorgeous and still easy to get on with overall, simply do not sit on one's head nearly as comfortably or eloquently as the T1 or the HD800. I was a little disappointed to see the LCD-3's had not been re-designed aesthetically speaking, especially with the huge price mark up. I appreciate the clamp design might help with a seal and exerting pressure, but the headband and yoke could do with redesigning so that the pressure distribution itself is more evenly spread around the head. 

 

[SteveM324]

The LCD3's soundstage really opens up with a lengthy burn-in.  I'm not talking 120hrs here, no, more like 500-700hrs.  I'm currently at about 700 hrs and I'm no longer burning them in.  The soundstage is much wider and deeper now for me than when they only had 200-300 hrs.  I'm using the DHC Molecule cable and I think it too takes a considerable amount of burn-in before it sounds its best.  This is my third DHC Molecule cable and for each one I noticed that they became much better after about 450 hrs.  Soundstage is only one of the improvements I heard after burning in the LCD3.  Its bass became much tighter, deeper and more defined.  With the DHC cable, the bass was a bit to prominent until about 400+ hrs and then it tightened up considerably.  Highs became a bit less bright while becoming more delicate and defined.
 
I kept track of my burn-in hours so I'm sure of the hours that I stated above.  The only variable that may be different for you is that I used the DHC cable.  However, I have cables from ALO (HD800 and LCD2/3), Moon Audio (HD800), Norse Audio (LCD2/3) and Jenna Labs and all them took about 400+ hours to sound their best.  At 100-200 hrs I felt that the LCD3 should have been called rev3 because it wasn't offering a huge improvement for double the cost.  Now after burn-in, the LCD3 is a big step up from rev 1 & 2 and deserving of its much higher price tag (IMO of course).  BTW, I still own the rev 1&2 so its not just from memory that I state the LCD3 is a big improvement over them.
 
My intention is not to turn this discussion into a debate on burn-in but to relay my experience.  If you don't believe in burn-in or you think the amount of hours I burned them in is ridiculus, so be it.  I'm not going to debate what I hear.  I used a separate burn-in setup playing the same CD 24/7.  I think a common mistake regarding burn-in is that people will check the sound too often (like every 24 hrs) and not hear any change and then mistakenly conclude that the burn-in is complete or burn-in is not effective.  My recommendation is to burn them in when they are not on your head and don't expect daily changes.  I've also heard a roller coaster effect where the SQ actually got worse before it got better.

 

[SteveM324]

Quote:

The LCD3's soundstage really opens up with a lengthy burn-in.  I'm not talking 120hrs here, no, more like 500-700hrs.  I'm currently at about 700 hrs and I'm no longer burning them in.  The soundstage is much wider and deeper now for me than when they only had 200-300 hrs.  I'm using the DHC Molecule cable and I think it too takes a considerable amount of burn-in before it sounds its best.  This is my third DHC Molecule cable and for each one I noticed that they became much better after about 450 hrs.  Soundstage is only one of the improvements I heard after burning in the LCD3.  Its bass became much tighter, deeper and more defined.  With the DHC cable, the bass was a bit to prominent until about 400+ hrs and then it tightened up considerably.  Highs became a bit less bright while becoming more delicate and defined.
 
I kept track of my burn-in hours so I'm sure of the hours that I stated above.  The only variable that may be different for you is that I used the DHC cable.  However, I have cables from ALO (HD800 and LCD2/3), Moon Audio (HD800), Norse Audio (LCD2/3) and Jenna Labs and all them took about 400+ hours to sound their best.  At 100-200 hrs I felt that the LCD3 should have been called rev3 because it wasn't offering a huge improvement for double the cost.  Now after burn-in, the LCD3 is a big step up from rev 1 & 2 and deserving of its much higher price tag (IMO of course).  BTW, I still own the rev 1&2 so its not just from memory that I state the LCD3 is a big improvement over them.
 
My intention is not to turn this discussion into a debate on burn-in but to relay my experience.  If you don't believe in burn-in or you think the amount of hours I burned them in is ridiculus, so be it.  I'm not going to debate what I hear.  I used a separate burn-in setup playing the same CD 24/7.  I think a common mistake regarding burn-in is that people will check the sound too often (like every 24 hrs) and not hear any change and then mistakenly conclude that the burn-in is complete or burn-in is not effective.  My recommendation is to burn them in when they are not on your head and don't expect daily changes.  I've also heard a roller coaster effect where the SQ actually got worse before it got better.

One more thing that I would like to add from my experience with the LCD3 is that the improvements during burn-in do not happen at a linear rate.  In fact most of the improvements came after 400 hrs and before that, it was a roller coaster ride (sometimes it sounded good and other times no so).
 

 

[Naim.F.C]

Quote:

One more thing that I would like to add from my experience with the LCD3 is that the improvements during burn-in do not happen at a linear rate.  In fact most of the improvements came after 400 hrs and before that, it was a roller coaster ride (sometimes it sounded good and other times no so).
 

Are you sure this wasn't just related to the biology of your body/ears at the time? Quality or range of our hearing varies all the time. Many factors can come in to play including pressure, amount of ear wax, location of ear wax, balancing etc. Sometimes even a yawn or sneeze can throw one's hearing off. I know it sounds strange to say, but honestly, biology can make a difference.

 

[WarriorAnt]

 
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sometimes it sounded good and other times no so).
 

 
This is the experience I am having.

 

[kiteki]

 
Is the LCD-3 really easy to drive or something?
 
 
My friend in Singapore says he can drive his LCD-3 to really high volumes without clipping and good quality sound from a portable device.
 

 

[Jian]

The LCD3 is not very easy to drive, IMHO. Not as hard as my HE6 though.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

Are you sure this wasn't just related to the biology of your body/ears at the time? Quality or range of our hearing varies all the time. Many factors can come in to play including pressure, amount of ear wax, location of ear wax, balancing etc. Sometimes even a yawn or sneeze can throw one's hearing off. I know it sounds strange to say, but honestly, biology can make a difference.

Definitely. Not to mention subjective mood at the time. During different times of day we feel differently and respond to things differently.

 

[Elysian]

Quote:

I think soundstage goes along with my general idea that if you didn't like the LCD-2 you won't like the LCD-3 either.  If soundstage was important enough for you to chose HD800 and T1 despite preferring the tone of the LCD-2, I don't think the LCD-3 will change that. 

This comment matches my impressions of the LCD 2.2 and 3.
 
The attribute of the LCD-3 I liked the most was the bass.  I wasn't able to throw my entire collection at it, but it did really nicely with big beat (Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, etc.), American and Euro pop, and more recent Kpop.  IMO, it handles heavily compressed music much more gracefully than the Stax.
 
The soundstage was unremarkable, particularly with concertos, symphonies, and a wide range of ambient recordings.

 

[MacedonianHero]

When properly driven with a good source, the LCD-3's sound staging is on par with the HE-6s. That is to say, just under the T1's ability to portray imaging. Now as has been said before, soundstaging is recorded on the recording. Headphones like the HD800s can ameliorate this and if a super wide sound stage is a top priority, then I would recommend the HD800s or maybe even T1s.
 
I found the sound stage improvements on the LCD-3s one of the best improvements over either version of the LCD-2.
 
EDIT: As rythmdevils put it though, if you're an HD800 kinda guy/gal and not much a fan of the LCD-2s, then the LCD-3s might still not be your cup of tea as they do share a strong family resemblance. Lucky for me (and unlucky for my wallet), I really do appreciate both signatures (with a preference for the Audeze presentation).

 

[subtle]

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so should i return to headroom or audeze direct?

You might want to call them both to verify, however I imagine you will need to return them to Headroom.

 

[Radio_head]

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Definitely. Not to mention subjective mood at the time. During different times of day we feel differently and respond to things differently.

Oh my, that could lead to some circular impressions.  "I was angry because they didn't sound good and thus they sounded worse.  This prompted me to get angrier which caused them to sound worse still.  This process continued until about the 300-hour mark, when I took a sedative to calm myself down.  Curiously enough, I found myself loving the sound at that point.  Very mellow and laid back - not to mention I love the highs."

 

[dailydoseofdaly]

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Oh my, that could lead to some circular impressions.  "I was angry because they didn't sound good and thus they sounded worse.  This prompted me to get angrier which caused them to sound worse still.  This process continued until about the 300-hour mark, when I took a sedative to calm myself down.  Curiously enough, I found myself loving the sound at that point.  Very mellow and laid back - not to mention I love the highs."

 
Haha, nice. Thumbs up for that post

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

When properly driven with a good source, the LCD-3's sound staging is on par with the HE-6s. That is to say, just under the T1's ability to portray imaging. Now as has been said before, soundstaging is recorded on the recording. Headphones like the HD800s can ameliorate this and if a super wide sound stage is a top priority, then I would recommend the HD800s or maybe even T1s.
 
I found the sound stage improvements on the LCD-3s one of the best improvements over either version of the LCD-2.

This exactly matches my impressions. The LCD-2 has a narrow, intimate, almost Grado-like soundstage, while I find the LCD-3 to be almost as impressive as my HE-6 in this area.