[podme]

This is nothing more than an admiration (and a little comparison) post for the Audeze LCD-2. I'm sure there are many more like it and if not, man there absolutely should be.
 
In short, you owe yourself the experience of sitting in a comfy chair, putting these on your head, throwing on some lossless, and losing yourself completely for a few hours. Forget your usual "hey here's a new headphone so let me cycle through my usual tracks" behaviors. You'll find yourself listening to full albums and exploring whole new genres thanks to the beautiful lush signature of these headphones.
 
Some caveats. I've only listened to these cans through some pretty high end gear... Here is my home setup:
 
PC > Zodiac+ > Balanced XLR > WA22 > Balanced Silver XLR
 
I've also tried it on a Bryston BHA-1 amp with the same cabling with similar results. I have a mojo and a few other portable dacs on hand that I can test with should someone request it. I use the same setup above to drive my HD800, T1 and AD2000x. I actually got this specific setup to drive the HD800 and was happy with the setup but kept searching for more which is when I discovered the Audeze LCD2. I am using the same setup to drive the LCD3.
 
The LCD3 is not a neutral headphone so while YMMV, for me they are absolute bliss and quite ahead of the LCD2 in a number of key areas:
 

• Low end response is way ahead in terms of both sub-bass as well as speed & resolution
• The overall resolving power of the LCD3 just opens up the music and introduces so much more instrumental separation but still maintains the same musicality that I became to love in the LCD2
• Because of the increased resolving power, the LCD2 just becomes to sound darker than the 3's. I wouldn't have called the LCD2 dark before listening to the 3's

 
With all of that said, I still unconditionally love my LCD-2 and what they have contributed to my journey. They introduced me to the brilliant LCD-X and finally the LCD-3. In appreciation of my wallet, I am going to hold off putting on the LCD-4 as long as I can. I really wish I can afford to hold on to the LCD-2 while owning the LCD-3. Unfortunately, the LCD-3s are just better than the LCD-2 and in a linear way. They're not different; they are simply better. 
 
If you are in this price range in your quest for sound and have the components necessary to power the LCD-2, please do yourself a favor and put these on your head. Tell the shop owner to leave you the hell alone for an hour and lose yourself. You'll be glad you did.
 
I'm curious, what were the headphones that gave you this kind of feeling?

 

[headhog]

None I could only imagine what a LCD sounds like.

 

[Katun]

Nice write up. Love reading these types of posts.
 
Do you have the fazor version of both the LCD-2 and LCD-3?
 
The pre-fazor LCD-2.2 is my favorite sounding headphone of all time. When I had first purchased them, I was simply running them off my X3-II with fantastic results. Stupidly of me I sold them off, but soon repurchased the newer fazor LCD-2, a balanced cable, and the Mjolnir to do them more of a "justice". Turns out, I didn't enjoy them anywhere near as much as my pre-fazor LCD-2 and off a much cheaper and simpler source to boot. Audeze trying to tweak the LCD-2 to be more "neutral" doesn't fly with me and in doing so the newer models have lost their amazingly bewitching sound. It's too bad Audeze doesn't offer the pre-fazor/original LCD-2.2 anymore. I wonder if the experience would be similar between the pre-fazor and fazor LCD-3?

 

[podme]

Thanks for the acknowledgement
 
I have not had a chance to try the un-Fazored versions (I'll mention that in my write-up). From what I've heard of the differences from others, the Fazored versions have slightly lower bass response among one or two other tweaks. The difference to my ears in bass response between the 2, X and 3 is like night and day. I don't feel the lower end bass presence on the 2 and X nearly as much as the 3 so yes, I would imagine that that could be what the gap between the Fazor vs un-Fazored design would feel like.

 

[1974]

A local dealer gave me the LCD-2, LCD-X, and LCD-3 at the same time to demo at home for a few days. Ultimately I preferred the price point and sound of the LCD-2, and I still have them. I often wonder if LCD-3's superiority would've become apparent after some brain burn-in on the Audeze sound. I was coming from Denon cans, which admittedly are way different. I assumed people's description of LCD-3's overall sound being "maybe 15% better" than the LCD-2 was accurate, and that you really weren't missing much for an extra $1000. I'm still not sure how Audeze can justify such a big price jump for something that looks/feels/sounds *very* similar? Don't get me started on the LCD-4 price, although in fairness I haven't heard them yet.

 

[podme]

  A local dealer gave me the LCD-2, LCD-X, and LCD-3 at the same time to demo at home for a few days. Ultimately I preferred the price point and sound of the LCD-2, and I still have them. I often wonder if LCD-3's superiority would've become apparent after some brain burn-in on the Audeze sound. I was coming from Denon cans, which admittedly are way different. I assumed people's description of LCD-3's overall sound being "maybe 15% better" than the LCD-2 was accurate, and that you really weren't missing much for an extra $1000. I'm still not sure how Audeze can justify such a big price jump for something that looks/feels/sounds *very* similar? Don't get me started on the LCD-4 price, although in fairness I haven't heard them yet.

To me, as someone that has had that "burn-in to the Audeze sound" and then A/B/C testing against the X and the 3, every minute difference was evident. There is an analogy here somewhere about the best just got better and then tying that to something that is so viscerally close to you and can have such a vast emotional impact. I didn't expect the world out of the X and the 3 since until listening to them, the LCD-2 was already the best sounding headphone I'd ever heard (even comparing to the dull T1 and the analytical HD800) so there was no expectation bias. I heard from the LCD-3 what I never thought to be missing from the 2's.
 
In short, while the technical improvement might be 15 or 20%, all of the little improvements and tweaks comprise of a vast fullfilment of the signature sound that brought me to love the LCD-2 in the first place. The LCD-2, X and 3 is like a proud parent of 3 over-achievers.

 

[1974]

Have you listened to a well amped HE-6? That's what I'm currently looking into. For the price of LCD-3, I could buy both the HE-6 and a powerful speaker amp to drive it. I'm assuming the HE-6 will have better treble and larger soundstage, while still being as detailed and bass extended/textured as the LCD-2. We'll see...

 

[podme]

I've heard comparisons swinging in favor of the LCD-3 when comparing against the HE-6 but honestly, after my experience with the LCD-3 vs the 2, I'm not putting much stock into others' recollections.

 

[Russian1]

I do not want to sound like a fan boy... but, did you have a chance to listen to HE-560? 
After these gorgeous cans I could not hear LCD-2 as they were too closed, I mean the sound stage was too narrow. 
 
The base of HE-560 is great, the treble is... 
Actually you have to try them, especially considering the price.

 

[podme]

I've not heard the HIFIMANs yet but definitely curious... will have to audition them at some point. Seems like people either prefer one or the other.

 

[1974]

I've never tried the 560s, but have owned both the 5-LE and 500s. Sold them for LCD-2s after a shootout at a friend's house. The Audeze murdered them in so many ways, but the upfront nature and sparkly treble of HiFiMan cans is definitely fun. The HE-6 when tapped from a quality high powered speaker amp is in a different class altogether, but unfortunately very few people get to hear this and instead judge them on being poorly driven from 99% of dedicated headphone amps.

 

[deafdoorknob]

while I definitely enjoyed the LCD2 sound immensely, a rather vocal minority's experiences in regards to reliability has me concerned with justifying spending almost 1k on it, at least for now...

 

[buson160man]

 I have a prefazor lcd2 (with the wooden encased input jacks) And they do sound damn musical . But I agree soundstage is not one of their strong suits . My akg 701 destroys them in that area being way more spacious . But there is a definite beguiling listenability with the lcd 2 .  Another thing is wearability the clamping effect you get from the audeze phones is definitely not good for long term comfort after as little as several songs you feel the ever tightening grip of a vice clamping around your head . I can wear my akg 701s for hours and never feel the need to just rip them off my head to relieve the pressure on my skull .
  As a result when I want to listen in comfort I usually reach for my akg 701s quite a bit more than my lcd2s . But the audezes do have a sound that is very enjoyable and fatigue free at least as far as listening is concerned .

 

[deafdoorknob]

does it really need to be fatigue free when your neck/skull give out before your ears ;p

(something for beyerdynamic to contemplate lol)

 

[UnderScore96]

I tried a pair of Tesla T1s in Sim Lim square and was blown away. I almost couldn't bring myself to leave the store but they're unfortunately far out of my price range.