Audeze LCD-3 (fazor)
Introduction: I’ve been curious about Audeze since I bought my HiFiMAN HE-500 years ago. In the meantime, I’ve heard a few other planar designs: Mr. Speakers Aeon closed, Audeze LCD-X, Kennerton Rognir, Monoprice M1060, perhaps a few others. I finally succumbed to my curiosity and bought a pair of LCD-3 from a fellow Head-fi member.
That classic Audeze form
What I Listened to: I used my long-term home reference gear. My two main systems are:
- AK70 Mk II (USB out) / Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Bifrost I multi-bit -> Schiit Mjolnir I
- Laptop (USB out) -> Schiit Gungnir multi-bit/ Unison -> Schiit Sys -> Schiit Aegir
My long-term reference head phones are HiFiMAN HE-500 and Stax SR Lambda, and more recently a pair of HiFiMAN HE-6 (6-screw). My son and a friend of mine also spent an afternoon trying out several different head phones (at least briefly). My son’s Sennheiser HD-660 and LCD-X 2021 as well as my friend’s HiFiMAN HE-1000 V2, Focal Utopia and Clear and Sennheiser HD-600 and HD-650 were all available to try.
Soundstage: the LCD-3 presented a fairly wide soundstage for me. It was at least ear-to-ear wide, and sometimes out to the “ends” of the ear cups. It was pretty flat, though. Listening to John Adams’ “Harmonielehre” I was struck by the tympani being to the left of the brass, but along side of them rather than behind them. And with Mahler’s Symphony 9 the trombones at the beginning of the 3rd Movement sound as if they are sitting among the cellos. I’ll admit, though, I didn’t spend much time analyzing the soundstage, I’m not good at hearing spatial cues when listening to head phones so I tend to ignore soundstage.
First impressions: the first night I listened to the LCD-3 something felt off. I’ve spent the past few weeks trying, off and on, to figure out what it is. The aspect I noticed first is most of the time both bass and treble sound recessed, down in level, compared with the mids. My son immediately declared the LCD-3 “midrange monsters”. Over the time I listened to the LCD-3 I found this to not always be the case, but it often was.
Highs: cymbals in
The Doctor by Doc Powell were almost invisible. By that I don’t mean I couldn’t hear them, although they were a bit recessed compared to other head phones I have or have had, but that they were so anonymous they faded into the back ground and I didn’t really listen to them. Similarly, “Zipperlips” by Sweetman from
Austin Back Alley Blue were also splashy and indistinct, not demanding of attention. Finally, there’s that sustained high note near the end of “Limelight” Alex Lifeson holds. To me, it’s supposed to be piercing and nearly painful. Quite the opposite with the LCD-3. “Versailles” from The Modern Jazz Quartet’s Fontessa was a treat. The triangle was bright and sparkled, vibes present (though without much decay) and the stand-up bass was in the mix. The piano did sound a bit hollow.
Mids: Miles Davis’ trumpet in “Right Off” from A Tribute to Jack Johnson was piercing and irritating. But then, the violin in Shostakovich’s String Quartet #2 was well portrayed and a pleasure to listen to. Similarly, listening to
The Barber of Seville I enjoyed the vocals and the accompaniment. There was some peakiness when the singers hit loud notes which were rough, but overall the sound was pretty good.
Lows: “All Right Now”, also from Doc Powell’s
The Doctor proves problematic for many head phones. I don’t know if the electric bass is simply recorded low in level, or is too deep to be reproduced well by most head phones. Either way, I almost couldn’t hear it when listening with the LCD-3. Stravinsky’s
Rite of Spring, near the end of the first movement, there are repeated tympani strikes. Rather than being threatening, they are flat and dull, non-events. Oddly, “2049” from the soundtrack to
Blade Runner: 2049 had good bass impact and the ear cups were filled with low frequency goodness.
The bamboo is pretty
Dynamics, transients and articulation: The Who’s “Join Together” is a good example of what I think makes the LCD-3 unsatisfying for me. Pete Townsend’s guitar, Roger Daltry’s harmonica, John Entwhistle’s bass are all at the same level and all sound flat. The texture is missing and thus the song fails to make my toes tap. This is one of my favorite happy songs, and it’s a let-down not to be tapping along with The Who. And then there’s the odd track which is presented well. “Napalm for Breakfast” from
The Apocalypse Now Sessions by The Rhythm Devils had satisfyingly deep bass, good transient response for the plucked strings and was an all-around enjoyable experience.
In A Nutshell: The music I enjoyed most with the LCD-3 was small-scale, mellow music. Small group acoustic jazz, vocals (chant and early church music, too) provided consistent high points. But, if I want to be smooth and mellow while I read the Sunday paper, I have my Meze Rai Pentas which I can drive with my A&K AK70 Mk II (I prefer the Pentas with my Questyle DAP). My reservations about the LCD-3 all came together when I listened to “It’s for You” from Pat Metheny’s
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls album. At the very beginning of the song, Steve Rodby plays a simple line on the electric bass. Through the LCD-3 the notes, though distinct and well-separated, were flat and two dimensional. When listening with my HE-500 those same notes, even at the same volume setting I used with my LCD-3 (giving the loudness advantage squarely to the much more efficient LCD-3), were rounder, had more three dimensionality and more complex overtones. Later, nearer the end of that same song, after the tension-building middle section, Pat switches from that repeated seven note motif to lead guitar again and is accompanied by a triangle. I’m used to the guitar being front-and-center and the triangle front but slightly to the left. However, the LCD-3 presents the guitar to the right and the triangle to the left. Very strange and somehow wrong.
What I think it all comes down to is articulation and transient response, at least mostly. All the head phones and IEMs I keep provide more three dimensionality in reproducing notes. Leading edges are sharper, staccato notes stop faster and sustained notes decay longer. They each have more gradations of loudness as well. With the LCD-3, more times than not, the music I listened to sounded flat.
...and a peek at those planar drivers.
Conclusion: it’s obvious the LCD-3 are not for me. The short version is: their performance was uneven with the music I listen to most. Frequently they were uninvolving to me with occasional flashes of goodness. A while ago I had a week or so with a pair of LCD-X (and my son now has a pair of LCD-X 2021) and they were the exact opposite of the LCD-3. I really enjoyed the LCD-X and the energy they give. I found myself dialing up the volume constantly and then having to turn it back down because my ears hurt. It was fun, but ultimately I decided the LCD-X were
too energetic, to the point of being relentless, for my taste. I gave the LCD-X back to my friend and went back to my HE-500. I am excited to hear my son’s LCD-X 2021 to see if Audeze was able to retain the excitement while dialing it back just a touch. My son is very happy with them. Thankfully, the LCD-3 have found an appreciative home and are being enjoyed.
2014 << 2019 << 2017
Try a 2017 version and tell me