Quote:  MH, I don't want bright HP either! But the 5-10 dB dip in the upper-mids/low treble is too much and not smooth enough to my ears. A smaller (0-3 dB) and more progessive dip would be better IMOHO. And no, I don't consider LCD-3 as neutral as you do. My personal neutral references are...

dleblanc343, I share your disapointment with the LCD-3 regarding their shelved upper mids/treble. It's not so bad with bad modern treble-boosted masters because both flaws kind of neutralize themselves, but with more neutral music like yourself I find the coloration too much and the uneven...

Like Paradoxper, I find the gap between the Bifrost and Gungnir too wide to be bridged just by moding the Bifrost.   In fact, I went from the Bifrost/Lyr combo to Gungnir/Mjolnir and I was very surprised to find even more improvement from Bifrost to Gungnir than from Lyr to Mjolnir...

Signed!

mamba315, neutral just means no particular frequency is boosted or shelved, much like a TV set that faithfully reproduce the picture without adding colour filters, contrast boost or edge enhencement. I doubt many people would find such a TV set "fatiguing". In fact, this is a rather desirable...

Quote:   Works for me, too (with a comparable 31 bands EQ on Mac). And I wouldn't call the difference "subtle" : it really adds "meat" on the HD800 sound, at least to my ears. I guess I'm very sensitive to any shelved upper mids as elevating them in LCD-3 also increase dramatically...

Quote:   I'm also hard pressed to point out negatives, especially coming from the Lyr and having zero experience with top end amps. Too bad about your problems with your unit, olor1n, hope your next will be fine. Like many, I find the Mjolnir very transparent, fast and honest. It pairs...

I agree with Solude: the shelved upper mids add an unnecessary warm tonality to classical and slightly close the soundstage. If you can EQ slightly the upper mids/lower treble (2-4 kHz), then the tonality is more faithful and the soundstage opens up, but not to HD800 level.

Quote:   LFF, how would you rate the MFSL LP box ?

  Quote:   Check your new FR graph: if the flat line doesn't extend to at least 1.5 kHz, chances ares you still have a bad pair. Just the fact that you hear larger soundstage with your LCD-2 rev1 is not consistent with good LCD-3. I've had 3 pairs of LCD-3 and even the heavily veiled...

  Quote:   LOL! JaMi happens to speak French (we just talked privately) and even lived in the same city as I for a while . I guess we can blame it on the fact that he currently lives in the USA (I did too but it was some 15+ years ago...). Seriously, we're cool on the subject and I...

  Quote: I agree with you that the HD800 is a bit on the bright side of neutral (at least that's how I hear it) but my LCD-3 is definitely darker than LFF's Paradox that sounds and MEASURES neutral. To my ears, male vocals are affected and appear less lively (they sound "tired") than they...

  Quote:   I don't know the rev.2 so I can't comment except that with the LCD-3 it also adds more fatigue and I have to listen at lower levels. Maybe if you try different EQ you will eventually find a good compromise. My average EQ is just 1,5 dB at 2,5 kHz, 3 dB at 3 kHz and 1,5 at 4...

  Quote:   Exactly my impressions : if you apply a little EQ (2-3 dB) in the 3 to 6 kHz range, you remove most of the darkness and suddenly details retrieval seems increased but it was there in the first place. It's just easier to hear with a bright sound signature than a dark one. On...

The S7 is tempting, as it's good with either HD800 or LCD-3, but it's more than twice the price of Mjolnir! Was the prototype close to the S7? Do you have any idea when the next production batch of S7 will be available? I guess I also will have to eventually update the DAC too...

  Quote:   1. Yes 2. About 100 SACD or iso 3. About 10 % 4. Yes, but comes after sound quality 5. about 100-200 if SQ is better than analog out from my Oppo 95

Purrin, do you think a better amp (Super 7 or the upcoming Mjolnir) would help me getting a less dark sound (and better vocals!) or is it the LCD-3 sound signature and there's no way to help except EQ?

  Quote:   I only have a modest setup (Bifrost + Lyr with Siemens CCa) so the comparison might be very different with a better setup. But I would say that stock "unveiled" LCD-3 (my RMA'd 2nd pair) still sound too dark to my taste (it's less neutral thanHD800) and that coloration tends...

Quote: Certainly not me! Although I paid a heavy price (150 €/$200 ) to ship my pair back to Audeze. Even with my modest setup (Audiophilleo2 + Bifrost + Lyr with excellent tubes) the improvement is impressive: now it's a tie with my HD800 and choosing one instead of the other has more...

Quote: Of course: I have LFF's Paradox to attest . It's just my feeling and Purrin's experience with the TP mod that attests that dampening of the outside of LCD-3's driver could not "cure" the severe bass in the veiled pair. If the cure was done with just dampening, then it's in the...

I got my RMA'd LCD-3 from Audeze (it took less than 2 weeks including shipping from Europe) and I can confirm this time they are no longer veiled as my 1st and 2nd pair were. I let them burn-in a few hours (they sounded a little too dark out of the box) and now the bass is much tighter and...

Quote: That was my experience with my first LCD-3 pair (pre-order in early November) which sounded awfully veiled: they immediately sent an RMA and paid all expenses (except for the taxes the customs imposed on me despite this being a return and not a sale). But my second pair pair is...

Thanks Purrin. "No longer sounds like a sub" is exactly what I was expecting the bass to be in the first place. Wonder how LFF will appreciate them now that they're fixed.... Quote:  

  Quote: That's great news Purrin! Apart from the upper mids that are no longer veiled, is the bass also tighter and doesn't mask some of the lower mids as my pair does? Do you still feel the need to mod them to sound more neutral?  Now that I have the Paradox I can finally send my veiled...

"Too relaxed" is certainly not how I would characterize the S&H CCa  with either LCD-2.1 or LCD-3,  but it's true that, as their energy is not concentrated on the center of the soundstage as, for example, 6N1P, the might appear more relaxed. My Siemens E88CC sound more energetic than the CCa but...