I was very excited to try the LCD-4 after hearing about the improvements to the sound Audeze has made and reports that it is the best of the line yet.
 
Comfort:
The headband is great and clamp-free for those that despise clamp. However the cups are still very heavy and I feel it needs a tiny bit of clamp to not be in danger of falling off my head should I stand up or reach over to change the volume. Of course headbanging is impossible.

Bass:
Very smooth and well extended. Perhaps the smoothest I've ever heard. Smoother than the slicked up floor of a surgical ward. So smooth that it lacks texture and especially impact. The lack of impact compared to almost all other Audeze headphones and dynamic driver cans is huge. The LCD-4 never boxes your ears. Slayer and Suffocation were so laid back, my brain was never in danger of being caught in a brutal mosh pit between the cups of the LCD-4. You know how Shure claims to have "liquid mids"? The LCD-4 has liquid bass.

Mids:
Once again super-smooth and grain free. A pleasant improvement over the other Fazors which can be somewhat grainy. The upper mids are recessed but clean, the Audeze house sound.

Treble:
The treble is vanquished. The LCD4 succeeds in pleasantly rendering the brutal cymbals of Blasphemy's Fallen Angel of Doom and the ultra-clipped snare samples of modern hip hop. Unfortunately, the metallic percussion of Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet was presented as tiny bits of distortion above the other instruments rather than cymbals, snares, triangles.

Audio Quality: 5/10 The LCD-4 is good at what it does.
Comfort: 7/10 Comfortable but needs to be more secure on the head.
Design: 5/10 Audeze clearly meant for the LCD-4 to fit and sound like this.
Value: 2/10 If you can afford the LCD-4, it has its place.

Conclusion:
The smoothest ever. I prefer the LCD-X myself as it's a bit livelier but the LCD-4 has its place. The LCD-4 is recommended for those who do not wish to deal with any potentially unpleasant viscerality from their chosen recordings.

The Flare Audio R1's cups are made of metal. The shiny and chrome circles can be polished clean and gleam in the light. Sliding freely along two nails, they must be pressed against your ears for the headphone does not clamp at all. This is the least comfortable full-size headphone I have ever used. Maybe you're supposed to nail it down to your head, Hellraiser-style. The Flares are from the vortex.
 
The R1 sounds like you're stuck six feet underground while the band plays fifty yards away. It's what Jimmy Hoffa hears and he's dead. Cheap headphones like the Koss KSC75, PortaPros, and the Apple Earbuds with the slit out-resolve it. This headphone is only worth its weight in scrap. There is nothing positive about it. You can't even watch Youtube with it. I would rather listen to elevator music over a rotary telephone while on hold. Whoever designed these should be forced to buy back every single unit, smelt them down, and lower himself into the molten metal like Arnold Schwarzenegger at the end of Terminator 2