[kwkarth]

Quote:

How does the Lyr compare to the Concerto with the LCD2?

Quote:

I can say that the Lyr + LCD-2 = great pairing.
While they can sound great from a good headphone amp, they are still orthos and benefit from the added power.

A few posts back someone commented that the Lyr seems to be considerably more dynamic and lends more substance to the bottom end than the Concerto.
 
 

 

[DeadEars]

 
Quote:

For DeadEars:
 
How is the MAD EAR+ with the LCD-2s?  I have a pair of HD600s with Stephan audioart cable and have had them for years.  I got the LCDs a week ago and have been doing a lot of back and forth using a DACport I received the same day.  Very different presentation between the two phones.
 
I have a MAD line switcher and like dealing with Lloyd.  I'm also impressed with the CEntrance folks.  I like tubes generally, but have read that the DACmini is a very good match.  I find the LCDs pleasantly full and natural and don't think they need any added warmth.  My musical tastes run all over: baroque, opera, jazz, traditional and alt country, rock and so on. 
 
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

As Macedonian Hero suggests, the Ear+ HD is not the best choice for the LCD-2.  However the Ear+ HD Super II (with solid-state rectification) is a lot more robust, and is actually a pretty good match. It will not plumb the deepest bass, since the output transformers start to roll off around 40Hz, and it is also somewhat rolled off at the high end.  But the midrange is pretty special and I enjoy it a lot with the LCD-2's.  Depends on what kind of music you like, I guess.  Would not be my first choice for death metal or hip-hop.  But damn fine for female vocalists, chamber music and acoustic music.  So I wouldn't rule out the higher-powered dual EL84 versions.  On mine, I've substituted oil caps for the nichicon electrolytics and that seems to make it even nicer, but the real limitation does seem to be the bandwidth of the output transformers.  Anyway, it might be just your cup of tea, and I wouldn't reject it on the grounds of power delivery.  Sound quality per dollar is good.
 
I have several of Lloyd's preamps and amps, and agree strongly that he's great to deal with.
 
 
 

 

[MacedonianHero]

How does the Lyr compare to the Concerto with the LCD2?

I can say that the Lyr + LCD-2 = great pairing.

While they can sound great from a good headphone amp, they are still orthos and benefit from the added power.

Let's just say that the Lyr is my ortho "go to" amp.

As good as the Concerto and WA2 sound with my LCD-2s (with a slight preference for the WA2 between these two amps), the Lyr and it's 4 Watts into 50 ohms has shown me that orthos really need a lot of juice to reveal just what they can do.

 

[MacedonianHero]

A few posts back someone commented that the Lyr seems to be considerably more dynamic and lends more substance to the bottom end than the Concerto.
 
 

I agree with this.

 

[MacedonianHero]

 

As Macedonian Hero suggests, the Ear+ HD is not the best choice for the LCD-2.  However the Ear+ HD Super II (with solid-state rectification) is a lot more robust, and is actually a pretty good match. It will not plumb the deepest bass, since the output transformers start to roll off around 40Hz, and it is also somewhat rolled off at the high end.  But the midrange is pretty special and I enjoy it a lot with the LCD-2's.  Depends on what kind of music you like, I guess.  Would not be my first choice for death metal or hip-hop.  But damn fine for female vocalists, chamber music and acoustic music.  So I wouldn't rule out the higher-powered dual EL84 versions.  On mine, I've substituted oil caps for the nichicon electrolytics and that seems to make it even nicer, but the real limitation does seem to be the bandwidth of the output transformers.  Anyway, it might be just your cup of tea, and I wouldn't reject it on the grounds of power delivery.  Sound quality per dollar is good.
 
I have several of Lloyd's preamps and amps, and agree strongly that he's great to deal with.
 
 
 

But while not ideal, I still found that the MAD+HD / LCD-2 was a very good combination still. Especially when I popped in a 12AX7 Genalex Gold Lion power tube.

 

[Wedge]

I would really recommend the WA-22 with the right tube complement for the LCD-2.  I find it to be a fantastic combination.  I do think the tube choices might be a little different for each individuals preferences, but that the nice thing about these types of amps, you have a lot of different combinations you can try out.  I still haven't tried the WA-5 with my LCD-2s but I'll get around to it eventually.

 

[songforyou]

I am partial to tubes.  I've been logging some time with the LCD-2a and the DACport and I'm quite amazed by the combination.  I have a Glowamp1 and I'm going to try that with the DACport as a DAC only (the internal USB on the Glow stinks, but the amp itself is quite good and offers 5w SEP).  I love el84s.  My speaker amp is a Mapleshade Scott 222C (a poor man's Leben?).  It has a headphone out like the Leben, but while it's amazingly musical and transparent (much better than my only X-cans V2), it suffers from a rather pronounced hum that I can't seem to eliminate.
 
I find the DACport excellent value and I wonder how much better the DACmini is.

 

[DeadEars]

Quote:

I am partial to tubes.  I've been logging some time with the LCD-2a and the DACport and I'm quite amazed by the combination.  I have a Glowamp1 and I'm going to try that with the DACport as a DAC only (the internal USB on the Glow stinks, but the amp itself is quite good and offers 5w SEP).  I love el84s.  My speaker amp is a Mapleshade Scott 222C (a poor man's Leben?).  It has a headphone out like the Leben, but while it's amazingly musical and transparent (much better than my only X-cans V2), it suffers from a rather pronounced hum that I can't seem to eliminate.
 
I find the DACport excellent value and I wonder how much better the DACmini is.

 
Yes, I'm a tube guy too, and I love playing around with vintage gear.  Does your Scott hum when all the inputs are disconnected?  Or does it only hum when they are connected?  If the former, then you probably have a weak cap in the power supply (common problem).  If the latter, you probably have a ground loop problem.  In that case, the first thing to try is plugging the AC cord in the other way around (assuming it still has the original plug and has not had a modern 3-wire plug & grounding system put in).  Actually there's a checklist I could give you to troubleshoot.  PM me if interested.
 
Frank

 
 

 

[DeadEars]

Quote:

Quote:

 

As Macedonian Hero suggests, the Ear+ HD is not the best choice for the LCD-2.  However the Ear+ HD Super II (with solid-state rectification) is a lot more robust, and is actually a pretty good match. It will not plumb the deepest bass, since the output transformers start to roll off around 40Hz, and it is also somewhat rolled off at the high end.  But the midrange is pretty special and I enjoy it a lot with the LCD-2's.  Depends on what kind of music you like, I guess.  Would not be my first choice for death metal or hip-hop.  But damn fine for female vocalists, chamber music and acoustic music.  So I wouldn't rule out the higher-powered dual EL84 versions.  On mine, I've substituted oil caps for the nichicon electrolytics and that seems to make it even nicer, but the real limitation does seem to be the bandwidth of the output transformers.  Anyway, it might be just your cup of tea, and I wouldn't reject it on the grounds of power delivery.  Sound quality per dollar is good.
 
I have several of Lloyd's preamps and amps, and agree strongly that he's great to deal with.
 
 
 

But while not ideal, I still found that the MAD+HD / LCD-2 was a very good combination still. Especially when I popped in a 12AX7 Genalex Gold Lion power tube.

Yes, I think it was on your recommendation that I moved away from the 5751 and rolled a bunch of 12AX7 tubes through.  I finally settled on some 1960's Amperex Holland bugle boys that sound really, really good and provide the higher gain that makes the LCD-2's sing with the MAD amp.
 
Tx!
 
Frank
 

 

[Skylab]

I've always wanted to try one of those Mapleshade modded Scott amps.  I'm sure Mapleshade would help you solve the hum issue.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Yes, I think it was on your recommendation that I moved away from the 5751 and rolled a bunch of 12AX7 tubes through.  I finally settled on some 1960's Amperex Holland bugle boys that sound really, really good and provide the higher gain that makes the LCD-2's sing with the MAD amp.
 
Tx!
 
Frank
 

Glad you're enjoying the 12AX7 Bugle Boys...great tubes!

 

[songforyou]

The Mapleshade Scotts sound great.  They are expensive for Scotts and folks who know how to work on these things might find the prices outlandish, but for those of us who just listen to music and know nothing about fixing gear, they are a godsend.  I replaced a $3000 integrated with the Scott and just love the sound every time I turn it on.  I'm very curious to see how it would stack up against the Leben (which appears to be a modern day premium Scott).
 
Mapleshade bypass the original tone controls for starters.  I've had some subsequent changes to the amp (addition of proper speaker terminals instead of the cheesy screws and some caps replaced), but everyone says the same thing: it ain't pretty, but it sounds great. 
 
The headphone has great potential; I just have to figure out the hum.

 

[bcg27]

Hello everyone, I want to start off by saying that I am really enjoying my lcd2s out of my current setup - PC --> amb gamma2 --> amb beta22. It sounds fantastic and I am not looking to change my home setup at this time. However, I would like to be able to take my lcd2s with me when I travel. Not for use on a plane/bus or anything like that, but for use when I get to my destination, so a battery powered amp is not a requirement. Basically I am looking for something that isn't massive like my two box beta22 - it doesn't have to fit in my pocket, but it should easily fit in a backpack. Probably SS, since I it seems to me that travelling with tubes would be a pain and probably wouldn't work out so well for the tubes. Source would be either a laptop hooked up to my gamma2 or LOD from an ipod.
 
Thanks for any suggestions, and if this is a fools quest and I should just get a nice pair of iems for travel feel free to tell me that too 

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Hello everyone, I want to start off by saying that I am really enjoying my lcd2s out of my current setup - PC --> amb gamma2 --> amb beta22. It sounds fantastic and I am not looking to change my home setup at this time. However, I would like to be able to take my lcd2s with me when I travel. Not for use on a plane/bus or anything like that, but for use when I get to my destination, so a battery powered amp is not a requirement. Basically I am looking for something that isn't massive like my two box beta22 - it doesn't have to fit in my pocket, but it should easily fit in a backpack. Probably SS, since I it seems to me that travelling with tubes would be a pain and probably wouldn't work out so well for the tubes. Source would be either a laptop hooked up to my gamma2 or LOD from an ipod.
 
Thanks for any suggestions, and if this is a fools quest and I should just get a nice pair of iems for travel feel free to tell me that too 

Maybe a CEntrance DACmini? I was surprised when I read the dimensions on their website that the size is pretty close to that of a Headroom Desktop Portable which I have on loan from a friend, it will easily fit in my back pack and isn't too heavy. The DACmini would also negate the need for a separate DAC.
 
 

 

[bcg27]

Thanks for the suggestion. That is definitely the form factor that I am looking for, but it is a bit pricey. I also don't like that they won't tell you what chips they are using. I really like to know what is going into my equipment, hence all the DIY stuff I have. I have no problem bringing my gamma2 with me as it is pretty compact - about 4 inches x 3 inches - so I would rather avoid paying extra for a combo DAC/amp unit.