[Equus]

Honestly, I wouldn't go with a P1u with the LCD-2.  From the little time I spent with it at a meet (so not ideal conditions) with the T1 and LCD-2, the treble is pretty bright and harsh.  Very detailed, however, so it will depend on your music preferences and the rest of your setup.  The caveat to all this is that I also personally find the HD800 harsh and don't have a major gripe with the "recessed treble" on the LCD-2 when I had my Stacker, so YMMV.

 

[wower]

Yeah, I want a bit more detail and brightness for my orchestral records so the P1U might be the way to go if it's power requirements are up to par. I agree tho the tilted highs don't really bother me all that much. Pop/Rock/Reggae are all much more bearable on the LCD2. And the way the phones lock into the groove is great.

I've been listening to Plants and Animals last two disks; just great! But the LCD2, like my AD2000s before, just do not offer the sense of realistic scale of a large orchestra and cellos are just not sounding as textured - or maybe they are excellently textured but just not as much bite as my AD2000s. There is no such thing as a perfect phone!

 
The deccaware amp is so intriguing but it's a lot to spend for a single phone amp. I've come te believe that amps/cable/sources etc, can only slightly affect the sound sig of a phone. So if you aren't enjoying the sound sig, it's not going to be radically fixed by changing the amp. Better to try another phone. ASR has some interesting comments on this that swayed me to his point of view.

 

[TigzStudio]

Quote:

....on the LCD-2 when I had my Stacker, so YMMV.

Your stacker is gone?!?!

 

[vcoheda]

the BA is absolutely brilliant with the LCD2, although i understand that this amp will be outside of most budgets.

 

[stef50millbay]

Does anyone know the current waiting time for the LCD2?I have been waiting since the 15 of september..When it comes I will tell how it sounds with the concerto and matrix m stage..I also brought the miniwatt speaker tap just in case and it works great on an old phono stage amp..I listen at one half of one digit out of ten,with my K701and its clean and quite power..If you have LCD2 amp doubts,its the way to go for insurance .Also was wondering where is a good place to buy tubes for mini tori, as I am just starting out..Thanks for any help.

 

[Equus]

Quote:

Your stacker is gone?!?!

It's on extended loan back to sachu. 

  When he was up here for the Seattle meet, we swapped out the pot, but there was still hiss coming through the right channel.  We figured it would be a good time to get some reworking and rewiring done and see if the hiss could be attenuated.  So far I think the feet have been switched out, some of the wiring redone, and he was planning on seeing if adding some shielded cable to the input stage and trying to isolate the power supply would help at all.  So far it sounds like there's still some hiss on the right channel.  Maybe if he can get in touch with dbel he'll have some advice.
 
So long story only slightly longer, I temporarily don't have my Stacker.  I'm going through withdrawals now tho...I have the ALO cable but am driving the LCD-2 off a D10.

 
Quote:

the BA is absolutely brilliant with the LCD2, although i understand that this amp will be outside of most budgets.

Got a chance to listen to my LCD-2's with Kingstyles' BA.  It was pretty nice.  Not quite as organic as the Stacker rig, but very clean and precise.  Very nice imaging.

 

[Nebby]

Quote:

Does anyone know the current waiting time for the LCD2?I have been waiting since the 15 of september..When it comes I will tell how it sounds with the concerto and matrix m stage..I also brought the miniwatt speaker tap just in case and it works great on an old phono stage amp..I listen at one half of one digit out of ten,with my K701and its clean and quite power..If you have LCD2 amp doubts,its the way to go for insurance .Also was wondering where is a good place to buy tubes for mini tori, as I am just starting out..Thanks for any help.

I submitted my email on August 16th and got my payment request on October 7th, package that I received today lists a ship date of Oct 11th.

 

[Solude]

Down to two months nice

 

[vilasn]

Hi,
 
How would you compare your M-Stage with PS-GCHA using LCD-2.
 
Thanks.
 
Quote:

I have been listening since friday to the PS Audio GCHA and I can say so  far this amp is impressing me with the LCD2 as the sound stage has opened up considerably from the tube Decware.It is transparent had very good bass and just the right amount of detail and is organic in presentation. It is still burning in and is showing signs of what a good SS amp has refinement, detail and most important to me is the musicality. It also may be the last amp the PS audio does for the headphone market and I am keeping this one.

 

[Frank I]

I liked the sound stage and refined approach of the PS Audio amp with the LCD2 in the end I still much preferred my CSP-2. Matrix had more bass slam and less sound stagwe also was more forward with vocals but still for the money the Matrix is still top of the roost for best value. I like Matrix better than Asgard. GLite and almost as much as the S Audio. Cant miss either way if you like SS amps. I prefer tube amps overall for the musicality.

 

[sachu]

Quote:

It's on extended loan back to sachu. 

  When he was up here for the Seattle meet, we swapped out the pot, but there was still hiss coming through the right channel.  We figured it would be a good time to get some reworking and rewiring done and see if the hiss could be attenuated.  So far I think the feet have been switched out, some of the wiring redone, and he was planning on seeing if adding some shielded cable to the input stage and trying to isolate the power supply would help at all.  So far it sounds like there's still some hiss on the right channel.  Maybe if he can get in touch with dbel he'll have some advice.
 
So long story only slightly longer, I temporarily don't have my Stacker.  I'm going through withdrawals now tho...I have the ALO cable but am driving the LCD-2 off a D10.

 

Got a chance to listen to my LCD-2's with Kingstyles' BA.  It was pretty nice.  Not quite as organic as the Stacker rig, but very clean and precise.  Very nice imaging.

 
 
Well Ethan,
 
Got the hiss out...it didn't bother me when i had the stacker as i used to use the inefficient wharfie isodynamics and was only apparent with the TPs. 
 
However, putting in a ground loop breaker, new rubber feet, grounding the front panel helped in alleviating the problem for the most part. However, the hiss persisted on the right channel and it just got too weird for me to figure out why it was acting that way. I rechecked everything and saw that I had not grounded the base plate. I was so sure i had done this eons ago. Grounding that immediately got rid of nearly all the hiss on the right channel.  
 
Say what you want, even after listening to the Balancing act, which in its own right is an exceptional amplifier, very clean sounding, but just doesn't hold a candle to the stacker in terms of pure aural pleasure. And now with the input wiring re-done with the TKD pot and ALO UPOCC solid core hook up cable, its at a level that only the Liquid Fire seems to exceed. This is a gem of an amp and a rarity among these parts with less than a dozen of them being built. I'd do away with all amps and just be happy with this or the Liquid Fire. 
 
I know the repairs/maintenance on the amp is done now, but I am sure you wouldn't mind if I hang on to it for a few more days buddy. Looking at this beautiful sounding red machine on my desk again literally brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for being patient with me dude and for giving me the opportunity to listen to her sing again.
 
The LCD-2 and the Stacker 2 ( mainly speaking about the Red Baron) is to me (and i know to a few others as well), reference..

 

[sachu]

And Ken from ALO Audio wanted to listen to the amp after the maintenance and re-wiring. Am sure you'd be cool with that if it means hanging on to it for a few more days. Ken graciously donated the hook up wire that's in the amp now as he too loves this amp. 

 

[tisb0b]

Have you had the opportunity to listen to the LCD-2's on the concerto?
 
Quote:

And Ken from ALO Audio wanted to listen to the amp after the maintenance and re-wiring. Am sure you'd be cool with that if it means hanging on to it for a few more days. Ken graciously donated the hook up wire that's in the amp now as he too loves this amp. 

 

[K3cT]

I've heard the Concerto and frankly I'm not even sure if it's better than the M-Stage... 

 

[gsilver]

Really?
 
I'm upgrading from the M-Stage to the Concerto soon, and while I've never been disappointed by the M-Stage's performance (except with the HD650, but it might just be their sound signature), I'm hoping that the Concerto is a better unit.
 
Still, many of the recordings that I listen to really need crossfeed, which the M-Stage doesn't do. The hard-panning on early stereo recordings can be a bit difficult to listen to on headphones without it.