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Amp recommendations for Audeze LCD-2
Jul 4, 2011 at 3:46 AM Post #2,987 of 9,207
I've now been listening with the LCD-2 for a few days and am really enjoying them with the very neutral-sounding Lavry DA 10 DAC/Amp. That combo makes music sound very natural to me - Thumbs up.
 
Jul 4, 2011 at 10:12 PM Post #2,988 of 9,207


Quote:
liqtenexp said:
I am really enjoying the LD MKVI+ so far.  I will try to avoid talking about it's tonal balance because we know that can be tweaked with tubes.  Overall it sounds bigger, wider in sound stage, and a little more life like in presentation.  The imaging on it is totally different than the Lyr and I like it.  It pushes the middle of the sound stage out a little more and things seem to wrap around your head better when transitioning from left to right.  I am running it with the balanced output of my PS Audio DLIII.
 
Everything is just very quick/lively sounding in the lows/mids and is just very enjoyable to listen to, makes the LCD-2 sounds more like a pair of speakers than ever.
 
It may not be worth the hassles though, it sounds great in low gain mode, 10 o'clock is a loud level for the LCD-2 but in high gain mode it has a channel balancing issue that I don't hear in the low gain mode.  The balanced out is black but the 1/4" has some low level noise on it.
 
I am a big fan of it and it is going to be my primary at home now with the Lyr and soon to be Bifrost combo as the alternate.
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My MKVI+ was in it's box, ready to be sold but after reading your post I decided to give it a try with the LCD-2 (in SE mode). Wow ! Way better than with my WA2. The bass has much more impact, instrument separation is much better. Only problem is the low level noise on SE. Didn't tried balanced since my LCD-2 are not balanced. I'm not sure I want to sell it anymore. I might instead sell the WA2 to buy a B22 and keep the MKVI+ to have the better of both worlds : SS and tubes !
 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 12:41 AM Post #2,989 of 9,207


Quote:
rattesp said:
My MKVI+ was in it's box, ready to be sold but after reading your post I decided to give it a try with the LCD-2 (in SE mode). Wow ! Way better than with my WA2. The bass has much more impact, instrument separation is much better. Only problem is the low level noise on SE. Didn't tried balanced since my LCD-2 are not balanced. I'm not sure I want to sell it anymore. I might instead sell the WA2 to buy a B22 and keep the MKVI+ to have the better of both worlds : SS and tubes !
 
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Doh! I was thinking of purchasing your MKVI+. I appreciate the full disclosure in your post about the noise issue. For the amp being three months old you would have thought LD would have found a way to fix this by now.
 
LiqTenExp: I've been wanting to hear your opinion on these three amps that I believe you've owned at some point with the LCD-2: the Leben CS300(x), the Schiit Lyr, and the Little Dot MKVI+. How do these compare, especially taking into account if you're running the MKVI+ in balanced mode? I know you've rolled some tubes (mullard ecc88?) into the Lyr and I believe you mentioned you preferred the sound more than the Leben?
 
Thanks for your posts.
 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 4:11 AM Post #2,990 of 9,207
I can tell you LiqTenExp doesn't like the Leben as a headphone amp, he also never owned it, he was listening to my headphone amps, but we work together and are friends so he can listen to it whenever he feels like coming over.  
o2smile.gif

 
Jul 5, 2011 at 8:48 AM Post #2,991 of 9,207


Quote:
wedge said:
I can tell you LiqTenExp doesn't like the Leben as a headphone amp, he also never owned it, he was listening to my headphone amps, but we work together and are friends so he can listen to it whenever he feels like coming over.  
o2smile.gif
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Ahh ok, it's good to have friends with amps
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How about you, what's your take? Have you been able to compare these amps?
 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 8:49 AM Post #2,992 of 9,207
Yeah,
 
I always thought the Leben sounded great with speakers but I preferred Wedge's P/V or my Lyr for headphones.  I always thought the mids were off (have to listen to it again to explain) on the Leben and sounded too tubey.  I don't feel the MKVI+ sounds too tubey at all.
 
Wedge and I will have to sit down soon with the LD MKVI+ and compare it to my Lyr and his P/V, Leben, and WA-5.  
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 9:07 AM Post #2,993 of 9,207
I don't think the Leben is too "tubey".  I like the Leben a lot, for both speaker and headphone, but it certainly not meant for folks who listen to their music loud.
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 9:12 AM Post #2,994 of 9,207


Quote:
wedge said:
I don't think the Leben is too "tubey".  I like the Leben a lot, for both speaker and headphone, but it certainly not meant for folks who listen to their music loud.
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I'd love to give the Leben a try. At around $3k for the CS300 I don't think I can justify that unless it would be used for speakers as well, which makes me want to jump up to the CS600 for around $5k for the extra power. Even then, I don't know if the 25watts will satisfy a full range speaker for all types of music.
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 9:28 AM Post #2,996 of 9,207
I wonder how all these amp recommendations will be affected by the revised drivers?
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 10:56 AM Post #2,998 of 9,207


Quote:
sphinxvc said:
I've heard the Leben distorts at high volumes w/ HPs.  IMO, that would be unacceptable at $3K.  Any truth to this?
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Not with any headphone I have tried it with except for the HE-6, which makes many amps do this.  With all my other headphones, including the LCD-2, your ears would bleed long before the Leben would distort.
 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 11:17 AM Post #3,000 of 9,207
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