[Pharmaboy]

Hi,

Picked up a Dackard a few weeks ago.what gain setting do you guys use for your LCD-2f ?

I Find medium to be more forward than low gain anyone else experience this.

Cheers

How do you like the sound of this amp?

I've never heard a Deckard. But there has been a slow-motion discussion here and in other threads about the sound of low vs medium vs high gain. Many believe, as you say, that there are sonic differences between gain settings. I tend to believe that also (high gain means greater amplification than low gain = more electronics brought to bear on that line-level signal coming into the amp. But since I only use low gain on all my amps, it's just conjecture.

I do have an LCD-2, one of the original ".2" versions (pre-fazor). I've tried this on 3 solid state amps of widely varying power (Liquid Carbon v2; Lake People G109-A; and Violectric V281. In all 3 cases, I got more than enough volume without ever reaching ~10:00 to 10:30 on dial(s).

• FYI, the Deckard's power output is 4W@20 ohms, which is somewhat less than the V281's but more than the G109-A's.

The only headphone I have that could possibly justify a higher gain stage is the power-hungry planar, ZMF Ori. But even there I get more than enough volume at ~11:30 to 12:00 on the dial(s), so never bothered changing gain.

 

[X-Frame]

I’m the same. I have the LCD-2C’s though but my max comfortable listening volume on Low Gain with the Deckard is maybe 11 o’clock. If I switch to Medium then I have no room for volume adjustment. It sounds wonderful to me on Low Gain as well.

I still am new to this hobby but I don’t understand the technical reasons why Gain stages would change the sound if the end volume result is the same. If measured that getting to for example 80 decibels volume is 12 o’clock on Low Gain but the same 80 decibels at 10 o’clock on Medium Gain — what is the difference? Isn’t the same exact power being outputted? I know this is more of a general question than exclusive to the Deckard.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I’m the same. I have the LCD-2C’s though but my max comfortable listening volume on Low Gain with the Deckard is maybe 11 o’clock. If I switch to Medium then I have no room for volume adjustment. It sounds wonderful to me on Low Gain as well.

I still am new to this hobby but I don’t understand the technical reasons why Gain stages would change the sound if the end volume result is the same. If measured that getting to for example 80 decibels volume is 12 o’clock on Low Gain but the same 80 decibels at 10 o’clock on Medium Gain — what is the difference? Isn’t the same exact power being outputted? I know this is more of a general question than exclusive to the Deckard.

Well, I'm hardly the electrical engineering wizard around here. But your 2nd paragraph kind of misses the point: the end result of changing gain is not the same at all. Here's what I mean...a mental exercise:

• Find the perfect spot on the volume pot for your LCD-2 at low gain on a given piece of music.
• Now turn the music off
• Then, without changing the position of the volume pot, increase the gain to medium, high, or whatever the next gain level is
• Now start the music again. Of course it'll be 6dB louder, 10dB louder, or whatever the gain differential is going from "low" to "medium" or "high"

That additional volume is what changed. In other words, the amplifier is modifying the incoming line level signal considerably more at high gain than at low gain. Understand, "modify" means primarily the addition of volume; but it can also include slightly higher distortion output & other variations in measured output signal vs the signal coming in.

• In a well designed amp with abundant, well-regulated power supplies, this may not have any sonic consequences at all. Or it may have tiny/subtle sonic consequences. What you get is totally amp- and system-dependent.
• There's also an interaction with the amp's "load," the headphone. Higher sensitivity/lower impedance headphones will more readily convey any such subtle sonic changes.

In general, gain is a funny thing. Some people on Head-Fi described going from a DAC with nominal output voltage of, say, 2.0 volts, to a new DAC with higher nominal output (3.0 volts or higher)--and finding their downstream gear (headphone amp, preamp, speakers, whatever) sounds just a little different, even w/preamp volume pot optimally adjusted.

 

[Damien Chung]

Would the LCD 2.2 Pre-fazor match well with the deckard

 

[Pharmaboy]

I haven't heard the Deckard, though I nearly bought one at one time. I love the look of it; and many describe it as slightly warm, musical amp (ie, my cup of tea).

I have, however, heard a borrowed LCD-2F (fazor, ~2 yrs old) & my own LCD-2.1 (all original, 1st gen everything but pad)...on various solid state amps that are also often described as slightly warm (V281; Lake People G109-A; Liquid Carbon v2). I also heard the LCD-2.1 at length on an OTL tube amp (Woo WA3).

So my guess is the LCD-2.1 or 2.2 pre-fazor might sound good on the Audeze, all other things equal.

I wouldn't relish the thought of hearing either LCD-2 with amps described as "accurate," "detailed," "high resolution," etc. I say that for 2 reasons:

• Despite all the descriptions of the LCD-2s as warm, musical, bassy, euphonic--I don't find them to be warm to any significant degree. The bass is rather nice for an open-back planar (though not basshead territory); and the rest of the range strikes me middle-of-the-road in tonality.
• Both have a tendency to sound slightly bright/peaky in the upper mids on certain cuts (guessing this is a narrow & shallow spike in upper mids). I suspect that a "neutral" or "cold, clinical" SS amp might make these headphones sound brighter, to a point I would find objectionable.

I'm treble- and brightness-averse, so take this all with a grain of salt.

Some favor wide open treble/slightly tipped up tonality...for them, a not-at-all warm amp might be the ticket on the LCD-2s.

 

[Ashah]

I have the Deckard and a mojo , sold my LCD 2f last year and now have the LCD X I use the Deckard , Love the amp side of the unit as I also have a Schilt Gungnir & a PS audio DirectStream which is in my main system but some time I use it with the Deckard as a DAC for my Desk top listening, I think Deckard is one of the most under rated headphone amps

 

[Jay Smith]

I have the Deckard and a mojo , sold my LCD 2f last year and now have the LCD X I use the Deckard , Love the amp side of the unit as I also have a Schilt Gungnir & a PS audio DirectStream which is in my main system but some time I use it with the Deckard as a DAC for my Desk top listening, I think Deckard is one of the most under rated headphone amps

I agree. I also has mojo and Deckard to drive Beyer T1.2, amp is Beyer A2 and Icon audio mk2, run thru Macbook Audirvana plus. I use deckard as Dac instead of Mojo most of the time, Mojo is good but sounds too forward and it did not work out in my system. Deckard as Dac is pretty musical and balance but not as details as Mojo. Recently I acquired a used dac Matrix Audio X-sabre, now I know how much better the dac can improve my system, I no longer use Mojo and Deckard as dac.

 

[bungles]

Has anyone paired the Deckard with the Chord Mojo? I currently have a Mojo and and wanting a little more oomph from the amp section to power my lcd2c's

 

[hawkwindx]

Never used a mojo but mine is paired up with a JDS Labs EL DAC and it sounds great with the LCD-3's I bought new in August of this year, 2018.

 

[hawkwindx]

*

 

[muscleking]

anybody tried USB cable rolling with deckard? how is the usb cable that came with deckard. it's the black transparent one which you can see some metal shielding. i am using it with audio GD dac/amp and pretty good. just wondering if get some cable around 400 bucks will make a sound difference

 

[Pharmaboy]

Funny to get this msg today. I just purchased a used Lush USB cable (Phasure Audio)--a cable much praised for its beneficial effect on digital sound. The 1M Lush USB costs (I believe) $325 new. I paid $210, including shipping.

I'll get the cable in a couple days, then switch it into my secondary headphone listening station in place of a cheap USB cable. That system consists of the Audio GD DAC-19 + a rotating series of SS amps (usually LC v2, Lake People G109-A, or M Stage Matrix HPA-1).

Hoping I hear a positive difference.

I did go through something similar w/another digital cable, a coax cable: a couple years ago I replaced the 1.5M Billy Jeans coax cable running from my S/PDIF converter (Musical Fidelity V-Link 24/192) to main DAC, the Audio GD NOS 19. I put in a much-praised silver coax cable by Oyaide (DR-510, which I recall cost ~225). That was an outstanding success--instantly audible improvements.

I tend to be a believer in things like effects of burn-in, differences in sound from changing cables, etc. Because that's what I hear, more often than not.

 

[muscleking]

i just saw someone selling the lush usb cable on USA audio mart, i am checking canuck audio mart every hour now for stuff ever since i identified the site, bought a deckard, audio gd 10.32, audeze 2.1 non fazor and HD800. none of these will lose money if i flip on ebay. but so far love everything. tomorrow the lcd2 and hd800 will arrive. comes with XLO cables. so first time i will see if i can hear the difference on headphone cables. right now the weak link is the usb cable. so looks like audiogd is sensitive to cables.

i think i noticed a difference with the NCF wall duplex set. i didn't do too much comparision since i got the audiogd. just kept buying and buying. don't really care at this point. either the usb cable i decide to buy is good or bad i will keep. no desire to buy any other dac/amp after audio-gd. looks like it's gonna be between curious and lush. the curious cable rarely have people selling on used market and if any sells very very fast. maybe wait for black friday/boxing day see if official website drop a bit.

i am using a crappy dell monitor USB cable with the deckard at work and it sounds much crappier than i remember. i don't even bother turn that one on just use my old iphone 5s + sine + lightning cable and sounds pretty good through apple music.

 

[muscleking]

anyone tried to connect this to iphone lightning port? what's the best otg cable i can get to go from iphone to usb then connect to deckard? want to use apple music to connect to this.

 

[hawkwindx]

In case you missed it...

Audio Science Review

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...surements-of-audeze-deckard-dac-and-amp.5571/