"In fact, the more they settle-in, especially in the bass and sound-staging, the EL-8s remind me more and more of a collision between the LCD-X and LCD-2 - but, on a smaller scale"
Very interesting for portable cans, but sounds like it's not time to sell the LCD's just yet.
oh yeah - like I said (and I know, this thread MOVES - so sorry it got lost in the mix): These are NOT replacements for the LCD-series. I still consider the LCD-series my top reference. And, from what I've been told - and will have clarified in my interview w/ Alex Rosson - is that the EL-8 is NOT supposed to replace any of the LCD-series cans.
The EL-8s, the more systems I try, the wider the variation of musical genres I feed through em - are becoming what I would consider to be reference-level headphones at the step below the LCDs (but I haven't done extensive comparisons YET - because I'm still getting to know the EL-8s).
The easiest way for me to break that down now would be to say that, in order of my preference - this is what my top-level reference (damn, rhyme totally unintentional) list of headphones would look like so far, in my personal order (meaning my favorite up-top, and then descending):
Audeze LCD-3 w/ Fazor
Audeze LCD-2 w/ Fazor
Audeze LCD-X
Sennheiser HD800
Audeze LCD-XC
Audeze EL-8
MrSpeakers Prime
Audio-Technica ATH-900X
and this is where I THINK the EL-8 will end-up. It's still too early to tell - but that's what my gut says based on my listening sessions to this point...
I have to say, a love child between the LCD-X and LCD-2 is VERY appealing in my eyes.
But,
@mikemercer, when you say "on a smaller scale", how much smaller do you mean? One of the many things I like about the X is how big and full it can sound.
Ah - GREAT question - The EL-8s sound-staging is already much wider and deeper than when I first got em - and I KNOW that's tough to believe, but it's my observation.
Still - if I had to put a number of percentage to the difference in overall staging between the X and EL-8 - I would say, at the moment, the EL-8s sound-field is about 55-60% the size of the LCD-X's - when both were played on my E.A.R and ALO Studio Six - haven't brought my Cavalli LAu into the fold YET.
But, to me, that's actually where they should be, - as whats the price of the X? 1,500-1,600??
and the EL-8s are 699 - Plus, and this is important: it feels like they're still opening up!!
When I played em this morning on the E.A.R - I KNOW the sound-field was broader in scope then when they were outta-the-box. Even my boy Kevin commented on it this morning, without me saying a word - he said: "dude, the sound seems bigger than last week, but they're still not making everything as big as those big-a__ LCD3s I love so much"...
ALSO FELLAS:
VERY sorry- but my wifey really needs my help tonight - so I'll try to get that next draft of Impressions posted tonight, but it MAYBE tomorrow...