[Jazic]

  Am I the only one that thinks the EL-8 is pretty much upfront and almost bright sounding? I have brand new LCD-2 and LCD-XC to compare with and the EL-8 is the most up front and has the most pronounced treble to me.   LCD-2 is the most lush and easy to listen to, LCD-XC is in between the LCD-2 and the EL-8 in terms of sonic presentation.  EL-8 is definitely the most comfortable, the weight isn't that much lower but the design ergonomics make it sit better on your head and feel lighter because of that.  The overall presentation on the EL-8 is very pleasing, the bass is very nice and they are very transparent overall, great buy for $699

 
Dude.. are we clones? I have an XC and I'm getting the LCD-2's end of the week new... 
 
But yeah, I also found the EL8's bright as well. The Opens were closer to the 2's while the Closed was closer to the XC but much brighter in the 2-4khz region. Too sibilant for my ears so I cancelled my pre-order unfortunately. I'll give it another go eventually maybe in another revision. 
 
I tried the entire line and preferred my own XC the most, obviously. I gave the LCD-2, LCD-3 and LCD-X a listen and after a long day of listening my ears liked the LCD-2's even more than my XC's. I just couldn't justify the LCD-3 but maybe one day I will... 

 

[Sound Eq]

   
Dude.. are we clones? I have an XC and I'm getting the LCD-2's end of the week new... 
 
But yeah, I also found the EL8's bright as well. The Opens were closer to the 2's while the Closed was closer to the XC but much brighter in the 2-4khz region. Too sibilant for my ears so I cancelled my pre-order unfortunately. I'll give it another go eventually maybe in another revision. 
 
I tried the entire line and preferred my own XC the most, obviously. I gave the LCD-2, LCD-3 and LCD-X a listen and after a long day of listening my ears liked the LCD-2's even more than my XC's. I just couldn't justify the LCD-3 but maybe one day I will... 

i was like u surpirsed my lcd2 rev2 non fazor was better sounding than an lcd3 in a blind test, we were 5 people in the test and all gave thumps up for lcd2 including the the owner of the store.
 
i was wondering however how is the sound of lcd x compared to lcd2 as that is the one i did not get a chance to listen to

 

[Dark Ayla]

I can't believe that there is no single professional review is available yet!
 
If you come across any review, please share. 

 

[Audeze]

 
RCA plugs are the standard because they work, they are a universal standard, proven over the ages!

Hi Cute, RCAs work for audio but not very well. How so? First of all the shield is attached to the negative return barrel of the RCA connector, so in a way the shield dumps noise back into the signal path. Because of RCA's pin and barrel configuration, when inserting an RCA cable the positive pin comes into contact with the receptacle's positive socket before the negative return barrel contacts the outer barrel of the receptacle and causes loud buzzing if the components aren't turned off. XLRs, on the other hand, separate postive, negative and ground, and they don't contaminate the negative return with shield and ground noise which is why XLR cables are suggested for longer runs as they make less noise.
Thank you,
Audeze 

 

[Audeze]

  I can't believe that there is no single professional review is available yet!
 
What is going on?!

Are they so bad, where non of the professional reviewers want to upset the manufacturer?

Dark Ayla, please... must you? You realize Audeze suffered a robbery and the thieves stole a LOT of LCD headphones and also destroyed EL-8 boxes during their rampage. Then we discovered a small, hard-to-find soldering problem that was fixed in production. We just received our new EL-8 boxes and will be shipping next week. Only a very few reviewers received pre-production units for early evaluation and they've all been recently replaced with proper production models so reviews will be appearing soon. We'd appreciate your patience Dark Ayla, inflammatory posts like this don't help anyone.
Thank you,
Audeze

 

[Audeze]

  I love the design of the EL-8 closed with the wood and smooth black sides. Would they be easy to drive off of a smart phone, do you think? 

The EL-8s are designed to work extremely well with smartphones and all portable players. Even though they'll benefit from a headphone amp you don't need one to use the EL-8s.
Thank you,
Audeze

 

[kite]

 I love the design of the EL-8 closed with the wood and smooth black sides. Would they be easy to drive off of a smart phone, do you think? 

From what i've read yes, but i can't tell you for sure since i'm in the middle of deciding between the EL-8 and the PM-3 too

 

[Dark Ayla]

  From what i've read yes, but i can't tell you for sure, i'm in the middle of deciding between the EL-8 and PM-3 too

The good thing about the EL8 is the big over ear cups. I find my ears cramped inside the PM series, I am not sure about the PM3. I tried the PM2, and really wanted a bigger cups. From the images it appears that PM3 got a slightly bigger cups but I am not sure.

 

[mangamonster]

  I can't believe that there is no single professional review is available yet!
 
If you come across any review, please share. 

 
I'll have a review up this week, with all the bells and whistles. I've not been labeled a pro reviewer by the head-fi community, but I think my older reviews have been informative and at the least, entertaining
 
My EL-8's (open) will be delivered today. I'll be taking a lengthy listen to them from the most uncolored amp I have, the Blue Circle - Hat Peed Thingee. Stay tuned

 

[Dark Ayla]

   
I'll have a review up this week, with all the bells and whistles. I'm not been labeled a pro reviewer by the head-fi community, but I think my older reviews have been informative and at the least, entertaining
 
My EL-8's (open) will be delivered today. I'll be taking a lengthy listen to them from the most uncolored amp I have, the Blue Circle - Hat Peed Thingee. Stay tuned

Thank you!

 

[crixnet]

I can't believe that there is no single professional review is available yet!

If you come across any review, please share. 

Mike Mercer has written extensively about the EL-8 in this very thread. Do a search before throwing bombs.

 

[x RELIC x]

The good thing about the EL8 is the big over ear cups. I find my ears cramped inside the PM series, I am not sure about the PM3. I tried the PM2, and really wanted a bigger cups. From the images it appears that PM3 got a slightly bigger cups but I am not sure.

PM-3 pads are smaller. Check it out in the PM-3 thread..... Lots of info!

 

[Jazic]

I did some reading and I have posted how I have a sensitivity to 2-4khz range.. guess it's a bad thing that I skipped out on all of the rock and metal concerts. The EL8 closed are pretty piercing to my ears at the 2-4khz range reason I mention. Every other Audeze headphone in the LCD series has a 2-4khz dip and raises back up around 5-6khz. 
 
Sorry if this is off topic but I thought I'd share for anyone else who have been experiencing the same issues with the EL8's that I have.
 
http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html

 

[Zulkr9]

Would you say the only fix for the bass being shy is messing with the EQ or finding sources that favor bass a bit more?

Nah just went to the open

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The open backs dont have this problem. The closed back is very strident

 

[Barra]

 

   
Dude.. are we clones? I have an XC and I'm getting the LCD-2's end of the week new... 
 
But yeah, I also found the EL8's bright as well. The Opens were closer to the 2's while the Closed was closer to the XC but much brighter in the 2-4khz region. Too sibilant for my ears so I cancelled my pre-order unfortunately. I'll give it another go eventually maybe in another revision. 
 
I tried the entire line and preferred my own XC the most, obviously. I gave the LCD-2, LCD-3 and LCD-X a listen and after a long day of listening my ears liked the LCD-2's even more than my XC's. I just couldn't justify the LCD-3 but maybe one day I will... 

i was like u surpirsed my lcd2 rev2 non fazor was better sounding than an lcd3 in a blind test, we were 5 people in the test and all gave thumps up for lcd2 including the the owner of the store.
 
i was wondering however how is the sound of lcd x compared to lcd2 as that is the one i did not get a chance to listen to

IMO, the 3 and the 2 are very close with the 3 adding more and lusher treble response - so those treble adverse listeners looking for the original darker LCD sound may prefer the 2. Personally, I give the 3 a slight edge on high end tube sources, but find it is a toss up on my Mjolnir that adds brightness anyways. Hence, I stayed with my 2.2's.
 
My preference for Audeze comes from an almost euphoric lush sound quality that the 2 possesses in its lows. The 3 adds some euphoric lushness to the highs that I love, but overall the difference is slight in weighting to the overall sound. Now the X/XC change the game a bit by shifting the spectrum up a bit at the cost of some of the bass quantity, but removes some of the dark veal and more importantly - adds a lush euphoric sound quality to the mids while enhancing the 3's lush highs. These mids in the X/XC complete the lush euphoric sound throughout the spectrum for a very balanced lush sound that I find addicting and worth a little less bass quantity. Not everyone will agree with me and YMMV depending on source, but this is the way I see the Audeze lineup.
 
Now if the EL8 closed can keep the full frequency lush euphoric signature of the XC without too much cost in detailing, I'm all in. Otherwise, I will be adding the XC to my collection at some point. Luckily, Audeze is one of the rare headphone companies that actually has a dealer in Seattle for me to audition them if they ever get them in stock.