Today, Audeze is launching the superb, affordable Audeze LCD-1. Now if you've been around this hobby since 2009, then that "LCD-1" name might confuse you for a moment. Back at CanJam Los Angeles 2009, Audeze made its debut by shoehorning their planar magnetic drivers into a generic-looking Nady headphone chassis -- and Audeze called this frankenphone the Audeze LCD-1. Thankfully, that LCD-1 sounded far better than it looked, impressing many of the show's attendees, myself included. While Audeze has come a
long long way in the ten years since, it was this OG LCD-1 that really started it all for Audeze.
(Above) The original Audeze LCD-1 that launched Audeze at CanJam LA 2009.
While the Audeze LCD-2 Classic launched last year was intended to evoke the sound of the original LCD-2 launched in 2010, the Audeze LCD-1 launching today shares only its name with the Nady-framed Audeze prototype from ten years ago. Today's LCD-1 is a far better headphone than its namesake, and, depending on what you're looking for, may be the top $399 open-back circumaural (around-the-ear) headphone available today. I also think this new LCD-1 -- which, from now on, unless otherwise noted, is the LCD-1 I'm referring to when I say "LCD-1" -- will prove a very significant headphone in the years to come (which I'll explain momentarily).
The Audeze LCD-1 is a planar magnetic headphone and uses a single-sided Fluxor magnet array. It also uses Audeze's Fazor waveguide technology, designed to reduce wave interference and optimize phase. The LCD-1's 90mm diaphragm is Audeze's Ultra-thin Uniforce design, and nominal impedance is listed as only 13.5 ohms. It is also a reasonably sensitive headphone, the pre-production unit we have reaching 90 dBSPL at 1 kHz with just a tick over 50 mV. (A production unit is on its way to us now, and I'll post measurements of the LCD-1 once I've measured (and listened to) that unit.)
As around-the-ear headphones go, the Audeze LCD-1 is on the smaller side, and it folds very compactly into its very nice included nylon semi-hardside carrying case. The included 2-meter cable is a premium braided design, terminated in a stereo 3.5mm miniplug with 1/4" adapter included. The LCD-1 is also very light weight, weighing just 250 grams (8.8 ounces). Audeze obviously intended for this headphone to be taken places.
The Audeze LCD-1 is priced at just $399, and it's
marvelous at that price.
The first time I heard the LCD-1 was this summer in San Francisco, when Audeze's CEO Sankar Thiagasamudram met with me the day before the AES International Conference on Headphone Technology we were attending. Sankar is a very calm, very chill gentleman. However, in San Francisco when we met, he was uncharacteristically excited to have me hear the LCD-1.
Upon holding the LCD-1, my first impression was that it's is one of the nicest looking headphones Audeze's produced, in terms of how all the lines and shapes come together. I love the bigger Audeze LCD headphones, but they're still based on the LCD-2 design that started when Audeze was a much younger company -- for me, aesthetically, the larger LCD models' appeal is purely utilitarian, and has much to do with history, nostalgia. The LCD-1's makeup is a thoroughly modern design that has clearly-from-Audeze design elements -- namely the grille design with its leaning-in A-shaped stanchions. But the whole thing feels as-one, not several assembled pieces.
I was also taken with how lightweight it felt, first in the hands, and most importantly on my head. With only 250 grams to distribute, Audeze designed beautiful genuine lambskin earpads and headband padding that render it nearly weightless on my head. I want to mention, though, that part of the price you pay for this kind of light weight (not to mention the low cost of acquisition) is a headphone that
feels rather like the plastic it's made of.
Another cautionary note is its "around-the-ear" description. While the LCD-1
is a circumaural (around-the-ear) design, it's definitely on the smaller side of that. My very averaged sized ears do touch the soft pads on the inside, but the soft hand of the lambskin makes it not just tolerable for me, but comfortable. My head is on the larger side, and the LCD-1 headband's caliper pressure feels assured but not clampy, thank goodness. This is a
very comfortable headphone, but it may be less so for those who have larger ears.
In terms of sound quality, I was a couple of my reference songs into listening when I paused the music, looked up at Sankar and said, "This would be an
exceptional open-back studio headphone." Sankar mentioned they very much had this in mind for the LCD-1.
There is no question that this little Audeze LCD-1 is going to be one of my neutral reference headphones, independent of price. As I've said many times before, given differences in preferences, subjectivity, and our own unique personal responses with different headphones, there is
not a singular target that represents perfectly what neutral is for everyone with headphones. There is a sort of range within which neutral-
ish exists, and the Audeze LCD-1 sits firmly through the center of that range. It's not neutral but with a bit of bass emphasis -- it's just neutral. It's not neutral with a hint of midrange bloom -- it's just neutral. It's not neutral but a little bright -- the LCD-1 is, to my ears, just neutral.
It is because of its neutrality that this headphone is a wonderful sonic palate cleanser. The likelihood that your main headphone or earphone is as color-free as the LCD-1 is probably low. I tend to prefer reference-type signatures with bass emphasis. If the headphone doesn't have that bass emphasis, I'm not shy about EQ'ing it in with the parametric equalizer in Roon. But it's nice sometimes to, again, clear the sonic palate -- to re-align my ears with neutral. If you can do that -- and enjoy the sound of the neutral headphone in question -- then you've really got something. And I
really enjoy the sound of the Audeze LCD-1.
Again, I won't be posting measurements of this pre-production unit (but will have measurements of the production unit very soon), but I did measure it. I expect it to be similar or identical to the production unit, and I'll say that its frequency response is as neutral looking as it is neutral sounding. What I
love about the LCD-1, though, is that its very extended bass response gives this headphone enough bass presence and tactility to satisfy me most of the time even for general listening, after I've re-aligned my ears away from my typical audiophile-type mild-basshead tendencies. Neutral, yes -- but gorgeous bass presence.
The LCD-1's midband and treble are also smooth and edge-free. This lack of sharpness doesn't mean lack of detail -- just lack of stridency, no harshness. This is a quality that gives it a sense of body through the mids and treble -- yes, I think treble can have a sense of body, of corporeality, but, for my tastes, that sense of what's
real up-top can be robbed by shrillness. The LCD-1 has none of that.
It is in the LCD-1's mids and treble that some of us who are used to ultra-high-end headphones (like Audeze's own higher-end LCD models) might be a little wanting. Again, the LCD-1 is very detailed, but it's not the most incisive, detail-uncloaking headphone you've heard if you're used to an LCD-4 or HiFiMAN SUSVARA or STAX electrostatic. These are perhaps unfair comparisons, but my point is that it's going to take a higher-end headphone -- something well above $399 -- to resolutely out-resolve the LCD-1 overall.
Now earlier I said I think the Audeze LCD-1 is going to be a very significant headphone in the years to come, and here's why: I can't think of a headphone at or under the LCD-1's price that would be a more revealing, more neutral, open-back studio monitor headphone. If you visit recording studios and see any open-back headphones, there's a very solid chance it'll be the Sennheiser HD600 or HD650. The HD600/650 is without a doubt an open-back studio standard. The thing is, in my opinion, the Audeze LCD-1 is
far better suited to studio use for all the aforementioned reasons than the Sennheiser HD600 or HD650. At its price, with its compactness and carryability, and especially with its brand of neutrality, I think we may be looking at the future open-back studio headphone standard with the Audeze LCD-1. (I'll try to get some same-session measurements of the LCD-1 and Sennheiser HD600/650 soon and post them.)
The Audeze LCD-1 is an artful, carefully executed distillation of all Audeze has learned in the past ten years, crammed into an affordable, lightweight, portable, neutrally-voiced, open-back planar magnetic wonder. With its name, this headphone poetically evokes memories of that cobbled-together Audeze LCD-1 shown at CanJam LA ten years ago, but only as an homage. The name is all these two headphones share, and I think as a sort of ten-year celebration, it was lovely to go back to "LCD-1."
