[Lost Cosmonaut]

Picked this baby up in London today.
AK SP2000 > Audeze LCD1

Have to say... This just might be Audezes best headphone.
Hear me out before you bash me to a pulp. It's not Audezes best sounding headphone. But it's best headphone - it sounds fantastic, is comfortable to wear, isn't too heavy - - an actual headphone that can actually be worn and used practically.
Before this, every Audeze model had a fatal flaw. Too heavy (LCD line), non existent treble extension (LCD2), build quality and driver reliability of a dead dog (EL8), sucked out mids and boxy sounding (Sine Series).
I've owned the LCD4, LCDX, LCD2, Open EL8, Closed Sines - tried very hard to love them but couldn't force myself to love them as they all had one fatal flaw or another.
But this LCD1.... You guys have to try it to believe it....

Based on my experience with it, you're absolutely right about the design--Audeze nailed it there. I had to sell my LCD-2C because it was simply too heavy for any period of extended use.

However, I don't think this headphone sounds fantastic.. but that's simply a matter of preference; I won't bash you for that.

What I hope for, though, is for Audeze to continue with this design language and to implement it into a headphone that will produce a sweeter and lusher sound so that I may, someday, consider an Audeze planar again.

 

[Koei]

I'm sad they are open, I really prefer closed headphones for portable models.

 

[Maelob]

Picked this baby up in London today.
AK SP2000 > Audeze LCD1

Have to say... This just might be Audezes best headphone.
Hear me out before you bash me to a pulp. It's not Audezes best sounding headphone. But it's best headphone - it sounds fantastic, is comfortable to wear, isn't too heavy - - an actual headphone that can actually be worn and used practically.
Before this, every Audeze model had a fatal flaw. Too heavy (LCD line), non existent treble extension (LCD2), build quality and driver reliability of a dead dog (EL8), sucked out mids and boxy sounding (Sine Series).
I've owned the LCD4, LCDX, LCD2, Open EL8, Closed Sines - tried very hard to love them but couldn't force myself to love them as they all had one fatal flaw or another.
But this LCD1.... You guys have to try it to believe it....

Nice watch! Sorry back to LCD-1 lol

 

[showme99]

I'm sad they are open, I really prefer closed headphones for portable models.

If these do well in the market, maybe Audeze will make a closed-back version.

 

[Koei]

If these do well in the market, maybe Audeze will make a closed-back version.

I hope so, there are pretty much no other options on the market.

 

[acia]

Nice watch! Sorry back to LCD-1 lol

that watch should be able to buy more than a dozen of lcd-1. lol.

 

[roru100]

Ok. So here are my 2 cents. I am neither what I would call an audiophile nor a pro in explaining what I hear. However, I appreciate great music and even more so when it is coming from a nice setup incl speaker, headphones, Dedicated amp and dac, Software etc.

Well While I love the LCD 2 with its smooth sound and its great bass, unheard overall presentation, the LCD 1 was ok, but to me not outstanding. Using hi res and a hugo. Why only ok? Well I hoped for a small version of the lcd 2. That it is not. Not even close. You hear that it is a plenar which is nice. Maybe it is just to “neutral” for me. Whatever that means. The bass is not engaging enough, the treble is to much for my liking. And the soundstage is nothing special. I did not get this toe tipping feeling I get with every setup that I like.

Again, I am not a pro or sound engineer, I was looking for a great (and cheap) Addition to add to my iSine. Which I love. But I guess I really do need to spend more and get the lcd 2.

 

[441879]

If one wishes to change the tonality of the headphone to match their preference, even if it were a standard target such as Harman, even if there are large deviations, there is no substitute for listening, especially for frequencies above 1-2kHz. Doing it based on measurements/graphs will yield suboptimal results or it may sound worse than where one starts.

Of course there are exceptions to the above. If one is very familiar with the measurement rig and knows what the neutral response looks like for a headphone and the earpad is mostly the same, then one can use the measurements to get a good idea of how they will measure relative to one other.

There have been numerous occasions where we see a peak in measurments but do not hear them or we see a dip in a measurments while the waterfall plot shows different.

I stopped paying attention to what headphone graphs say for anything above 1 kHz a long time ago. Too little graphical correlation between different testing set ups. It’s also really easy to misinterpret what the graphs say at lower frequencies given the difference in musical information present and relative sensitivity to loudness at different frequencies.

The best method I’ve found is to identify reviewers who hear what I hear when reviewing headphones I own. I can generally trust their opinions on headphones I don’t own provided they’re comparing them to headphones I’m familiar with.

 

[FullBright1]

The best method I’ve found is to identify reviewers who hear what I hear when reviewing headphones I own. I can generally trust their opinions on headphones I don’t own provided they’re comparing them to headphones I’m familiar with.

We have a winner.....

 

[Mrkiammi]

Ok. So here are my 2 cents. I am neither what I would call an audiophile nor a pro in explaining what I hear. However, I appreciate great music and even more so when it is coming from a nice setup incl speaker, headphones, Dedicated amp and dac, Software etc.

Well While I love the LCD 2 with its smooth sound and its great bass, unheard overall presentation, the LCD 1 was ok

Ok. So here are my 2 cents. I am neither what I would call an audiophile nor a pro in explaining what I hear. However, I appreciate great music and even more so when it is coming from a nice setup incl speaker, headphones, Dedicated amp and dac, Software etc.

Well While I love the LCD 2 with its smooth sound and its great bass, unheard overall presentation, the LCD 1 was ok, but to me not outstanding. Using hi res and a hugo. Why only ok? Well I hoped for a small version of the lcd 2. That it is not. Not even close. You hear that it is a plenar which is nice. Maybe it is just to “neutral” for me. Whatever that means. The bass is not engaging enough, the treble is to much for my liking. And the soundstage is nothing special. I did not get this toe tipping feeling I get with every setup that I like.

Again, I am not a pro or sound engineer, I was looking for a great (and cheap) Addition to add to my iSine. Which I love. But I guess I really do need to spend more and get the lcd 2.

Or go for the LCD-2 classic which is lighter than lcd2. I absolutely love mine, i got a pair of My own about 3 weeks ago, and listening to Almost every genre og music every evening, and music never sounded better, i pair it my cambridge dacmagic plus. Btw i also use it playing guitar where i often look down at My pedalboard or guitar and dont find the lcd2cs too heavy. I highly recommend those.

 

[MRC001]

Or go for the LCD-2 classic which is lighter than lcd2. I absolutely love mine, i got a pair of My own about 3 weeks ago, and listening to Almost every genre og music every evening, and music never sounded better, i pair it my cambridge dacmagic plus. Btw i also use it playing guitar where i often look down at My pedalboard or guitar and dont find the lcd2cs too heavy. I highly recommend those.

The LCD-2 classic and Fazor are similar but they do sound different. The Fazor elements make the LCD-2 heavier, but they also give it flatter more neutral frequency response. There may also be other sonic differences, but the FR is what is most noticeable to me.

 

[roru100]

I listened to both - 2 and 2c. I preferred the 2. The 2c was good (better than the 1), but to me, the 2 was magical. Will try it with Magni 3+ and Hersey. Let’s see.

 

[aravaioli]

Is there anyone who compared the LCD-1 with Alara or ERA-1?
It seems to me that these are born in response to those more affordable planar headphones who are likely sucking away some sales from Audeze lower tier.
I own the Alara and, while I do like them, I do not find it up to par with the LCD-2C (sold) and LCD-2CB (the only Audeze I own). The Alara are certainly more v-shaped (and that is not a bad thing for everybody) and way lighter. They can be driven by a portable device (not to their full potential) and they are indeed somewhat portable, just like the provided case suggests.
I did not try the ERA-1. Brent at Soundstage solo liked them a lot and I take his opinions in high consideration. They appear to use the same design of the Alara with different pads and a moderately different enclosure.
I am somewhat tempted by the LCD-1 and Verum 1.

 

[trellus]

Is there anyone who compared the LCD-1 with Alara or ERA-1?
It seems to me that these are born in response to those more affordable planar headphones who are likely sucking away some sales from Audeze lower tier.
I own the Alara and, while I do like them, I do not find it up to par with the LCD-2C (sold) and LCD-2CB (the only Audeze I own). The Alara are certainly more v-shaped (and that is not a bad thing for everybody) and way lighter. They can be driven by a portable device (not to their full potential) and they are indeed somewhat portable, just like the provided case suggests.
I did not try the ERA-1. Brent at Soundstage solo liked them a lot and I take his opinions in high consideration. They appear to use the same design of the Alara with different pads and a moderately different enclosure.
I am somewhat tempted by the LCD-1 and Verum 1.

I have both the Alara and the LCD-1, but I've only had both for a short time and haven't really compared them directly against each other, but from memory, I'd just say that the Alara are more "fun-sounded" than the LCD-1 which are more neutral. If forced to choose, I prefer the Alara sound overall to the LCD-1, but the LCD-1 are easier for me to wear because of Alara's well-documented bigness (they really need to be higher up on my ears but can't!), and are even easier to drive from my iPhone SE than the Alara, which are pretty easy to drive as well but not as much as the LCD-1.

 

[MyPants]

Picked this baby up in London today.
AK SP2000 > Audeze LCD1

Have to say... This just might be Audezes best headphone.
Hear me out before you bash me to a pulp. It's not Audezes best sounding headphone. But it's best headphone - it sounds fantastic, is comfortable to wear, isn't too heavy - - an actual headphone that can actually be worn and used practically.
Before this, every Audeze model had a fatal flaw. Too heavy (LCD line), non existent treble extension (LCD2), build quality and driver reliability of a dead dog (EL8), sucked out mids and boxy sounding (Sine Series).
I've owned the LCD4, LCDX, LCD2, Open EL8, Closed Sines - tried very hard to love them but couldn't force myself to love them as they all had one fatal flaw or another.
But this LCD1.... You guys have to try it to believe it....

I'm inclined to agree on this. The LCD-1 doesn't QUITE have the technical chops of the other LCDs, but they are so much more useable in the real world that they might be the "best" in the lineup for most people. The weight and rolled-off treble is what eventually drove me to trade my LCD-2C in on my Ethers.