[M-13]

  MattTCG,
 
I really appreciate your incite and comments as what you tend to favor sound wise really fits with mine. Even though I really like the HE-500, my real love is the HD650, and the way the old(er) LCD-2's were described really seemed like what I would love and make for a nice compliment to the HE-500 plus move them to probably my favorite headphone. 
 
Based on your assessment of the newer ones, I am not thinking they are bad at all. They just don't seem like what I am currently looking for and maybe will never find with the headphones currently out there.

The thing is... when I had the HD650 side by side with my original R2, the LCD-2 was darker than the HD650. The newer LCD-2 is probably closer to the signature. Believe it or not. The newer LCD-2 isn't that bright or anything. There is a just a slight lift to the upper-mids that creates more openess and gives you like 15% more treble. The bass quantity is decreased by liike 15% but it still hits hard and deep. It's just no longer overbearing IMO of course. The HE-500 still sound more open and has more treble.
 
I think the newer one's are better for me. You still get that lush/darker Aude'ze house sound. It's just a little less colored now. But yeah if you were expecting to be hit by crazy Audez'e bass then you will be disappointed a bit as it no longer does that quite the way it used to.

 

[asmoday]

 
The thing is... when I had the HD650 side by side with my original R2, the LCD-2 was darker than the HD650. The newer LCD-2 is probably closer to the signature. Believe it or not. The newer LCD-2 isn't that bright or anything. There is a just a slight lift to the upper-mids that creates more openess and gives you like 15% more treble. The bass quantity is decreased by liike 15% but it still hits hard and deep. It's just no longer overbearing IMO of course. The HE-500 still sound more open and has more treble.
 
I think the newer one's are better for me. You still get that lush/darker Aude'ze house sound. It's just a little less colored now. But yeah if you were expecting to be hit by crazy Audez'e bass then you will be disappointed a bit as it no longer does that quite the way it used to.

Thanks M-13, now I am back to thinking again. 
 
I am in no means a bass head so that isnt the issue at all. I listen to Classic Rock 90% of the time, with a little Folk, Blues, Acoustic thrown in now and then. So the crazy bass isnt what I was really looking for. I owned the D7000 and it was to much for me, and I sold it. I was/am just concerned that the new one would be voiced to close to the HE-500 to warrant owning both. 

 

[Taowolf51]

  Thanks M-13, now I am back to thinking again. 
 
I am in no means a bass head so that isnt the issue at all. I listen to Classic Rock 90% of the time, with a little Folk, Blues, Acoustic thrown in now and then. So the crazy bass isnt what I was really looking for. I owned the D7000 and it was to much for me, and I sold it. I was/am just concerned that the new one would be voiced to close to the HE-500 to warrant owning both. 

 
I have both the new LCD-2 and a D7000. However, my D7000 has a full MarkL mod (the one meant to tame the bass of the D5000), so it's a good deal more neutral than the stock D7000. Comparing the modded D7k to the LCD-2, the D7000 has more bass, but more in the subbass area. The LCD-2 extends deeper and has more even bass (some of the most even flat bass I've ever heard). There is also very little bloom to speak of. I wouldn't say that the difference is massive in quantity, but remember my D7k is modded to tone down the bass. The LCD-2 isn't what I would call a bass monster, I'd say it's a bit bassier than neutral in my setup. I'm powering it with an amp that doesn't meet the 1W recommendation from Audeze, so this may change once I give it more power.
 
However, the best advice I can give is for you to listen yourself. My opinion or the opinions of others are no replacement for ears-on experience with the headphone. If you don't know anyone who owns a pair and have the funds, I would recommend buying it from somewhere that offers a 30 day money back guarantee.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

i loved the bass on the LCD-2 it was my favorite headphone for movies 

 

[raddle]

Recently received my LCD-2 and I'm using it with my also recently received Burson Soloist. The bass from this combination is amazing. And I'm not really a bass head--I listen mainly to classical and jazz, but the thing is, well-defined and clear bass is the foundation of classical music. When the bass lines are enjoyable, that's a huge boost to the overall presentation. And of course in classical music there are the occasional big bass events like drums and tubas.

 

[M-13]

Yeah my slogan for the LCD-2: It's still pretty nice.

 

[Taowolf51]

I did something a little reckless that happily turned out to be a great success!
 
I was getting impatient with waiting for the parts to come in to make a 1/4" to speaker taps converter, so I grabbed some old speaker wire I had (3 individual wires inside it, it was originally an extension cord) and hooked it up to my XPA-200 amp. On the other end, I wrapped the wire around the corresponding part of the LCD-2's 1/4" jack. It worked great! I was listening to music for over 2 hours on the floor next to my amp in sonic bliss! I was at least somewhat underwhelmed with the LCD-2's until this point (my headphone amp is meant more for high impedance or high sensitivity headphones, so it doesn't perform well with the LCD-2). I have to say, I'm much more impressed with these headphones now that I've heard them powered by a strong amp.
 
Quick question, what is the worst thing that could happen to the headphones with this jury-rigged setup? I'm only thinking of using it for a couple days (until the parts come in for the converter). If I connected the amp to the headphones with speaker wire, then used strategically placed pieces of electrical tape to keep it in place, would I be putting the headphones in any danger? I'm done experimenting with this today and won't be trying it again until I am sure it isn't dangerous to do.

 

[DefQon]

Due to the specs the LCD2 are at although not necessary, nothing can go wrong powering your 2's off that speaker amp. As long as it's not rated at 100watts or more per channel.

 

[Taowolf51]

Due to the specs the LCD2 are at although not necessary, nothing can go wrong powering your 2's off that speaker amp. As long as it's not rated at 100watts or more per channel.

 
It's rated at 150 into 8 ohms 240 into 4 ohms. Why is the watts per channel of the amp a concern if I'm not driving it anywhere near max?
 
My current headphone amp gives 400mW into 60 ohms, Audeze recommends a minimum of 1W, which is why I was looking for something I owned with more power.
 
So there would be no issues if the ground wire slipped off or slipped onto the right channel area of the jack?
 
EDIT: Ah, a 100wpc amp would be just under 14w at 60 ohms, which is the max power handling of the LCD-2's. Is there a possibility of damage with normal use at normal volume levels? Or is the only chance of issue if the preamp fails and causes the power amp to send a full signal to the headphones?

 

[NinjaHamster]

No potential damage at normal levels - or even relatively high levels for that matter, 100w should keep you safe-ISH if the full signal got delivered, or there was a transient "thump" on startup etc.

 

[DefQon]

One of the posters posted here and Audeze said that the max supported for the rev.1 and rev.2 is just under 100watt/per channel. If driven off a speaker amp.

 

[M-13]

LCD-2's like speaker taps too. It's not just the HifiMan.

 
As for how much is too much. Audez'e says 15W max power (into 60 ohms). So that would be like 112.5W into 8ohm. I think 150 is okay. Just don't do 500W. LOL.

 

[DefQon]

I think those figures are wrong, zilchomod or whatever his name was posted the maths a few pages back and it came down to something less than 100wpc.

 

[M-13]

I think those figures are wrong, zilchomod or whatever his name was posted the maths a few pages back and it came down to something less than 100wpc.

No way man. I'm way smarter than zilchomod. My math has been flawless since the day I was born. I will upload a photo of my Fields Medal for proof if you need it.

 

[Taowolf51]

I wasn't really as worried about power as I was about the rig itself. While the amp could deliver 20w of power to the headphones, at any reasonable listening volume I probably don't even break 1w (the benefits of the amp being in damping, current swing, and dynamic headroom more than raw power). To give an example, OP in this thread is running a pair of D5000's through the Mini-X. Because the headphones are 25 ohm, that would mean that the amp has the ability to deliver 16w to those headphones (a dynamic headphone with a 106db/mW sensitivity and a significantly lower max power handling than an ortho like the LCD-2).
 
My primary concerns were if there would be damage to the headphones or amp if:
 
The ground wire slipped off/disconnected.
The ground wire slipped onto the right channel portion of the jack (which would mean both the right channel and ground wire would be touching).
The left and right wire touched or slipped onto the same portion of the jack (left or right input on the jack).
 
Or whether there was something other than a full signal (or near full signal) that could cause damage to the headphones that would occur during normal use.\\
 
Though, there's a great review on Audioholics that shows the XPA-200 as actually a 100/200w amp (8/4 ohm). Emotiva seems to have fudged the numbers a little to make the XPA-200 seem different enough numbers-wise from the UPA-200 to justify the extra cash (measuring power levels at 1% THD instead of 0.05%). If you measure the amp at a more reasonable THD number it comes out to be about a 100/200w amp.
 
I'll probably call Audeze tomorrow and see what they have to say about it.