[PinkyPowers]

Awesome!

I've been basking this evening in the marvelous capabilities of my LCD-2, also. This 1994 release of Goat's Head Soup which came in the mail today sounds unbelievable.

 

[lowbson]

Can my ak100-ii drive the LCD -2 well without any amp?

 

[PinkyPowers]

I doubt it. Maybe. Barely. But I would not recommend it. No way these will sound their best on the meager amperage of your AK100ii or even my AK120ii.

They are really meant for desktop DACs and Amps. But a DAP with a Class A amp, like the QuestStyle QP1R, or the Acoustic Research M2, can do it. I've heard the Mojo has enough power for them.

Being open-back, the LCD-2 is not the best choice for mobile use in the first place. Not saying you CAN'T do it, it's just not made with that use in mind.

 

[MRC001]

They are really meant for desktop DACs and Amps. But a DAP with a Class A amp, like the QuestStyle QP1R, or the Acoustic Research M2, can do it. I've heard the Mojo has enough power for them.

It's true the LCD-2F were designed to be driven by an amp, but they're surprisingly easy to drive. Being planar magnetic, the load is purely resistive flat vs. frequency so it's easier to drive than conventional headphones. My 2014 Fazors have 72 Ohm impedance and voltage sensitivity of 0.114 V = 90 dB SPL. That's only 0.18 mW of power and 1.6 mA of current to play pretty loud. This is pretty easy for any amp to drive.
 
The pre-Fazor LCD-2 are lower impedance and less efficient, though similar voltage sensitivity. They require a bit more current and are less likely to sound good driven by a portable.
 
With any LCD-2, the quality of the amp matters more than its output power.
 
The LCD-X are a lot more efficient and easily driven by portable devices. That said, you can always try driving LCD-2 with a portable. You might not like the sound, but the numbers say it won't hurt anything.

 

[droopy1592]

I swear there's some magic in these damn things. No reason this should so this good. Sweetback (with Maxwell) song Softly softly at the 2 min 50 second mark just spews some orgasmic ear nut nonstop until the end of the song. This is ridiculous. These things are magical. 
 
The one on youtube has terrible compression and has a ruined soundstage so please try to find another source. 

 

[ScareDe2]

Hi everyone,
 
I also find that female vocals lose considerable weight when singing higher notes and same for male vocal at a lesser extent. It feels like their voice is dissipating. However at lower, talking level, it feels very natural and full.
 
 
 

 

[Alchemist007]

  Hi everyone,
 
I also find that female vocals lose considerable weight when singing higher notes and same for male vocal at a lesser extent. It feels like their voice is dissipating. However at lower, talking level, it feels very natural and full.
 
 
 
 

 
That was a particular issue I had with the 2.2 prefazor, I do like my female vocals. However my 3F has no such issue, the highs are very good with female vocals.

 

[MRC001]

  Hi everyone,
 
I also find that female vocals lose considerable weight when singing higher notes and same for male vocal at a lesser extent. It feels like their voice is dissipating. However at lower, talking level, it feels very natural and full.

 
This was something the LCD-X did. It portrays the core sound and the overtones, but it emphasizes the overtones making voices sound a bit more ethereal than they do in reality. My 2014 LCD-2F present voices in a more palpable and natural way. The overtones are there if you listen for them, but they aren't emphasized.

 

[tp147]

   
This was something the LCD-X did. It portrays the core sound and the overtones, but it emphasizes the overtones making voices sound a bit more ethereal than they do in reality. My 2014 LCD-2F present voices in a more palpable and natural way. The overtones are there if you listen for them, but they aren't emphasized.

I had the same impression, with LCD-X it is only a small issue for me, but with LCD-3 it is too much. If you have an impressive voice near to the mic you'll be scared, the singer tries to eat your head
This is not a question of better headphone or not, it is only a listeners choice. I'm lucky that the LCD 2 is my favorite over LCD 3 or LCD X, because it is the "cheapest".
 
One word to the amps asked for. I was surprised that I can drive the LCD 2 with my iPhone, not real loud, but loud enough.
But it isn't worth to drive a high-end can with a low quality source like an iPhone.
So the better the amp quality the better the sound of the LCD 2!
 
I did my decision between the cans with an OPPO HA1 sourced from a Linn Akurate network streamer.
 
If you don't have the money to buy an high-end head phone together with a high end amp like me I have a suggestion:
 
S.M.S.L sap II 
 
It is build with the desired TI chip TPA6120A0 and sounds beautiful for its money!
 
cheers
 
Thorsten

 

[MRC001]

  If you don't have the money to buy an high-end head phone together with a high end amp like me I have a suggestion:
S.M.S.L sap II 
It is build with the desired TI chip TPA6120A0 and sounds beautiful for its money!

Here's another suggestion for a cheap but good sounding way to drive high quality headphones like the LCD-2: ESI Juli@ sound card, use unbalanced analog outputs to drive Corda Jazz headphone amp.
This is my second system and it's very nice, almost as good as my Oppo HA-1.
http://mclements.net/blogWP/index.php/2016/09/13/a-cheap-audiophile-headphone-system/

 

[ScareDe2]

Hi again,
 
It's a LCD2.2 with fazor I have. The lower mids are great. I found that jazz noir is perhaps best. Bass singers like Johnny Cash sound great. On the other hand I don't like when the sound goes in higher mids and treble because I perceive weaknesses there.
 
I don't know if a new DAC/AMP would greatly improve the LCD2 performance with female vocal?

 

[MRC001]

  It's a LCD2.2 with fazor I have. The lower mids are great. I found that jazz noir is perhaps best. Bass singers like Johnny Cash sound great. On the other hand I don't like when the sound goes in higher mids and treble because I perceive weaknesses there.
 
I don't know if a new DAC/AMP would greatly improve the LCD2 performance with female vocal?

Others have heard the same thing with the LCD-2F, so you're not alone. The LCD-2F has a slight response dip from about 2.5 to 9 kHz. This makes it sound slightly warm/soft, but it's a smooth dip so it doesn't seem to affect voicing. Some people hear this more than others, not because they have better ears, but because HRTF varies from person to person.
 
The most effective way to correct it is with parametric EQ: +3 dB centered at 4.6 kHz, 3 dB/octave or Q=0.67. This gives it a flatter response curve but is smooth & subtle enough not to change the otherwise excellent sound.
 
Any good DAC or amp has near-perfect flat frequency response, so it's unlikely to address this. That's not to say they all sound the same; only that they are unlikely to change this particular aspect of the LCD-2F.

 

[ScareDe2]

Ok I see. Equilazing makes a huge difference. I use foobar2000 EQ and now it is clear that my sound has a problem around the 5kH. Quite surprising how well it works. I am playing with that eq and the possibilities seem limitless. Is it possible to make the LCD2 sound about the same as a Sennheiser HD800?
 
I increased the treble region and the soundstage got quite huge.

 

[marcan]

  Ok I see. Equilazing makes a huge difference. I use foobar2000 EQ and now it is clear that my sound has a problem around the 5kH. Quite surprising how well it works. I am playing with that eq and the possibilities seem limitless. Is it possible to make the LCD2 sound about the same as a Sennheiser HD800?
 
I increased the treble region and the soundstage got quite huge.

Be careful with eq's. They can create a lots of distortions (pre and post ringing, ripples, phase distortion, aliasing, quantisation noise, ...) especially the default foobar eq.
All eq even the best in the world will have those problems. Some will make a better job to attenuate those distortions but not completely. Some will add a pleasant distortion and are used for that but are mainly in the analog domain.

 

[TMRaven]

A headphone's coloration in the frequency response is also technically a distortion, and impacts the sound coming to your ear more than any of what you just mentioned.