[marcan]

  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.

Yep you'r right.
But my ears will probably accommodate to the frequency response more easily than the distortions I mentioned.
What's the point to increase the trebles if you are magnifying the distortions you just created with the eq.
So it's a tradeoff but if you want to use one you have to be careful by choosing a good eq while knowing their drawbacks.
For example a narrowed eq will create more distortions around its frequency. So narrowed boost are the worst while narrowed cut is less problematic than it's boost counterpart. Smooth and light shelf are the less intrusive.
 
I used eq as a mix engineer. But I tried several times at home on the music I listen.
First it seems better then each time after a couple of hours, I get back because the sound gets somehow fatiguing and I also felt that I was losing something...
So I use eq only on bad mixed/mastered tracks unless I avoid completely listen to this track.

 

[MRC001]

  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.

EQ can add distortion, but it it is not true that "All eq even the best in the world will have those problems." It depends on the EQ. Parametric EQ with gentle slopes is the way to avoid distortion. The LCD-2F dip is centered around 4.5 kHz and extends about 1 octave to each side, which is why I recommended the EQ mentioned above. That EQ is only 3 dB / octave which is very gentle. A proper implementation of this EQ will not add ripples, ringing or other distortion.
 

  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.

 
The "problem" around 5 kHz with the LCD-2F is a gentle dip in the response curve. If you like warm sound, this is a feature. If you like neutral sound, this is a bug. It can be corrected with a gentle parametric EQ that will not add distortion or otherwise affect the sound. Why would you want the LCD-2F to sound like an HD800, which have rolled off deep bass and a big spike at 5-8 kHz that will melt your skull? If you like that unnatural sound, get the HD800 - the LCD-2F is not for you! EQ is like the dark side of the force - powerful yet seductive. When people discover the power of the dark side, there is a tendency to overdo things. That kind of EQ can introduce distortion.
 
If you apply +3 dB centered at 4.6 kHz with Q=0.67 or 3 dB / octave to the LCD-2F, the result is near perfectly flat response similar to the LCD-X, without added distortion.

 

[ScareDe2]

Hi
At 5kHz I have an unpleasant noise that I can lower with the EQ. It was not possible for me to pinpoint the problem until I use the equalizer now it's evident. Is it because the LCD2 is not properly amped?

 

[MRC001]

A properly working LCD-2F does not create unpleasant noises - its distortion is around 0.1% or -60 dB which is incredibly low for a headphone. The noise could be in your recording, distortion from one of your components, distortion added by your signal processing, or your headphones have a problem.

 

[droopy1592]

Prob gonna stick with the 2.2pre fazor. Everything I've read on overall engagement seems to favor the older 2.2prefazor. While there are improvements over time, best overall engaging sound is the old school 2.2.
 
Anyone disagree?

 

[bavinck]

  Prob gonna stick with the 2.2pre fazor. Everything I've read on overall engagement seems to favor the older 2.2prefazor. While there are improvements over time, best overall engaging sound is the old school 2.2.
 
Anyone disagree?

 

[ScareDe2]

I am using foobar2000 to play lossless flac music. The noise is noticeable with both LCD2 and the BeyerDynamic dt770. I have the noise whether I use the modi/magni or my computer. Could it be foobar2000?

 

[droopy1592]

 

Those look like Grado RS2s

 

[MRC001]

Prob gonna stick with the 2.2pre fazor. Everything I've read on overall engagement seems to favor the older 2.2prefazor. While there are improvements over time, best overall engaging sound is the old school 2.2.

I disagree, but there's no right or wrong here. Whether anyone agrees or disagrees is entirely a personal subjective preference. To my ears the 2.2 pre Fazor is a little too "dead" or "warm" sounding. In fact, the LCD-2F is too, just less so - it has a bit more detail than the pre-Fazor. The LCD-X has the "best" flattest frequency response and smoothest most natural sound out of the box but emphasizes the highs just a bit too much for my taste. To my ears, the LCD-2 voices the sounds of acoustic instruments more accurately than the LCD-X, yet isn't quite as fast and clean in transient response.

 

[MRC001]

I am using foobar2000 to play lossless flac music. The noise is noticeable with both LCD2 and the BeyerDynamic dt770. I have the noise whether I use the modi/magni or my computer. Could it be foobar2000?

Clean PC sound cards and high quality software signal processors do exist, but it's more common for them to be low quality with audible distortion. Plug your headphones into a clean playback chain without any signal processing, see how it sounds. By clean playback I mean high quality disc player direct to high quality DAC / headphone amp.

 

[SearchOfSub]

I am using foobar2000 to play lossless flac music. The noise is noticeable with both LCD2 and the BeyerDynamic dt770. I have the noise whether I use the modi/magni or my computer. Could it be foobar2000?

PC is sooooo noisy compared to standard stand alone music player. I added a Audioquest NRG 10 and it improved the noise. PC is just a noisy source to begin.

 

[marcan]

Originally Posted by MRC001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
EQ can add distortion, but it it is not true that "All eq even the best in the world will have those problems." It depends on the EQ. Parametric EQ with gentle slopes is the way to avoid distortion. The LCD-2F dip is centered around 4.5 kHz and extends about 1 octave to each side, which is why I recommended the EQ mentioned above. That EQ is only 3 dB / octave which is very gentle. A proper implementation of this EQ will not add ripples, ringing or other distortion.

Yes it will add at least ringing, quantisation noise or phase shift. If you don't hear it it's another story. 

 

[franzdom]

I am in love with newly acquired LCD-2F, bought here in the want ads. My previous favorite DT1770 had been described as bright. I can still listen to the Beyer but I understand now. The LCD is much smoother, nicer bass details, lower available frequency response, and just enough less bright that any annoying clapping, or sibilance is no longer annoying. These are a LOT less fatiguing than HP's that I previously didn't consider to be fatiguing. 
 
Little details in the music is coming through, everything is more enjoyable. I am hooked!

 

[MRC001]

  Yes it will add at least ringing or phase shift. If you don't hear it it's another story. 

 
Any distortion added by a properly implemented gentle parametric filter like the one mentioned above would be a tiny fraction of a dB. I certainly can't hear that, nor can any other human being. It's so subtle it would require special equipment just to measure it, let alone hear it.
 
Besides, every recording we listen to has at least a couple levels of filtering like this, if not more, as well as other processing like compression and limiting, while making the recording. Plus similar distortions added by the microphone and room interactions. So following your logic, every recording we listen to is polluted with distortion. Technically speaking you're right, but it misses the point. The distortion added by properly implemented gentle parametric filters is so small as to be inaudible.
 
The audibility experiment would be something like this:
 
Play original musical signal through 2 parametric filters that reverse each other: (1) +3 dB @ 4.5 kHz, Q=0.67, then (2) -3 dB @ 4.5 kHz, Q=0.67. If both EQs were perfect, the final waveform would be identical to the original. Whatever differences exist represent twice the distortion caused by either filter alone. Now set up a level matched DBT where A is the original signal, B is the final output after both of these filters. See if anyone can reliably tell them apart.
 
I'm willing to try this experiment. I can create 2 WAV files in exactly this way and post them here. Anyone can load them into a DBT app and see if they can tell them apart without guessing (confidence > 95%).
 
To be fair to your point, if we used a more extreme filter - bigger amplitude or steeper slope - then at some point the distortions you mention become audible. But not with slopes at 3 dB / octave.

 

[PinkyPowers]

I am using foobar2000 to play lossless flac music. The noise is noticeable with both LCD2 and the BeyerDynamic dt770. I have the noise whether I use the modi/magni or my computer. Could it be foobar2000?

Are you sure you aren't listening to tracks that have noise in the recording?

The Schiit stack should not have a noise floor, but the LCD-2 is so detailed that it can render all the imperfections on a track.

Check out the best recordings you have in your library and see if the noise exists on all of them. It shouldn't.