Having owned my LCD-2 (2016 fazor) for over two years now, I decided to give them a bit of a "makeover" to start the new year by first adding a Lohb strap and then swapping the original leather pads for Dekoni elite hybrid pads. Brief impressions below:
Lohb strap: My LCD-2 came with the original leather headband (which isn't sold anymore), which I didn't find too uncomfortable to begin with but I do consider the Lohb strap an improvement. It does a pretty darn good job of distributing the weight of the headphone more evenly, preventing hotspots from wearing the headphones for a long time. The strap doesn't make the LCD-2 "disappear" off the head (its a weighty headphone for sure, not really a knock on the strap) but is more than worth it for the price IMO - really solid value.
Dekoni hybrid pads: I originally had the black leather pads on my LCD-2. Although the Audeze pads are nice and plush, mine unfortunately weren't the same thickness and one side compressed more than the other, so I did have a little channel imbalance. It wasn't a massive deal, so I held off on replacing them until I tried an LCD-4 with the Dekoni hybrids at a Head-Fi meet (I couldn't believe how comfortable that LCD-4 was, tbh), after which I jumped on the Massdrop discount for the same for my LCD-2s. I expected a comfort improvement, but I was pleasantly surprised to get some sonic improvement too! Just keep in mind the caveats for my comparison below - a) my Audeze pads are worn and b) Audeze may have changed the foam they used in their pads since 2016 (I don't have a new set of Audeze pads to compare to, unfortunately).
Both sets of pads use high quality material. The Dekoni pads are noticeably thicker than my worn Audeze ones and the Dekonis' memory foam is noticeably stiffer (in that it compresses less, not that its hard or uncomfortable) than the generic foam of the Audeze pads. I like the feel of the Audeze leather but the Dekoni are definitely more comfortable for me, especially when I'm wearing my glasses (which is almost all the time). The soft velour on the hybrid pad faces (where they make contact with my head) is pretty comfortable too.
The combination of the memory foam and pad thickness leads to two changes that affect the sonics of the LCD-2. The first is that the drivers are farther away from my ears, so there is some increase in the soundstage size. Though my Audeze pads have likely flattened over time, I still think this would be the case because of the Dekoni's memory foam. The second is that the pads seal better on my head, bumping up the low frequencies some. The latter makes a considerable difference for me, since I get more bass impact as well as more of the awesome LCD-2 low end extension!
Overall, I'm pretty happy with both the Lohb strap and the Dekoni pads - for me, they've rejuvenated an already great headphone that I've never had any real desire to move on from! Hope this helps anyone on the lookout for earpad replacements or comfort solutions!
