[Lohb]

  I could be wrong, but I am fairly certain that those L/R grills were changed to the current grills sometime during the rev 1 driver's lifespan.  To my knowledge there were no driver changes before rev 1.  I can't find the pair you mentioned on ebay.  I googled LCD-1 to see if it looked anything like the LCD-2, as I was curious if the L/R grill was perhaps carried over from that model, and I found a surprisingly different looking headphone!

Here it is right side

 

[haejuk]

That one is the original rev 1 I think.  I would expect it to sound about the same as a rev 1 with the modern grills, but I've never had a listen to any of the rev 1s.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

  There is a pair on ebay with the original L+R grills right now. The seller was saying those were best sounding to him after owning multiple revisions...it is a pre-revision 1 (?)...first issue ?
 

 
I'd be willing to bet it's not a "universal" progression from rev-1 to fazor of everyone agreeing they got better with each iteration, that there are tons of people who prefer this one and that one. It's not like any of them were made poorly, the descriptions of the alterations seem to be more related to response curve with a tiny bit of soundstage. We're not talking some giant magic wham-clarity-and-balance situation.

 

[Lohb]

But generally I think the progression was from thick dark and chocolatey to speed clarity and imaging.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

  But generally I think the progression was from thick dark and chocolatey to speed clarity and imaging.

 
That does seem to be it. It's all a question of where on that spectrum you lie.

 

[x RELIC x]

That does seem to be it. It's all a question of where on that spectrum you lie.

I'd also add that the improvement doesn't just depend on the preference of frequency spectrum. Take a snare drum hit for example. When the stick first hits the skin there is an initial brief spike, crack, smack that lies in the mids and treble region before the bass comes through. This adds realism and texture to the drum hit and would not be accomplished well if the upper frequencies weren't present enough. Treble presence is a requirement to get realistic bass hits in this case.

The whole range should be balanced with enough speed in the drivers to articulate the nuances of what was recorded. This is where I feel the revisions have been improving from version 1 to fazor. I believe it's all about cohesion without imbalance, and therefore why I like the Audeze sound and the direction they are going in.

 

[annar]

Hi, 
As this is an impressions thread I  am giving my impression before asking a couple of relevant questions.
Have just purchased LCD with fazor made in January 2014, so is the latest variant, to put it very bluntly ,  amazing ! Although must say cannot play Rihanna on them, speakers only
Is it too heavy- No , does it feel comfortable for extended listening - Yes.
Must add, it does have extremely thick , soft Vegan pads.
Exceptional  detail and bass and a sound stage that is in my view is center of row 5.
My only gripe is the cable is cumbersome and too short by about a metre , think being flat has a lot to do with the awkward feel of it .
Now am running it with CD's only through Yamaha AS2000 amp and CSD2000 Cdp so have good power, so 1st query is on page 275 " Madwolfa " pointed to Furatech cable on ebay @ 10ft long , a much better length  for me and it's not flat which I feel makes it lack flexibility , any opinions here ??
Also , am not really into cable performance debates and never really believed in it , but, have recently changed my QED performance RCA's over to Chord crimson plus  , why ,because being female, I liked the look better for coupling CDP to Amp,
that makes sense , doesn't it !
Now , hadn't used system for a couple of weeks then noticed a marked difference in clarity as though a veil was lifted    and it appears that Chord works better for Yamaha , takes away a lot of what some call laid back feel, makes for a more lively presentation, hence my query re above cable.
Secondly, run in on LCD'S to open up sound stage,  as we are not dealing with a unit like a regular speaker , so how does it work in physical property changes to Magnaplanars??
Regards Anna

 

[saxelrod92]

   
The old ones were rev2 born on June 5, 2013.  
 
I did do a direct side by side comparison.  Both cables were the standard issue Audeze cables. I did not compare each set of headphones with the exact same set of standard Audeze cables, but both headphones were compared with the standard Audeze cables.

its interesting you mention when they were born, because mine also say they were made in June, if not like a day after those lol. and then I bought them in september of that year. So it seems there is something about the pairs made in that month? or we are just more sensitive to the fazor changes than most, idk lol.

 

[saxelrod92]

  That's not "flab" they just yanked out everything 30Hz and below and lifted the high end. That's why it sounds "tighter" to you. Personally I'm very, very glad they left it in on mine because I like a warmer headphone. 
 
I've said this a million times, people just interpret lifted bass as "flabby" and "loose". No one, in my years on Head-Fi, has been able to point to a headphone with pronounced bass that does it with "quality". There is a constantly claimed inverse relationship between quality and quantity on bass, where the less there is the "better" people say it sounds.
 
No, the LCD-2 does bass really damn well in all cases, they just pulled it back for the fazor model and that hits some people's ears a lot better. Which is awesome for people who like that sound. I don't. 

you're right that it is definitely personal preference in the end, but what I experienced is not just flab or looseness (I have denon d5000s, those have a lot of bass, that bleeds into the mids, and itsnt the most controlled, but it hits stupid hard, and literally shakes the headphones) on my lcd 2 pre-fazor, built in june 2013, it just simply does not have proper bass in general. its not flabby or loose, its weak, and soft. more like a very soft boom that lacks attack and is a little unfocused so all the bass notes get lost with the rest of the mix. Dont get me wrong, the bass is decent on these, and because it is more of a boom, you can more easily hear sub bass tones, but they are just very weak. like a tired drummer. maybe its just that batch made in june of 2013, maybe its just me, and like you said I hear that tighter sound as stronger, fuller bass, who knows for sure, but at least for me it seems like the fazor version is the one to get and stick with.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Yikes that sounds rough, and definitely not what I'm experiencing with mine. I can't say the fazors won't make them better, but I will say that the bass on the pair on my head has some serious oomph.
 
You know what I really wonder? This is not at all an insult to Audeze, but I'm starting to wonder if there isn't a good bit of variation from unit to unit. I mean they all clearly have the Audeze signature, but I'm not sure I believe that we're all hearing the exact same sound but describing it in such vastly different ways. I mean they do come with a response curve chart, and they DO change. Maybe the pair you had did have those problems.
 
I do know that the pair I got does not sound, to my ears, at all like the pair I auditioned before. I mean I have a bunch of posts on the matter back there, and I was wildly unimpressed with the pair I had tried. These, on the other hand, are lush and velvety. All I know is these are Rosewood, rev2 and pre-fazor, and the other is bamboo (no idea beyond that). I don't think my ears have changed drastically between then and now, I'm still listening to the same music and my gear is still of the same style.  
 
Then again, I'm also listening to these through different amps and DAC's, so that could certainly have a rather profound impact as well. Burson Conductor vs Schiit Lyr. TOO MANY VARIABLES!!

 

[Sound Eq]

 
you're right that it is definitely personal preference in the end, but what I experienced is not just flab or looseness (I have denon d5000s, those have a lot of bass, that bleeds into the mids, and itsnt the most controlled, but it hits stupid hard, and literally shakes the headphones) on my lcd 2 pre-fazor, built in june 2013, it just simply does not have proper bass in general. its not flabby or loose, its weak, and soft. more like a very soft boom that lacks attack and is a little unfocused so all the bass notes get lost with the rest of the mix. Dont get me wrong, the bass is decent on these, and because it is more of a boom, you can more easily hear sub bass tones, but they are just very weak. like a tired drummer. maybe its just that batch made in june of 2013, maybe its just me, and like you said I hear that tighter sound as stronger, fuller bass, who knows for sure, but at least for me it seems like the fazor version is the one to get and stick with.

 i have the lcd2 rev2 non razor and i love the bass but to get that bass man i have to add so much gear and add lots of bass boost.
 
i think we all hear things different especially when it comes for people who used to listen to closed headphones and then migrate to orthos

 

[TontonJoK]

Yes Lcd2 is far from being a bass monster, very defined and textured. The bass is well integrated in the music and very pleasant

 

[SomeGuyDude]

To me, the LCD-2's pre-fazor bass (at least on my pair) is "filling". It gives the music a nice, full, lush sound, but it neither pounds nor shakes. While I think it sounds excellent for rap, it's not going to satisfy any basshead. 

 

[jjkuz]

Gang, I want to get some new cables to replace the stock Audeze ones.  Based on this Freq Response curve of my LCD2s with Fazors, do you think I should go with Copper, Silver, or Silver plated over copper wire.  I want to open the sound stage but not lose the low end bass.  I listen to Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Classical, all on Apple Loseless format through a Centrance HiFi M8..
 
THANKS in advance!!!
 
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/jjkuz/IMG_0947_zpsb884cb6b.jpg

 

[pdrm360]

  Gang, I want to get some new cables to replace the stock Audeze ones.  Based on this Freq Response curve of my LCD2s with Fazors, do you think I should go with Copper, Silver, or Silver plated over copper wire.  I want to open the sound stage but not lose the low end bass.  I listen to Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Classical, all on Apple Loseless format through a Centrance HiFi M8..
 
THANKS in advance!!!
 
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/jjkuz/IMG_0947_zpsb884cb6b.jpg

 
IMO, the Audeze’s cables are one of the best stock cables in the market and replacing the stock cable isn't necessary. Q-Cable French Silk was my choice and I'm happy with them.