Hi Hoke,Signed up just to thank everyone for all of their knowledge and impressions on these headphones. I've been using Massdrop HD6XX for my primary work headphones for the last year and Grado RS2e for home for a few years. I've always loved the HD6XX, they just tick off all the right boxes for me. I liked the Grados at first, but the foam-on-ear pads just weren't comfortable for longer sessions and the upper tones just seemed too shouty for me even playing LPs through my Woo Audio headphone amp.
After tons of research, I settled on the Audeze LCD-2 as a possible match for me. I'm lucky enough to a short subway ride from Audio 46, so I visited there and Tony let me try a pair. I plugged them into my A&K SR15 and the sound was fantastic, very rich and warm. However, I noticed that I had to turn the A&K volume up to about 110 or so, instead of the usual 70-80 that I use with my Final Audio B3 IEMs. Forgot that the impedence was different. They still sounded great though and I was pretty much already sold on the LCD-2s.
Then Tony plugged them into an iFi audio portable amp just to show me how they sound when properly amplified. Holy hell, what a difference. Night and day difference. After listening to a few of my go-to sample tracks, I realized there was no way I was leaving that store w/o the LCD-2s. Between the luxurious and huge pads and the rich sound, I was in audio heaven.
So, thank you for sharing your own experiences and leading me to my own audio nirvana. My wife is out of town this weekend, and I'm not sure I'll even leave the house now that I have these.
I have a portable iFi DAC/amp and while my LCD-2s sound good with it, I have found that they really come to life driven from the balanced output of a mains powered amp.