[angelus55]

Normal. The variance depends on the pads usually as they're handmade so never perfectly equal. My right ear touched the fazors on my old pads and my left ear on the new pads.

If it bothers you, you can contact Audeze they will send you some spacers that go inside the pads and keep the drivers further from your ears.

thanks i asked them a few days ago and they said the spacers wont work on the new ear pads unfortunately

i have a clear mg coming tomrow that i will compare, if its just as good and my ears dont touch the inside (they did not when i demoed them) then i might send the lcd-2 back

would the clear mg be also good for bass centric music like edm iyo? with or without a bass boost via eq?

 

[Yeezybop]

Id the clear mg be also good for bass centric music like edm iyo? with or without a bass boost via eq?

I don't think you can beat Audeze for bass centric music which is why I'll always have a pair. Bottomless sub bass with lots of detail.

The Focals will have a punchier mid-bass though which some people may perceive as sounding 'better'. Just see which you prefer.

 

[mikecheck95]

thanks i asked them a few days ago and they said the spacers wont work on the new ear pads unfortunately

i have a clear mg coming tomrow that i will compare, if its just as good and my ears dont touch the inside (they did not when i demoed them) then i might send the lcd-2 back

would the clear mg be also good for bass centric music like edm iyo? with or without a bass boost via eq?

The reason there was a pad revision is to pull your ears slightly closer to the driver. This helps reduce the effects of phase cancellation and thus pulls up the dips in the upper midrange typical of Audeze headphones. I suppose if you start adding spacers it will mess with the distance and they don't want that.

 

[angelus55]

I don't think you can beat Audeze for bass centric music which is why I'll always have a pair. Bottomless sub bass with lots of detail.

The Focals will have a punchier mid-bass though which some people may perceive as sounding 'better'. Just see which you prefer.

thanks ill ill try the clears when i get them

regardless of sound though, which company iyo is better to trust for long term support for custermer service and product repairs? i am in the usa if it matters, as this is a gift from my family and god forbid it breaks down i i want the ability to fix it for as long as i can

 

[tudedude]

I'm curious how you are coming along with developing an EQ for yours.

oh sorry didnt' see this part earlier. Here's what I came up with, it's a tweak on Chrono's suggestions.

I ended up returning the LCD-2. I found messing with EQ took away from the music enjoyment experience. I kept obsessing over sliders and second guessing everything. It started ruining the fun. I have the LCD-X now. Doesn't require EQ. Not as pretty as the LCD-2 and I feel the LCD-2 had better imaging, soundstage, and separation. I really hope Audeze releases an updated LCD-2.

 

[mikecheck95]

oh sorry didnt' see this part earlier. Here's what I came up with, it's a tweak on Chrono's suggestions.




I ended up returning the LCD-2. I found messing with EQ took away from the music enjoyment experience. I kept obsessing over sliders and second guessing everything. It started ruining the fun. I have the LCD-X now. Doesn't require EQ. Not as pretty as the LCD-2 and I feel the LCD-2 had better imaging, soundstage, and separation. I really hope Audeze releases an updated LCD-2.

I’m glad to hear that the LCD-X is working well for you. I’m really happy with my EQ profile but.. I should tell you. I bought a pair back in December and I remember messing around with EQ a lot. There was a point where I was comparing side-by-side with the Sennheiser HD600 trying to get the mids to match. I remember showing some family members (not audiophiles) and each one of them said they sounded identical. Either way, I was annoyed and returned them.

The reason I ordered the second LCD-2 I have now is because I remembered that I had essentially achieved a neutral sound with the set I had and I realized I wouldn’t find a headphone with the level of detail, bass punch, and musicality that the LCD-2 has at its price point or lower with a 3 year warranty and backed by great customer service.

Then, a few days after receiving my second set, the LCD-X driver/pad revision was announced. I still second guess whether I should be exchanging it. But then I realize that I’ll still want to EQ them and will be back in the circle of confusion.

My favourite part of this journey was listening to a late 80s/early 90’s set of Jamo Concert speakers that I grew up with in my childhood home. This is what I remember thinking was “great sound”. Compared with the HD600s, these speakers are noticeably bright... the HD600s are supposed to be one of the most neutral headphones you can buy. What I realized from this was that there is sort of a spectrum of “neutral” and that if I could EQ the LCD-2s to my preference and be happy then that’s what I “should do”.

 

[mikecheck95]

thanks ill ill try the clears when i get them

regardless of sound though, which company iyo is better to trust for long term support for custermer service and product repairs? i am in the usa if it matters, as this is a gift from my family and god forbid it breaks down i i want the ability to fix it for as long as i can

Audeze really stands behind their products. 3 year warranty and it gets renewed if you need to replace drivers within that timeframe. The thing with planars is that what makes a sound is piece of super thin material that also has to move a lot. It is not robust and it can fail if mishandled or sometimes just from normal usage. Audeze doesn’t charge anything to fix drivers that fail under normal use though. Pads, yokes, headband are replaceable, upgradable and user-servicable.

I believe Focal has a 2 year warranty. Focal’s drivers are different than your typical dynamic driver in that they have a lot more freedom to move. This is what allows them to be lower distortion and have better punch than the average dynamic driver but some people report mechanical driver clipping (where the driver touches its housing due to over-excursion). This is not considered abnormal and Focal has been open about this being part of their design. Pads on focals are $200 headband is not user-replaceable. Focal is a french company and I’m not sure if you send it back to France for service or Quebec, Canada.

 

[tudedude]

I’m glad to hear that the LCD-X is working well for you. I’m really happy with my EQ profile but.. I should tell you. I bought a pair back in December and I remember messing around with EQ a lot. There was a point where I was comparing side-by-side with the Sennheiser HD600 trying to get the mids to match. I remember showing some family members (not audiophiles) and each one of them said they sounded identical. Either way, I was annoyed and returned them.

The reason I ordered the second LCD-2 I have now is because I remembered that I had essentially achieved a neutral sound with the set I had and I realized I wouldn’t find a headphone with the level of detail, bass punch, and musicality that the LCD-2 has at its price point or lower with a 3 year warranty and backed by great customer service.

Then, a few days after receiving my second set, the LCD-X driver/pad revision was announced. I still second guess whether I should be exchanging it. But then I realize that I’ll still want to EQ them and will be back in the circle of confusion.

My favourite part of this journey was listening to a late 80s/early 90’s set of Jamo Concert speakers that I grew up with in my childhood home. This is what I remember thinking was “great sound”. Compared with the HD600s, these speakers are noticeably bright... the HD600s are supposed to be one of the most neutral headphones you can buy. What I realized from this was that there is sort of a spectrum of “neutral” and that if I could EQ the LCD-2s to my preference and be happy then that’s what I “should do”.

I feel you made the right decision. The LCD-2 with EQ is better to my ears than the LCD-X with EQ. I really disagree with the reviewers that the X is better. The wood housing also make them feel and look the price. If I was to be tied to my desktop because of the need for EQ then I'd want it to be with something that looks luxurious.

 

[tameral]

In truth they are both so good - it is impossible to determine a winner.

I'm stuck with owning both at this point (LCD-X and LCD-2F 2021).

 

[Yeezybop]

thanks ill ill try the clears when i get them

regardless of sound though, which company iyo is better to trust for long term support for custermer service and product repairs? i am in the usa if it matters, as this is a gift from my family and god forbid it breaks down i i want the ability to fix it for as long as i can

Focals definitely have QC issues, particulary drivers that randomly stop working. Look how many broken pairs are on eBay at any given time.

Audeze have mostly ironed out their issues over the years and the 3 year warranty is solid. You still need to be careful with them though.

Ultimately I wouldn't let the reliability of either away you though. Just pick whatever sounds the best to your ears or you will probably regret it.

 

[angelus55]

i own the hd 800 s and just got a lcd-2 a week or so ago for more bass heavy music like edm

i own the monoprice AAA-788 which is both and amp and dac but the power output for single end seems kind of low when i looked at other amps but balances out put seems decent but i dont know much about this stuff and how much power is really needed, also i got this because i needed a built in eq so i can use eq even when i use my playstation and not just pc and this was the only unit that had built in eq i could find besides the rme unit i found and the rme was too much money

and i own the schiit magni 3 that came out before the + and heresy model

what would you recommend under 500$ for a better audio experience and would it be worth getting a balanced cable since balanced provides more power from what i can tell? or iyo maybe i would not gain any benefit from getting a more powerful amp as i do not know much about amps

i was looking at the asgard 3 and Jotunheim 2 if i balanced would be worth it for more power iyo, but im not sure i want to buy a balanced cable for both my headphones

please and thanks

 

[mikecheck95]

i own the hd 800 s and just got a lcd-2 a week or so ago for more bass heavy music like edm

i own the monoprice AAA-788 which is both and amp and dac but the power output for single end seems kind of low when i looked at other amps but balances out put seems decent but i dont know much about this stuff and how much power is really needed, also i got this because i needed a built in eq so i can use eq even when i use my playstation and not just pc and this was the only unit that had built in eq i could find besides the rme unit i found and the rme was too much money

and i own the schiit magni 3 that came out before the + and heresy model

what would you recommend under 500$ for a better audio experience and would it be worth getting a balanced cable since balanced provides more power from what i can tell? or iyo maybe i would not gain any benefit from getting a more powerful amp as i do not know much about amps

i was looking at the asgard 3 and Jotunheim 2 if i balanced would be worth it for more power iyo, but im not sure i want to buy a balanced cable for both my headphones

please and thanks

I think the Jotunheim 2 + LCD-2 is generally regarded as “good synergy” but honestly, my laptop gets these guys loud enough… They don’t NEED a lot of power. Not to say they won’t scale but it’s not like an HE-6 or an LCD-4

 

[Aloen]

i own the hd 800 s and just got a lcd-2 a week or so ago for more bass heavy music like edm

i own the monoprice AAA-788 which is both and amp and dac but the power output for single end seems kind of low when i looked at other amps but balances out put seems decent but i dont know much about this stuff and how much power is really needed, also i got this because i needed a built in eq so i can use eq even when i use my playstation and not just pc and this was the only unit that had built in eq i could find besides the rme unit i found and the rme was too much money

and i own the schiit magni 3 that came out before the + and heresy model

what would you recommend under 500$ for a better audio experience and would it be worth getting a balanced cable since balanced provides more power from what i can tell? or iyo maybe i would not gain any benefit from getting a more powerful amp as i do not know much about amps

i was looking at the asgard 3 and Jotunheim 2 if i balanced would be worth it for more power iyo, but im not sure i want to buy a balanced cable for both my headphones

please and thanks

Maybe Asgard 3 Multibit? My Asgard drives the LCD-2s pretty well! I'm currently driving them with an SMSL Stack (M400, SP400) and it's glorious, but expensive.

 

[Contrails]

Nice nails.

Anyway, guess who's going home with a grin and some rosewood Lcd-2! The store had two second hand ones and I auditioned them both side by side while plugged into a studio six. It cost me $870 all up. It would cost me more if I bought some online and had to ship them to Indonesia and then worry about taxes. Anyway I got to compare the freq. graphs and I chose the rev 2. The rev2.3 sounded more darker and had more hours on it by the looks of it. No cracks on the wood, especially around the angled connectors. The sound was smooth and sounded better. Will put up the graph pic later. Time to plug it into the v200.

Edit:






Sound impressions: I am in Lala land right now so I would rather wait till the dust settles down. But if I were to summarise it, it's just a gorgeous sound. Like a classic v12 driving through the woods, with a beautiful rumble and tone. Thanks for all you help guys.

I should have kept these! I guess you only realise what you have lost once you go on to something or someone else.

Anyway, looking for some LCD-2.2 Pre Fazors. If anyone is thinking of selling theirs...

 

[Lolito]

I should have kept these! I guess you only realise what you have lost once you go on to something or someone else.

Anyway, looking for some LCD-2.2 Pre Fazors. If anyone is thinking of selling theirs...

such a big true