[sokolov91]

the marantz looks like a good suggestion, but right now I can't really afford brand name gear and get the performance I want.
 
Also, I want to get something pretty substantial to end all audio spending for a long time.
 
I miss the days when music was just so simple as throwing a pair of headphones on... not looking at new sources, new amps, new headphones to improve the experience. It has become too much about the technical purity of the experience, and not the experience itself. So I hope to satisfy the tech, upgradeitis side for a long time, so that my music appreciation side can truly emerge and dominate for a long time to come. I hope that perceiving the LCD-2 as perfect and getting some uber high end gear will do the trick.
 
I am almost down to one headphone, and very happy about it.

 

[Frank I]

If you spend 3K your really done. You need to listen to the right amps the right amps is out there and with the right source you may get it finished . think Cary Sl80 used about 1800 and can get you speakers also in the future. One system for all and then be done.

 

[jonathanvaljean]

Quote:

If someone is having trouble with harshness, it's probably something coming as a result of the components used rather than the headphones, if not in the music itself.

Hi there.  I was that someone, actually.  

 In reality, the problem was me!  I had been sneezing all day due to allergies, and, as a result, my ears were super sensitive.  What a difference a day makes:  I listened to my LCD-2s again tonight and didn't want to take them off my head!  

 

[jonathanvaljean]

What a difference a day makes!  Last evening I auditioned my new LCD-2s after having been afflicted by allergies all day; I must have sneezed a hundred times yesterday.  This caused my ears to be super sensitive, and, as a result, the trebles really affected me.  (In retrospect, this was in no way a result of the LCD-2s trebles being harsh or out of balance.)  
 
Fast forward to this evening...  
 
I auditioned the LCD-2s again and didn't want to take them off!  Although the cans are heavier than most, once one finds the optimal adjustment and reclines, there is no problem at all with respect to weight.  I actually found them to be quite comfortable, in fact.  As to the amp, I found my Microamp to be just fine tonight.  These LCD-2s are truly remarkable and I would recommend them to anyone!  They have a beautifully balanced presentation and are quite incredibly musical to be such neutral cans.  And oh, the bass... so tight, so nicely extended.  My LCD-2s played handled everything I fed them with aplomb.  Just blissful!  

   

 

[tisb0b]

I just sold off my W1000X and RS1i, I've kept the Pro900's for when I need the isolation and because they aren't worth very much. I'll also soon be in reach of my goal of having a spare $500 so I can just go on a music spending spree. I'm not one of those people that slowly accumulates music. I just like to buy a whole bunch of music at once, then when I get bored I just rinse and repeat.    
 
Quote:

the marantz looks like a good suggestion, but right now I can't really afford brand name gear and get the performance I want.
 
Also, I want to get something pretty substantial to end all audio spending for a long time.
 
I miss the days when music was just so simple as throwing a pair of headphones on... not looking at new sources, new amps, new headphones to improve the experience. It has become too much about the technical purity of the experience, and not the experience itself. So I hope to satisfy the tech, upgradeitis side for a long time, so that my music appreciation side can truly emerge and dominate for a long time to come. I hope that perceiving the LCD-2 as perfect and getting some uber high end gear will do the trick.
 
I am almost down to one headphone, and very happy about it.

 

[SP Wild]

 
 

 
Quote:

@ Jonathan
 
You're hearing harsh highs with your HR rig? That's odd. I have an UDA and hear nothing you're describing, quite the opposite in fact. The treble presentation the LCD-2 has is perfect for me. My HD650s have a "brighter" top end than the LCDs I think.

I do agree with you somewhat, but "brighter" isn't the word I'd use, because I believe it is more explicitly related to overall treble presence and in this sense, the LCD2s have more overall treble presence.  I'd describe the LCD2 as being less "shouty" as this where the differences occur as a result of psycho-acoustics, the HD650 has more upper midrange presence than the LCD2...psycho-acoustically.  That is because the LCD2 has more overall sound energy levels at the uppermidrange, however this is being masked by the lower mids...psycho-acoustically, because the the HD650 has more lower mid energy VS upper mid energy than the LCD2.  All very confusing.
 
It all comes down to the LCD2s ability to reproduce a digital signal at 30hz...something no conventional dynamic can match without severe distortion, hence all are rolled off at the subbass, where the LCD2 can go flat down to 10hz.  This is the firm foundation where the "midrange" body and "fullness" can be attributed to...something the HD650 can only give a glimpse of but never match.
 
To illustrate how difficult it is to achieve this accomplishment, lets look at the HD800.  At 20hz the sound energy levels is down 10db vs 100hz.  This means the LCD2 at a given volume has to dissipate (via movement) 10 times more energy at 20hz, and that's only at 20hz.  At 30hz it has to dissipate 8 times more energy than the HD800...and logarithmically less and less  until 100 hz.  Accumulate all the frequencies below 100hz that the LCD2 does not roll off, and it has to dissipate a lot more energy than the HD800, which is beyond my rudimentary maths. 
 
The key is dissipating the energy by converting it to undistorted sound waves.  Hence the LCD2 weighs twice as much as any other can with all wood and metal construction, there is virtually no plastic in the design, without resorting to carbon composite compounds which Audeze can never afford, which would also make it one unaffordable can.
 
In contrast, the D7000 resorts to a closed cup design to capture all the subbass energies, yet I can always feel the chassis vibrating with the bass.  When EQing the HD800 to expose its subbass (by taking all the frequencies at and above 60hz and bringing sliding them all down to anywhere between -5db to -10db), it actually does a remarkable job for an open can - possibly better than the D7000, in subbass accuracy - however the chassis rigidity is about equal to the D7000 (which I commended as best I've ever felt until the LCD2s) - the HD800 is a sub-bass technical benchmark for an open, conventional dynamic.  But the LCD2 is playing on a whole different league with bass - the weight of the can to control the vibration created by four large and heavy magnets - it's unreal. 
 
With EQ the HD800 cannot match, and the resultant "body" and "fullness" in the midrange, comes off fake and distorted.  The D7000s hide this fact by recessing the mid exactly at that position so it's not noticed.  The more I research, the more fascinated I become with orthodynamics technology.


 

 

[Stoney]

To SillyHoney: 
 
Forgive me if I missed earlier comments, but how does the LCD-2 perform with your WA6, relative to your other amps? 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

 
Quote:

I really hope this thread does not go the way of the K70X where people "absolutely need" 1400 hrs of burn in, otherwise their opinion is totally invalid. Utter conjecture really and totally useless when discussing the headphones. It just adds another variable into the mix that means nothing. How long you have owned them is one thing, how long they have been used is another.
 
Even dynamic drivers change but a minute fraction of their overall FR, so small it could be completely disregarded and chopped up to a slightly different recording angle or some other random variable, and definitely small enough to say with as close to 100% certainty as possible that an individual would not be able to detect it.  Relational is not causal. So, just because they sound(ed) different (to you at a certain point in time, in a certain psychological state)  after a certain period of time is no actual proof of the driver changing, but it is related, however uncausal it most likely is.
 
My LCD-2 sound the same to me as the day I got them -amazing. Albeit more and less at the same time. Less because the initial wow factor is no longer there, and more because they still continue to surprise and enlighten me with each CD I play for the first time through them.
 
It has been like this for any headphone I have ever owned, and most likely will ever know.  Love or hate upon first listening, second opinion, general consensus, and then true appreciation of the sonic character (or true hatred) after being fully accustomed.  Expectation and coming to terms with reality has a lot more to do with this burn in than people would care to admit and can take quite a while for some.  I myself my reviews have used burn in, so please, so need to call me a pot, I am well aware of things I have wrote. I am both more experience and more educated now and have changed my ways.
 
I just think it is key to leave out as many extraneous variables as possible to ease discussion.

My LCD-2 changed only a little with burn-in.  I thought they sounded a little more fatiguing out of the box than after 24-100 hours of music through them.  Changing my source from Apogee mini-DAC to Nuforce CDP-8 had a bigger impact on improving the sound than burn-in.  Many phones I have tried did not change much with burn-in, such as my current pair of HD600 or ESW-10JPN.  My HE-5 only changed a little, becoming just a little smoother and refined over time.
 
But I have had some phones that changed a lot with burn-in, especially Ultrasone headphones or my Grado HF-2 and SR-325i.  And it was not always for the better.  My Proline 2500 got worse with burn-in, losing bass as did the Grado SR-325i.  My HFI-780 developed sibilance after a few days of burn-in and needed a re-cable to tame it (then seeming to be too dark after that).  My Ultrasone Edition 9 seemed to get darker and less transparent with burn-in. My Grado HF-2 had wooly sloppy bass that tightened up and became more balanced and controlled with burn-in, and the improvement was very noticeable when comparing my HF-2 #24 to my son's new HF-2 #120 side by side.
 
Most of the improvement with my LCD-2 was due to my becoming used to them, and then later hearing them on the right gear added to that.  But there definitely was a decrease in fatigue using them after they had 1 day, then 2 or 3 days on them.  I still find the tight clamping force to be fatiguing, but that doesn't seem to have changed since I got them, so less clamping is not the cause for less fatigue.

 

[oqvist]

I have not detected any change at all. I am being more used to it and managed to accept it´s flaws a bit better. 
 
I could never ever be happy with just one headphone though. LCD-2 can never be the one because of it´s weight.
I am trying to limit my use of it to save my neck some. It´s never uncomfortable when I wear it but feeling the compression in my neck makes
me a bit worried in the long run.
But the combination of LCD-2/ED 8/Pro 900 let me use headphones on pretty much every occasion
It covers every movie genre, game genre and music genre pretty much. Offering various amounts of isolation and giving me three takes on the same recording. 

 

[n3rdling]

sokolov, great post RE: burn in.  I have personally never experienced burn in, but then only twice have I ever bought a headphone new instead of used.  I've never understood how so many people can seemingly be unable to understand the effect of mood, health, positioning, and other factors when they try to give their burn in theories.  Not to mention the pitfalls of audio memory.
 
You seem to do well at researching, so the only advice I can give you is to really be sure you want to go with the amp/DAC you've chosen.  Not saying the audio GD stuff isn't good (I don't know), but the pool of people largely responsible for the Audio GD mania isn't what I'd call the most trustworthy group.

I would wait until the Ref7 loaner program has come closer to running its' course, as I believe Currawong has selected a very nice list of experienced, trustworthy individuals.  If I were in your shoes I'd take a good look at the vintage landscape for DACs and various DIY designs for amps.
 
SPWild:  I can only imagine what insane dB levels you're running your headphones at in order to feel the cups vibrate.  You're gonna blow out your hearing if you haven't already done so. 

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

sokolov, great post RE: burn in.  I have personally never experienced burn in, but then only twice have I ever bought a headphone new instead of used.  I've never understood how so many people can seemingly be unable to understand the effect of mood, health, positioning, and other factors when they try to give their burn in theories.  Not to mention the pitfalls of audio memory.
 
You seem to do well at researching, so the only advice I can give you is to really be sure you want to go with the amp/DAC you've chosen.  Not saying the audio GD stuff isn't good (I don't know), but the pool of people largely responsible for the Audio GD mania isn't what I'd call the most trustworthy group.

I would wait until the Ref7 loaner program has come closer to running its' course, as I believe Currawong has selected a very nice list of experienced, trustworthy individuals.  If I were in your shoes I'd take a good look at the vintage landscape for DACs and various DIY designs for amps.
 
SPWild:  I can only imagine what insane dB levels you're running your headphones at in order to feel the cups vibrate.  You're gonna blow out your hearing if you haven't already done so. 

Well Curra speaks hughly of Audio GD, and I trust his jusdgement as trustworthy.
 
WRT cup vibrations, it doesn't take much for conventional cans to vibrate when Eq'd for a realistic bass response - in this regard the HD800 is phenomal being that it takes more energy to output bass for an open can when compared to a closed can at the same energy levels - and then to be able to damp the vibration as well as the D7000 given the higher output necessary to match.

 

[milford30]

Hey,
Mind sharing when you pre ordered? i'd love to know which dates they're up 2.... i'm still in line...
 
Thx
 
Quote:

Got mine yesterday or today depends on where you live (29/9)

Had a nice shootout with SoapSeller's T1 and HD800.
 
Don't want to post serious impressions because we only had the SOHA as a single ended amp (my beta22 is not finished yet) connected to Opus.
Though I can say the LCD-2 is amazingly accurate and balanced. Bass is best I heard out of any headphone. They were never sibilant for a second not like the HD800 or T1.
For now the LCD-2 and HD800 are on the same level for me and this opinion can change once I get to know the phones more, also getting the beta will help. but they are very different and if one could have both it would be ideal

 

 

[oqvist]

I think Audeze should put up a shipping list like audio GD does

 

[yossi126]

I pre ordered 27/7.
 
 

 

[YoungAudiophile]

Quote:

sokolov, great post RE: burn in.  I have personally never experienced burn in, but then only twice have I ever bought a headphone new instead of used.  I've never understood how so many people can seemingly be unable to understand the effect of mood, health, positioning, and other factors when they try to give their burn in theories.  Not to mention the pitfalls of audio memory.

Ever bought or known anyone with a Dynaudio speaker? (even though they're speaker, it still more or less applies to headphones)
Dynaudio reccomends a burn in time of at least 250 hours before it will start to sounds its best.
When I bought my Dynaudio Focus 140's and heard them for the first few hours, it was like walking bare foot over burning coal.