[jamato8]

I enjoy my JH13's and the 2's but to be honest, if in a place where I can use the LCD-2, there is no contest, for me. 
 
It seems with the various preferences and the differences from the 1 to the 2, it might have been good for Audeze' to have kept both. I know that I won't give up my 1's. The only frustrating thing is if they ever go bad, this means they won't be able to replace the driver, as both would need to be replaced. This I think, and I could be wrong because maybe they have a supply of the first drivers, would be a misfire. 

 

[Freeze]

Wait, so you are saying the rev 1 edition is better quality sound than the rev 2 edition?

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

Wait, so you are saying the rev 1 edition is better quality sound than the rev 2 edition?

 
That's a question of personal preference. I'd estimate that slightly more than half of the folks who have used both prefer the Rev. 2, but it's pretty close.
 
 

 

[Freeze]

Can you quickly go over the main sonic difference between them so I don't have to search through a vast amount of pages.

 

[saitoh]

Quote:

Can you quickly go over the main sonic difference between them so I don't have to search through a vast amount of pages.

Sure.
 
The gist is, you're getting more in the 2-2.5khz range. There are probably other differences, but that's the biggest one that I get out of this discussion and the specs that Audeze is sending. I compared my graph, other R2 graphs and other R1 graphs and thats about what I got out of it once you normalize the graphs. That band is generally considered presence or brightness (it's not cymbal or sparkle so much as, brightness or bite in a guitar or vocal). I think the gentle slope down used in the R2 is nice. If you think your existing headphones sound pretty good/balanced, then I wouldn't worry about it. The LCDs will likely be darker than what you have now, but it's a question of is will they be darker, or just sort of darker.

 

[Radio_head]

In my experience having the JH13's for two years and the LCD-2's for a year (just ruling out FOTM for either) here are the pros/cons: 
 
JH13 Pros:

1. Potent Portable
2. Easy to drive 
3. Hard to break
4. Isolation
5. Variety of use (I use them while sleeping and they sound great and block out all noise)
6. Smoother and faster sound than the LCD-2's 

 
Cons:

1. You can't show your friends how awesome your headphones are
2. Depreciation
3. Cable breaking (one of the ears will start shorting out every 6 months with the stock cables, I've replaced 4 times.)
4. Hassle of molds, especially if they don't seal right and you have to send back, etc
5. Lacks impact/slam of conventional headphones, kal vachomer for an ortho like the LCD-2.  (I am not talking about bass.  All IEMs will have a certain lack of impact that conventional headphones have.)
6. Needs a remold every few years
7. The technology seems to be just hitting its stride over the last couple years.  Within a few short years there will be a plethora of companies with a myriad of options, prices will plummet due to so much competition, and the quality will only get better.  Do you want to invest that much money in a technology in its adolescence without the ability to recoup your investment?

 
The LCD-2's pros:

1. Asethetics (subjective)
2. Premium materials, accessories, case
3. Hold up their value fairly well
4. Great impact/slam, very involving analog sound across the spectrum (impressions from r1)
5. Well priced against competition
6. Ortho-right-is (try saying that in a yoda voice)
7. Audeze aren't pumping out a new model every 8 months (they've done one fairly major tweak since the LCD-2 came out)

 
Cons:

1. Your friends will steal your headphones because of how cool they are
2. Needs home setup to drive it in a way that will do it justice
3. Size/Weight/Clamp depending on who you ask (only the size bothers me, I have to slide them too far forward if I lay on my back on a pillow)
4. While orthos have been around forever, the release of the LCD-2 helped to hasten the advent of the ortho-age, and it is foreseeable that this will cause a flood of competitors and innovation in the field that will have the same effect on price and quality mentioned with IEM's/BA drivers.
5. Not portable at all.  Even if you do have the moxie to lug it around... it is like a baby.  People will stare at you because how loud it is, you'd never want someone to steal it, it makes tasks that used to be a breeze unwieldy and cumbersome, and its probably best not to drop it.
6. Some people claim they don't want to buy from a company that may be out of business in five years.  I find this ridiculous as Audeze are successful and have grown exponentially.  But even if they do go out of business, DIY repair companies will crawl out of the woodwork, and the price of a used LCD-2 will inflate to near R-10 levels of extortion.  So I see it as a win-win, not a con at all.

 
As far as customer service, both companies have a lot of positive and negative feedback.  Factoring in the JH3A and Jerry Harvey's cocky stability (they'll never do repairs for free, they always find ways it wasn't in your warranty, hence $200 so far in upkeep) and I give the edge to Audeze.
 
Hope that helps.

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

In my experience having the JH13's for two years and the LCD-2's for a year (just ruling out FOTM for either) here are the pros/cons: 
 
JH13 Pros:

1. Potent Portable
2. Easy to drive 
3. Hard to break
4. Isolation
5. Variety of use (I use them while sleeping and they sound great and block out all noise)
6. Smoother and faster sound than the LCD-2's 

 
Cons:

1. You can't show your friends how awesome your headphones are
2. Depreciation
3. Cable breaking (one of the ears will start shorting out every 6 months with the stock cables, I've replaced 4 times.)
4. Hassle of molds, especially if they don't seal right and you have to send back, etc
5. Lacks impact/slam of conventional headphones, kal vachomer for an ortho like the LCD-2.  (I am not talking about bass.  All IEMs will have a certain lack of impact that conventional headphones have.)
6. Needs a remold every few years
7. The technology seems to be just hitting its stride over the last couple years.  Within a few short years there will be a plethora of companies with a myriad of options, prices will plummet due to so much competition, and the quality will only get better.  Do you want to invest that much money in a technology in its adolescence without the ability to recoup your investment?

 
The LCD-2's pros:

1. Asethetics (subjective)
2. Premium materials, accessories, case
3. Hold up their value fairly well
4. Great impact/slam, very involving analog sound across the spectrum (impressions from r1)
5. Well priced against competition
6. Ortho-right-is (try saying that in a yoda voice)
7. Audeze aren't pumping out a new model every 8 months (they've done one fairly major tweak since the LCD-2 came out)

 
Cons:

1. Your friends will steal your headphones because of how cool they are
2. Needs home setup to drive it in a way that will do it justice
3. Size/Weight/Clamp depending on who you ask (only the size bothers me, I have to slide them too far forward if I lay on my back on a pillow)
4. While orthos have been around forever, the release of the LCD-2 helped to hasten the advent of the ortho-age, and it is foreseeable that this will cause a flood of competitors and innovation in the field that will have the same effect on price and quality mentioned with IEM's/BA drivers.
5. Not portable at all.  Even if you do have the moxie to lug it around... it is like a baby.  People will stare at you because how loud it is, you'd never want someone to steal it, it makes tasks that used to be a breeze unwieldy and cumbersome, and its probably best not to drop it.
6. Some people claim they don't want to buy from a company that may be out of business in five years.  I find this ridiculous as Audeze are successful and have grown exponentially.  But even if they do go out of business, DIY repair companies will crawl out of the woodwork, and the price of a used LCD-2 will inflate to near R-10 levels of extortion.  So I see it as a win-win, not a con at all.

 
As far as customer service, both companies have a lot of positive and negative feedback.  Factoring in the JH3A and Jerry Harvey's cocky stability (they'll never do repairs for free, they always find ways it wasn't in your warranty, hence $200 so far in upkeep) and I give the edge to Audeze.
 
Hope that helps.

I dont think it will be like that, and Audeze will have more than 5 years in the hp business IMO.
 

 

[Freeze]

Well I currently have westone 3 limited editions and ultrasone pro 900 HPs. Both of these have a similar sound curve so im going to trade the westone 3 limited editions for a grado gr10. But my next purchase is going to be a HP in the 1000 range quality level. I dont mind travellin with the pro 900. How much more cumbersome is the lcd2 compared to those?
 
Do you think it's better i keep the gr 10 sell the pro 900 and get the lcd2   or  sell the gr10, keep the pro 900's, and buy the jh 16 pro's? Which would compliment each other the best  gr10 + lcd2  or jh16 + pro 900's?
 
And yes radio that helped a lot gives me a lot to think about.

 

[grokit]

Nice bullet point comparison Radio_head, factual and easy to read.

 

[oqvist]

Quote:

 
That's a question of personal preference. I'd estimate that slightly more than half of the folks who have used both prefer the Rev. 2, but it's pretty close.
 
 

Rev 2 is running away here. http://www.head-fi.org/t/565972/poll-audeze-lcd-2-rev1-rev2-owners-desert-island-scenario
 
Initially it was about 50/50.
 
Either one would work for me

 

[wakeride74]

Yeah, I'd have to wonder how many of those voters have heard both with same source, amp, material, etc. and within a short enough time to remember one from the other. I'd be happy with either.

 

[Freeze]

I think I'm leaning towards the 2nd revision. I just dont think they'd revise it unless they were improving something.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Yeah, I'd have to wonder how many of those voters have heard both with same source, amp, material, etc. and within a short enough time to remember one from the other. I'd be happy with either.

I'd be extremely happy with either...just I had a slight preference for the Rev 2's presentation.

 

[Freeze]

The LCD2's are open right?  Would someone be disappointed in the strength of the bass compared to an ultrasone pro 900?

 

[pp312]

Quote:

I think I'm leaning towards the 2nd revision. I just dont think they'd revise it unless they were improving something.

Well now, that's a moot point. It's been suggested, by me among others, that Audeze went looking for new materials after the several failures of a few months back and came up with what is now the rev2, not by design but by accident. Alternatively it could be suggested, given the original wording on the website, that they tweaked the rev1 to be more in line with other company's flagships--IOW, not because they thought it sounded better but because they considered the sound more commercial.
 
I plump for the first theory myself, as it makes complete sense. It seems to me just too much of a coincidence that they come up a new version so soon after having a number of component failures.