[gLer]

With mine, it's more of a pop than a crinkle. Take the headphones off and press the pads against each other. You should hear a distinct popping noise coming out of the back of the driver. It's almost certainly the diaphragm flexing / popping. My question is whether or not it's a design flaw that contributes to the high driver failure rate for the LCD series.

Firstly, happy New Year!

Second, not sure why you’re trying to blow your drivers?

The LCD driver membranes are thinner than a human hair. It’s both their biggest strength, and biggest flaw - but only if you don’t look after them. That crinkle or pop noise is the driver flexing - it has a certain built in tolerance for this, but by forcibly making them flex you’re just asking for trouble. I strongly suggest you put them on and take them off very gently, almost peeling them off your ears when taking off, and gently setting them on your ears when putting on. Otherwise, one day soon, you’ll hear the pop for one last time before one or both drivers stop working.

Take care of your LCDs, handle them carefully and gently, and they’ll continue serving you well for years to come.

 

[Luckbad]

Continued stream of consciousness impressions...

• The earpads on the Audeze LCD-2 Classics seal. However, that pressure is relieved fairly quickly. Think of lifting a washcloth out of water. It sucks on the water surface, but the water drains out of it after you lift it up.
• These are actually pretty open, despite that initial seal. And the sound signature doesn't change dramatically if you slightly break the seal like some headphones. It's almost a more balanced sound, if I'm honest. Glasses wearers need not worry.
• The treble roughness is something I'd like to EQ out, but it's tough without a proper measurement rig. Maybe someone else will attack that issue. Not looking to eradicate it, but I'd like to gently bring it in to be a bit smoother.
• I just put the HD650s on for the first time in a few days mid-song on The Cars - Just What I Needed. This emphasizes how much better the Audezes are to me for classic rock. Modded HD650s sound much less engaging for this style of music.
• I stayed up until after 2AM listening to these last night. No fatigue, no discomfort, just exploring parts of my library and TIDAL that I've not visited for years.
• I used to have a pair of Audeze Vegan pads. I'm going to see if I can get some when it starts warming up because that material warmed my ears less.
• I'm actually finding some of my orchestral music quite enjoyable on these now. I've largely acclimated to the sound at this point and appreciate the big bass without hearing the veil nearly as much today.
• Balanced cable plan: Grab my extra single-ended HD650 cable, chop off all the ends, pair of Switchcraft TA4FX for the mini-XLR, Neutrik NC4MXX-B for the other end. If I can find well-priced gold contact tiny-XLR connectors I'll get those instead of the Switchcraft (maybe Rean RT4FC-B).
• Confirmed that "Audeze" isn't pronounced like "aww deez nutz," but like "odyssey" with a bunch of zeezzz when I went to pick them up at Audeze HQ.

 

[wazzupi]

i ran it off the element, high gain mode (not sure which gain setting i had but whatever default was). sounded great. felt like it was doing a good job providing the power. i normally run them off the cayin iha-6

what dac are you using ? with the cayin iha-6 I'm running my AFO and LCD2C off my Caying iha-6 but I need a new dac !!

 

[gearofwar]

So, for someone here who has the AFO alongside 2C. Can you give a detailed comparison between two headphones from top to bottom? including imaging, extension, staging. separation, resolution. I have seen someone having both here but they haven't done any real comparison except saying they prefer this to another which doesn't help anyone here looking at this.

 

[franz12]

So, for someone here who has the AFO alongside 2C. Can you give a detailed comparison between two headphones from top to bottom? including imaging, extension, staging. separation, resolution. I have seen someone having both here but they haven't done any real comparison except saying they prefer this to another which doesn't help anyone here looking at this.

I don't have lcd2c. But so far, my understanding is that the sonic signature of AFO is closer to hd650, but lcd2c is far from it. I heard someone in this thread said hd800 is closer to hd650 than lcd2c. I suspect their sonic signature is nothing alike.

AFO has a warm and laid back sound as Tyll says. But considering lcd2c has a darkish audeze sound, lcd2c may be even more laid-back. Just my guess.

 

[Taowolf51]

does anyone here pick this over hd800s as the only can?

I may be doing this, but I need some time to use both for awhile to make that decision. I have a feeling it’ll happen as long as I can deal with the 2c for long periods of time while I work.

The old Emotiva Mini-x paired quite well with the LCD-2 off the speaker taps.

Yeah, I’ve been looking pretty hard at it, though I don’t know if it can fit in my desk setup. Decisions decisions.

i ran it off the element, high gain mode (not sure which gain setting i had but whatever default was). sounded great. felt like it was doing a good job providing the power. i normally run them off the cayin iha-6

Sweet! That may be an option as well. I love JDSLabs support and have been blown away by how well they treat their customers.

 

[cedallaste]

Hi All, very interesting 3D, congrats to all!!
I was planning to look for a used LCD-X, but now I think I want to try the LCD-2C as - according to what I am reading here from many owners - they have the warmth and darkness I like.

Have a question then: my DAC/head amp is the PATHOS CONVERTO (I am Italian... and its amp section pumps out one watt into 16 Ohms, with a <0.2 Ohm output impedance. These specs should be perfect for the X being 20Ohm, but the 2C are 70Ohm, and all I know is that whatever derate curve the amp has (not declared by maker) the power won't be 1W @70Ohm too, but rather half or 1 third/forth.

Can anyone tell me if this will end up on a reduced sound performance, or it is just a matter of loudness?

Also, I am not an expert --> I don't know exactly if the LCDs needs current or volts (their specs calls for minimum of 1Watt recommended power - both X and 2C) and I also don't know if my amp will deliver current or volt most; all I know is that its an A class and its output impedance is low enough for both headphones. Does anyone know if the match PATHOS and 2C
will result in a fail due to such current/volt delivery/demand characteristics?

Thank you in advance guys!!

PS: happy new year to all!!!

 

[Uri Cohen]

I was doing testing of my LC2C with my Woo Audio WA6-SE amp and the Schiit Magni 3 Amp. The WA6-SE has tons of drive and gives the LCD2C a very clean sound (that doesn't sound like to me veiled, unless you call the dark high-end to be veiled), and the low end has good slam without going overboard. The Magni 3 gives the LCD2C more slam, however the midrange isn't as detailed as the Woo Audio WA6-SE.

I really need to sit down and type up my true impressions as the time comes.

 

[scoopbb]

Sweet! That may be an option as well. I love JDSLabs support and have been blown away by how well they treat their customers.

Best customer service I've ever experienced. I brought my element (years old at this point) to work and it was getting a ton of RFI from the iMac i use at work, something I never experienced at home. I emailed them asking if there was anything I could do on my end and they offered to update it to practically brand new for free no questions asked. Stand up crew over there.

 

[Taowolf51]

Best customer service I've ever experienced. I brought my element (years old at this point) to work and it was getting a ton of RFI from the iMac i use at work, something I never experienced at home. I emailed them asking if there was anything I could do on my end and they offered to update it to practically brand new for free no questions asked. Stand up crew over there.

You can say that again. Had an ODAC from them that was giving me a bit of trouble, so I emailed them at 3 in the morning. In 5 minutes I got a reply from their lead engineer and owner who, over a series of emails, diagnosed and fixed my problem. At 3 in the ****ing morning! A few years later (out of warranty) I was having an issue with my ODAC so I sent them an email and they said it was likely an issue with my cable, and to check that, but just in case they would be happy to take a look at and fix it. I replaced the cable and they were right, so I didn’t have to send it to them, but they were willing to do that even though I was years out of warranty.

Their customer service is truly the best I’ve run into.



I’ve been playing with EQ for the 2c, and I really like the combo of the LCD-2 setting on Reveal mixed with a minor shelving down past 10k. Sounds fantastic! Really recommend Reveal.

 

[Pharmaboy]

You can say that again. Had an ODAC from them that was giving me a bit of trouble, so I emailed them at 3 in the morning. In 5 minutes I got a reply from their lead engineer and owner who, over a series of emails, diagnosed and fixed my problem. At 3 in the ****ing morning! A few years later (out of warranty) I was having an issue with my ODAC so I sent them an email and they said it was likely an issue with my cable, and to check that, but just in case they would be happy to take a look at and fix it. I replaced the cable and they were right, so I didn’t have to send it to them, but they were willing to do that even though I was years out of warranty.

Their customer service is truly the best I’ve run into.



I’ve been playing with EQ for the 2c, and I really like the combo of the LCD-2 setting on Reveal mixed with a minor shelving down past 10k. Sounds fantastic! Really recommend Reveal.

Sorry to come off like a dumbass--but what's "Reveal"?

 

[Taowolf51]

Sorry to come off like a dumbass--but what's "Reveal"?

Reveal is a plug-in for a bunch of software made by Audeze that uses EQ to add corrections to their headphones to get them closer to what Audeze considers an accurate speaker sounds like. It’s close ish to the Harman response. Basically, it ups the bass just a touch (1db maybe) and fills in the upper mid/lower treble dip (2-5k or so).

You can use it with a bunch of different software as well as Equalizer APO, so it can be a system-wide on Windows (not sure about Mac, but I may look into it). Plus with APO, you can add extra EQ to it as well.

They haven’t added an LCD-2C profile yet, but the LCD-2 one sounds pretty good.

https://www.audeze.com/audeze-reveal-plugin

 

[Pharmaboy]

Reveal is a plug-in for a bunch of software made by Audeze that uses EQ to add corrections to their headphones to get them closer to what Audeze considers an accurate speaker sounds like. It’s close ish to the Harman response. Basically, it ups the bass just a touch (1db maybe) and fills in the upper mid/lower treble dip (2-5k or so).

You can use it with a bunch of different software as well as Equalizer APO, so it can be a system-wide on Windows (not sure about Mac, but I may look into it). Plus with APO, you can add extra EQ to it as well.

https://www.audeze.com/audeze-reveal-plugin

That's kind of amazing. Thanks for explaining!

Sounds like I could download this plugin for my Windows 7 machine w/JRiver & go from there. Does it matter which version of JRiver one has? I'm stalled out a v17, for various reasons...

(oh, wait--I need to own an Audeze headphone for this to work. I knew there was a catch!)

 

[Johnny1982xyz]

Hi All, very interesting 3D, congrats to all!!
I was planning to look for a used LCD-X, but now I think I want to try the LCD-2C as - according to what I am reading here from many owners - they have the warmth and darkness I like.

Have a question then: my DAC/head amp is the PATHOS CONVERTO (I am Italian... and its amp section pumps out one watt into 16 Ohms, with a <0.2 Ohm output impedance. These specs should be perfect for the X being 20Ohm, but the 2C are 70Ohm, and all I know is that whatever derate curve the amp has (not declared by maker) the power won't be 1W @70Ohm too, but rather half or 1 third/forth.

Can anyone tell me if this will end up on a reduced sound performance, or it is just a matter of loudness?

Also, I am not an expert --> I don't know exactly if the LCDs needs current or volts (their specs calls for minimum of 1Watt recommended power - both X and 2C) and I also don't know if my amp will deliver current or volt most; all I know is that its an A class and its output impedance is low enough for both headphones. Does anyone know if the match PATHOS and 2C
will result in a fail due to such current/volt delivery/demand characteristics?

Thank you in advance guys!!

PS: happy new year to all!!!

Hi ... in your case I think the LCDX would be more adeguate 1W @16 ohm is 0.228W @ 70 Ohm ... I listened to LCD-X very nice headphone (but i liked more the lcd2f than the X... and i'm waiting the lcd2c available in italy too) ,

The lcd-X was too heavy for my neck

 

[anoxy]

I stopped by Echo Audio in Portland this past weekend to audition a few different headphones. I A/B'd the LCD-3, LCD-2F, LCD-X, and HD800S, but only had time for a few tracks off Black Messiah by D'angelo & The Vanguard, an album I know really well.

They didn't have the Classics, and I haven't had a chance to give them a proper listen on a proper source yet, but I wanted to get some ideas about the other LCD offerings.

I can't go into much detail, but I will say I didn't enjoy the LCD-3. They didn't have a lot of body, and didn't give off that warm feeling people talk about so much. But perhaps they just don't do R&B very well.

LCD-2F were very similar to me, although perhaps a little less detailed.

LCD-X----wow! I loved these. Definitely my preferred sound signature, however switching between a tube set-up and solid state was like night and day. I thought the solid state sounded much better...I can't remember the exact models they had there in store.

Anyway, I'm hoping the LCD-2C is similar to the X, or I might be disappointed.