Got my first set of Audeze cans (or cans over $500 for that matter) in the mail today. Couldn't pass up the holiday special pricing as I've always wanted to get into the Audeze lineup but couldn't justify spending over $1k without having worked my way up. Here's my quick unboxing impressions after a couple of hours listening through the Chord Mojo.
Imgur album because I couldn't figure out how to embed images without them being huge:
https://imgur.com/gallery/TguMq
The Goods
From an unboxing perspective, it is very clear that Audeze has cut as much extraneous cost from the product as possible in order to make the price point palatable for their cost structure. There literally is no "LCD-2 Classic box" unless you count form cut foam inside the shipping box. No wood cups, but I'm glad they didn't stick plastic rings in there just to force a larger soundstage. It just goes straight from the aluminum driver housing into pads.
The included extras are only the essentials: cable (terminates in 3/4", no adapter included so you'll need to have an adapter or a different cable for 3.5mm sources), USB stick with warranty/user guide, and the warranty card with serial number). I didn't expect the headphone to come with extras like the wonderful hardcase that the mainline LCD headsets come with, but an included adapter would have been nice. Or a 3.5mm jack on the cable with a 1/4" adapter would have been even better.
The headband is a huge area of improvement. Even though it's probably actually cheaper than the stuffed/padded stitched leather headbands that the OG audezes carry, it is significantly easier to wear comfortably and feels much softer on the head due to wider weight distribution. Seriously, the PU headband is thicc.
Speaking of things that are thicc, the pads. Slightly uneven in thiccness upon close examination, but they're still incredibly comfortable and are right up there with the best down pillows I've used in terms of how plush and soft they are.
The PU leather they use (call it protein leather, call it vegan leather, it's all polyurethane of varying quality) is really good. As someone who's delved into the depths of PU swatches for work, I am impressed with their sourcing and am fully approving of the materials.
The Sound
Only going to post quick impressions since I have barely had these for more than a few hours. The headphones are surprisingly sensitive. On my chord mojo, they are significantly louder than my HE-4XX at the same volume setting. Tried plugging it straight into my Galaxy S8 just for shiggles, and the phone drives it to plenty loud. Obviously quality suffers, but the volume is there and it's not horrible. Still outperforms other "mobile" headphones (in sound quality) on just the phone.
Bass extension is great, really enjoying how fun and relaxed these sound. Mids and high notes are much easier to listen to than on my other headsets which always give me a bit of fatigue as I'm (psychosomatically) sensitive to higher notes.
That's about it for now! Will do a more in depth review as well as comparison through different sources like my laptop, Schiit Fulla, and more complete notes for the Mojo.
