Yes, it seems they have created a killer headphone in a difficult price range with the LCD1. I am looking forward to hearing more impressions, but it is promising so far.
Audeze LCD-2C Classic - Impressions Thread
- Thread starter XERO1
- Start date
I bought a somewhat cheap 4.4mm balanced cable ($80) to use with my Fiio M11 and I really like the way the 2C sounds on it. The highs come through much more and have a nice crisp sound with really good detail, even more than my JDS Labs desktop setup. The bass doesn't have as much authority but still sounds very clean with a good amount of impact. The mids also sound nice and are very balanced as well. I'm really enjoying how the 2C sounds from the M11 and I wouldn't have thought it would sound as good as it does since it only has about 550mW at 32ohms but that seems to be plenty.
dB Cooper
New Head-Fier
Frienz, here the dilio.
Trying out headsets is not an easy thing, so we're left with reviewers, forums and a little a few leaps of faith on a wing and a prayer. I am the proud owner of a modified AF M1060... when I say that, I mean it because I've tried just about everything under the sun as far as mods are concerned on it and I have to say that I love it. I love it more than I used to love my HD58X. That's it as far as my hands on experience with decent headphones.
As we can all agree, the build quality on the M1060 sucks ballz and with the holiday season nearly upon us I'm thinking, why not. Let me get a little sometin' sometin' for myself this year. My prevailing thought, was to listen to the guys who steered me toward the M1060 in the first place and the consensus from those same guys is that I'd love either the HIFIMAN Edition XX or the LCD-2 C. I like musical cans.
Currently my M1060 has Audeze Lambskin pad, fuzzor mod inside and phazor mod with a lot of fuzzor mod overlay on the phazor veins. I also have removed the foam and replaced it with a linen cloth with the stock grilles covering it all. I'm using an xDuoo tA-20 with vintage Sylvania tubes in with a custom home made balanced cable. Like I said:
1) I love their current sound
2) Construction sucks
3) I know there's probably better sounding cans out there
So my options as I see it, are replace the entirety of the joke of a headband Monoprice gave us. I swear if I hum at the right frequency I can make the metal resonate. Drives me nuts. Or simply give up on these (I'd certainly keep them as I have a lot of personality in them) and move to a new pair with new opportunities and hopefully starting at a better place with more potential than these since I think sonic ally I am as refined as they're ever going to get.
Are the HIFIMAN Edition XX and the LCD-2 C in the same branch of sound as *my* M1060?
Anything else I should be looking for given that I hope I described the mods and the sound signature those mods would give?
Budget would be between the $600 to $800 dollar range, and there are some good general pupular picks around that price range, specifically the Focal Elex and maybe a used MrSpeakers C or C Flow if I'm lucky. But I keep coming back to the point that I'd like to keep the signature and I'm thinking from reviews that these last two are not the same type of animal.
Thanks in advance for any useful words of wisdom or guidance from anyone with hands on experience.
Trying out headsets is not an easy thing, so we're left with reviewers, forums and a little a few leaps of faith on a wing and a prayer. I am the proud owner of a modified AF M1060... when I say that, I mean it because I've tried just about everything under the sun as far as mods are concerned on it and I have to say that I love it. I love it more than I used to love my HD58X. That's it as far as my hands on experience with decent headphones.
As we can all agree, the build quality on the M1060 sucks ballz and with the holiday season nearly upon us I'm thinking, why not. Let me get a little sometin' sometin' for myself this year. My prevailing thought, was to listen to the guys who steered me toward the M1060 in the first place and the consensus from those same guys is that I'd love either the HIFIMAN Edition XX or the LCD-2 C. I like musical cans.
Currently my M1060 has Audeze Lambskin pad, fuzzor mod inside and phazor mod with a lot of fuzzor mod overlay on the phazor veins. I also have removed the foam and replaced it with a linen cloth with the stock grilles covering it all. I'm using an xDuoo tA-20 with vintage Sylvania tubes in with a custom home made balanced cable. Like I said:
1) I love their current sound
2) Construction sucks
3) I know there's probably better sounding cans out there
So my options as I see it, are replace the entirety of the joke of a headband Monoprice gave us. I swear if I hum at the right frequency I can make the metal resonate. Drives me nuts. Or simply give up on these (I'd certainly keep them as I have a lot of personality in them) and move to a new pair with new opportunities and hopefully starting at a better place with more potential than these since I think sonic ally I am as refined as they're ever going to get.
Are the HIFIMAN Edition XX and the LCD-2 C in the same branch of sound as *my* M1060?
Anything else I should be looking for given that I hope I described the mods and the sound signature those mods would give?
Budget would be between the $600 to $800 dollar range, and there are some good general pupular picks around that price range, specifically the Focal Elex and maybe a used MrSpeakers C or C Flow if I'm lucky. But I keep coming back to the point that I'd like to keep the signature and I'm thinking from reviews that these last two are not the same type of animal.
Thanks in advance for any useful words of wisdom or guidance from anyone with hands on experience.
To me it seems like you prefer planar transducers to dynamic drivers, just like I do. For this reason I would stay away from Elex. Dynamic drivers will never give you the bass extension and bass quality you developed to like with your M1060.
I would say your modded M1060 is like a tuned Honda Civic with the performance of a BMW M3. Yes, it runs 1/4 mile around the same time but it is just falling apart while doing it. The 2C is a proper stock M3 in this metaphor. The 2C does the same 1/4 mile time with ease and with the confidence of being well built by the factory. This also refers to the overall impression of sound quality, not just build quality. The 2C is more coherent and feels like one whole.
IMO the 2C is one of the best choices under £1000 these days in case you love your bass. I would forget the Elex, sell the M1060 and go for the 2C. The Ether C or C flow are much more neutral and thinner. It is a matter of preference, but if you like your bass and music entertaining, you will prefer the 2C to the Ether C. If you want a much more neutral sound than you'll prefer the Ethers.
I could come up with other recommendations like Aeon Flow open, Focal Clear, but the fact is I prefer the 2C to those by a good margin.
Good, entry. Tube for lcd2c? I hear the little dot 1+ drives low impedance well.
BobMonkhouse
100+ Head-Fier
I just read the last few thread pages... Most of the comments were in line with my limited experience with the LCD-2s.
I'd been dreaming about the pre-fazors' beautiful thick sound I heard 5 years ago, I believe it was 2.1 version or something. So recently, I demoed LCD-2 Classic and LCD-2C. I didn't like them much - bass, mids and highs felt disconnected, vocals were shouty and grainy. Then I bought a pair of LCD-2 F 2019 Bamboo. They sound smoother and more balanced. The bass is not bad, extended, well controlled, a little shyer compared to the LCD-2 Classic. The mids are still dry and I feel the shouting in vocals is shifted towards the upper mids. Overall they sound airy and open but lack the layering and the depth I like. Not much EQ can fix most of the problems easily though. I like to use them for some instrumental music and a small stage live recordings. Good source is a must for them.
I'd been dreaming about the pre-fazors' beautiful thick sound I heard 5 years ago, I believe it was 2.1 version or something. So recently, I demoed LCD-2 Classic and LCD-2C. I didn't like them much - bass, mids and highs felt disconnected, vocals were shouty and grainy. Then I bought a pair of LCD-2 F 2019 Bamboo. They sound smoother and more balanced. The bass is not bad, extended, well controlled, a little shyer compared to the LCD-2 Classic. The mids are still dry and I feel the shouting in vocals is shifted towards the upper mids. Overall they sound airy and open but lack the layering and the depth I like. Not much EQ can fix most of the problems easily though. I like to use them for some instrumental music and a small stage live recordings. Good source is a must for them.
I agree, good source is a must for the 2C. What other hps do you prefer for layering and depth?
BobMonkhouse
100+ Head-Fier
I like a lot my MrSpeakers AEON Flow Open for its depth overall spatial presentation. I also like the layering of my Audioquest Nightowl. They both don't have the balance and separation of the HD 6XX but the AFO especially has the closest to the pre-fazor LCD-2 signature I've heard.
has anyone seen a or have access to a Freq. Graph of the lcd2c with the Fazors put in?
+1
I have LCD-2C for little more than 1 year. I tried 5 amps with them and I can tell you, they need power! If you will give them good amp with a lot of power, they will surprise you how great they can sound.
xRaptorxPunisher
100+ Head-Fier
I get what you mean, from 1k and up things do fall apart and they are fairly dry once you hear into them more. Where the 2 classics shine is speed, responsiveness. The driver has a light foot, is is quite a dynamic sounding headphone. The older LCD-2s had a more warm, lush sound with a thick body. The classic loses all this for the above traits I think it is a nice trade off for something different but like I said before it should be called the LCD-X2 or something similar because it isn't the same sound as the original LCD-2.
The 2019 LCD-2s to me sound worse in other areas better in some but dryness and lean sound is how Audeze are now. If you want that classic planar sound with the warm seductive sound then look into a used HE-500, Verum 1 or grab an LCD-2 from 2010-2011.
The Classics are not difficult to make sing, they're no HE-6, HE-5 or even HE-500; their resolving capabilities can be met early if the user shops intelligently and doent fall for the marketing nonsense.
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xRaptorxPunisher
100+ Head-Fier
Very different sound. The pre fazor was a linear headphone with a thick body, fairly smooth then rolled off with a slightly glare treble(minor) and recessed upper mids. The Aeon has an elevated mid bass, quite dirty, sultry(some find pleasing) with some upper mid shout and an irregular treble. The Aeon sounds like it's trying to be a planar 650(inferior IMO) to me. The closest I've heard to the old LCD-2 is the Verum but Verum has more fuller upper mids and a tad brighter but the lush, linear sound remains.
BobMonkhouse
100+ Head-Fier
Currently, my LCD-2f sound best to me paired with my Airist R-2R and Gilmore Lite MK2 combo. But a bad recording can easily ruin the whole enjoyment. I don't believe LCD-2 Classic would like different source than the fazors.
I've been keeping an eye on the new upcoming AEON Open in the context of chasing the pre-fazor sound signature.
I've been keeping an eye on the new upcoming AEON Open in the context of chasing the pre-fazor sound signature.
xRaptorxPunisher
100+ Head-Fier
The only thing similar to a pre fazor is the Verum 1. The old Audeze drivers had a lush coloration, they weren't completely clean but it was pleasing. The PM-1 has this but the drivers were smaller, and the FR was too warm which added with the lush coloration made it too congested.
Verum does the same thing as the old Audeze uses large drivers, keeps that old school vinyl type sound that people loved about the older Audeze headphones, ports pros etc. I'm going to guess the Aeon 2 takes a similar route to the original. They use different size drivers and different materials to sound like the LCD-2 of old or Verum. I do like the style of the new Aeon. I really don't like Dans tunings though. His Alpha Dogs when consistent were good though.
Verum does the same thing as the old Audeze uses large drivers, keeps that old school vinyl type sound that people loved about the older Audeze headphones, ports pros etc. I'm going to guess the Aeon 2 takes a similar route to the original. They use different size drivers and different materials to sound like the LCD-2 of old or Verum. I do like the style of the new Aeon. I really don't like Dans tunings though. His Alpha Dogs when consistent were good though.
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