Audeze LCD-3 Impressions Thread

[Argo Duck]

^ +1 re volume knob position

 

[mscott58]

Brought my LCD-3's to RMAF this year and the team at the Oppo table were nice enough to let me unplug their PM's and try the HA-1 amp with my own cans. The combo worked very well and is a solid setup for that price point. The flexibility of the amp is great, it sounded very good and appeared to have enough power for the -3's. Recommended. Cheers

 

[unixdog]

 
Just a general fact about this:
The position of the volume knob does not determine in ANY way the power of the amp, and if this power is enough or not to drive your headphones.  It is just related to the gain of the amp and above all the RMS voltage of the output of your source.
An amp could deliver too low a power to drive some headphones and still sound "loud" (and distorted) with a very low position of the volume knob.  And the opposite is also true: plenty of power (and very low distorsion) but a high volume knob position required to sound satisfyingly loud.
 
Now, I can't tell anything about the OPPO.  We will wait for someone who knows about this specific amp
 
Edit: I've just read a bit about the specs of the OPPO, it seems like a powerful enough amp to drive the Audeze with utter clarity.  But we will still wait for someone who has tried it !

Thank you for the education.  I'm still somewhat new to this so please excuse my ignorance.
 
I'm also open to the Burson Conductor / Conductor "Virtuoso" if anyone has any insight to these pairings.  I'd like to keep
it solid state and preferably an amp/dac combined solution.  I may be willing to go as high as $2K if it makes sense.

 

[CoolBurn]

As you can see in my signature, I know how the LCD-3(C) sound with the Burson Soloist.
 
I know nothing about the DAC section of the Conductor though.  But its amp section being the same as the Soloist, I can tell you I love the combination and that it surely is powerful enough.  It's also got a high enough gain even with a low output source as my (pitiful ?) Cowon X9.
 
N.-B.: Just kidding about the "pitiful" word.  Even if it surely is considered totally insane to put this portable player in a Soloist > LCD-3 chain on this website, I still love the final result and the fact of having no noise of PC fans or CD player whatsoever   Sorry for being different

 

[unixdog]

 
As you can see in my signature, I know how the LCD-3(C) sound with the Burson Soloist.
 
I know nothing about the DAC section of the Conductor though.  But its amp section being the same as the Soloist, I can tell you I love the combination and that it surely is powerful enough.  It's also got a high enough gain even with a low output source as my (pitiful ?) Cowon X9.
 
N.-B.: Just kidding about the "pitiful" word.  Even if it surely is considered totally insane to put this portable player in a Soloist > LCD-3 chain on this website, I still love the final result and the fact of having no noise of PC fans or CD player whatsoever   Sorry for being different

Thank you!  I've narrowed it down to either the OPPO HA-1 or the new Conductor Virtuso.  There's about an $800 difference so I'd like to make sure that the extra money is worth it.  I was completely sold on the OPPO but I'm now having second thoughts about pariring it up with the LCD-3s and whether or not it has adequate power to drive them to their full potential.  Unless the Conductor with its 4W @ 16ohms provides a signficant benefit in SQ over the HA-1 with its 3W @ 32 ohms (balanced), I may just cut my losses and go with the OPPO. Please keep the feedback coming as I'd like to make a decision within the next couple of days. Thanks!

 

[Argo Duck]

^ by my rough calculation with your quoted figures Oppo has more power than Conductor (Oppo delivers almost 10V into 32 ohms cf Virtuso's (sp?) 8V. If Oppo can drive 16 ohms, it comes out at 6W).

I don't think you have anything to worry about. LCD-3s are not power hogs and power is not the key contributor to SQ (provided there is sufficient current which I understand there is, easily, in both cases).

 

[unixdog]

^ by my rough calculation with your quoted figures Oppo has more power than Conductor (Oppo delivers almost 10V into 32 ohms cf Virtuso's (sp?) 8V. If Oppo can drive 16 ohms, it comes out at 6W).

I don't think you have anything to worry about. LCD-3s are not power hogs and power is not the key contributor to SQ (provided there is sufficient current which I understand there is, easily, in both cases).

Thank you.  After reading a review on Inner Fidelity for the HA-1, (reviewed using LCD-3s) I think I'm definitely leaning towards the OPPO.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/affordable-and-transparent-oppo-ha-1-headphone-amplifierdac

 

[hmorneau]

I have the SPL auditor with my LCD-3F and I really enjoy it (the auditor deliver 1,3watts rms per chanel at 110ohms).
 
Do anybody have tried it and can compare with other amp? Should I upgrade my amp?

 

[mscott58]

Brought my LCD-3's to RMAF this year and the team at the Oppo table were nice enough to let me unplug their PM's and try the HA-1 amp with my own cans. The combo worked very well and is a solid setup for that price point. The flexibility of the amp is great, it sounded very good and appeared to have enough power for the -3's. Recommended. Cheers

To give the other side of the equation, I also have heard the Burson Conductor, and I own it! 
 
The Burson Conductor is a great piece of equipment and pairs really well with the LCD-3's. Once upgraded with the CM6631 USB Module I've had rock-solid performance of the Conductor (the prior Tenor USB implementation was not as good) and the sound of the unit is great. In terms of SQ I'd give the win to the Conductor over the Opppo HA-1. However, the HA-1 also has a lot of additional features than the Conductor, although as a desktop DAC/amp combo the Conductor has everything I need - the bells and whistles had not practical application for me. 
 
Another point to note is that the prices on the Conductor have come down a bit since the Virtuoso has been released, even though as far as I can tell there have not been many changes to that affect SQ (primarily a change to a 100-step volume control as well as the addition of a remote control and a volume level display - the last two of which would seem to apply more to the use of a Conductor as a pre-amp versus a desktop HP amp). Given approximate parity in price across the original Conductor and the HA-1 I'd default to the Burson, but that's only my opinion. 
 
Cheers and good luck!

 

[KmanChu]

  Thank you for the education.  I'm still somewhat new to this so please excuse my ignorance.
 
I'm also open to the Burson Conductor / Conductor "Virtuoso" if anyone has any insight to these pairings.  I'd like to keep
it solid state and preferably an amp/dac combined solution.  I may be willing to go as high as $2K if it makes sense.

 
If you are willing to go to $2k then you absolutely must audition the BMC PureDAC. It is the best all-in-one I have ever heard. I compared it side by side with a Burson Conductor and there was no comparison. The BMC is esssentially a dac with an output stage that can drive headphones directly, there is no separate resistive pot and gain stage. It all happens in one step. It also has a great line level output stage so can double and a digital dac/pre for a conventional stereo (with separate power amp) as well. It is a great dac that works with double rate DSD and up to 384 kHZ PCM. The BMC is just stupid-good for the money at $1700 and works great with the LCD-3s through it's balanced headphone output stage. I had one for several months, and the only reason I sold it was to fund a tube amp. I still kind of regret selling it. 

 

[Argo Duck]

^ That's a very good summary of the PureDAC from KmanChu, and I too support auditioning it if possible. I have had mine over a year. I use it as DAC/Pre to both SS and tube amps. I find it a terrific dac - revealing, detailed, excels at retrieval of low-level detail (and hence presentation of ambience), nice controlled highs, bass is high quality - which is important with Audez'es.

OTOH I'll echo something one of our very experienced headfiers purrin often states: "Dacs are a very personal thing". The things I describe hearing might not be what you (unixdog) or others hear. Audition is the only way to be sure.

 

[TK277]

Before I moved to Seattle I wasn't getting involved in the cable or power scene due to cost/risk. With awesome local Head-Fier's like BIG POPPA, johnj, Xtreme4099 and others I have been able to audition a looooot of power supplies. It's only made me love my LCD-3 more. I think I've settled with Acme Audio silver outlet with gold-connector power cables on my amp and DAC. I bought an Oyaide R1 outlet too to continue experimentation. Depending on the genre I prefer Oyaide over Acme.
 
I've had the toxic cable's venom as long as I've had the LCD-3 Rev 1 so no comment there other than it's still awesome. 
 
I also ordered Oyaide XLR interconnects for my Mjo/Gungnir that will arrive next week (holiday sale!).

 

[Somphon]

Hi guys

Any recommendations for aftermarket balanced cables for the audeze lcd3?

I have the stock balanced cable and wondered what I should order to replace it?

I love my LCD3 with Heimdall 2.
You should try everything though.

 

[IAMBLEST]

I love my LCD3 with Heimdall 2.
You should try everything though.

ive ordered the Norne Draug 2.  I know the Heimdall 2;s would be incredible but are way outside my price range for cables. 

 

[XVampireX]

Hey, does anyone know of any good headphone/speaker amps that go well with LCD-3 other than Schiit Ragnarok?
And yes I do mean it has to have both headphone and speaker outs...