[attmci]

Interesting to hear other people's comparisons. May I ask your age bracket and music preferences? I'm early 50s and listen to various genres, but mostly acoustic jazz lately.

I guess a LCD-4 is dramatically harder to drive than a LCD-3.

On the other hand, a decent DAC does open up the sound stages.

Just my 2c.

Happy New Year!

 

[kyle_martin]

I have owned two LCD2's and currently own LCD2 closed, LCD3 (2016), and LCD4 (200 ohm). I feel the jump from 2 to 3 was about the same as the jump from 3 to 4. I really like the 3, but the 4 improves in all areas. Except for warmth. The 3 is more forgiving and laid back. Less prominent treble. If you like a laid back sound then the 3 is definitely the way to go. But if a more energetic sound is your cup of tea, then the 4 is the best Audeze has to offer. IMHO

This is pretty much what I wanted to hear

 

[hawkwindx]

Interesting to hear other people's comparisons. May I ask your age bracket and music preferences? I'm early 50s and listen to various genres, but mostly acoustic jazz lately.

I turned 60 about 6 months ago. I like a wide variety of music through the LCD-3's. Symphonies are great. You can hear so much depth and pick out so much going on. I also like a lot of 70's music like Graham Nash, Spirit, Gong, Frank Zappa, and many others. I listen to lossless music as well as Spotify. I can hear a difference on some tracks, but Spotify sounds surprising good. The new stuff I've discovered on Spotify: Cuong Vu 4-Tet, Makaya McCraven, Colorlist, Myra Melford, Rudy Royston. A friend turned me on to Yo La Tengo this past year. All of their albums are good. I listen to them quite often now.

 

[hawkwindx]

The Bottlehead Crack is built for high impedance headphones like the Sennheiser HD650. I've found that the LCD-3's sound great through this amp also, even though from what I've read they're not supposed to. I also have a Deckard.

Anyone else use the Crack? What are your impressions?

 

[whirlwind]

I also turned 60 about six months ago

I am thinking about getting a pair of LCD 3 pre-fazor.

I listen to mostly any type of blues music, along with some classic rock.

I have never owned an LCD headphone...but have always wanted to hear one.

 

[hawkwindx]

I sometimes consider selling the LCD-3 because I need the money, but I've found it hard to part with them.

Joe Bonamassa's Blues Deluxe - I'll have to check that out. I also really like Blues. The Rolling Stones "Blue and Lonesome" is a great album.

 

[whirlwind]

I sometimes consider selling the LCD-3 because I need the money, but I've found it hard to part with them.

Joe Bonamassa's Blues Deluxe - I'll have to check that out. I also really like Blues. The Rolling Stones "Blue and Lonesome" is a great album.

I understand fully about it being hard to part with your gear...once you hear it you never want to let something good go....but a man has to do what a man has to do

By all means check him out if you like blues/blues rock.

 

[ChaChaRealSmooth]

The Bottlehead Crack is built for high impedance headphones like the Sennheiser HD650. I've found that the LCD-3's sound great through this amp also, even though from what I've read they're not supposed to. I also have a Deckard.

Anyone else use the Crack? What are your impressions?

The Crack makes an okay pairing with post-2016 LCD-3s probably because of the higher impedance (110 ohms). I've certainly found this to be the case with my pair (2016). However, I maintain firmly that it pairs best with the high impedance dynamics from Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic.

Granted, I think the Crack is okay-to-good; it's mostly held back by its resolution and detail, both of which are kind of meh. I don't recommend it without the speedball upgrade (and also, if you're not going to spend the time and money to get quality parts for the Crack, don't bother). The S.E.X is better IMHO, but with the stock tubes it's not particularly warm or tubey (warm side of neutral), so the Crack is what you want if you want warm, tubey sound.

 

[Phronesis]

As an example of how ridiculously good the LCD-3 can sound with the right track, check out "Come Together" by Allen Hinds from the album "Falling Up".

 

[wenbinbin2010]

I've been on quite a spree trying out different headphones lately, and in the process sold a pair of LCD-3s only to realize those were my favorites headphones to date. I thought I could get by with the LCD-X (which still sound great!), but I finally bought back another LCD-3 and the sound is sublime. Noticeable better detail retrieval and soundstage, voices sound so realistic. Trebles are definitely a little more recessed than the LCD-X, which fits my preference actually.

 

[801evan]

I got the LCD3 during it's 2018 holiday sale. Just sold the LCD2c before I ordered it.

I thought I'd be content with the LCD2c but after much tweaking with my setup that led to using passive Power over Ethernet on the LPS 1.2 -> ISO REGEN, the lack of highs on the LCD2c was something I couldn't ignore anymore.

I upgraded the cables to DIY 24awg solid silver from VH Audio with Furutech Rhodium plugs and it's such a noticeable upgrade from my 3 previous cable builds (Kimber Kable, Null Audio Vitesse, 26awg solid silvers) and a pair of Toxic cable I demoed. From a fresh build, the 24awg silver sounded like it decays faster and is quite sharp in detail but after much burn-in, it is very faithful. By comparison, the 26awg sounds 'slower' or has a gloss in the decay that gives it a character. Kimber and Toxic compresses the highs that it hurts my ears and makes one think the LCD3 are bright.

Between listening straight on the Hugo 2 vs Bakoon, Hugo 2 gives an edgier, slightly harsher sound on the upper mids and highs. It can sound congested around these regions. Bass doesn't sound as tight as it can be.

On the Bakoon, I was listening to it on max volume for a good bit during burn in coz it sounded better. After a few days, I heard dips in the lower mids and upper mids that bugged me and made me think it's the character of the cans. But turns out, I found a sweetspot just past the 12'o clock mark. And I adjust the volume on the Hugo 2 from here. I have almost the same position on my LCD2c on the JDS O2 amp with 1x gain. I can understand the varying opinions of posters here with the sound due to the sensitivity of HPs with what kind of amp is driving it. I can give the LCD 3 a softer presentation on the highs if I set the amp at 11 o'clock and I can increase the detail on the highs by cranking it around 1 o'clock. I don't have that advantage running it straight from the Hugo or if the DAC has a firm 2v out.

I feel like I've hit my end game with this but doesn't hurt to try more cans to verify of course. There is zero congestion and compression anywhere when there would be in other setups. While it can come off 'warm', I see it more a full body presentation since there's no bloat not boom and the highs is there to compliment it. My issue if anything is the imaging. It's like it gets realistic if I focus between my eyes and it takes quite a bit of effort. By comparison, the Etymotics er4xr is more effortless on it's imaging and vocals is a bit more proper in it's presentation and staging.

 

[ChaChaRealSmooth]

Just thought I'd share this here.

I have had my LCD-3 for a few months, and while I love them, they've unfortunately seem to have developed channel imbalance (either that or I never noticed because it's very slight). I tried everything from flipping the connectors on the cable (so that left goes into the right cup, etc), wearing the headphones backwards, and tried a rudimentary dB meter (i.e. my phone) and it does seem the left cup is louder than the right by a small amount.

To their credit, Audeze got back to me immediately and I am going to send my headphones in for RMA.

This is in no way a slight against the LCD-3, nor Audeze. The review I left on the LCD-3 still stands and it still receives my highest recommendation and remains my favorite sounding headphone. I understand that they have had problems with QC in the past, but the pairs I have listened to 2016 and after have been very consistent and not at all bad; thus I'm inclined to believe my experience is a one-off (my pair is from 2016, but was bought new in November 2018).

Props to Audeze for the willingness to work with my relative insanity and their customer service department.

*think of this as a positive review of the company.

 

[attmci]

Just thought I'd share this here.

I have had my LCD-3 for a few months, and while I love them, they've unfortunately seem to have developed channel imbalance (either that or I never noticed because it's very slight). I tried everything from flipping the connectors on the cable (so that left goes into the right cup, etc), wearing the headphones backwards, and tried a rudimentary dB meter (i.e. my phone) and it does seem the left cup is louder than the right by a small amount.

To their credit, Audeze got back to me immediately and I am going to send my headphones in for RMA.

This is in no way a slight against the LCD-3, nor Audeze. The review I left on the LCD-3 still stands and it still receives my highest recommendation and remains my favorite sounding headphone. I understand that they have had problems with QC in the past, but the pairs I have listened to 2016 and after have been very consistent and not at all bad; thus I'm inclined to believe my experience is a one-off (my pair is from 2016, but was bought new in November 2018).

Props to Audeze for the willingness to work with my relative insanity and their customer service department.

*think of this as a positive review of the company.

??

 

[ChaChaRealSmooth]

??

Manufactured in 2016, bought in 2018. Still counts as new stock because it wasn't opened.

How is this hard to comprehend?

 

[attmci]

Manufactured in 2016, bought in 2018. Still counts as new stock because it wasn't opened.

How is this hard to comprehend?

It could be a "B-Stock". But glad you like it. LOL