My first post on head-fi! Joined in 2017 and always been a lurker. I'm fairly seasoned into this hobby and currently I'm looking to graduate from the upper end of midfi (bit vague). This past spring I went a little crazy and purchased a lot of headphones around the $1k price point used. I've been going back and forth between the LCD-2f Aluminum, LCD-3f, and ZMF Auteur OG for the past few months. I'll be focusing on the LCD-3 to begin my head-fi journey!
Bought a pair of LCD-3's on ebay that someone had received as a gift but never used. Like new condition but needed new pads. I really don't know what year they're from. The freq graph I requested from Audeze is dated 2018 but these have the metal connectors and old headband design. I believe that they are from 2015, before they updated the driver but after they added the fazor. So pre-fazor driver but with fazor. Below is the graph with the serial 2822856.
I replaced the headband and the pads. I decided to go with a set of dekoni fenestrated sheepskin pads. Comfort on these is really special. I have been blessed with a strong neck so the weight doesn't really bother me for the LCD-3's though they are the heaviest of the three. I managed to snag a used carbon fiber headband as well and while the looks are cool, I really don't notice a difference really in comfort. The real issue with the carbon fiber is the rigidity. It is significantly less rigid than the stock steel. With the stock headband these almost disappear on my head while the cf rocks around a lot and if I lean forward they do slide to "oh crap these are gonna fall off" levels. My normal listening session is around 1-3 hours so these definitely remain comfortable for the better part of it.
My setup is currently a bit haphazard. I have a Questyle CMA400i that I used to use exclusively. Then I got into CD's and bought a AudioLab 6000CDT transport. Then I purchased a PS-Audio GCHA headphone amp (xlr input version). The GCHA was a huge upgrade for me. Now my CMA400i sounds very congested and overly warm. I find the GCHA to be extremely transparent and really blissful. There aren't any published specs of this amp oddly but I read somewhere that it can get up to 10W output which would be crazy. My current chain is CD transport > toslink to CMA400i > line level RCA to GCHA. I can go to 10-11:30 comfortably on the GCHA. A very awesome amp and I don't see it leaving my collection.
Current albums in heavy rotation:
- The Prince of Egypt OST
- Arctic Monkeys "The Car"
- Pink Floyd "A Momentary Lapse of Reason"
- Deftones "Koi No Yokan"
- David Byrne "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"
- Gorillaz "Humans"
- Shalosh "Onwards and Upwards"
My music tastes are pretty wide but currently I'm listening to OST's, classical, jazz fusion, alt rock, alt metal, and progressive. Sonically I like an engaging and intimate presentation, different flavors of neutral, and balanced male/female vocals. I've started to realize that I don't really crave big soundstage and I'm pretty sensitive to layering and where specific instruments sit in the presentation. I've done quite a lot of A/B testing these three cans and wow, brain burn in is so real. After listening to the Auteur's the most since they were the first ones I purchased, I've been really captivated by them and I know they will be staying with me. I then started getting used to these LCD-3's and at first it was rough. I found them very different to what I was used to. They really changed my music in a way that I wasn't sure I liked. Eventually I got used to them and started to really like them overall.
How would I describe the sound of these... Big, bass forward, and detail focused. Lots of words can describe these. Once you get used to them they are extremely relaxed while providing tasteful detail into your music. Definitely totl in detail and texture. These will change your music. I found that slow music works best with them but they still perform good with most genres. Organic instruments sound life like and have a rich tonality. Vocals sound pure and have really nice sparkle. They can handle the faster bits of pink floyd but sometimes not so great with the electronic points in fusion jazz tracks. Digging deep into why this is, I suppose that they are really transparent; preferring great masters and telling you strait up how poor any specific recording actually is (despite how much you like X album on other headphones or speakers).
While these definitely leave an impression there are some glaring side effects that I don't love. There is a significant and seemingly unnatural hump in the bass that I don't always agree with. Some songs it's quite fitting but with others it really feels borderline harsh. I tend to prefer a more linear and controlled bass response with a relaxed sub-bass. These aren't that but I was still able to get used to them. On terms of resolution I believe that these headphones are spreading and stretching out the music more than simply providing a large resolution. They do still have great resolution especially on great recordings; pink floyd sounds like the music is coming from space itself right into your ears. Critical comparisons to the LCD-2 and Auteur lead me to believe that the resolution is that of a sub $1000 headphone rather than a $2000 one. Thankfully I didn't pay anywhere close to either of those prices
.
I had just about dismissed the LCD-2's for lacking resolution and detail in comparison to the 3's until I decided to give them one final long listen; boy am I thankful I did. These LCD's are very source dependent and scale so very nicely. I was shocked to discover how pleasurable the LCD-2's are overall on my current chain with the PS-audio GCHA. Only after a few mins of listening I'm finding the LCD-2's to have a more agreeable tonality and presentation. The 2's just have this amazing ability to throw the music at you in a blissful structure. Like a pyramid of layers; the tip contains what you want to hear front and center with everything else presented just a few steps back. All the instruments have the ability to jump up from their levels on the pyramid to the top and right back to where they used to be. So pleasurable to me and unfortunately the LCD-3 lacks this trait entirely. It heavily favors the bass and overall warmth of the lower region. I can adapt to it but it's not without gripe.
So do I like these? Yes, sometimes very much. Their uniqueness alone is reason enough for me to keep them. And did I mention how gorgeous they are?
Originally I wanted to settle down and only keep one of these headphones. The more I listen the more I don't see that happening.
My wallet is not happy... at all.
Help.
Hope you enjoyed my ramble impressions!