My (bit late) impressions on the LCD4 (the billionth impression)
I am pretty new to the headfi world just having recently started out with a Grados PS500 and later moved to Fostex TH900 with WA5LE and Takatsukis with DHC and also own a pair of used HE1000s. Just listened to my first every LCD4s today. Entire experience was really sublime and made me really think about what I want out of my headphones and actually made me appreciate what I had even more.
To begin with LCD4s are amazing, they are crisp, transparent and clear, posses a neutral dense tone which I would not describe as rich or overly musical (maybe source related) and excellent extension bothways. Best headphones Ive heard in midrange, pretty great in bass but I felt only average, maybe a bit lacking in treble. Good Attack and decay. Imaging was spot on but not holographic (maybe source related). Layered but slightly plain still - as they were deficient in texture especially in the treble and much more neutral than LCD3s in the midrange and Bass. Overall I feel the cans rendered music exactly the way it was intended and hence for me represented true Reference headphones and I could hear things I have never heard, but somehow, in the end fell just short of achieving mental zen - the space of bliss where nothing else matters anymore. For me, LCD4 was a letdown in two areas (personal preference from here on):
1. Treble - Most significantly, (for me), it was not layered, just basic. Absolutely lifelike but not crisp or sparkly like my 1st headphones ever, the Silverdragon modded Fostex TH900 which albeit a bit unnatural due to the silvery-ness in the voice. However it was that sparkly silky smooth nature with a resonant quality which made the headphones surreal. Never considered myself a treble head but I felt Audeze did not handle treble well.
2. ??Character?? - Initial thoughts were that I kind of missed the gritty darkness that first made Audeze stick to mey head as an engaging sound, different from anything else I had heard. LCD4s are very clear but also very neutral and so I had to ask myself what is the character I am paying 6500AUD for? To illustrate, say in comparison to art I dont want to pay big bucks and get something which is a realistic artwork which captures everything as is; but I want to get something with an interesting interpretation of reality like Picaso. Personally, if reference grade neutral audio is all what I am paying for then I consider the Laylas with AK380 came very close to what LCD4 has to offer(calm down everyone who sees this who feels they have to react). In many ways, LCD4s were similar to how I felt about my first Dali loudpseakers as well where I was excited because they gave me a recreated sound exactly the way it should've been, but in time I realized that exact representation is what made it boring even though it was technically very good. Same thing with these headphones - I miss the character that I first heard on LCD3s. With other headphones clarity and imaging is just a starting point, I want to see something extra. For example, with Fostex I like the silvery treble and the resonant tone in the soundstage and the pure bass sometimes || with the HE1000 I look forward to hearing the same thing but in a different manner in terms of huge soundstage, complex layering though it is less transparent and crisp and laidback. This is the biggest flaw in the LCD4s especially given the price. I constantly felt a bit underwhelmed.
3. To me personally a big airy soundstage is what I look for in headphones, not congested by anymeans in the LCD4 which went was able to follow the music very well but paying top dollar should get me more given that that is what I am used to in the Fostex and Hifimans.
In the end, LCD4s do most things well without doing any one thing that is its own unique character. In my experience, If the character is absent and LCD4 is aiming to be really good everywhere, then considering their cost , they should do everything well including treble and soundstage - where they are average and underdelivering if considering the cost. Maybe it was a source thing (Schiit Ragnarok with Cardas clear) and can be boosted by other gear.
Aside: Laylas - These are IEMs but amazing ones. I consider them to be quite close to the overall impression of the LCDs, offcourse they wont match in terms of soundstange though I am constantly surprised by what they accomplish given they are IEMs and the surprise alone is worth some points. In fact not considering this aspect, the Laylas actually excelled in intimacy & energy and gave me the impression i was right on top of the music where in the LCD4's i was front stage and Hifimans I was further back. Overall front stage is a very boring place to be in because with the Laylas, whilst being "on top" I could identify patterns which I could not with the Audeze even though it was tonally accurate and went wherever the music wanted it to go and compared with the Hifimans that were almost a bit distant, I could visualize the entire stage, which, again contrasted with LCD4s I was in the middle and was always bit "yes thats good but these are 6K headphones, so what?". What is unique about them? Maybe something is to be said for the synergy that will obviously exist between AK240 and Laylas and maybe that something that couldve been improved today with the LCD4s listening session.
So a great buy at 3000AUD, maybe till 4000AUD. Way too much at 6500AUD because it is not the best (and a bit lacking even) in every department. I was prepared to get a pair today, in fact I will probably get one as it IS, no doubt, a magnificent headphone, but will probably wait till its cheaper because it is not a earth shattering type of headphone at an earthshattering price.
