[archeryc]

   
Nice and sexy my friend!

Thx bro! My game can finally end now...

 

[manpowre]

 

[Dillan]

  Once you get the headphones, review DAC's and AMP's. Personally I went with a 4 stage (total 8 amp stages for 2 channels) Violetric V281 as it had great reviews and it matched high resolution DAC's. When I reviewed DAC's I found the AMP to support extremely high resolution dac like Hegel HD30 and reproduced the crisp attacky part of the DAC to a level where it wasnt musical anymore. Then I reviwed Schiit Yggdrasil, and it supported that too very nicely. I landed on Yggdrasil as it was more musical and not so extreme attack on instruments still high resolution that makes LCD4 shine, and what a instrument separation Yggdrasil has. In fact the V281 is so good that when I connect my Tascam UH7000 unit as a dac, I can hear a soundstage a little messy and blurry bass reproduction, and when I connect the Oppo HA-1 DAC part I can hear the Sabre chip being bright in upper medium frequency range with less bass.
 
I read on GS-X website that their amps says only power consumption 15w, but not how much it can provide per channel per level of resistance. The LCD4 is 200 ohms, and requires power. Where LCD3 needs 11-12o clock on volume, the LCD4 needs 3-4o clock, and on some amp's like the V281 the signal is getting warmer and less edgy when volume knob is rised too high. So some amps like V281 has a gain function to increase the signal gain with steps +6 and +12 desibel before signal goes to the amp's, and this takes the volume knob back down to 10-11o clock for most of my listening.
 
Just bring your headphones to different stores and review combo's, and ask for loaner units home. Its fair to say ordering V281 blind from Lake-people being a pure analogue amp, is a safe bet, doubt you will be negatively surprised, but the DAC is very important to review before purchase, it has more to say than anything. Even on my Sennheiser Momentum 2 with cable I can clearly hear difference between high end dac's.

 
Thanks for the advice I think you are right. For now I think I will order an ALO CDM and run in balanced 2.5mm 4 pole while I am traveling so much lately. I will play with and review less transportable dac/amps in the next few months and choose a stack for my home setup accordingly. The CDM will more than get me by for now being Class A and native DSD capable.
 
Thanks for all the help guys, I think the LCD-4 will do me well

 

[Dillan]

Do any of you guys experience any fatigue with the LCD-4 due to the quick rise after 8khz?

 

[manpowre]

  Do any of you guys experience any fatigue with the LCD-4 due to the quick rise after 8khz?

Not fatigue at all. can use the cans for 4-5 hours straight in my great chair.

 

[Dillan]

Not fatigue at all. can use the cans for 4-5 hours straight in my great chair.

Good news, can't wait to get them in

 

[draytonklammer]

Going to buy an Abyss and do a comparison between the LCD-4, Abyss, HEK and Utopia.

 

[Rico613]

I have to say GSX MK2 with LCD4 is an excerllent combo! Even better than V281 i have heard previously.

Antelope looks nice, and I bet sounds great.  I've got their 10-M rubidium clock into a dCS word clock.   I did own the GS-X Mk 2 briefly.  I'd highly recommend the V281  !!! 

 

[archeryc]

Antelope looks nice, and I bet sounds great.  I've got their 10-M rubidium clock into a dCS word clock.   I did own the GS-X Mk 2 briefly.  I'd highly recommend the V281  !!! 

The V281 certanly a great option for LCD4 too!

 

[rgs9200m]

The treble spike of the LCD4 depends on the DAC I am using. The Chord Hugo TT cures this characteristic well and makes the LCD4 totally non-fatiguing. It's a good match sonically in all respects to my ears. The original Hugo is good also, but the TT is much superior however.

 

[Dillan]

I keep seeing and hearing reviews placing this as the absolute best headphone available for the mid range. Which is really exciting because that is my favorite range and vocals are what really matter to me. Can't wait to get this in.

 

[johnzz4]

Do any of you guys experience any fatigue with the LCD-4 due to the quick rise after 8khz?

 

I agree with the others that it's dependent on your source. I have the Audio-gd Master 11 and when I first turn it on, the highs can be a bit shrill, but once it warms up, it's smooth as butter. Also depends on the music. When I listen to EDM, it can accentuate the overdone treble on some tracks, but on jazz and classical it turns into some nice air. Just make sure your DAC and amp pair well and I expect you'll be fine.

 

[Dillan]

Do any of you guys experience any fatigue with the LCD-4 due to the quick rise after 8khz?

 

I agree with the others that it's dependent on your source. I have the Audio-gd Master 11 and when I first turn it on, the highs can be a bit shrill, but once it warms up, it's smooth as butter. Also depends on the music. When I listen to EDM, it can accentuate the overdone treble on some tracks, but on jazz and classical it turns into some nice air. Just make sure your DAC and amp pair well and I expect you'll be fine.

Thank you, I'll probably be bringing them to meets and audio stores for the next few months to find a pairing I really like and just use something lightweight until then. I think tubes would probably be a good option to look out for. I hope I find the LCD4 to be my end game, Audeze hasn't let me down yet.

 

[groovyd]

Thank you, I'll probably be bringing them to meets and audio stores for the next few months to find a pairing I really like and just use something lightweight until then. I think tubes would probably be a good option to look out for. I hope I find the LCD4 to be my end game, Audeze hasn't let me down yet.

tubes for the win!

 

[johnzz4]

Thank you, I'll probably be bringing them to meets and audio stores for the next few months to find a pairing I really like and just use something lightweight until then. I think tubes would probably be a good option to look out for. I hope I find the LCD4 to be my end game, Audeze hasn't let me down yet.

 
Not sure which Audeze you've heard, but I find my LCD-X to have more of a treble spike than the 4s.  For people that know the X and the 3, it's like those two had a baby and it was injected with steroids.  Yup, that sums it up perfectly.  It looks like you have/had the EL-8s which I've never heard, so unfortunately I can't compare to those.