[fradoca]

from my review of the LCD4: "Those who know me well know that I don’t get very enthusiastic about things, especially after so many years of using headphones both for work and listening to music. It’s also true that in the last ten years the technology and the sound performance of headphones has made great strides, however this Audeze flagship in my personal opinion, expresses a combination of performance and sound quality that I found difficult to find in other headphones. On the one hand, listening with tube amplifiers provides a more captivating and ruffian performance, and on the other hand, the balanced solid-state cap fits precisely for the purposes of my work, ie realism and neutrality. In fact, in my case, combined with the Invictus Cable (silver plated aluminum) the HPBA-2 S by QES Labs and used with the Audeze DSP Reveal system, the LCD-4 allowed me to reach really high levels of listening making me think seriously, despite the rather high price, of selling everything to buy them. I didn’t really expect that the combination of the four could give such high-performance, but it fits with my work philosophy, which is leave nothing to chance. I must say that listening to the trio is as close to a couple of high-level speakers that I’ve ever heard. It’s in fact the naturalness, the realism of reproduction and the cohesion between the different sound ranges that impresses me the most. Of course there may be even better headphones but now I find myself in the position for which personally a headset loses interest to me if from the one hand it doesn’t have a certain performance and on the other it can’t be used with a DSP correction system. Honestly I could live and easily work with only the Audeze LCD-4 which turned out to be decidedly pleasant, precise and performing despite me already having two purebred horses such as the Sennheiser HD 800 S and the Audeze LCD-X ver 2017 in my studio. If dreams were wishes I would tell everyone that life is too short to use cheap headphones. Therefore if dreaming doesn’t cost anything one day maybe who knows…"

 

[Hifi59]

Ha ha, I actually do have the Q cable. I do hear smoothness and width/depth; you are right. But I think it gets that by opening up the highs, sometimes too much. The Lazuli mellows out digital peaks for me, and that's how I like my music, as free from fatigue and digital glare as possible.
Thanks for the observation.
(I use a Forza on my Sony Z1R.)

You may be right with the French Silk, but with the right Amp/Dac (in my case Wells Audio Headtripamp and Cambridge 851N streamer Dac), everything sounds best in my setup using the French Silk cable vs all my others. Having said that, I’ve heard great things about the Lazuli and would love to hear it in my system.

 

[Hifi59]

Random and unnecessary photos of my 200 ohm Cocobolos

 

[rgs9200m]

Do you have any impressions of the Wells Headtrip amp on Headfi (or somewhere) that you could point me to? I was curious about this amp for an upgrade sometime in the future. Thanks.

 

[Hifi59]

Do you have any impressions of the Wells Headtrip amp on Headfi (or somewhere) that you could point me to? I was curious about this amp for an upgrade sometime in the future. Thanks.

Well this a thread on it here on Head-fi but it’s only a few pages. Other than that, here’s a review. I might add that this was on an earlier unit. The ones that followed have an improved volume pot. His description of performance is right on. I originally owned the Milo amp and loved it enough that I sold it to get the Headtrip. That was over a year ago and I continue to listen to it daily and it still impresses, especially after listening to other lesser amps. There are only 2 amps that I’ve heard that clearly rise above the rest for sheer dynamics and musicality. They are the Eddie Current Studio and the Headtrip. Both very impressive, but I’ll take the Headtrip for it’s superior midrange imo but that glow of those Studio tubes are beautiful.Both certainly end game amps.
There were 2 used ones on sales recently on Head-fi sales. One for 4K the other for 3200 with scratches on the face but a steal at this price. That one still for sale I think.
Review. http://headphone.guru/wells-audio-h...-jerry-garcia-never-had-a-headtrip-this-good/
Thread. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wells-audio-headtrip-amp.775550/

 

[rgs9200m]

Thanks! I was looking for some insight into this amp.

 

[Dobrescu George]

My review on Audeze LCD-MX4 is live now

I think I already shared some of the images, but just in case I didn't

https://audiophile-heaven.blogspot.ro/2018/05/audeze-lcd-mx4-precisely-amazing.html

 

[Rhamnetin]

What kind of EQ settings are you guys using for your LCD-4, for those of you who try to boost up the lower-mid treble dip? Also here are some pics of my newly arrived LCD-4, since photos of the ebony model seem rare.

Spoiler

 

[RCBinTN]

Random and unnecessary photos of my 200 ohm Cocobolos

Those are beautiful cans...the cocobolo wood is uber-fine. Thx for posting the pics.
I bet the SQ is decent, too

 

[Hifi59]

Those are beautiful cans...the cocobolo wood is uber-fine. Thx for posting the pics.
I bet the SQ is decent, too

Thank you. I believe these to be a unicorn set as I’ve compared them to other LCD-4 at various times and all agree these sound best. A bit more midrange and smoother overall versus others that I’ve heard. Also, for some reason, a bit more efficient. They were all 200 ohm versions.

 

[RCBinTN]

Thank you. I believe these to be a unicorn set as I’ve compared them to other LCD-4 at various times and all agree these sound best. A bit more midrange and smoother overall versus others that I’ve heard. Also, for some reason, a bit more efficient. They were all 200 ohm versions.

So......you heard a difference between the woods?

 

[Hifi59]

So......you heard a difference between the woods?

Either that or just driver variances or a combination of both. But now that I think about it, 1 of the 3 that mine was compared against happened to be Cocobolo too. It also happened to sound closest to mine. Minor differences between them, but noticeable for sure.

 

[RCBinTN]

What kind of EQ settings are you guys using for your LCD-4, for those of you who try to boost up the lower-mid treble dip? Also here are some pics of my newly arrived LCD-4, since photos of the ebony model seem rare.

Not sure about the "lower-mid treble dip."

I hear only bliss in that frequency range with my cans.
Maybe it's the DAC you're using - it likely wouldn't be the amp.

The only thing I hear now, maybe from re-reading Tyll's review, is a bit of shimmer in the highest-frequency cymbals...I swear that I didn't hear that before...
It could be my Bryston amp...it's a touch (not overly) bright in the high end.

There is a software plug-in from Audez'e, that I've not tried, but heard improves the overall SQ of their headphones quite a bit... It's free.

https://www.audeze.com/audeze-reveal-plugin

 

[Rhamnetin]

I think I might be hearing what Tyll heard with these headphones. It's two parts, here is his explanation:

"What is heard is a loss in the mid-treble and a gain in the top octave, making everything a too breathy, is how I can explain it what I'm hearing."

Perhaps that "loss" it is mid treble and not at all low level; I hear it as female vocals, pianos, and maybe some other things I've identified yet, as not having any "air" and maybe the slightest of recession (not that I'm saying pianos and female vocals sound recessed...this is hard to explain). And a little bit too much "glare" in the high highs being the other thing I'm hearing at times, but this is very minor and I think I've gotten used to it already. I need to listen more.

I'm only using a Chord Mojo right now, and will be getting a Hugo 2 in the next two weeks. The Hugo 2 isn't the finest of DACs but a good one and I need its portability (will get a permanent at-home DAC at a later date). I don't recall hearing any of these minor issues listening to it with a Holo Audio Spring DAC level 3 and HeadAmp GS-X Mk2, so we'll see.

 

[RCBinTN]

When you wrote that, I had the LCD-4 on my head so listened closely.
I do hear somewhat of a dip in the voices and maybe piano, but I just put the LCD-4 back on my head after a few weeks...
My go-to cans are HD800 that are forward in that region, so I'm not yet re-calibrated to Audez'e.

My DAC does present a more-forward voice and upper-mid region, very resolving but a bit warmer sound.
I think overall the DAC has a big influence on all this.

And, FWIW, I suspect that Audez'e tried to maintain a bit of their signature LCD-3F sound when they designed the LCD-4.
Which, personally, I like. The bass and mid-bass of the LCD-4 are tremendous, along with the sound stage.

So, net, the LCD-4 and HD800 are nice complements in cans.

Just one more thought, if you're in the market for a killer DAC, the Yggy A2 (brighter than my GMB) may be just the ticket!
Since you already liked the SQ of the rig Holo Audio Spring DAC level 3 and HeadAmp GS-X Mk2, a nice place to be.

Happy Listening,
RCB