[protoss]

@Dan Lee

No need to exaggerate

Hopefully back to LCD4 lol

 

[Dan Lee]

Haha. I may have exaggerated just a little bit. The LCD-4 is definitely my planar endgame. Love these damn things. Hell I picked them over the Focal Utopias.

 

[Dan Lee]

Hey guys and gals got a question for you. What would you all recommend as far as another TOTL planar headphone that is different enough from the LCD-4 to justify owning it. Ive owned the Ether 2 and loved it and considered owning it again, I have also heard a ton of great things about Hifimans TOTL planar offerings and am quite intriuged by the Susvara even though Im not fond of the price tag I think if enough people tell me its worth owning in conjuction with the LCD-4 that may likely be the one but open to all recs. thanks

 

[Focux]

Hey guys and gals got a question for you. What would you all recommend as far as another TOTL planar headphone that is different enough from the LCD-4 to justify owning it. Ive owned the Ether 2 and loved it and considered owning it again, I have also heard a ton of great things about Hifimans TOTL planar offerings and am quite intriuged by the Susvara even though Im not fond of the price tag I think if enough people tell me its worth owning in conjuction with the LCD-4 that may likely be the one but open to all recs. thanks

don't mean to derail but mind sharing some comparisons between E2 and LCD X? i am trying to resist an offer on the E2 since my LCD X has not yet arrived but the price and light-weight of the E2 is tempting..=/

 

[Sage Encore]

Hey guys and gals got a question for you. What would you all recommend as far as another TOTL planar headphone that is different enough from the LCD-4 to justify owning it. Ive owned the Ether 2 and loved it and considered owning it again, I have also heard a ton of great things about Hifimans TOTL planar offerings and am quite intriuged by the Susvara even though Im not fond of the price tag I think if enough people tell me its worth owning in conjuction with the LCD-4 that may likely be the one but open to all recs. thanks

I think the Abyss and LCD4 will compliment each other well. I have an Abyss Phi CC and LCD3F.

 

[donato]

In the never ending quest to optimize my system (audio nervosa anyone?), I've been doing some cable comparisons with cables I have on hand. This is similar to I recently did with my Auteurs, but hadn't really done with my LCD-4s.

My setup: Roon (LCD-4 preset) > Audioquest Carbon USB > Schiit Yggy A2/USB5 > Wireworld Platinum Eclipse XLR > Violectric V281 > XLR balanced out

Cables I tested were:

• All Copper
  • Moon Audio Black Dragon,
  • Cardas Clear Light
• Silver plated copper
  • ZMF Michanikos
• Silver
  • Moon Audio Silver Dragon (note this cable is double the length of the others)
  • Norne Silvergarde S2.

I did not test any of the stock cables since they were all 1/4" single ended.


I did not attempt to level match between cables (might be possible - use pink noise and measure), but rather kept my system at the same volume setting. i listened to each cable at least 3 times and also tried to somewhat vary the order since it's

The first track I tried was a 44/16 FLAC of the Finale from Schubert's Trout Quintet (Op 114, D667) recorded by Andras Schiff and the Hagan Quartet. I'll post about other tracks in other genres in subsequent posts.

Black Dragon: tonally, I think the cable is fine. There's enough from the body from the cello and double bass. Piano could sound a little bit hard at times. The main issue I have with this cable is that overall, you lose a lot of detail which is a shame on a the LCD-4s which are so resolving.
Cardas Clear Light: i find this cable well balanced and musical. There was decent detail and it was easy to keep all of the music lines of each instrument separate. Of all the copper cables, it hardened the piano the least.
ZMF Michanikos: what immediately struck me compared to the other pure copper cables is the soundstaging (which was also a strength of the pure silver cables). Cable is a bit more forward. I didn't like the tonal balance as much as some of the other cables since the piano and violin were more forward, but the double bass and cello were not prominent enough for my tastes.
Silver Dragon: moving from copper to silver, it becomes immediately apparent how much more detail and resolution there is. Everything comes into sharper focus. Individual notes played by each instrument are more clearly defined. Soundstaging becomes a bit better. You hear the decay of notes a bit more. Tonal balance was fine on this cable too. Piano was less hard on silver than on the copper based cables.
Silvergarde S2: Everything I said about the Silver Dragon would also be true here. Soundstaging was even better. Everything seemed just a bit more vivid than the Silver Dragon.

 

[Dan Lee]

@Sage Encore I have considered the Abyss Phi, but my god do I hate the way those things look. I dont know if I could wear them on my head without feeling a little weird haha. I suppose if they were enough of a leap in sound I would consider them, but I have heard their sound quality depends a lot on getting a good fit with them. I am however curious as to how you think the LCD-3F sounds in comparison to the 4.

@Focux I found the Ether 2 to have a very beautiful tonality with good bass impact. The LCD-X also had a beautiful tonality to it, but it was a bit less ethereal in nature. Something about the sound of the Ether 2 drew me to it, but part of that was I knew I would be going up the Audeze ladder too. The Ether 2 had a slightly wider soundstage with more air to the sound as well. I think I will likely own them again soon. Plus they are stupid light and comfortable on the head. The X is a fantastic headphone too though and if you aren't planning on going much higher in headphone price brackets I would keep the X rather than spend the extra money on the Ether 2. Even though they do have different sound signatures the difference is subtle enough that I wouldn't want to pay an extra $800 to $900 for it.

@donato I assume you are referring to the headphone cable in your reviews. How drastic would you say the change is from a copper cable vs the two silver cables you tested? Is it a substantial and easily noticed difference or something you have to really look for? Last question how much did each of the two silver cables cost for your LCD-4's?

 

[JLoud]

I have the LCD-4 and Abyss 1266 Phi CC. Love them both. But they are very different headphones. The 4 has a beautiful mid range and fantastic bass. The Abyss has fantastic speed and the bass may be the best I've ever heard. The sound stage is massive. I still have the Utopia but I think the Abyss is going to make them redundant. In short the best part of the 4 is mid range and bass texture, the Abyss is bass depth and slam and treble detail as well sound stage. Not that these areas are weaknesses for the other headphone, just where each excels.

 

[Dan Lee]

Dammit now I want to try the Abyss. Why would you go and do such a thing to me?

Is it as hard to get a good fit with them as I have heard it is?

 

[JLoud]

It takes a little fidgeting. But I was all set after about an hour. Then it just stays where you put it. Not really a big deal. And man is the payoff worth it.

 

[donato]

@donato I assume you are referring to the headphone cable in your reviews. How drastic would you say the change is from a copper cable vs the two silver cables you tested? Is it a substantial and easily noticed difference or something you have to really look for? Last question how much did each of the two silver cables cost for your LCD-4's?[/USER]

Hi @Dan Lee . "Drastic" would be an overstatement. It is noticeable to me on my equipment (i.e. YMMV) when doing critical listening and it is most noticeable when swapping cables and directly comparing. If I'm listening to music in the background, i would probably largely not notice except for something unpleasant (e.g. sibilance, brightness, hardness which particularly bug me). In the scheme of things, I'd say it's relatively subtle but is a piece to maximize what you have (assuming one has a resolving enough system which it certainly looks like you do). if you're not settled yet with gear (HPs, amp, DAC), it's probably worth getting that sorted out first.

I happened to have picked up both my Silver Dragon and Silvergarde used I think both here on headfi. New, you can certainly check current prices on the Moon Audio and Norne web sites. There are many other silver cables out there too. I have been curious about the Lavricables. I did try to do a little research to understand how much silver content is in various cables and put that info in this thread here.

I kind of think of cables kind of like seasoning or salt on a dish. Without it, all the fundamentals/ingredients are there and things taste good, but the right amount of salt, can make the flavors pop just a bit more.

 

[mixman]

Hi @Dan Lee . "Drastic" would be an overstatement. It is noticeable to me on my equipment (i.e. YMMV) when doing critical listening and it is most noticeable when swapping cables and directly comparing. If I'm listening to music in the background, i would probably largely not notice except for something unpleasant (e.g. sibilance, brightness, hardness which particularly bug me). In the scheme of things, I'd say it's relatively subtle but is a piece to maximize what you have (assuming one has a resolving enough system which it certainly looks like you do). if you're not settled yet with gear (HPs, amp, DAC), it's probably worth getting that sorted out first.

I happened to have picked up both my Silver Dragon and Silvergarde used I think both here on headfi. New, you can certainly check current prices on the Moon Audio and Norne web sites. There are many other silver cables out there too. I have been curious about the Lavricables. I did try to do a little research to understand how much silver content is in various cables and put that info in this thread [URL='https://www.head-fi.org/threads/silver-occ-litz-shootout.900978/']here[/URL].

I kind of think of cables kind of like seasoning or salt on a dish. Without it, all the fundamentals/ingredients are there and things taste good, but the right amount of salt, can make the flavors pop just a bit more.

Great, totally agree with your answer on cables. I can hear the difference but its not going to make you like a headphone you didn't like to begin with. Like you said.....it's seasoning, not 'Oh my god what a revelation!', to paraphrase what I have read in other threads.

 

[astrostar59]

A big jump can be going from SE cable to Balanced, depending on the amp. On my V281 is was a huge difference, dynamics and soundstage were hugely bigger. But on my Aries Cerat Genus it sounds another level again and that is SE but uses big bottle tubes. I use the Norne Audio All Silver cable. So maybe in the Violectric amplifier it uses both amps, and in SE only one. That may also apply to the GSX, though I never liked that amps sound much...

 

[RCBinTN]

My guess is silver cables will work better with the LCD-4 ... they benefit from a bit of extra treble energy.
The difference between copper and silver cables will be obvious on the rigs y'all are discussing.

However, I don't like to guess when talking about $500 headphone cables. So, here's my advice.

Call up Alex Sventitsky at Wywires.
Describe your rig, music source/genres, how loudly you listen, then let him make you a custom Wywires HP cable.
He will choose the right amount of silver/copper balance for your individual situation.
Plus, you'll make a new friend along the way.

When I decided on after-market cables, I started with his Red cables, then later went to his Platinum that are really great cables.
I'm not affiliated with Wywires, just a happy customer with many years of experience

https://wywires.com/collections/wywires-heaphone-cables

Cheers!
RCBinTN

 

[RCBinTN]

Hey guys and gals got a question for you. What would you all recommend as far as another TOTL planar headphone that is different enough from the LCD-4 to justify owning it. Ive owned the Ether 2 and loved it and considered owning it again, I have also heard a ton of great things about Hifimans TOTL planar offerings and am quite intriuged by the Susvara even though Im not fond of the price tag I think if enough people tell me its worth owning in conjuction with the LCD-4 that may likely be the one but open to all recs. thanks

This is a cool question and not easily answered!
I keep complementary HPs ... the LCD-4 and HD800. Very complementary for sure - love 'em both!

Some ideas about other LCD-4 complements:
- A high-quality dynamic HP, like HD800 or HD800S, should be considered.
- I owned the Ether Flow but sold 'em ... to smooth / lacking punch. Haven't heard the Ether 2.
- ZMF is doing very interesting things right now!
- I've heard praise of the HiFiMan sound, but also horror stories about the build quality being sub-par.
- The Abyss should certainly be in the running.
- The Meze Empyrean are getting raves, maybe cause they're new, but some trusted Head-Fi folks are the ravers. Could be too similar to the LCD-4 to really complement.

Happy hunting!
RCB