Hello all,
I would like to give some fresh impressions to my new LCD-4s as I listen to them as I write this. Right now, I am really quite confused. The reason I parted with these in the first place was because of the weight of them, but now, when I picked them up, they felt so much lighter than before, something similar to the MDR-Z1R now.
On my first listen to a song with quite a bit of electronic music and quite a bit of bass, it left me quite lacking in what I had come to expect, would be a deep ocean planet-shaking tsunami of planar bass which is still very controlled and detailed still, which was something that I had come to love when it came to Audeze headphones. Now, the tonality has shifted to become much more neutral, with liquid mids and "recessed" bass (when I say recessed I mean more in the sense that it was not as pronounced as it once was.) and still neutral-ish highs. The highs and mids seem to have a bit more emphasis to my ears.
Another thing, the soundstage has become significantly larger, something reminiscent of the HD800S to my ears. Again, quite confusing, as before it had an intimate soundstage similar to the Sony MDR-Z1R, which I quite enjoyed. However, it has a much less in your face detail, and much more "laid back" nature, as if everything has taken a step or two back, which was the secondary reason for selling them, too much in your face detail.
Almost everything on this headphone has changed quite a lot, and I am not certain if it is for the better or worse, or if my memory serves me very poorly. They seem to have become significantly more HD800S like it seems, and I am very unsure as to why.
A quick A-B with the HD800S, and they really seem to have drawn closer together. The most noticable difference was the bass, not the quantity, but instead the quality. The 4s did have more control, but only in some parts of the song. In other parts, they were almost identical. The HD800S soundstage really was within spitting distance for most instruments, with a few far out, which made it sound a bit thin, but still not bad. Meanwhile, the 4s had a bit more of an intimate soundstage, but much fuller sounding in the parts the HD800S sounded thin.
Also (again) the weight difference. The HD800S feels like a feather on my head, while the LCD-4 feels like how headphones should feel on one's head, with good quality and craftsmanship, letting you know that it is well built. I guess it feels more substantial, more heft, like I'm getting my money's worth out of it
These are first minute impressions, and will probably change. Maybe I just need to break them in as they are B-stock, instead of used. These are off the cuff, like, 10 minutes in impressions...
Time to listen some more, thank you all for reading.
