[thefitz]

Crazily enough, the LCD-4 was gimped too

"After Bob's experiments, Focal asked if InnerFidelity could measure the Utopias used in the shootout to see if they were defective in some way. His evaluations also confused me because I thought the Focals clearly superior. I had Bob send me the headphones used in his shootout for measurements. Turns out, the pair used in my review and his shootout indeed did measure differently and in such a way that our disparate findings were understandable. Bob wrote about it in his Smoking Gun article.

I then had to find out which Utopia was representative of the currently produced product and measured numerous Utopias. I found that the pair I initially reviewed was not representative of current product; the pair used in Bob's evaluation was.

Additionally, it was found the LCD-4 Bob used in his efforts was faulty in one channel and the pair I reviewed had some modest tonal imbalances between channels. I think this likely added some confusion in evaluations."

https://web.archive.org/web/2019051...ame-adjustments-focal-utopia-and-audeze-lcd-4

Yeah I saw that as I was re-reading them - crazy times. Sounds like all issues got sorted out.

FWIW, I did a frequency sweep of my pair just now, and I got the following:
-A bit of a roll-up from 20-40Hz
-Basically dead flat until about 1200Hz
-A little hotter from 1200-1600Hz, not the honk I remember
-Flat from there to about 2700Hz
-A lower level from 2700Hz-6000Hz
-A couple of very short nodes from 6000Hz-8000Hz (common)
-Flat but a little sizzly from 10kHz-14kHz
-SILENCE FROM THERE BOYS

i.e. no 4kHz node for me! But the whole treble section was lower overall until 10kHz

My I ask what Dac and amp combo and source your using? I had the same issue of EQing the LCD 4 and loving some parts of the lcd 4 FR while not liking others. I am somewhat of a bass head so I'd probably prefer the lcd 4 to the 5s having not heard the 5's. I upgraded my source to an Audio gd di 20 with ocxo, got the 2021 pads and added a powerplant and while it hasnt fixed absolutely everything, it does fix many or most things like lifting the veil in return giving the lcd 4 a very balanced sound and better image and sound stage. YMMV. It is a bit unfortunate that almost every high end headphone needs a good backbone to make them perform the way they are intended to. After these upgrades and a bit of tweaking in terms of EQ, Im more than satisfied.

Using my Chord Hugo as a DAC was surprisingly satisfying - I think some of the distinctness of the Hugo complement the distinctness of the LCD-4. The overall size and staging of the image wasn't quite up there with the Yggy, but the sound signature was clearer overall.

 

[Kozwoz]

Does anyone know if I void my warranty if I do the pad swap myself? I think I read that it might be the case for the LCD4 and 4z but doesn’t apply to other models.

 

[thefitz]

Does anyone know if I void my warranty if I do the pad swap myself? I think I read that it might be the case for the LCD4 and 4z but doesn’t apply to other models.

That might have been some Head-Fi innuendo. Can't find anything on the Audeze site about it. Email them maybe?

 

[Audeze]

You do not void the warranty of the headphone with the pad swap, as long as you don't botch and damage the unit in any way that isn't related to the pads themselves. Like causing undue pressure on the drivers by pressing in on the ear pads with the ear cavity closed off by your palm. Note that swapping pads will likely ruin the original pad on the mounting side.

 

[the1andonly]

You do not void the warranty of the headphone with the pad swap, as long as you don't botch and damage the unit in any way that isn't related to the pads themselves. Like causing undue pressure on the drivers by pressing in on the ear pads with the ear cavity closed off by your palm. Note that swapping pads will likely ruin the original pad on the mounting side.

Both my 2022 LCD-3 and B-Stock LCD-4 (purchased 2022) don't have graphs for some reason. I was told I could pay to send them there and back to get them measured, do you guys do any other measurements besides single-channel FR if I send them in like maybe L+R?

Thanks.

 

[Audeze]

Both my 2022 LCD-3 and B-Stock LCD-4 (purchased 2022) don't have graphs for some reason. I was told I could pay to send them there and back to get them measured, do you guys do any other measurements besides single-channel FR if I send them in like maybe L+R?

Thanks.

The only graphs available to send out to you are the standard graphs we send on personal request. You can send us an email: support@audeze.com with your serial number and we'll verify and attach the graph to a response.

 

[the1andonly]

The only graphs available to send out to you are the standard graphs we send on personal request. You can send us an email: support@audeze.com with your serial number and we'll verify and attach the graph to a response.

What I was told for the LCD-4 by Audeze Rep on the ticket
"Unfortunately the period in which these headphones were manufactured correlates to a hard drive failure in which a series of frequency response graphs were lost and are no longer available to us."

What I was told for the LCD-3 by Audeze Rep on the ticket
"Regarding the LCD-3, upon trying to access the graph data for this pair, it's come to our attention that this graph data became corrupted at some point and is no longer readable."

 

[UntilThen]

The combo of HE1000se & LCD4 is basically all I need to be happy.

You're not alone.

 

[Kozwoz]

You're not alone.

What cables are those?

 

[UntilThen]

What cables are those?

Forza Audio Works Noir Hybrid. There's even a review.
https://everydaylistening.net/2022/03/08/forza-audio-works-noir-hybrid-noir-hpc-mk2-review/

 

[thefitz]

You're not alone.

In a similar boat, except with then lesser HE6SE. And the silver Woo stand, haha.

 

[UntilThen]

In a similar boat, except with then lesser HE6SE. And the silver Woo stand, haha.

I happen to have 2 more headphones.

 

[thefitz]

You have the full sunrise to sunset of tonality there, haha.

 

[Louisiana]

I love my LCD4 so much.
Wanted to listen to some music before i start with cycling - that was 2 hours ago....

 

[thefitz]

Yes, I just got them back from Audeze yesterday with the new pads. I haven’t done any listening with the new pads but I will soon.

Hey, I'm dying to know - any updates to share? Is a pad switch worth it?