[bfreedma]

 

 The price is disgusting. Major thumbs down to Audeze.  They were the first to start the trend of grossly inflated flagships, now they're reinforcing their tradition.
 
I hope the suspension headband gets used on the rest of their LCD line now.  I might actually consider a 2 or X with the new suspension band.

Weren't the SR009, TH900, PS1000, and the HD800 all out before the LCD3? The HE90 and R10 as well, though they are more halo products than flagships.

Yes, and the 009, TH900, HD800 all have excellent quality control, construction, design, and longetivity. Audeze headphones like to die with no warning.
 
Also, this is not a statement product like the HE90 and R10. If it was, it wouldn't come in the same non-luxurious hard case with the same cheap-ass cable as their lowest end model. I don't think the two should be compared price-wise.

That list was simply a response to the statement that Audeze was the first to inflate the price of flagships. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they didn't know about the QC issues when the price was set. The SR009 has has channel imbalance issues, so Audeze isn't the only manufacturer who has had trouble with flagships. Thought I was also clear about the difference in the HE90 and R10 when I referred to them as halo products but I guess it didn't translate somehow.

I'm certainly not excusing Audeze's need to do better with reliability. I've had to send my LCD3s in for repair multiple times. Just pointing out that they weren't the first to release flagships near or over $2K US.

 

[MacedonianHero]

I thought the LCD-3s were beautiful, but these go to another level altogether! The uber thin driver looks very intriguing...congrats to the folks at Audeze on this release! Looks like they'll have a big line up at RMAF! I wish I was going this year....damn work. 

 

[TMRaven]

Don't know about the TH900 or PS1000.  HE90 and R10 are statement products, as you said.  Now they're unobtanium status.  The HD800 is adequately priced and holds up real well.  The LCD3, XC and X... well, not so much.  Now we're in the middle of a planar magnetic dominated high end market.  HE-1000, Abyss, the entire Audeze line, Ether, and even the Odin.

 

[Music Alchemist]

When I heard The Abyss, I felt it sounded different from the SR-009, but not better or worse. Let's see how the LCD-4 competes against The Abyss and SR-009.

Edit: Even if an electrostatic is more transparent than a planar magnetic does not make it more realistic. I have heard live symphonies many times and all electrostatic setups, even a SR-009 and BHSE combo, just sound like a ton of robots playing instruments in comparison to many planar-magnetics. Even without treble-perfection planar-magnetic may have, individual tonality techniques is something that cannot be captured well with electrostatics to my ears.

 
Valid point. It really depends which aspects of sound you prioritize, since everything has compromises. To my ears, even low-end STAX (SR-207, SR-30) sounded a lot more realistic overall than the AB-1266, HE1000, HE6, HD 800, etc.

 

[sandy1010]

   
 
I hope the suspension headband gets used on the rest of their LCD line now.  I might actually consider a 2 or X with the new suspension band.

 
Is it a true suspension headband? Looks like the current headband just with carbon fibre styling to me.
 
Ie. Still has the metal adjustments.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Is it a true suspension headband? Looks like the current headband just with carbon fibre styling to me.
 
Ie. Still has the metal adjustments.

 
Looks like the metal bar connects to the upper part, with the head pad below, so technically, it appears to be a real suspension headband.

 

[Khragon]

Any specs? impedance? sensitivity?

 

[zachchen1996]

At that price it better whoop the SR009...

 

[takato14]

 

   
 
I hope the suspension headband gets used on the rest of their LCD line now.  I might actually consider a 2 or X with the new suspension band.

 
Is it a true suspension headband? Looks like the current headband just with carbon fibre styling to me.

It's a suspension headband. It's just not the adjustable type: the suspension is independent from the adjustment sliders. 
 
This is a similar system to the Pioneer Monitor 10-II. It works well and looks nice when the headphone isn't being worn. 
 

 

[Rhamnetin]

  I presume this is the rumored LCD-Z finally manifested. As far as I'm concerned, planar magnetic headphones will never have a chance at competing with electrostats in terms of transparency, regardless of price. I see the LCD-4 as a nice addition to a high-end collection for the sake of variety as opposed to ultimate performance. Looks great too!

 
I agree.  I could never justify $4k for a planar magnetic headphone, unless it has a unique, beautiful, euphonic sound that no other headphone has.  Even then it would never be my primary headphone, since I favor transparency and realism which are intertwined to some degree.  I still look forward to auditioning this LCD-4 though.
 

  At that price it better whoop the SR009...

 
I firmly believe that it is impossible for a headphone to whoop the SR-009.  Unless you're comparing a properly amped SR-009 to a poorly amped one... in which case it is an SR-009 whooping the SR-009.  

 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Any specs? impedance? sensitivity?

 
According to this thread...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/738025/new-audeze-prototype-z
 
...it's 1,200 ohms.

 
(Of course, the final version could differ from the prototype.)

 

[bfreedma]

 Any specs? impedance? sensitivity?

 
According to this thread...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/738025/new-audeze-prototype-z
 
...it's 1,200 ohms.

 
(Of course, the final version could differ from the prototype.)

It will be interesting to see if the 4 is related to the Z prototype or a separate product entirely.

 

[mscott58]

It will be interesting to see if the 4 is related to the Z prototype or a separate product entirely.

I'm guessing different, although the headband does look very similar to the one the Z sported at last years RMAF/CanJam.
 
I wonder if this is why the LCD-3 driver reliability issues persist - as Audeze was investing it's limited R&D budget into the development of the 4's? 

 

[bfreedma]

It will be interesting to see if the 4 is related to the Z prototype or a separate product entirely.

I'm guessing different, although the headband does look very similar to the one the Z sported at last years RMAF/CanJam.
 
I wonder if this is why the LCD-3 driver reliability issues persist - as Audeze was investing it's limited R&D budget into the development of the 4's? 

My guess is the same as yours - a different headphone with the headband from the Z.

I suspect the driver on the LCD3 has some kind of inherent design flaw that may not be resolvable. It's got to be getting awfully expensive for Audeze to be replacing them, and the reputational hit can't be doing them any good. LCD-3 driver failure root cause aside, having issues with the new flagship would be hard for them to sustain as a company.

 

[vcoheda]

looks great. price is terrible; but i guess they need to distinguish from the other models.