I wish the room had been more quiet... but the first thing I noticed was the classic Audeze warmth, openness, and cohesive sound. The bass is my favorite I've heard; the Abyss' bump made it sound unnatural in comparison, and the SR-009 is very nice down below, but the very bottom end doesn't connect with me in the same way as planars do. The mids have a great center image which was nice, and toms sounds great down a whole drum kit, and vocals sound intimate whilst not ever sounding closed in - a weird thing to say. I think everyone knows Audeze mids. The treble
possibly is technically better on the other two cans, but aren't as natural and smooth. You really need some quiet space and trusted tracks to hear that. I know that Surely - Black Dub sounded great on Brian Blade's Zildjian K's and Spizzichino ride cymbals
, just like I remember when I heard them in person. Smokey, crisp, dark, warm, with the perfect balance of stiffness and looseness. That's a pretty rough impression... if you have specific questions I can try to address those things from memory. I'm also quite partial to the Audeze house sound.
I also heard the HD800 for the first time, wasn't really impressed. The treble did some cool things around the area where snares buzz, but it seemed like overhyped detail. Great as a monitoring tool up top, the upper mids were nice and open. Amazing that dynamic drivers can sound that controlled and detailed, yes, but overall they just rubbed me the wrong way - I tried them with the Anax mod as well. So I can't really compare them to the LCD-4. I think at this level of can, it's all just subjective taste. I'd love to try them again on other gear besides Schiit TOTL stacks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAEXGeeJ1ws - a must listen on Audezes - this is the sound I think that no other headphone can do as well