[up late]

Bought blind but impressions were much more consistent with my other purchases. In essence I knew what I was getting.

This headphones impressions can be summed up as such so far it seems like:
It breaks!
It stopped breaking!
It's amazing!
It's ok!
It's hard to drive!
It's easy to drive!

I get everyone has their own impressions and opinions of it but it's hard to get an idea of how this headphone performs by reading this thread is all I'm saying.

well that's the nature of subjective impressions. it can be hard to find a consensus of opinion. i wouldn't risk buying a can costing a few grand without auditioning it but i understand your situation. you are a railroad man right? maybe you could procure a sleeper berth for the 12 hour trip to see your dealer.

 

[potkettleblack]

Sure would you like to lend me one? My nearest dealer is over 12 hours away.

Don't Audeze still have their return policy active? What are you waiting for man?

 

[dan.gheorghe]

  Yup, thats what I'm saying. I'm using it right now, and it is just fine. Audeze says the optimal power requirement for the LCD-4 is 1-4w. Is the Geek Out the BEST option? No, of course not. But it is good. Just because people say something, doesn't mean its true. You could blow your ears off with the Geek Out V2 and LCD-4. And now people will scream "But volume isn't everything!! It is too cheap to SOUND good!!!" I agree, volume isn't everything, the Geek Out SOUNDS good as well. It is an impressive bit of kit sound wise, build quality wise...not so much. Inb4 mad people that spent 5k on an amp and think anything less is a waste of time. 

 
Exactly, it's not just about volume. It's about making them lively, dynamic, even at lower volumes. 
 
And no, it's not about money either.  There should be decent amplifiers in 1k$ price range. I've heard amplifiers outperforming other amplifiers that are 3-4 times more expensive.
 
And no, you won't get them to 100% with ifi idsd. 
 
While it may be ok with ifi(for example), I don't think that people that buy lcd-4 are looking just for ok. 

 

[ufospls2]

   
Exactly, it's not just about volume. It's about making them lively, dynamic, even at lower volumes. 
 
And no, it's not about money either.  There should be decent amplifiers in 1k$ price range. I've heard amplifiers outperforming other amplifiers that are 3-4 times more expensive.
 
And no, you won't get them to 100% with ifi idsd. 
 
While it may be ok with ifi(for example), I don't think that people that buy lcd-4 are looking just for ok. 

I assume you mean my Geek Out V2? Maybe its not getting them to 100%, maybe its 90%, I don't know, but its pretty damn good. I enjoyed the LCD-4 with my Auralic Taurus  MK2 last night, and it made for a great pairing IMO. The Geek Out is not far behind by any means. 

 

[dan.gheorghe]

  I assume you mean my Geek Out V2? Maybe its not getting them to 100%, maybe its 90%, I don't know, but its pretty damn good. I enjoyed the LCD-4 with my Auralic Taurus  MK2 last night, and it made for a great pairing IMO. The Geek Out is not far behind by any means. 

No, I was not referring to geek out. Haven't heard it. Can't tell my opinion on it. I was referring to this "Just because people say something, doesn't mean its true. "
 
And while that is true to some extent, not everything is bullocks...

 

[jlbrach]

The LCD-4 requires a fair bit of power and anything less is a giant waste of 4K...if you are going to lay out so much money why would anyone possibly under power the LCD-4....kind of silly

 

[yc1204]

The LCD-4 requires a fair bit of power and anything less is a giant waste of 4K...if you are going to lay out so much money why would anyone possibly under power the LCD-4....kind of silly

Its hard to judge personal taste thing. My friend bought his LCD4 simply because he think its the best looking headphone in the world....

 

[yc1204]

I just called Audeze and talked to one of their customer assistant regarding the blue balance cable, they allow me to have the blue balance cable for no charge and willing to send to my Australia address. I just have to send back the blue SE cable later. Awesome customer service Audeze!! Thumbs up

 

[groovyd]

   
I'm not saying that you only require an amp with a max output of 0.1w max, but with the dynamic range compression on most music today, I think even if you multiplied the power usage I quoted earlier (0.063w) by 10, (0.63w) you should have the peaks fairly covered.  I think you'd struggle to find any music that has dynamic peaks 100x the RMS value...
 
I suppose I was just trying to say that it was totally believable that a little geek out could power the LCD-4 just fine, and that if people were saying that some big desktop amps weren't powerful enough then maybe do your own research about that.
 
As far as how much power is needed in any situation, anyone who is interested can read this article. http://www.stereophile.com/content/amplifier-power-how-much-enough#ikb4zE0aJ22wVDj4.97  It's a very old artice and experts still argue about it today.  The article is fairly inconclusive so it really depends who you ask.  Was just trying to bring something objective to the argument because so many people are giving such conflicting information it's hard to know what's what.

That is an excellent reference and explains what I was alluding to regarding simple sound level and power requirements and basically how it is BS when it comes to judging the 'quality' of an amplifier vs the power.

 

[Hifi59]

I haven't updated here lately on my LCD-4 impressions. Yes, it continues to impress more and more each day! Having said that, my Hifiman HE-1k also continue to impress with further break in. At first, I liked my LCD-4 a bit better. Now, I am genuinely tossed between the two. They are both equally broken in now and they both needed it to fully come to life IMO. I am now driving these with Burson's latest amp V2+ and the synergy is thru the roof. All the positive traits of the older Soloist but with added transparency, soundstage and less grain. As I mentioned earlier, it's an Audio-GD Master 9 (grainless,smooth,transparent) and Burson Soloist (speed,sparkle,authority) rolled into one! Btw, I still own my LCD-3f and they have their place in my nightly rotations, especially with rock.

 

[Maconi]

So I just bought the carbon fiber headband (for my LCD-XC, but obviously there are more people with experience with the headband in this thread). It appears the head strap is so long that it contacts the actual carbon fiber headband. Didn't Audeze offer to correct this or am I just making that up? It looks like this image from earlier in the thread:
 

 
Just curious before I bother Audeze about it. Thanks! 

 

 

[moopster]

  Sorry if this is considered off-topic here, but I have a new favorite track of late:
 
Marcus Miller's "Cousin John."
tidal.com/track/35148812
 
Especially if you have a pair of headphones (and a matching amp) that control and reproduce the bass with the requisite amount of slam, I predict that listening to that recording will put a big smile on your face. It's also a very good track for judging timbre and soundstage... but  when it comes to hearing what best-ever bass reproduction can sound like, nothing else in my library comes close. I'm listening with an Audeze LCD-4, and a Schitt stack (Yggdrasil and Ragnarok). The bass is brutal, in the best possible way. Heaven.
 
A lot of Miller's work is a little too much on the smooth-jazz side for my taste, but not "Cousin John." Other tracks of his worth checking out are "Funk Joint" and "Milky Way."
 
As you were.

 
Great song, and a great headphone. My LCD-4 slams like my 600-watt Earthquake Sound Supernova MKV-15 15" subwoofer, one of the best subs on the planet. The LCD-4 doesn't bother the neighbors though, and actually has deeper sub-bass. I'd call the LCD-4 bass visceral, if I had viscera between my ears. 

 

[wdh777]

Really enjoying these. They get better each time. Check out the following

Chris botti live in Boston Track when I fall in love
Shirley horn you won't forget me track beautiful love

Doesn't get better than these...or what are your go to tracks?

 

[wdh777]

Really enjoying these. They get better each time. Check out the following

Chris botti live in Boston Track when I fall in love
Shirley horn you won't forget me track beautiful love

Doesn't get better than these...or what are your go to tracks?

Beautiful love could be my one track.

Also check out al dimeola meditrainian sundance.

 

[moopster]

^ Check this thread for great music suggestions. 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/722584/ideal-headphone-hd800-audeze-music-suggestions-please/315