Audeze LCD-4

[Tchoupitoulas]

I can't actually make an offer because they require you to put in an American phone number in the form and I cannot do this.

Ugh, that's annoying. PM me if I can help since I'm over here in the US.

 

[Bryan E]

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I was about to hit the hay here when I saw your reply - thanks for posting it. Yes, I agree about SET amps not being ideal. Some tube amps work well, apparently. A friend had positive results with an ampsandsound Bigger Ben rev 2. And some of the old Cavalli amps work nicely but are more or less unobtanium now. I wish there were more good tube hybrids in the $1-4k range for low impedance planars (and not just the Rivera AIC10 at $18,000 or whatever preposterous price it is!)



Yes, they're both excellent options. Fortunately, my pair of LCD-4z have been modified and sound very different from the stock version - less dark, mid-forward, with a more even and coherent transition from mids through treble, and with a more resolving and open and spacious staging. Part of the improvement came from the modder changing pads and the foam used to damp the driver. I'm waiting to get my LCD-4 modded and am using the Reveal plugin to make them better.



@Drewligarchy - I don't think it's the pads he needs to replace but instead the foam under the chrome grill. Is that right, @Bryan E? I'd definitely reach out to Audeze as @Drewligarchy suggests and ask if you could buy some replacement foam. Failing that, I wonder if these could work (they're sheets and can be cut to size). You can also get foam on Amazon in a variety of thicknesses and densities, and you could probably match them roughly to the old ones by comparing the thickness side-by-side and also by holding them both up to the light to see if they allow a similar amount of light through them.

I'm not sure why you'd need replacement grills if the foam is deteriorating but Arctic Cables sell these.

Yes you're correct, I also have the LCD-X lying around but I think the foam/felt material is quite different from the LCD-4 I don't know if they are acoustically similar (like the ones with Hifiman Arya V1 vs V2)

I could try testing them but the ones in my LCD-4 I'm afraid is deteriorating to the point that if I were to open the screws the foam would just fall apart and there's no going back...

 

[Richy Hughes]

Those few TMR used 4s are also on their Ebay... you may have more luck making an offer there.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335543102524

 

[erik701]

Conclusion

I think that both headphones have world class qualities about them and they are different enough to each other to own both rather than saying "the other is much better why am I keeping this one". The bass impact and midrange on the LCD 4 is something special and cannot be replicated and the overall bass presentation, technical proficiency and treble clarity is something only found on the CRBN.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm also moving towards electrostats and I'm also the owner of the LCD-4 headphones. I'm currently trying to sell them to fund my journey into electrostats, but your comparison made me rethink my decision It's such a beautiful sounding headphone. There's a reason many headphone owners have kept them for years, as I have. I will have to find other way how to be able to afford Audeze CRBN or Stax SR-X9000 I guess...

 

[Lokust]

You're selling your lcd-4 ? In the classifieds?

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm also moving towards electrostats and I'm also the owner of the LCD-4 headphones. I'm currently trying to sell them to fund my journey into electrostats, but your comparison made me rethink my decision It's such a beautiful sounding headphone. There's a reason many headphone owners have kept them for years, as I have. I will have to find other way how to be able to afford Audeze CRBN or Stax SR-X9000 I guess...

 

[erik701]

You're selling your lcd-4 ? In the classifieds?

Yep

 

[TheAbyss2022]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm also moving towards electrostats and I'm also the owner of the LCD-4 headphones. I'm currently trying to sell them to fund my journey into electrostats, but your comparison made me rethink my decision It's such a beautiful sounding headphone. There's a reason many headphone owners have kept them for years, as I have. I will have to find other way how to be able to afford Audeze CRBN or Stax SR-X9000 I guess...

X9000 wasn't a good experience for me every time I tried it, see my impressions in the X9000 thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/stax-sr-x9000.959852/post-18327398

CRBN is an improvement in a lot of areas over the LCD 4 but it needs to be driven with a proper high end electrostatic amplifier to get the most out of them. I am not sure how much performance I am missing with my iFi Phantom but it sounds worlds better over the Topping EHA5 which I bought as a reference point. I am now saving up for something like a Blue Hawaii which I'll get it a few months.

If I were you, I wouldn't bother looking into high end estat headphones if you aren't willing to spend a lot on the amplifier to drive them.

 

[erik701]

X9000 wasn't a good experience for me every time I tried it, see my impressions in the X9000 thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/stax-sr-x9000.959852/post-18327398

CRBN is an improvement in a lot of areas over the LCD 4 but it needs to be driven with a proper high end electrostatic amplifier to get the most out of them. I am not sure how much performance I am missing with my iFi Phantom but it sounds worlds better over the Topping EHA5 which I bought as a reference point. I am now saving up for something like a Blue Hawaii which I'll get it a few months.

If I were you, I wouldn't bother looking into high end estat headphones if you aren't willing to spend a lot on the amplifier to drive them.

Thanks for this. You may be 100% right.

I already own Woo Audio GES, which I bought to drive medical version of Audeze CRBN. Unfortunately, this never happened as the medical CRBN I ordered on eBay arrived broken. I was able to get my money back, which is good.
Now that I have a pretty good amplifier, I want to see what electrostatic headphones can really do. I'm aware that the Stax may not live up to my expectations, but I have to try them for myself. For me it's like when car enthusiast wants to experience car with V12 engine at least once in his lifetime, if that makes sense...

In the end, I can always sell used X9000, even with some loss, and buy Audeze CRBN. It wouldn't work the other way around, so that's one of the reasons.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

Thanks for this. You may be 100% right.

I already own Woo Audio GES, which I bought to drive medical version of Audeze CRBN. Unfortunately, this never happened as the medical CRBN I ordered on eBay arrived broken. I was able to get my money back, which is good.
Now that I have a pretty good amplifier, I want to see what electrostatic headphones can really do. I'm aware that the Stax may not live up to my expectations, but I have to try them for myself. For me it's like when car enthusiast wants to experience car with V12 engine at least once in his lifetime, if that makes sense...

In the end, I can always sell used X9000, even with some loss, and buy Audeze CRBN. It wouldn't work the other way around, so that's one of the reasons.

I would recommend that you buy a used Stax 009 for a good price and see if you like the Stax house sound before investing in an X9000. I got my 009 for £1,400 and you won't find better technical performance for that price.

If you haven't heard the CRBN and you are looking for an estat experience, I would not recommend them over Stax as they sound more like a planar than an estat.

The only thing the CRBN does better than the 009 & 009S is mid-bass impact which is slightly better in reality over the 009 and overall warmth in the midrange which gives a better fullness in male vocals. It is also more forgiving for less well mastered recordings as it has less detail than the Stax. I'm keeping the CRBN because I do enjoy them but I wouldn't have them over the Stax, as an additional estat to the collection, perfectly fine with that.

 

[betula]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm also moving towards electrostats and I'm also the owner of the LCD-4 headphones. I'm currently trying to sell them to fund my journey into electrostats, but your comparison made me rethink my decision It's such a beautiful sounding headphone. There's a reason many headphone owners have kept them for years, as I have. I will have to find other way how to be able to afford Audeze CRBN or Stax SR-X9000 I guess...

Of course, we all are on different journeys with different taste, but I thought I share a humble thought: think twice. Try to audition some of these electrostats first. Of course, they have fantastic speed and detail, but for me lack substance, body, weight. I would pick up the LCD4 any day instead of the X9000 or CRBN. But that's me.

 

[JLoud]

Really depends on the type of music you listen too and personal preference. My music tastes are all over the place, so I have a variety of headphones. The LCD4 is my go to for hard rock or sometimes EDM. The Stax 009 for acoustic or Folk. The CRBN for Blues or male vocals. The Stax 007 for pop music. Finally the Susvara for classic rock or classic pop. And can't forget the DCA Stealth for modern pop.

So basically you can demo them personally or just buy everything like I did.

 

[Kozwoz]

I'll never sell my LCD4. They continue to scale with more powerful better designed amps. I think very few people have actually hit that ceiling. This headphone also represents the last pinnacle of old Audeze sound and it doesn't look like Audeze have any intention of ever going back to. If you have a looked after unit, I can see them going up in value on the second hand market, even more than what we originally paid for. So worth holding onto as an investment if you want to make some money.

 

[Lokust]

I'll never sell my LCD4. They continue to scale with more powerful better designed amps. I think very few people have actually hit that ceiling. This headphone also represents the last pinnacle of old Audeze sound and it doesn't look like Audeze have any intention of ever going back to. If you have a looked after unit, I can see them going up in value on the second hand market, even more than what we originally paid for. So worth holding onto as an investment if you want to make some money.

Unfortunately, they don't sell for much. But maybe in 10 yrs or so.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

I'll never sell my LCD4. They continue to scale with more powerful better designed amps. I think very few people have actually hit that ceiling. This headphone also represents the last pinnacle of old Audeze sound and it doesn't look like Audeze have any intention of ever going back to. If you have a looked after unit, I can see them going up in value on the second hand market, even more than what we originally paid for. So worth holding onto as an investment if you want to make some money.

Whilst I regret selling my LCD 4 and was looking to require one, the CRBN 2 just got announced and has become a priority for me.

Apparently it has the "The most powerful, tactile bass response of any electrostatic headphone and vividly holographic spatial imaging" - https://www.audeze.com/pages/crbn2-preview?irclickid=0fsSqdyIrxyKTIqQnV04UVzBUkCyqMSPFyfU0U0&irgwc=1

Jude also mentioned in the Canjam preview video that it has the most detail of any Audeze headphone ever.

 

[betula]

Whilst I regret selling my LCD 4 and was looking to require one, the CRBN 2 just got announced and has become a priority for me.

Apparently it has the "The most powerful, tactile bass response of any electrostatic headphone and vividly holographic spatial imaging" - https://www.audeze.com/pages/crbn2-preview?irclickid=0fsSqdyIrxyKTIqQnV04UVzBUkCyqMSPFyfU0U0&irgwc=1

Jude also mentioned in the Canjam preview video that it has the most detail of any Audeze headphone ever.

Nice. I am curious to hear the CRBN2 one day, although none of the electrostats cut it for me yet.