[franz12]

There are always going to be units with an issue no matter who makes them. Look at hifi man they have their share of problems. The best thing about audeze is that they stand behind their products. I am not even sure if what I am experiencing is really an issue or just how they wear in with use that is why I was asking here. Hopefully someone can share their experience.

As a side note the bass is substantially better on the 4z than the x. It is faster and has more body to it. I just tried the sonarworks app on my phone. This is not an ideal testing device but I can say that I am not a fan of what it did to the overall sound from the 4z. I didn't really like what it did with the x when I had the desktop trial either. It sounded artificial. I think that the audeze reveal plug-in sounds much more natural.

I am thinking about selling my LCD X as it may not see much use with the 4z in house. I have the clears if I want something different.

I see. I was thoroughly impressed with the lcd2 closed-back, but only with Reference 4 plug-in enabled. So much so that I would love to explore a higher-end LCD. But without the Sonarworks plug-in, the lcd2 closed-back sounds really bad to my ears. It is my first time to use both the lcd2 closed-back and Reference 4, but it is such a huge difference.

If lcd4z or lcdx sounds bad with the Sonarworks plug-in, I may need to reconsider buying them.

 

[CreditingKarma]

I see. I thoroughly impressed with the lcd2 closed-back, but only with Reference 4 enabled. So much so that I would love to explore a higher-end LCD. But without the Sonarworks plug-in, the lcd2 closed-back sounds really bad to my ears. It is my first time to use both the lcd2 closed-back and Reference 4, but it is such a huge difference.

If lcd4z or lcdx sound bad with the Sonarworks plug-in, I may need to reconsider buying them.

I think that both the 4z and x sound better without sonarworks. It is not that they sound bad. I might be more accustomed to the original sound of the LCD x and I have been listening to the 4z for about 6 days so I am still wrapping my head around its sound. You might enjoy both of them with sonarworks It is a matter of taste.

 

[FranciscoPinto]

I see. I was thoroughly impressed with the lcd2 closed-back, but only with Reference 4 plug-in enabled. So much so that I would love to explore a higher-end LCD. But without the Sonarworks plug-in, the lcd2 closed-back sounds really bad to my ears. It is my first time to use both the lcd2 closed-back and Reference 4, but it is such a huge difference.

If lcd4z or lcdx sounds bad with the Sonarworks plug-in, I may need to reconsider buying them.

I am one to think that once you get used to reference sound it´s hard to go back to hi-fi pretty sounding frequency response, as you´ll have the sensation of things missing, or things being coloured a certain way just to make it sound pretty or warm "another adjective for dull" so and so. Just my 0,02$

 

[franz12]

I am one to think that once you get used to reference sound it´s hard to go back to hi-fi pretty sounding frequency response, as you´ll have the sensation of things missing, or things being coloured a certain way just to make it sound pretty or warm "another adjective for dull" so and so. Just my 0,02$

I agree. From my headphone journey of 3 years (still fairly short), I found that I liked balanced/neutral signature most. In my book, neutral = natural, which makes me mesmerized into music.

 

[FranciscoPinto]

I agree. From my headphone journey of 3 years (still fairly short), I found that I liked balanced/neutral signature most. In my book, neutral = natural, which makes me mesmerized into music.

The thing is that I want to use the headphones for mixing records, not the DJ kind of mixing, but the whole multi track studio kind of thing. The main reason why I am so interested in a studio reference flat frequency response is because it yields better results when translating to other playback systems. Imagine a photographer editing pictures or colouring movies with a calibration profile on his monitor that´s over-emphasizing a certain colour (frequency). Odds are he´ll make decisions based on a monitoring system “playback system” that is far away from being neutral. The translation to many other screens and monitors will very probably not be as good as it could have been, had he used a calibrated monitoring system.

Same thing with headphones or studio monitors, that´s why people go huge lengths and buy systems like the Trinnov ST2 Pro and whatnot, also the reason why Audeze released their Reveal plugin. Same with converters, we want neutral, cristal clear DA – AD (Crane Song, Dangerous Music).

Hi-Fi people usually buy headphones based on their naked sound, some are bright some are butter creamy, and that´s part of the game and joy of it.

I am one to say that once you get used to reference sound and the neutrality of it, going back to the naked sound of a playback system is hard, as you will very likely miss detail in some parts of the frequency spectrum, and get too much of other parts of it.

I don´t like gear getting in the way of music, I don´t want to hear the gear, I want to hear the music. Just the music nothing else. The gear is the tool to get there, no the place to get to.

You may like things coloured a certain way, but I live for transparency and precision, that´s where the beauty is for me.

I know what you mean by headphones sounding natural, not neutral, but I need both, neutral being more important to me than natural, and natural being that extra “if I can get it then that would be great”. Sometimes we want to avoid overly vivid playback systems as they may fool us making things sound too pretty.

Oh and I just got a pair of Xs, I will get a 4z once I spend some time playing with the small brother, I just didn´t feel comfortable going balls deep in such an expensive headphone without some getting used to before, just in case they are not the best solution for my situation (but let´s be honest they probably will be)

Worst case scenario I´ll end up with a very pretty collection of TOTL headphones!

Greetings, bare with me and my long texts!

 

[CreditingKarma]

The thing is that I want to use the headphones for mixing records, not the DJ kind of mixing, but the whole multi track studio kind of thing. The main reason why I am so interested in a studio reference flat frequency response is because it yields better results when translating to other playback systems. Imagine a photographer editing pictures or colouring movies with a calibration profile on his monitor that´s over-emphasizing a certain colour (frequency). Odds are he´ll make decisions based on a monitoring system “playback system” that is far away from being neutral. The translation to many other screens and monitors will very probably not be as good as it could have been, had he used a calibrated monitoring system.

Same thing with headphones or studio monitors, that´s why people go huge lengths and buy systems like the Trinnov ST2 Pro and whatnot, also the reason why Audeze released their Reveal plugin. Same with converters, we want neutral, cristal clear DA – AD (Crane Song, Dangerous Music).

Hi-Fi people usually buy headphones based on their naked sound, some are bright some are butter creamy, and that´s part of the game and joy of it.

I am one to say that once you get used to reference sound and the neutrality of it, going back to the naked sound of a playback system is hard, as you will very likely miss detail in some parts of the frequency spectrum, and get too much of other parts of it.

I don´t like gear getting in the way of music, I don´t want to hear the gear, I want to hear the music. Just the music nothing else. The gear is the tool to get there, no the place to get to.

You may like things coloured a certain way, but I live for transparency and precision, that´s where the beauty is for me.

I know what you mean by headphones sounding natural, not neutral, but I need both, neutral being more important to me than natural, and natural being that extra “if I can get it then that would be great”. Sometimes we want to avoid overly vivid playback systems as they may fool us making things sound too pretty.

Oh and I just got a pair of Xs, I will get a 4z once I spend some time playing with the small brother, I just didn´t feel comfortable going balls deep in such an expensive headphone without some getting used to before, just in case they are not the best solution for my situation (but let´s be honest they probably will be)

Worst case scenario I´ll end up with a very pretty collection of TOTL headphones!

Greetings, bare with me and my long texts!

I like the sound with the reveal plugin. I tried the sonarworks plugin too with audirvana. When I do mixing I usually use my ls50 or m audio bx5. The ls50 are ok to mix with but are not totally flat.

The biggest issue for me is that I listen primarily with my sp1000cu. There is no way to even try sonarworks trufi with it. I usually do some eqing with the sp1000 I actually copies the correction from sonarworks into the eq. It seemed to sound better than the plugin to me. I might give it another shot when I get the hugo tt2.

I am positive you will like the LCD x. When the time comes you will probably like the 4z as well.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Different strokes for different folks. Early on in my headphone listening journey I was far closer to preferring neutralish signatures, fast forward to today and those type of signatures fail to engage me at best and at worst flat out bore me to death. I now prefer some warmth and deliberate colouration, as long as it meets my definition of tasteful and does not stray so far off kilter that the sound becomes significantly unbalanced. The idea of thin bass (Grado, AKG in my experience) just doesn't work. I would rather have a little bass bloom (within reason of course) and feel a solid, weighty presentation of the notes. Very often neutral to me while detailed and fast just sounds unengaging.

 

[franz12]

The thing is that I want to use the headphones for mixing records, not the DJ kind of mixing, but the whole multi track studio kind of thing. The main reason why I am so interested in a studio reference flat frequency response is because it yields better results when translating to other playback systems. Imagine a photographer editing pictures or colouring movies with a calibration profile on his monitor that´s over-emphasizing a certain colour (frequency). Odds are he´ll make decisions based on a monitoring system “playback system” that is far away from being neutral. The translation to many other screens and monitors will very probably not be as good as it could have been, had he used a calibrated monitoring system.

Same thing with headphones or studio monitors, that´s why people go huge lengths and buy systems like the Trinnov ST2 Pro and whatnot, also the reason why Audeze released their Reveal plugin. Same with converters, we want neutral, cristal clear DA – AD (Crane Song, Dangerous Music).

Hi-Fi people usually buy headphones based on their naked sound, some are bright some are butter creamy, and that´s part of the game and joy of it.

I am one to say that once you get used to reference sound and the neutrality of it, going back to the naked sound of a playback system is hard, as you will very likely miss detail in some parts of the frequency spectrum, and get too much of other parts of it.

I don´t like gear getting in the way of music, I don´t want to hear the gear, I want to hear the music. Just the music nothing else. The gear is the tool to get there, no the place to get to.

You may like things coloured a certain way, but I live for transparency and precision, that´s where the beauty is for me.

I know what you mean by headphones sounding natural, not neutral, but I need both, neutral being more important to me than natural, and natural being that extra “if I can get it then that would be great”. Sometimes we want to avoid overly vivid playback systems as they may fool us making things sound too pretty.

Oh and I just got a pair of Xs, I will get a 4z once I spend some time playing with the small brother, I just didn´t feel comfortable going balls deep in such an expensive headphone without some getting used to before, just in case they are not the best solution for my situation (but let´s be honest they probably will be)

Worst case scenario I´ll end up with a very pretty collection of TOTL headphones!

Greetings, bare with me and my long texts!

When I said neutral = natural, I meant it sounds natural when there are no peaks or valleys, which means flat.
I found that those peaks and valleys make timbre unnatural. I am now realizing that how targeting flat FR makes sounds wonder. Only word I can say is that it is 'beautiful.'
I know that some folks enjoy elevated bass. But if that comes with peaks or valleys at other frequencies, it is no go for me.

I found that these EQ profiles work great with an Audeze headphone, and I can see why many audio pros use them. Sonarworks plug-in didn't work well with the Utopia. Probably, planar headphones respond more effortlessly than dynamic headphones. Just my guess.

 

[FranciscoPinto]

Hello guys, I bought the LCD X and they are going back.

The Sennheisser HD 800S are superior to them in mids, highs, imaging, instrument separation, transient response and comfort.

I will make a small comparison between both headphones just in case it helps anyone.

I have only compared them being calibrated with Sonarworks´ average calibration profiles for each headphone model. I also tried Audeze´s Reveal plugin but thought it was quite far away from giving a flat response.

(Why do I use calibration? Would you buy a DAC that bumps 7 db at any point of the frequency spectrum? Probably not, so the same applies to headphones for me.

The LCD X are great but they can´t quite keep up with the 800S in the areas I mentioned before. Though I have to say maybe inconsistency between drivers on the LCD X may be the thing to blame here as an individual calibration may have fixed a bit those mids and highs, 800S on the other hand are quite consistent on their FR and the average calibration profile for them works wonders. But you still have transient response, soundstage, comfort and comfort missing on the X. Damn they are so heavy they feel like a dumbell on your head, and the clamping effect is also quite unbearable.

I wanted to love them so badly, the bass is incredible, literally incredible, but the Sennheiser are not that far away really when Eq´d at +2 db in Sonarworks.

I feel like I don´t quite know what´s going on in the music with the LCD X, voices sound a bit harsh compared to the voices in the 800S, S sounds also kind of hurt when I crank them up, reverbs lack a sense of space, feel blurry and get masked easily.

Damn that mid range killed the LCD X. What a pity. I´ve looking at frequency response graphs on Audeze headphones and the mids highs are a complete mess.

What a letdown. I really wanted to have Audeze headphones, but I feel like it just doesn´t make sense to keep them having the 800S. I hope this helps anyone having the 800S and looking into Audeze headphones, they are a different kind of beast, maybe not my type of beast.

 

[Dinrog]

Hello guys, I bought the LCD X and they are going back.

The Sennheisser HD 800S are superior to them in mids, highs, imaging, instrument separation, transient response and comfort.

I will make a small comparison between both headphones just in case it helps anyone.

I have only compared them being calibrated with Sonarworks´ average calibration profiles for each headphone model. I also tried Audeze´s Reveal plugin but thought it was quite far away from giving a flat response.

(Why do I use calibration? Would you buy a DAC that bumps 7 db at any point of the frequency spectrum? Probably not, so the same applies to headphones for me.

The LCD X are great but they can´t quite keep up with the 800S in the areas I mentioned before. Though I have to say maybe inconsistency between drivers on the LCD X may be the thing to blame here as an individual calibration may have fixed a bit those mids and highs, 800S on the other hand are quite consistent on their FR and the average calibration profile for them works wonders. But you still have transient response, soundstage, comfort and comfort missing on the X. Damn they are so heavy they feel like a dumbell on your head, and the clamping effect is also quite unbearable.

I wanted to love them so badly, the bass is incredible, literally incredible, but the Sennheiser are not that far away really when Eq´d at +2 db in Sonarworks.

I feel like I don´t quite know what´s going on in the music with the LCD X, voices sound a bit harsh compared to the voices in the 800S, S sounds also kind of hurt when I crank them up, reverbs lack a sense of space, feel blurry and get masked easily.

Damn that mid range killed the LCD X. What a pity. I´ve looking at frequency response graphs on Audeze headphones and the mids highs are a complete mess.

What a letdown. I really wanted to have Audeze headphones, but I feel like it just doesn´t make sense to keep them having the 800S. I hope this helps anyone having the 800S and looking into Audeze headphones, they are a different kind of beast, maybe not my type of beast.

Do what you feel fits your preference best! I had the opposite experience when i tested both ironically (bar soundstage of course, some things on par) but it might have just been an exceptional unit!

 

[FranciscoPinto]

Do what you feel fits your preference best! I had the opposite experience when i tested both ironically (bar soundstage of course, some things on par) but it might have just been an exceptional unit!

Or maybe quite the opposite, I remember the LCD X unit I tried sounding better that the one I got. Is there such a thing as a bad sounding unit? Might I have gotten one? What is the consistency of frequency response on these planars? If frequency response changes so much between left and right side as I have seen in some graphs, I don´t even want to think about different units. It really made me want to stop looking for a different headphone.

 

[guyben]

Hey guys,
I've ordered a cable from Norne audio (silvergrade s3) and told my self that I'd like to check in advance how easy it is to unplug the stock cable from the headphones. Turns out, it's not. I actually cannot remove the stock cable from both sides. I'm pressing that little push button and it's just stuck. Am I suppose to rotate while pulling? This is really frustrating and I would hate to use more force and possibly damage the connector. Note I've had these for some almost 6 months now and have never unplugged the cable.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Guy

 

[Dinrog]

Hey guys,
I've ordered a cable from Norne audio (silvergrade s3) and told my self that I'd like to check in advance how easy it is to unplug the stock cable from the headphones. Turns out, it's not. I actually cannot remove the stock cable from both sides. I'm pressing that little push button and it's just stuck. Am I suppose to rotate while pulling? This is really frustrating and I would hate to use more force and possibly damage the connector. Note I've had these for some almost 6 months now and have never unplugged the cable.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Guy

Dont rotate! Its just a stiff fit. It does need quite a bit of force on mine..

 

[Mediahound]

The connectors on the stock cable suck. They're cheapy ones and too tight and are not even a name brand like Neutrik or Amphenol.

 

[CreditingKarma]

The connectors on the stock cable suck. They're cheapy ones and too tight and are not even a name brand like Neutrik or Amphenol.

I can't say that they are the best connectors that are available. Rean is actually part of neutrik. The furutech connectors are great but pricey.