[Kevxl]

Oh wow really!? This could get interesting...

I bought the 4z new and when I first listened it at home on Hugo2, my first thought was that it’s worse than the LCDX I previously owned. I was sweating bullets but decided to burn it in for a week and see what happen.

I ran it every night for around 12 hours for a week with no listening in between. That really helped and changed things up. It kept improving for another week or so. Take your time

 

[Gefell]

I bought the 4z new and when I first listened it at home on Hugo2, my first thought was that it’s worse than the LCDX I previously owned. I was sweating bullets but decided to burn it in for a week and see what happen.

I ran it every night for around 12 hours for a week with no listening in between. That really helped and changed things up. It kept improving for another week or so. Take your time

What kind of differences did you experience after the burn in?

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Some quick impressions...

I'm listening on my modest setup to a variety of well known tracks from years gone by! Keep in mind this was an open box purchase, so I don't really know how much burn in time these have or if it really matters with planars.

TIDAL HiFi/MQA -> PrismSound Lyra2 ( ASIO ) -> Monolith THX AAA 887 (single ended 0.5ohm OI)-> LCD-4z

The first thing I immediately notice, is how balanced and neutral these are, with just a hint of mid forwardness. Nothing peaky stands out right now. If anything 'ch','sss' and 'fff' sounds feel less harsh. They sound more natural, like someone is in front of you actually enunciating.

I get a sense that either my setup is lean, or I've been perceiving distortion as more bass in the mix with other headsets I own. The bass is there but it's not dominant in a lot of familiar tracks. I almost feel like I could turn it up some, but perhaps that's the 'consumer' side of me & my brain needing time to adjust. Tracks feel leaner but less bloated. Less like there is this low/lowmid blur around everything clogging up the space. If I put on some deadmou5 or some current pop hits, I can definitely hear the sub bass working away.

Everything has more space. It's not congested. Some of my favorite warm & muddy tracks actually have room to breathe. "No one knows" by QOTS is a great example. Really busy passages don't seem to get all glued together and become a mess. You can still hear individual instruments & voices in their spaces during a heavy mix. Reverb / cymbal trails go on a lot longer. I can hear things fade into the mix earlier than I've ever noticed before. There's a lot more pin point detail overall.

Overall so far, I'm really happy with how mixes translate on these. No frequency range really stands out as being over the top. I'll have to see what the Audeze 4z EQ change does on their plugin and compare it to the stock sound.

Comfort wise, they're not too heavy, but I wouldn't want them any heavier. I may need to figure out how to shorten up the leather strap though. The back edge of the top piece actually rests on the leather and on my head instead of being suspended above the leather like the front of that band.. hopefully this can be adjusted! I may just have to try extending the pads down more and letting the weight rest more on my jawline instead of the band on the head.

Well, you really nailed it with first impression. Agree that they sound kind of balance, and not muddy by any means. In fact, could be the clearest / darkest black background from all audeze line up, but still remain audeze house sound which is plenty of musical feel, deep bass impact, and no fatigue high frequency.

Also, while I'm a believer of driver burn in, I believe about brain burn in too though. Either way, burn in time is necessary.

 

[mixman]

Got a wywires platinum
I figured at the 40% they got with 30 days money back that I didn't have anything to loose.

Here are my first impressions after about an hr of use (so obviously no burn in)
I was advised against this cable for its warmth as the 4z with tt2 is allready a warm sig.

Well I don't hear any extra warmth or anything of note at all.
This is the first time I don't hear anything from a cable.
Used to be more into iems and was able to hear any slight change.
This cable brings nothing new to the table.
Aside for sound, it seems to be built cheaply... The jack is a basic jack, found on lowest tiers of cable costing 8x less than this.
The mini xlr seem to be stock audeze stuff? Idk that for sure, but I've seen them around. Wywires rips this cable for 599,totally not worth its cost!
At 40% still not worth its cost.

It is light and comfy, if I have to say anything good about the thing. If the post office was still open, I'd return it today.
I'm extremely sensitive to any change in sound on most sytems, I would of heard something if there was anything to change.
My 50$ cable is of no difference, dissapointing. I wonder what other cables are out there... Sure wish I had the stock 4z cable.

Who knows, maybe I'll end up with that one.

Yeah I was thinking of giving the Platinum a try too. Wasn't too fond of the Wywires Red to put it mildly. I had the same reaction to it as you had but wanted to keep an open mind about the Platinum. Even with the return policy, I am having a hard time making the purchase. I think I will now just wait for Norne to release their S4 and go with that instead.

 

[Kevxl]

What kind of differences did you experience after the burn in?

Personally, IIRC, I felt the highs sound smoother, low-end definitely reached deeper than before, and the mids seems to be clearer and more focused. All subtle changes but noticeable. These changes round out the edges and, in my case, completed the whole package.

Let the brain gets to know the new sound signature as well. I believe headphones at this level and above are not really about sensory-overload-at-first-listen kind of excitement. It takes time (even trainnings) to appreciate why these things are priced as such. I'll say it took me about a week or so.

 

[Gefell]

Personally, IIRC, I felt the highs sound smoother, low-end definitely reached deeper than before, and the mids seems to be clearer and more focused. All subtle changes but noticeable. These changes round out the edges and, in my case, completed the whole package.

Let the brain gets to know the new sound signature as well. I believe headphones at this level and above are not really about sensory-overload-at-first-listen kind of excitement. It takes time (even trainnings) to appreciate why these things are priced as such. I'll say it took me about a week or so.

What DAC/Amp do you use with yours?

 

[Kevxl]

What DAC/Amp do you use with yours?

At that time, just Hugo 2 by itself. I want to keep it as simple as possible when assessing the sound.

 

[Gefell]

At that time, just Hugo 2 by itself. I want to keep it as simple as possible when assessing the sound.

I'm contemplating upgrading my DAC to one of these too, at the same time thinking about a TT2, but it's quite the leap lol

 

[InstantSilence]

I'm contemplating upgrading my DAC to one of these too, at the same time thinking about a TT2, but it's quite the leap lol

A new dac can be quite the improvement, it really shows what your cans are capable off.
H2 is super nice, expecially for used prices.
A forward, bold, incisive sound! Great details and clarity.
Rme adi-2 dac does have nice DSP, built in graphic eq, tone control and other neat features

 

[Gefell]

I tried Roon for the first time today, to get easy access to the Audeze EQ for these. It's very subtle, but I can hear a very slight bump upper mids/low highs? I wonder what the exact graph looks like? Does anyone know if there is a way to show the actual EQ they're applying for these presets? Thanks!

 

[InstantSilence]

I tried Roon for the first time today, to get easy access to the Audeze EQ for these. It's very subtle, but I can hear a very slight bump upper mids/low highs? I wonder what the exact graph looks like? Does anyone know if there is a way to show the actual EQ they're applying for these presets? Thanks!

I too would love to see the adjustments and can't.
Try downlithe audeze reveal from their site and see where it takes you?

 

[Gefell]

I too would love to see the adjustments and can't.
Try downlithe audeze reveal from their site and see where it takes you?

Ya good point. I think they have a VST plugin. I'll see if I can load it up in something like Reaper and see if it exposes the curve in any sort of UI.

 

[Gefell]

Looks like it's just a UI that gets exposed. It definitely feels like they've bumped up the bass a little bit by 1 or 2 db, boosted 3-4k slightly and maybe dipped the 10k+ range very slightly. It's really subtle but I like it. It gives drums a bit more oomph and guitars/female vocals pop out a little more.

 

[Gefell]

Got it! Found a hint on google to load the plugin into APO EQ. It shows the effect of the vst preset in the bottom. Looks like they do some minor scooping too.

 

[Gefell]

Really enjoying these, especially with the Audeze profile. If I look at the above post again, and move the midrange to 0db, it's about a +2db boost to the low end / 3.5k range, and a 5db boost to 8.5k. I've been listening to them for several days, and returning to specific albums along the way. The bass is starting to slam more for sure, and I'm noticing more details in songs I didn't notice on the first listen. They just sound slightly more alive than my first listen, and I'm about 25 hours in of burn in.


I'm highly considering upgrading my converters. My current Prism Sound Lyra 2 uses the old Cirrus Logic Flagship CS4398 D/A so it's getting a little long in the tooth and may be holding the 4z back.

Some of the options I'm considering, and they range wildly in price.

Topping D90 ( AK4499 DAC ) $1089 CDN - I would be getting an up to date flagship DAC, with 32bit + 768khz capability. I could pair this with my current AAA THX Monoprice 887 amp , and get it fairly cheap, and possibly picking up something more high end down the line, while also getting an upgrade now.

Chord Hugo 2 $2699 CDN - A little more expensive but this would get me into the Chord 'sound', and also have a dedicated amp that can drive the 4z with digital volume control. I don't necessarily see myself as going mobile with my 4z, but it would give me that option for IEM's at work. My reservation is it's 3 years old and maybe a Hugo3 is coming SOONtm (FOMO), also there is the TT2 ( see below ) & always wondering how much of a jump it would be in sq.

Chord Hugo TT2 $7195 CDN - Big investment. It's not that I "can't" afford this, but if I went this route, I would want to make sure it was something I don't need to upgrade for some years. The bonus is that it would also act as a very formidable headphone amp, and would save me from needing to purchase something more specific if I ever move into other harder to drive headphones.