[number1sixerfan]

For me a headphone is just a pair of speakers and if i know that mechanical stuff won't do any trouble, so EQ should be good to go, i gladly try it out. Don't have a measure rig myself, which is why i trust the EQ profiles from oratory, which worked great for me so far. I do have pretty good hearing for my age and can still hear fine until 16-17khz and don't have major flaws. Not sure about my ear/headshape though.

So, if a headphone with EQ sounds much better to me, why not? Unless you don't want to be chained by the need of EQ all the time.

In my case the susvara and zmf auteur were the closest to what i like without any EQ involved.

Oh I have absolutely nothing against EQ'ing or people that do. I was just speaking to how hard it is to reliably compare headphones with EQ. Again, for personal purposes it doesn't matter really.

 

[pippen99]

Emailed Audeze support to request to substitute XLR cable for stock cable. Reply came in 1 hour that the request will be forwarded to sales/shipping and substitution made.

 

[fugimax]

Emailed Audeze support to request to substitute XLR cable for stock cable. Reply came in 1 hour that the request will be forwarded to sales/shipping and substitution made.

I got the same response this morning. I'm confirming it's actually the same grade cable, however, as it appears the LCD-5 has a new cable (looks different from the "Premium" cable shown in the Accessories store..). Let you know what I hear.

Update:

The XLR cable you would get would be our premium model, not the standard cable.

It would be more in line with what you'd expect with the LCD-5, but it is the Premium cable that you see for sale.

We do not have a special balanced cable just for the LCD-5.

Update #2:

To be clear, we actually use the same cable as on the Standard LCD5, we just make a version with the 4 pin XLR connector.

 

[chargedcapacitor]

I got the same response this morning. I'm confirming it's actually the same grade cable, however, as it appears the LCD-5 has a new cable (looks different from the "Premium" cable shown in the Accessories store..). Let you know what I hear.

They responded to me, and will be including the XLR cable with the headphones since I requested it.

 

[MHLC]

With the amount of

Re-read the LCD-4 thread as if the 4's just got launched, absorb the hype, buy a used one at an incredible discount, and enjoy until the second hand market opens up for the 5's. Chasing old flagships keeps this hobby sustainable for me, and headfiers take really good care of their gear (with a few exceptions).

Hopefully the price of LCD-4 drops a bit. Who knows, market is crazy so I'm sure the headphone market will be as well

 

[Dloines]

The "worth" is a little subjective.

It's not 'twice' as good as a $2k headphone. Rather, it's more about how important is it to you to find "that" sound you're searching for so that you may maximize your audio enjoyment, and how much do you value that experience?

Typically, the biggest differences seem to come with sounding more "correct", or being "faster", more resolving, etc. Mind you, these are marginal improvements compared to lower priced options, but still significant enough for many here to warrant the additional cost.

To me, I'm trying to get that same emotional connection through headphones as I find with high end speakers. It's different tho, since speakers energize the room you're sitting in and you "feel" that energy.
I'm looking at the LCD-5 to be a potential candidate for that experience, tho I'm curious if many will find them to be too incisive. Which is great for mixing and professionals, but not as ideal for me to just enjoy the music/games/movies.

as with high-end home audio equipment once you reach a certain level, the sound will not be leaps and bounds better. Someone best described to me that its like spikes on a fence, every upgrade or higher model just sharpens the spikes a wee bit more...

 

[boxster233]

No, not trolling at all. Just from the objectivity point of view: 4's tuning is a complete disaster, if you are not listening to any genre that either lacks significant midrange information (e.g. EDM), or need easy going and recessed mids because the recordings often sound too harsh (metal). With 5 it will be an interesting experience with that weird upper mids tuning and recessed treble. A compromise to keep both metal listeners and vocal listeners happy? Maybe.

From the objective measurements and technology point of view, Stealth managed to achieve much better results for both frequency response and distortion, and that is in a closed back form. That pretty much means that there is a higher level of engineering in Stealth than LCD5. So where does this place LCD5 relative to Stealth?

From the subjective point of view, I don't buy HPs for any genre or album. Firstly, Stealth sounds excellent for well made vocal albums (e.g Lhasa de Sela / Living Road). piano and other instrumentals with good amount of midrange information. It sounds extraordinarily good. Second, albums differ widely on their production. Especially in metal the differences are massive, where you have very prominent guitars and cymbals (Cynic / Traced in Air), or everything is well balanced for a more "musical" experience (Necrophagist / Epitaph). I cannot listen to the same album with the same tuning, and use EQ, for example, to tune down the upper mids and treble. Stealth is pretty dependable with that. Why? Because it does not have those dips and peaks other headphones have. But that is not the case with LCDs.

Anyway, from my subjective point of view, I don't plan on spending money on any headphone that cannot prove hat they did their job well on the engineering level. Otherwise there are headphones around that place an off-the-shelf driver in a wooden box and sell it for many times the price, and are praised for their "sound". There is too much BS in this industry.

I hope you all enjoy your LCD5s.

I think you like to use objective too much
when you give your subjective opinions of objective measurements.

 

[boxster233]

But shouldn't this "challange" be the price you as a manufacturer pay for charging $4.5K for your headphones?

Of course it is not. Otherwise, you wouldn't have the right to sell it as a TOTL product.

Are you saying that the upper mids spike is intentional, or is it just going to be lost in the beauty of transparency, resolution, dynamics?

I know, that is what the HeadFi citizens like to hear.

I am cool with that. Until now I chose not to comment in any thread that I don't have the product of, but why not? I see a continous bashing in other threads of products I prefer (e.g. Stealth) by the same crew reading and commenting on this thread with sparkly eyes. The idea was warning people, right? So, here I join you.

Anyway, I would like to try the 5 some time, and will be more than happy if suits my taste. If not, I wish the buyers lots of fun with their purchase and you a good product launch.

The issue with people trolling other threads is a head-fi problem, not an Audeze or KMann problem. Just because others do it, don’t let that justify perpetuating it. I had to deal with Abyss fans trashing lcd-4 in lcd-4 threads for a long time. We should all be better.

 

[EMINENT]

I don't know what is in the pads -- best ask Audeze. I can't remember if it was mentioned in Jude's video. The pads are a bit deeper overall, but convex-shaped, so have less area in which they are actually in contact with your head. This is a bit less comfortable to me.

One of the noticeable aspects of the LCD-5 is the quality of the soundstage depth. I would not want to spend $4500 to get that, then waste it with amps that can't reproduce soundstage depth, because their power supplies are so weak that a $15 capacitor bank between them and the cheap wall warts they use can improve their performance. Or for those where the PSU is built in, are a waste of money to even consider, as they are only designed to be low distortion when having SINAD measured, and can't reproduce bass sufficiently well under load.

If you still have the Hugo 2, could you try with just that or what are your thoughts on a good starter dac/amp?

 

[JLoud]

All this discussion about price is pointless. The pinnacle of any field is going to be expensive. The smaller the sales volume the more it is going to cost. Economy of scale and what not. If the market will pay it then it isn't overpriced. It is always expensive to play on the cutting edge. If it is unreasonably priced to you, don't buy it. But to complain that it is overpriced is to ignore market realities.

 

[Sajid Amit]

All this discussion about price is pointless. The pinnacle of any field is going to be expensive. The smaller the sales volume the more it is going to cost. Economy of scale and what not. If the market will pay it then it isn't overpriced. It is always expensive to play on the cutting edge. If it is unreasonably priced to you, don't buy it. But to complain that it is overpriced is to ignore market realities.

Very quotable @JLoud. Agree.

 

[fugimax]

FYI, final update on the cable swap. If you ask for a balanced cable, they will swap it for free, and it will be the same cabling that's being used for the LCD-5 (which is different from the Premium cable in the store).

Support:

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I've been told that it's the same as the LCD-5 cable.

It's news to most of us, as we initially thought it'd be the Premium cable sold, but it isn't.

 

[Trance_Gott]

Measurements do not lie. It will be a bright headphone with forwarded mids and a bit bass shy. In addition, the distortions are significantly higher than the Stealth. Think this is not the gamechanger I've been waiting 2 years for. Too bad Audeze.

 

[sp33ls]

Measurements do not lie. It will be a bright headphone with forwarded mids and a bit bass shy. In addition, the distortions are significantly higher than the Stealth. Think this is not the gamechanger I've been waiting 2 years for. Too bad Audeze.

Measurements don't lie, but can often be misleading.

It doesn't sound like it's bass shy based on early impressions, but will likely have a different bass experience than the previous LCD's. Not a bass cannon for sure.

 

[boxster233]

Measurements do not lie. It will be a bright headphone with forwarded mids and a bit bass shy. In addition, the distortions are significantly higher than the Stealth. Think this is not the gamechanger I've been waiting 2 years for. Too bad Audeze.

Sorry you feel that way and glad to know your opinion. Look forward to seeing you in other threads!