[04gto]

I don't agree with that general rule at all. There's various affordable dac/amps that will bring out a huge chunk of performance out of many headphones, LCD-5 included. You do not need to spend anywhere near the cost of the LCD-5 to get a great experience out of them. I think at that point, is justification biases to spend more and more mone to eek out percentages in performance out of most headphones.

That general rule may have been a decent rule 15 years ago. Now... I can't agree.

Transducers is and will always be where most of the money should go to. Just my two cents from my own experiences. I'm sure some think if it aint TOTL, it ain't worth looking into. I have a more versatile outlook.

Example 1. Person has $5000 to spend. Get an LCD-5 with a $400 Jotunheim 2 and a $100 Modi.

Example 2. Person has $5000 He gets an LCD-X, with a Burson Soloist and Conductor nearing the cost of the 1st example in total.

You think the LCD-X will reach anywhere near the potential of the LCD-5?

I'm sorry but no. And I love the LCD-X.

The LCD-5 will sound fantastic off the Jot 2 and Modi, well and above the LCD-X that has much better dac and amplification on paper.

I think we need to start putting such outdated notions of general rules to bed. Permanently.

I know I'm in the high end forum where... pockets are a bit deeper than simple logic, but I implore you to consider other avenues than flawed arguments of price needing to be spread evenly. It does not. Feed a headphone enough clean power to ensure proper operation first and foremost (which nowadays can be had for a few meager hundred bones here or there). After that, the rest is highly debatable.

Agreed 100%. These points need to be repeated over and over again. The outdated and incorrect notion that you need to spend $XXXX on source gear just because you spent $XXXX on headphones is misinformation to people who are newer to the hobby. Pushing people away because of artificial (and again misleading) cost of entry barriers. As long as the power levels are there and nothing is broken, in blind testing 99% of people could hardly tell the difference between a $5k amp and a $1k amp of the same topology. Even IF they could they would point to differences, not necessarily improvements. And you sure don't need to go spend $5k on a Chord M Scaler. Which creates the 'improvement' over the already overpriced Chord gear it is attached to equivalent to changing the filter on a garden variety $400 DAC.

 

[04gto]

Sorry however this is something I would expect the seller of transducers to say. I guess everyone in my 2 channel world, Naim, Linn, dCS etc., companies who have pedigree and history in the world of audio and were formed 40 and 50 years before Audeze even started, are fleecing their customers with their DAC's costing more than a few hundred dollars.
With all due respect to Audeze - many do not agree with this analysis.

This sounds like somebody who is trying to feel better about being fleeced. They are 'fleecing' their customers. Because you absolutely can and most often do get better performance in a modern source for way less money than any of these companies you speak of are charging. If only a handful of audiofools are gullible enough to buy there 'superior' BS, they have to charge more. Not because it is better sonically, but because if you are not turning over enough units, you must increase your margin. As mentioned, blind testing has proven that you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on source gear to get at or very near the best sound possible. Overpriced source gear is very pretty though.

 

[04gto]

A friend alerted me to the existence of a certain thread on the r/headphones subreddit, "$4500 Part Deux - It's starting to look like this is a real issue with the LCD-5s".

As you'll see there, a user posted a photo of their busted LCD5, where one of the headphone connector sockets got fully disconnected from the rest of the frame. Also note from the title of the post ("Part Deux") that this isn't the first time the issue has been reported on that forum, apparently.

I don't know about anyone else, but I know I'm now going to be extra cautious when disconnecting headphone cables from the LCD5 (which is admittedly very hard to do consistently), and generally avoid doing so whenever possible.

:/

A friend who is also interested in the LCD-5 forwarded me this post. I have owned a lot of Audeze gear and never had any quality issues with any of it. I am not planning to get the LCD-5 right now, but I definitely have it on my "I will own these" list. But this issue has me a little concerned. If I am gonna spend $4k plus on some headphones they better look and feel like they are gonna last 20 years. My LCD-XC sure do. Is anyone else on here experiencing actual breakages or having to apply super glue? I love Audeze gear but, if I spend $4k on a headphone and it needs me to put glue on it after a couple weeks of ownership, somebody is gonna give me my money back or give a brand new set. Not 'repair' mine.

 

[Currawong]

A friend alerted me to the existence of a certain thread on the r/headphones subreddit,

Which is enough reason not to read it. A great many comments about the design of a completely re-designed headphone from people who probably haven't done more than remove and replace a screw in something random in their house, let alone have a clue about design and manufacture.

you do not need to spend thousands

"Need" is a BS term in this hobby. We don't need this hobby at all even. We may only need basic equipment to do the digital conversion and drive a pair of headphones, but it is vastly more satisfying to listen with high-end gear. And I can say this since I was experimenting with the LCD-5s and the Drop AAA ONE and, once done, switched to my main system playing the same track, and the difference is profound, with far more depth to the sound, whereas the AAA ONE makes the music sound flat in comparison.

 

[warrenpchi]

This is a fairly academic and moot argument from a practical standpoint, is it not? Honestly you guys, someone that is truly considering an LCD-5 (and is actually in a position to purchase it without financial strain) is simply not out there trying to find budget source gear to go along with it.

 

[Sonicus Supremus]

This is a fairly academic and moot argument from a practical standpoint, is it not? Honestly you guys, someone that is truly considering an LCD-5 (and is actually in a position to purchase it without financial strain) is simply not out there trying to find budget source gear to go along with it.

Agree. I am confused as to why some individuals are leaving comments in a thread for a headphone that costs $4500 and telling people that if they spend more than a few hundred on a DAC or amp they are getting scammed.

 

[Barone Birra]

A friend who is also interested in the LCD-5 forwarded me this post. I have owned a lot of Audeze gear and never had any quality issues with any of it. I am not planning to get the LCD-5 right now, but I definitely have it on my "I will own these" list. But this issue has me a little concerned. If I am gonna spend $4k plus on some headphones they better look and feel like they are gonna last 20 years. My LCD-XC sure do. Is anyone else on here experiencing actual breakages or having to apply super glue? I love Audeze gear but, if I spend $4k on a headphone and it needs me to put glue on it after a couple weeks of ownership, somebody is gonna give me my money back or give a brand new set. Not 'repair' mine.

I read at that link and saw the photo, I must say it didn't make a good impression on me that the connector is glued. But I want to give my experience.

The problem is mainly one: the miniXLR Rean connectors of the Audeze stock cable are too forced into the headphone-side connectors. Those Reans are the culprits, because with 3 other aftermarket cables I had no problems on the LCD-5.

As I wrote in previous posts, to extract them I had to disassemble the rear cap, take out the inner piece, and then easily pull off the outer metal barrel.
At that point I came up with the idea of buying a spare pair of Reans, removing the guide tab (see photo, it is the one that strains on the headphone connector) and replace the original barrels with them. Of course you can do the same job on existing ones, but since they cost 2 or 3 Euros it wasn't worth the risk of making a mistake.
With this new configuration, they are inserted and extracted very easily, you just have to be a little more careful to insert them in the right direction, as there is no longer the guide strip.

p.s. You can buy both 3 or 4 pole Rean miniXLR, as the outer barrel is exactly the same (you need only that).

p.p.s Before pulling out the cable by unscrewing the connectors, I had tried several times by pulling off REALLY HARD. Nothing happened to the headphone connector, whether it is glued or not. So the author of that post must have pulled REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD, I don't believe at all that it came off as easily as he says.

 

[zen87192]

So, I've just bought a pair of LCD-5's. I did experience an issue of removing the stock cable but was lucky enough to remove them without causing any damage. I've sent them off to my Retailer as they are being replaced with XLR 4PIN cables by Audeze. Will I encounter the same issue of fitting again? In the meantime, I've ordered some Forza Audioworks Noir Hybrid cables with Neutrik XLR 4PIN connections. Audeze fittings of course. Will I encounter issues there do you think or is it isolated to only the stock supplied Rean mini XLR's?

 

[chargedcapacitor]

p.p.s Before pulling out the cable by unscrewing the connectors, I had tried several times by pulling off REALLY HARD. Nothing happened to the headphone connector, whether it is glued or not. So the author of that post must have pulled REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD, I don't believe at all that it came off as easily as he says.

This could be true, but there is always the possibility that it was a manufacturing defect. Maybe the plastic housing was out of spec, maybe there was a contaminant in the housing when they glued it, or maybe it was just not enough glue. And that's part of the problem... It was designed with several points of failure in the manufacturing process. Ensuring this will never happen again could be quite difficult without a complete redesign of the housing and fastening mechanism.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Pushing people away because of artificial (and again misleading) cost of entry barriers.

Actually, I was saying quite the opposite thing. My point is that if you don’t plan to spend big money on a source gear you can save even more money by not buying TOTL headphones.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Agreed 100%. These points need to be repeated over and over again. The outdated and incorrect notion that you need to spend $XXXX on source gear just because you spent $XXXX on headphones is misinformation to people who are newer to the hobby. Pushing people away because of artificial (and again misleading) cost of entry barriers. As long as the power levels are there and nothing is broken, in blind testing 99% of people could hardly tell the difference between a $5k amp and a $1k amp of the same topology. Even IF they could they would point to differences, not necessarily improvements. And you sure don't need to go spend $5k on a Chord M Scaler. Which creates the 'improvement' over the already overpriced Chord gear it is attached to equivalent to changing the filter on a garden variety $400 DAC.

I would disagree, but I can at least understand where the sentiment comes from. There isn't some arbitrarily set threshold cost to deem products good or bad. There are quite a few capable products in budget categories across the board. But considering this is summit-fi, most people that visit this forum are aiming to get the most out of their gear.

As someone that upgraded from a very cheap, but solid budget DAC (I won't even mention what it was lol), to the Chord Hugo 2 to the Dave, I can attest that for a seasoned vet, there are simply major identifiable differences across that path alone. In Summit-fi those differences tend to be more important to people. And more importantly than that, I personally hold the philosophy that if you're going to spend $4k+ on transducers, you definitely should ensure you have a capable system driving it. Again, doesn't mean you have to spend $20k to do so, but intentionally going low budget for every component will likely ensure you are not maximizing it's performance. If not, in my honest and non-snobby opinion, you are better off spending a bit less on headphones and the system overall, exactly as @Ragnar-BY has suggested.

Also, I certainly don't see it as pushing people away or out of the hobby. There is plenty of action in the regular headphones thread with TONS of options that are praised every single day. But if you're willing to spend thousands on headphones, you've already tossed the concept of reason out of the window lol. I simply don't think it matters at all from that perspective. If anything you just end up with repetitive back and forth arguments with ppl that don't want to spend money on their systems vs. people that do. I'm all for people enjoying what they want, but there are improvement differences with better gear. It's not some magic thing we're all making up lol

 

[EMINENT]

I just saw Sajit's new long term review of Susvara and am pleased to hear that I went with the right choice with his comments about bass. Add to that the enhancements when adding eq along with Resolve's ranking of LCD5 above all others when doing so, speaks volumes to me since I do not have the luxury of having multiple flavors.

 

[sp33ls]

I just saw Sajit's new long term review of Susvara and am pleased to hear that I went with the right choice with his comments about bass. Add to that the enhancements when adding eq along with Resolve's ranking of LCD5 above all others when doing so, speaks volumes to me since I do not have the luxury of having multiple flavors.

Yeah, it seems like the LCD-5 is the best TOTL option as an all-rounder.

I thought I'd need EQ, but honestly I've been enjoying them without it.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

I've ordered some Forza Audioworks Noir Hybrid cables with Neutrik XLR 4PIN connections. Audeze fittings of course. Will I encounter issues there do you think or is it isolated to only the stock supplied Rean mini XLR's?

Everything will be fine, both are standard. Actually, Rean is a part of Neutrik company.

Moreover, I’ve never heard of compatibility problem with 4-pin mini-XLR from any brand. It’s one of the best, if not the best possible connector for headphones.

 

[EMINENT]

Speaking of all this talk about EQ and LCD-5 bass, I recently acquired the ifi iCan Pro Signature amp. I heard it was a decent headphone amp for the susvara (which I previously owned and will likely own again). I was drawn to this amp because of it's high power output, sound quality, and I wanted to see if the X-Bass feature produced better low end performance than using the PEQ from my RME Adi. And for me personally, the X-Bass takes the LCD-5 to a new level compared to using EQ to raise the bass shelf.

My previous amp was the IHA-6, so all of my comparisons will be directed towards it. I started my comparison test without having any iCan features turned on, and volume matched both amps at 1000hz within .1db.

Initially, I had a hard time finding many differences between the amps. Listening to most music they sound almost identical, but with well recorded music with snappy instruments, it becomes clear that the iCan has slightly better control (impact / snap) and instrument separation. The difference is small; I would say that sharp percussions are about 2db louder on the iCan compared to the IHA-6. So from a price to performance standpoint (with the LCD-5), the IHA-6 is still an excellent contender.

When I turned on the X-Bass, the iCan began to show it's worth. The X-Bass feature has three settings, all elevated at 12db*: 10hz, 20 hz, and 40hz. In reality, this is a wide-ish Q bass shelf that extends a bit higher into the frequency range, as measured by Amir on the ASR forums. For my comparison, I turned the iCan all the way up to the 80hz setting.

*I tried my best to tune my RME Adi to the same output as the iCan for this test, but the measured results from the ASR forum and what I actually hear seem to be quite off. I was able to get a 12db bass shelf using the RME PEQ+bass encoder, but it sounded much more elevated and bloated than the X-Bass. That being said, while the X-Bass sounded as if it was at a lower SPL, the bass had so much more tactility to it, and it would rumble unlike anything I was able to experience when using the RME. The drum kicks and sub bass rumble was much more present and separated from the mids; the sound became even more holographic and tangible. I tried making changes to the RME EQ but was unable to even come close to what the iCan X-bass could produce without sounding bloated. I was able to go back to my favorite songs and hear bass in a whole new light, as if I was listening to a different headphone.

So I have boxed up my IHA-6 and put it back in the closet. The iCan takes up less room on my desk now, and stacks quite nicely under my RME. I still like using the RME to add more treble and reduce some of the mids on the LCD-5, but now I believe I have a better opportunity to start trying out new DACS without loosing an in-chain bass boost. These are just my initial impressions; I was not impressed with the spatial correction features and I have not tested the tubes out yet.

How is this working for you now? You said you turned it all the way up to the 80hz setting? What did you mean by that as I thought it was only 10/20/40.

I am really interested in this too because of the ability to remote volume but the color is the only thing holding me back. Anyone else tried this yet?