(Pictured L to R: HEKv1, LCD-2 rev. 1, LCD-2 rev. 2, LCD-3 , and LCD-5) (the LCD-2's and 3 are pre-fazors)
[Cross-posted from the TTVJ.com LCD-5 Tour
thread]
I have to thank Todd again for graciously allowing another tour of the much talked-about LCD-5, Audeze's current flagship released late 2021. As always with ttvjaudio.com's product tours, Todd only asks us to provide our honest opinions on the touring products. Nothing more, nothing less.
Chain: Musicbee (FLAC / WASAPI exclusive) > Bifrost 2 > Liquid Platinum / Liquid Gold X / Bryston 3B-ST (HE-6)
(balanced interconnects and headphone cables used)
Packaging:
The carrying case of Audeze certainly looks and functions quite nicely. However, I rate the Meze's Empy Elite's carrying case a smidge more luxurious. Neither of these cases feel as durable as the old pelican cases.
Build and Comfort:
The weight reduction announced by Audeze certainly was welcomed by the community. Compared to the >700g mass of the LCD-4, Audeze's previous flagship, the 420g LCD-5 was certainly eye-opening. Earcup rings are no longer wood but rather a lighter (and more durable?) acetate resin. The headband and yoke system has been redesigned. While the earcups now swivel 360 degrees, getting a proper fit takes a little bit more effort than the previous suspension strap headband design. Driver size has been reduced. IMO, the greatest weight reduction seems to have come from removing a magnet array from each earcup, so that the LCD-5 driver sport single-sided magnets now. Also, the waveguide no longer appears to be the pointy-tipped fazors of old, but instead a feature a slight tapering. Other changes include the Abyss Diana-esque concave earpads.
As for comfort, there's definitely more clamp on the LCD-5 than the Audeze cans that I own. Weight-wise, the LCD-5 is fine but to me I found that the heavier LCD-3 (as well as my LCD-2's) felt more comfortable on my head with the previous suspension strap design.
The stock cables for the LCD-5, at least what was included in the loaner tour, include two braided single-ended and 4-pin XLR terminated cables. Both had Rean mini-XLR connectors. The reason why I brought up the Rean connectors is because the tolerances with the LCD-5's sockets (now moved further back compared to the older LCD-# models, see pic above) are incredibly tight. As reported by numerous owners, more than a few early-produced LCD-5's exhibited an issue where the socket assembly is pulled out when trying to remove the cable. After experiencing how tightly the Rean connectors fit to the sockets, I can understand how the excessive force required to remove the cables from the LCD-5's may create this problem if the sockets were not properly secured to the earcup housing (from owner photos showing this issue, the glue used was inadequate). Even the tried and true method that I use with my other Audeze cans of initially separating the connector from the socket by wedging my fingernails between the connector and edge of the socket (with care) still required (in my opinion) excessive force to pull the connectors out from the socket fully. The crappy release mechanism from the Rean connectors didn't help matters either. The reason why I have gone about this issue is that while the stock cables are nicely built, the cheap Rean connectors Audeze used are crap (and as a cable builder I already knew of their tight fit), which renders the stock cables pretty useless in my opinion. I used my ZMF headphone cables, which fit the LCD-5 sockets far better than the stock cables.
As for the headphones themselves, I feel that they are nicely built but overall they do not feel like a $4500 pair of headphones in my hands. The previous flagship felt closer to that mark in my opinion.
Sound:
While my ears adjusted to the stock sound after my
initial impressions, I still found its stock tuning to be too mid-forward and in your face for my tastes on my Liquid Gold X and Liquid Platinum. I don't even consider my countertop HD600 to be shouty (new old stock Sennheiser pads), while the LCD-5 definitely fits that descriptor to my ears. I have to give credit to the LCD-5 for its great detail retrieval and a surprising amount of slam for a single-sided magnet array planar (I haven't heard the 1266 yet). The LCD-5's focused, more pointed slam is more similar to that of my HE-6 4-screw than the blunter slam of my LCD-2's and LCD-3 prefazors. However, I found that the slam from the HE-6, LCD-2's, and LCD-3 exhibited greater impact than the LCD-5 and more body.
As luck would have it, I was on a Siouxsie and the Banshees kick when the LCD-5 arrived and my initial impressions were formed from their track "Dazzle" off of their second singles compilation "Twice Upon a Time: The Singles" (GEFD-24492), a good track that showcases my complaints about the LCD-5. During the transition from the soft intro to the swirling sounds of the main verse at around 1:15, this transition sounded so smooth and natural on my HD600 on the Liquid Gold X and Liquid Platinum, whereas the transition sounded jarring and jagged on the LCD-5. Additionally, on this track, the rest of the treble on the LCD-5 sounded flat compared to the HD600.
Some reviewers mentioned how great the LCD-5 is with drums. They sounded fine with Jeremy Soule's pounding "March of the Legions" from the Guild Wars 2 soundtrack. A lot of detail and texture. However, when listening to Nirvana's "Breed" off of Nevermind (DGCD-24425), David Grohl's frenetic drumming on the track sounded a bit restrained on the LCD-5, while his drumming sounded absolutely feral on my HE-6 (different amps driving the two cans: Liquid Gold X and Bryston 3B-ST respectively). The bass rumble on A Tribe Called Quest's "Check the Rhime" (1418-2-J) sounded strangely muted on the LCD-5 compared to the LCD-2/3 and HE-6. Not all was bad, as the softer, more spacious acoustic number "Can't Find My Way Home" from the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith's remastered self-titled EP (UIJY-9025) sounded great, but the track also sounded great on the HEKv1 and the LCD-2/3's. However, when it comes to rock/alternative songs with busy passages, the LCD-5 seemed to stumble a little bit on my setup.
I'm generally not an EQ guy, but Resolve's EQ v2 (set with Peace) greatly helped the LCD-5's out-of-the-box tonality issues (to my ears), but still the sound was a bit thin and, ultimately, a little boring to my ears.
During the week that I auditioned the LCD-5, I asked myself repeatedly whether I would reach for them over my current daily drivers (HE-6, HEKv1, and LCD-3), and my answer was no. I am a bit disappointed because I really wanted to like Audeze's new flagship planar.
Overall, the LCD-5 is a detail monster. However, to my ears it is more for the sake of presenting detail that highlights the detail in a way that's a little too unnatural when it comes to the song. I mean, do I really need to hear a background triangle of a track shoved into the foreground of the mix? I heard the same triangle with my HEKv1, but it seemed to be presented more organically and properly with the HEKv1 in the context of the song than the LCD-5. For my listening preferences, my gear is supposed to serve my music library rather than the other way around. Using one's music library for the sake of enjoying the technical capabilities of one's gear is perfectly fine, but (to me) finding enjoyment in my favorite songs is paramount and I tend to disfavor gear that diminishes this aspect to my ears.
In the end, I did not feel that the LCD-5 warrants any further upgrades or side-grades in my gear to chase any elusive ideal synergy that it may have with other gear.
Again, just an opinion and personal preferences from a some random internet dude.
Siouxie and the Banshees - Dazzle:
Jeremy Soule - March of the Legions:
Nirvana - Breed:
A Tribe Called Quest - Check the Rhime:
Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home:
