Interesting remarks, but could you kindly elaborate a little more on how the LCD-5 fares with the Pathos InPol Ear? Given the power of the Amp, as well as its finesse, I have somewhat assumed (or presumed) that mine will jive well with the LCD-5 (as it does with the Susvara and the Abyss TC), but you seem to sound a tad disappointed with the pairing, if I am not mistaken, which is giving me some pause. The highlighted comment about being "stuck" with the In Pol Ear's level of Bass seems to hint at some frustration. I am trying to figure out where I stand with the In Pol Ear before my LCD-5 arrives next week. By the way, my In Pol Ear is currently paired with an Yggy A2, and I also have another rig which consists of a Niimbus US4 and a Sonnet Morpheus DAC pairing... I wonder whether the R2R topologies of these DACs might influence the LCD-5's sound signature in any interesting way.
Ordinarily, I do not really dabble with EQ settings aside from the Audeze presets in Roon, but I do not think LCD-5 Roon presets exist yet. I listen to a lot of Jazz, classical, and acoustic music, and while I adore me some great bass, I do not consider myself to be a basshead, for what it's worth.
Interesting, I found the Wireworld Silver Sphere to be pretty neutral throughout the frequency range with a little too much treble zing for my liking. I moved to the transparent premium and found it a bit warmer and balanced throughout. I'm quite sure that digital interconnects respond differently in different systems though.
@sahmen, you are correct that I was frustrated.
It was late last night when I posted my LCD-5 observations, and I was upset that the HE-1000SE bass sounded better to me than the LCD-5 bass on the InPol Ear. At the time, the iCan Pro in my office system was doing a better job of powering the Audeze than the Pathos amp in my reference headphone system. I've spent months tuning my main system to make the HE-1000SE sound its best, and I was hoping that I could make some minor changes and the LCD-5 would be similarly optimized without a lot of effort. That was not a proper assumption. I was also frustrated that the iCan Pro did surprisingly well with the LCD-5 in comparison without further tuning.
This morning, I set about making some changes. After swapping in a different set of tubes (that were cleaned and had contact enhancer applied to the pins) in the InPol Ear and switching from the Wireworld HDMI cable back to the warm-sounding-and-incredibly-thick-gauge Lush Phasure HDMI^2 I2S cable (
@johnzz4, you were right about the Wireworld Silver Sphere -- it is a bit thin-sounding), I listened to Massive Attack's album "Mezzanine" on the amp to verify improvements in the bass.
On the song "Teardrop," the quiet high hat popped out of the mix. The bass drum that sounds like a heartbeat and the crisp cross-stick pattern that repeat throughout the song were palpable and almost holographic. The same album had sounded leaner with less overall impact in my earlier configuration. The LCD-5 now showed increased warmth and fatter, more prodigious bass. However, the HE-1000SE bass sounded a bit loose and sloppy on the InPol Ear, so the tube and cable swap are not ideal for both headphones.
Switching between my reference system and my office system, I'd say the iCan Pro does itself proud with the LCD-5, and is a good fit whether using solid-state or tube mode. The iCan's bass is solid even without XBass, but there is the option to add more with that function. With the right tubes, the InPol Ear puts out an equivalent amount and quality of bass as the iCan. The Inpol Ear shows its higher-fi stripes by pulling ahead of iFi in detail and subtlety when using the LCD-5.
@sahmen, I wouldn't recommend ditching your InPol prior to getting the LCD-5. Give it a chance.
Apparently, I was not supplying enough bass to the Audeze cans with my previous configuration. It could be that the InPol is more suited for the HE-1000SE/Susvara than the LCD-5, but I'd need to spend more time tinkering with/optimizing my setup for the LCD-5 before I could say for sure. I've got a Double Helix Complement C headphone cable on the way in a few weeks, and I'm hopeful that will bring the LCD-5 to the next level over the Black Dragon cable I'm using now.