Audeze LCD-5 Review, Measurements, Interview

[Livnmuskoka]

Really!?!?

For somebody that found the LCD4's too bright, my ears hurt just looking at this graph. Especially at the fatiguing 3khz where my ears are most sensitive.

 

[chargedcapacitor]

For somebody that found the LCD4's too bright, my ears hurt just looking at this graph. Especially at the fatiguing 3khz where my ears are most sensitive.

Here we go again...

 

[eee1111]

Here we go again...

There is nothing wrong with talking about the measurements

If you have an issue talk about it don’t insult or ridicule or complain

It says measurements in the title of the thread

 

[Terco]

More impressions after 1 day...

- I turn on my Lokius to add some EQ as my preference and the LCD 5 took all the changes pretty well... I add the xDuuo 604 as a pre amp to my A90 and now the sound is more full.

- Now I see what @Currawong and other people mention about change to a different headphones after listen to LCD 5, my lovely LCD 2 sound muddy, well it's a muddy headphone sometimes xD but I definitely can heard the different now.

- I listening to the iBasso DX300 with the A12 amp High gain 80% volume. Mmmm... Enjoyable. I need to learn how to use parametric EQ.

Some cons.

- After 3 hours I start felling a bit of pressure on my head also I use glasses and is a bit uncomfortable.
You can see how the pads looks after longer listen session to have an idea of the clamp... Defenitely this is the weak point for me.

 

[boxster233]

For somebody that found the LCD4's too bright, my ears hurt just looking at this graph. Especially at the fatiguing 3khz where my ears are most sensitive.

It sounds like you’ll need to demo, eq or look at a headphone without that spike.

 

[Livnmuskoka]

Here we go again...

If your ears aren't as sensitive and they work for you, then great. But I wish more headphone and speaker companies would offer models for people with good/sensitive hearing. I do have EQ with my RME dac, but don't feel I should have to use much EQ with $6k headphones. Maybe I'm just picky.

 

[Terco]

There is nothing wrong with talking about the measurements

If you have an issue talk about it don’t insult or ridicule or complain

It says measurements in the title of the thread

For somebody that found the LCD4's too bright, my ears hurt just looking at this graph. Especially at the fatiguing 3khz where my ears are most sensitive.

Those measurements doesn't reflect the real sound, I remember looks at those graph before and I was Holy Sh#t!
but I didn't heard any sensible pick during my session.

 

[DarginMahkum]

For somebody that found the LCD4's too bright, my ears hurt just looking at this graph. Especially at the fatiguing 3khz where my ears are most sensitive.

The measurement rig that was used to measure influences the measurement graph. For example, this is the measurement for Stealth using the GRAS 45C. Harman also uses GRAS as their reference system.

But if you look at the measurement graph taken by B&K 5128, which is also used to take the measurement for LCD5 above, you see a notch from 3 to 8 kHz:

So actually, if you really like to take the Harman target as a reference, the 3 to 8 kHz region of LCD5 should be better and smoother. But you might be right: If you are listening to something like metal LCD5 could be a little on the shoutier side. Otherwise I would expect it to have a good, clear midrange. I still hope to try it some day.

EDIT: Some more info on Stealth thread.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dan...iew-measurements.959214/page-20#post-16518500

 

[boxster233]

If your ears aren't as sensitive and they work for you, then great. But I wish more headphone and speaker companies would offer models for people with good/sensitive hearing. I do have EQ with my RME dac, but don't feel I should have to use much EQ with $6k headphones. Maybe I'm just picky.

Maybe lcd-5 aren’t for you, that’s okay too.

 

[thecrow]

It sounds like you’ll need to demo, eq or look at a headphone without that spike.

Exactly - it’s that simple

 

[DarginMahkum]

It is quite risky to look at a measurement and form a opinion even when said measurement has other headphone measurements superimposed unless the other headphone uses the same earpads. How the earpads couple with the measurement rig affects the measurement's considerably and this is not a nice linear relation , A/B comparisons based on such should be taken with a huge lump of salt especially beyond 2khz.

As a part of the tuning process we also verify music played via a pair of speakers EQd to flat to 10khz and slightly tapering from 10kHz on up and we do this mostly in a near field setup. Once the Speakers and the headphone is level matched, to our ears, LCD-5 portrays the mids just as the recording calls for, not more, not less. We have also confirmed the same with few mastering engineers for whom it is important that their recordings is reproduced as is and not colored by preferences. I can say the same for treble balance too.

Does that mean LCD-5 is absolutely perfect, I will be lying if I say yes, no headphone is perfect. There is always some room for improvement, but I am just surprised by some EQ suggestions I have seen being posted so far. When it comes to EQ, just because our headphones can take more, does not mean one needs to go crazy with it, sometimes less is more

Maybe you should also mention the measurement graph differences between the GRAS rigs, which is the mostly used Harman reference rig and the 5128 rig that is being used by HeadFi. The measurements in this thread give wrong impressions to people that use a different reference in mind.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

i tried it fast to check the treble. a friend was passing by and made me do a few minutes test. i made an order yesterday even because i want one now. i might compare both once i have it in a month +100 hours burn in too. ordered a DH cable too.

cant comment yet, my friend not in the country even haha xD i wish i borrowed it earlier. give me a month and few weeks and i shall compare it here later on ^^

Monitoring this thread to waiting for your comparison with Diana Phi! LCD-5, by far, is a headphone that pick my curiosity through the roof.

 

[MatW]

For somebody that found the LCD4's too bright, my ears hurt just looking at this graph. Especially at the fatiguing 3khz where my ears are most sensitive.

I had the same thought at first but I have been told on this thread that if this graph were normalized, the peak wouldn't be there.

 

[Livnmuskoka]

I had the same thought at first but I have been told on this thread that if this graph were normalized, the peak wouldn't be there.

Ok thanks. Have to hear them for myself someday then.

 

[Sense]

So why would Head-Fi stop using the test rig that most people are accustomed to seeing measurements on?

Doesn’t make sense to me. Means that it’s harder to compare their tests to other tests. Also means that people may make the wrong assumptions as to how the headphones sound…because let’s be real…people look at the graphs and make assumptions…you can’t stop that.