[jlbb]

Since the LCD5 thread might be the most popular threads I am following these days, I chose this one to articulate my opinion on relevant amplifiers.

In my opinion it is a very frustrating and misleading trend, that the most popular YouTube reviewers say DACs and amps hardly make any difference. Most of these YouTube stars say it is not worth spending more than $500 on a DAC and and amp.

Well, it is not worth it unless you have a really good pair of TOTL headphones. Than the differences/improvements become very obvious.

$3000-4000 headphone with $500 gear is a waste of hp resources. You need at least a gear of $2K to truly start to hear what your 3-4K headphone is capable of.
I just share this as I still see some completely ignorant posts with 4K headphones and $200 DAPs.

Please, do your research before a multi thousand dollar purchase to avoid disappointments.

In my experience sub $1000 headphones are virtually all in the realm of *crap*. They might do some specific things well, they might have aspects of the tuning that are enjoyable or good detail in certain areas of the spectrum, but compared to top of the line they are from my perspective (as someone who has tried most of the summit-fi and owns the LCD5) poor headphones at least with respect to a budgetless analysis.

On the other hand I don't think a lot of the newer more successful amps and DACS are even remotely bad. I'd be interested to hear the LCD5 through a laptop for example and even at that absurdly unbalanced level between amp/DAC I think you will still get a good overall understanding of the headphone. Straight through something like an an ADI DACs amplifier you will absolutely still have something in the realm of a summit-fi tier experience and its not all that expensive.

Now obviously amps aren't in the realm of say cables where you're for the most part deep into the weeds of snake oil, but if someone has a $5000 budget for a headphone/amp setup I'd absolutely recommend a $500 amp and the $4500 LCD5 as an option. Wait a year or two and upgrade the amp.

Headphones and amps in 2021 absolutely don't have the same necessity in price weighting equally for a good experience. You're not turning an LCD5 into an LCD2 just because you've spent a fraction of the price on an amp.

 

[Barone Birra]

Uhm... who would buy a Diana over the LCD5 for the same price?

 

[jaboki]

Uhm... who would buy a Diana over the LCD5 for the same price?

Why wouldn't you cross shop the Diana TC and LCD5?

 

[Barone Birra]

Why wouldn't you cross shop the Diana TC and LCD5?

At the same price? I think the LCD5 is the state of the art of Audeze engineering reworked almost from scratch. Diana TC seems to me an evolution of a HP with compromises (not to mention the ASR drama), maybe it's not enough to improve the drivers to solve them all.

 

[jaboki]

At the same price? I think the LCD5 is the state of the art of Audeze engineering reworked almost from scratch. Diana TC seems to me an evolution of a HP with compromises (not to mention the ASR drama), maybe it's not enough to improve the drivers to solve them all.

Hm, I see. For a second I thought you heard the Diana TC to confirm it was inferior.

 

[betula]

Deleted.

 

[Paul Noir Culte]

I love my PHI TC. Diana's design has never appealed to me particularly and that's why I've never tested a Diana. I am very interested in the LCD 5 and aesthetically I also find the LCD 5 much more appealing.

 

[buffer]

I stand corrected.
That Torx driver does fit correctly though, right?

Some time ago I posted that I was having a problem with my headband. Folks told me about a screw I should tighten. Then there was some question about the right tool for doing this. I heard from Audeze on the matter and thought I would share. Not judging, but to be crystal clear, this is not a tool provided with the headphone. but it is easy enough to purchase for folks that don't have one.

From Audeze:
1. The LCD-5 has adjustable tension on the headband rods. This can be changed by inserting a 5/64" hex key in to the indent on the side of the adjustment block:

2. This should be solved by adjusting the tension of the above screw. The screws are set in place semi-permanently with adjustable loctite, so completely removing the screw is not advised, but it should be adjustable.

 

[Benno1988]

Headphones where you have to turn the

Some time ago I posted that I was having a problem with my headband. Folks told me about a screw I should tighten. Then there was some question about the right tool for doing this. I heard from Audeze on the matter and thought I would share. Not judging, but to be crystal clear, this is not a tool provided with the headphone. but it is easy enough to purchase for folks that don't have one.

From Audeze:
1. The LCD-5 has adjustable tension on the headband rods. This can be changed by inserting a 5/64" hex key in to the indent on the side of the adjustment block:

2. This should be solved by adjusting the tension of the above screw. The screws are set in place semi-permanently with adjustable loctite, so completely removing the screw is not advised, but it should be adjustable.

So by tightening it are you breaking the Loctite bond? Or the fact it loosened means that it was already debonded?

 

[paradoxper]

I love my PHI TC. Diana's design has never appealed to me particularly and that's why I've never tested a Diana. I am very interested in the LCD 5 and aesthetically I also find the LCD 5 much more appealing.

Yup. Same. Although I have ordered a Diana TC because why not. I figured I'll end up with 1266 TC, SR1a, SR2a and Valkyria until the next decade improves.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Yup. Same. Although I have ordered a Diana TC because why not. I figured I'll end up with 1266 TC, SR1a and SR2a and Valkyria until the next decade improves.

So your LCD-5 won't stay?

 

[paradoxper]

So your LCD-5 won't stay?

It's not as good as 1266 nor a complement. I'd have to consider LCD-4 in that context.

 

[No Days Off]

Of course, as always these differences might not be the same for everyone. Some perhaps can't hear much of a difference, some can but simply unwilling to pay for a more expensive amp. Some on the other end go absolutely crazy and spend much more on amps than on TOTL headphones.

You forgot the last one "Some think they can hear a big difference but have never done a level-matched blind test to see if they actually can, living forever in their subjective bias".

the LCD5 is definitely not a headphone I personally would want to use from a budget amp. YMMV

I think you're colored too much by subjective bias and the amount of $$$ spent. Most are much better off putting 90% of the money on transducers. There are $500 and under Schiit amps that are perfectly audibly transparent and drive the LCD-5 well.

 

[Benno1988]

I think you're colored too much by subjective bias and the amount of $$$ spent. Many are much better off putting 90% of the money on transducers. There are $500 and under Schiit amps that are perfectly audibly transparent and drive the LCD-5 well.

This. Appropriate $3000 headphone off a good $500 amp sounds a lot better than $1500 headphone off a $2000 amp.

 

[utdeep]

I do miss the Audeze house sound with the LCD-5. Is there somewhere in this thread that folks have parametric eq recommendations?