Audeze LCD-5 Review, Measurements, Interview

[TheFrator]

afraid to report this combo is really good

what combo?

 

[EMINENT]

what combo?

Bliss/May

 

[jlbrach]

I owned the LCD-5 and sold it some time ago but decided to take another shot at it and bought a good condition used pair from one of the best sellers here and I must say I am really enjoying them a lot the second time around...originally I used them primarily with my chord dave directly on the assumption that they are very efficient and dont need all that much power but this time around I have been using them with my CFA3 on low gain and I must say they sound great....first impressions of course given I have only had them since this morning but I am really enjoying them..I tried them using the Roon preset and I must say I like them without the preset better ,at least for now..the preset seems to to mute them and bit and take away some of the energy...If I want the more laid back sound I am good with my Susvara, I am not an EQ guy in general..these have their own signature that one may or may not like..

 

[chargedcapacitor]

I owned the LCD-5 and sold it some time ago but decided to take another shot at it and bought a good condition used pair from one of the best sellers here and I must say I am really enjoying them a lot the second time around...originally I used them primarily with my chord dave directly on the assumption that they are very efficient and dont need all that much power but this time around I have been using them with my CFA3 on low gain and I must say they sound great....first impressions of course given I have only had them since this morning but I am really enjoying them..I tried them using the Roon preset and I must say I like them without the preset better ,at least for now..the preset seems to to mute them and bit and take away some of the energy...If I want the more laid back sound I am good with my Susvara, I am not an EQ guy in general..these have their own signature that one may or may not like..

Does roon apply a pre-amp gain? If so, that may be the muting you are hearing. In order to properly asses an EQ profile you have to properly volume match. On top of that, the changes in the Audeze EQ profile are so small, it likely wont change the sound signature much anyway. The Crin / Resolve / AutoEQ / Oratory profiles correct the FR much more critically.

 

[jlbrach]

not a problem to me, I dont think it was a drop in volume I think it was more a small change in the sound signature...lets just say it didnt make enough of a difference to me to continue to use it...they have become an underrated HP IMHO

 

[EMINENT]

I owned the LCD-5 and sold it some time ago but decided to take another shot at it and bought a good condition used pair from one of the best sellers here and I must say I am really enjoying them a lot the second time around...originally I used them primarily with my chord dave directly on the assumption that they are very efficient and dont need all that much power but this time around I have been using them with my CFA3 on low gain and I must say they sound great....first impressions of course given I have only had them since this morning but I am really enjoying them..I tried them using the Roon preset and I must say I like them without the preset better ,at least for now..the preset seems to to mute them and bit and take away some of the energy...If I want the more laid back sound I am good with my Susvara, I am not an EQ guy in general..these have their own signature that one may or may not like..

I cannot believe you would subject yourself to that again! lol
I did turn off convo briefly last night and I was surprised how little of a difference it made compared to how I remember them off previous sources. The X26P/GSXmini was too etched in the upper registers from memory. I was always playing with eq. The X26P/Oor/Hypsos was better in that regard and the R26 smoothed that edginess even moreso. I think Bliss/May is the first time gear has equalized the tonality to where it isn't a whole lot different from some of the more extreme adjustments in the past.

Just got home but will be documenting day 4 if I can do the no shelf again tonight. Happy listening.

 

[jlbrach]

I have owned several of my HP's several times..lol..I am a bit of a masochist in this hobby..actually I must say the 5 sounds great out of the dave as well...

 

[paulrbarnard]

Does roon apply a pre-amp gain? If so, that may be the muting you are hearing. In order to properly asses an EQ profile you have to properly volume match. On top of that, the changes in the Audeze EQ profile are so small, it likely wont change the sound signature much anyway. The Crin / Resolve / AutoEQ / Oratory profiles correct the FR much more critically.

Muted sound was also my impression with the Roon filter. It was more of a compressed sound like it had been squashed down and flattened rather than level muting. Not sure if jibrach was referring to the same impression but it was very marked for me.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

compressed sound like it had been squashed down and flattened

This is exactly how I perceive any software EQ. Therefore, I always avoid extra digital processing wherever possible.

 

[chargedcapacitor]

This is exactly how I perceive any software EQ. Therefore, I always avoid extra digital processing wherever possible.

Not sure what software you have been using, but any sort of audible compression is computationally impossible with modern software EQ (trust me, I'm an electrical engineer). Most, if not all, modern music is EQd losslessly in post, so the music you are hearing is already EQd for listening on a flat reference system.

EQ APO, the rme adi, and most other software EQ systems change frequency amplitude at the same bit rate as the music being played on the source. If you enable EQ with no frequency changes, then disable it, you will hear the exact same thing. Try it out if you get a chance.

Most headphones have a ~2khz dip, which a lot of EQ profiles try to raise in order to meet the Harman target. Filling in this dip will certainly make the headphone sound more grainy/closed in, but it's certainly not compressing the sound or loosing detail. Maybe that's what some of you are hearing?

At any rate, using EQ to boost the particularly flat sub bass on most planar headphones by 5db with a -5db pre gain is something I would suggest every planar owner to do. And if you want to compare the before and after, you have to compare to an empty EQ with -5db pre gain for it to be an equal comparison. Cheers!

 

[Ragnar-BY]

any sort of audible compression is computationally impossible

I’m not sure if I’m hearing “compression” or something else, but I can hear a negative effect of Roon’s EQ. I haven’t tried all software in the world for obvious reasons, but those which I tried were the same. Even if EQ is only applied to sub-bass.

 

[EMINENT]

Flat or negative isn't how I would describe the application. I think of it as a teeter where with one area of increase the other goes down and vice versa. If I am adding a .50db of bass shelf, I am aware that the rest of the frequencies are reduced by that. Then volume adjust. This balancing is what I look for with nothing too standout. This could be interpreted as negative if you expect that much ear gain and it is less overall in the mix. Then there is the effect of dacs and soundstage and presentation. The R26 initially softened the bass and I was compensating with an outrageous shelf of up to 6db in the beginning.

Several months ago @shwnwllms posted the convolution curves of both Audeze and Mitch's filters. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-lcd-5-review-measurements-interview.959808/page-364

I cannot begin to explain how they correlate visually to each other and what I am hearing though.
In any case, throughout my journey with all the gear swaps, I can say for me there is a very small area where the sweet spot exists and was found with changes as low as .05db in frequency or Q value. These minute differences can be where it breaks or makes the overall presentation that could be perceived as too flabby in the bass to being tight and thin but rhythmically off pace for PRAT or engagement. This along with the Q value can have an impact on the overall result. It isn't a set and forget thing with most presets IME. HQP also affects this too of course as well when added into the equation can change the presentation and sonic result.

4th night last night with no added peq using Mitch's filter and it was great once again.

 

[shwnwllms]

Several months ago @shwnwllms posted the convolution curves of both Audeze and Mitch's filters. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-lcd-5-review-measurements-interview.959808/page-364

I cannot begin to explain how they correlate visually to each other and what I am hearing though.

To clarify those curves, and any low shelf added on top of Mitch’s convolution. That is the convolution in the pipeline matrix in HQPlayer (input) not what the output frequency response would look like.

With that being said Mitch’s convolution essentially brings the frequency response reference flat (so you can see what it takes to do that by the curve generated in HQPlayer, there is a lot of adjustments needed to make this happen). Anything you add on top of Mitch’s convolution is essentially from a starting point of reference flat so it’s important to take that into consideration. You may usually prefer a +5 dB low shelf but only need a +3.5 dB low shelf because of the what’s already being adjusted in Mitch’s filter

Roon Preset is a lot less involved as defined by the curve generated in HQPlayer. It’s mainly taming the energy at 4K, smoothing out the entire Frequency Response and rolling off the sub bass

 

[jlbrach]

Muted sound was also my impression with the Roon filter. It was more of a compressed sound like it had been squashed down and flattened rather than level muting. Not sure if jibrach was referring to the same impression but it was very marked for me.

I was, it wasnt a volume thing more like a lack of energy with the filter...

 

[Raidersfan8118]

I’ve tried searching in threads for this but figured it’d be easier to ask. For those who’ve tried both the utopia and lcd 5 how do you feel the sound of guitars are on the headphones? I’ve heard utopia has a better crunch than lcd5 but I’m wondering if it’s somewhat close.