Despite the mixed reviews, I am super-excited to have a pair of these incoming later this week to replace my LCD-X headphones. The LCD-X’s were my first real high-end headphone and ultimately the catalyst that drove me into this hobby in a serious way. I hope the MX4’s can do the LCD-X sound better and with less weight and I can’t see how the MX4 will not be a great match for my V281 much as the LCD-X’s are. (I do not have high hopes for my them with my tube amp given their low impedance). That said, I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger if I hadn’t gotten them for an absurdly good price. I think part of the problem with the MX4 is that they’re overpriced for the audiophile market. If you have three grand to buy them new, odds are you’ve already sunk a few thousand bucks into equipment to maximize your headphone setup, at which point it seems like these are not the cans to get the best out of said setup. Also, without the reputation of the LCD-4, or even the HE1000V2’s, it’s harder to pull the trigger on a lesser-known item for that price. Plus the resale value for these is pretty low from what I’ve seen. If you’re buying them second-hand, they are usually offered at prices within a few hundred bucks of used LCD-4’s, and at that point you might as well save your pennies and get the endgame headphone, or take that same amount of money and get a cheaper headphone and upgrade your equipment. Maybe studio pros are buying these in vast numbers for their easy matchability, but I’d bet these will see a steep discount come Black Friday time to get more of them on the market. Anyway, being an LCD-X fan I think I’ll really like these... that is until it’s time for that final upgrade to the LCD4’s!
