We released Reveal plugin with presets for all of our models. The existence of the plugin does not suddenly make the LCD series that have long existed and been positively received by audiophiles, without the plugin, inferior or badly tuned. It is an option we provide for those who want to use it. No headphone would satisfy everyone (unless it has alien technology that morphs itself) and all headphones can benefit from some personalization. Why else do head-fiers spend countless hours and money rolling cables, amps and other components to try and alter what they hear to better match their preference. We will continue to update the plugin for all future model. We tune all our headphones to sound best out of the box and sound their best in their respective categories. We see the plugin as an alternate flavor and the dry/wet control gives you control over how much you want the sound to be altered.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. The Reveal plugin gives me pause for future products. Not currently existing ones. Similar to the iSines which seem to have been reviewed
universally as sounding significantly better with the cipher cable, I fear that future models will fall down a similar path.
Why do head-fi'ers roll components? Well, we're not the ones building headphones (generally). I can promise you if I had the capability to build a headphone from the ground up to my liking I would, though odds are good it would sound pretty much like the LCD-X. I do understand the flexibility, and hell I appreciate it, but I start to shy away from any situations where I feel as if the product needs more than just what's in the box to sound "like it should."
This is doubly so in the case of things that cannot be used across all devices. IEMs with filters may give me a similar pause, but they aren't exclusive to iDevices or require a PC. I couldn't make use of the Cipher cable because I don't have an iPhone and the Reveal plugin means you can't use it with non-computer sources. I find this a strange path to start going down when they're both advertised as greatly enhancing the experience, since it means there will be a chunk of the customer base that literally can't make use of it.
As I've said elsewhere, I might be the most shameless Audeze fanboy on here, the only reason I'd consider selling my LCD-X would be to help fund getting an MX4 or an LCD-4, and I'll defend the Deckard to the death, but as much as I do appreciate the concept of personalizing things, I find myself a bit less than enthused when it leaves me feeling as if I, without them, am losing some essential portion of the experience.
EDIT: To add a final point, I think my main concern is this. I fear that, with things like the Cipher cable or the plugin being on the table now, in the creation of these products, the answer to "well what about this issue" becomes "that's what the cable/plugin is for" rather than "yes let's remedy that." A product I need to EQ and tweak in order to sound right is not one I find myself likely to buy, and that may be my personal flaw but that's all I can present is my own opinion.
I like my headphones to have as few "moving parts" as possible, as it were. Some may like doing tons of rolling and swapping and EQ'ing, but not me, because there are always factors that can get in the way of that and I really don't want to be somewhere finding myself going "ugh this doesn't sound right I wish I could use this cable/plugin."
When these things come from third-party companies like Sonarworks, then the original manufacturer isn't going to either rely on customers having them or have any incentive to get customers to purchase them and the products have to be made assuming that said extra products won't be used. When there's an assumption or a desire for them to be used... I sense problems.
