Audeze LCD-X

[Samut89]

Badas, I think that's stretching it a bit. Maybe you think it's a crap amp, but I (and many people out there) think it is a solid piece of equipment and, yes, for some people it is an end game system.

You really think the HA-1 can actually ruin headphone systems? That's a strong opinion. I'll agree with you that the DAC is the HA-1's biggest weakness. Yes, the treble is bright and this is why people recommend pairing it with darker sounding headphones. I found the LCD-X and HA-1 to pair nicely. I certainly wouldn't call it an unlistenable set up and I certainly wouldn't say it sells the LCD-X short. The LCD-X doesn't scale that much...

Some people can't hear differences between DACs. Some people would laugh at dropping $3,500 on just a DAC. I'm not running the HA-1 as my main set-up anymore. I'm currently using the Ragnarok and Yggdrasil stack. Some people would think I'm nuts for dropping $2,300 on a DAC.

I posted this in a Reddit thread where someone bought an LCD-X and HA-1 and I'll say it again. I, personally, would not object if someone said I could only use that combination for the rest of my life. Maybe it's because I mostly listen to metal, but I had no complaints. I only moved to the Rag/Yggy because I wanted an HE-6 and I didn't want to worry about equipment anymore.

Obviously this is just my opinion and my own experience.

Absolutely agreed with you bro.

I also wanted to have a yggy for dac to pair up with my m9 amp.

Many thinks that i am nuts to get a expensive Dac and headphone in malaysia where our economy is fluctuating.

But for me, music is my source of enjoyment after i went back home and upon going to work.

Afterall, my feeling and enjoyment is much more important than money which i could earned more in the future.

Music is really important to my life now.
It brings so much enjoyment to me.
With a very good setup, i was able to hear more and more.

My ear is really addicted to the balanced mode of my LCD x to my m9 and mdac3.

But i still think there is something lacking over the Dac.

Therefore, yggy would be an end game for me.

For my portable setup, the k7xx pair with micro idsd and the dpx1 is really kinda end game for me ( sometimes i pair it with T1 or the he500 and z7)..

Therefore, i would say that if music is really gonna make you happy.
No matter what other people said, just strive to what you think is right for you.

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[DamienShepard]

It has a lot to due with the fact that I just couldn't convince myself having $2,500 (LCD-X + HA-1)of audio equipment for headphones is worth it.

The journey getting to this point was great, and the headphones do sound amazing, but I'm just not comfortable forking out that amount of money. I got my "feet wet" in this hobby just to see what high end headphones were like, and now I'm backing out

Just sell them if you have economic issues or if you are no longer into this hobby. Maybe you can try Ether or Edition X later if the LCDs are too heavy for you. If you miss the sound, you can still buy one back in the future. Good luck with your sales!

 

[Badas]

Badas, I think that's stretching it a bit. Maybe you think it's a crap amp, but I (and many people out there) think it is a solid piece of equipment and, yes, for some people it is an end game system.

You really think the HA-1 can actually ruin headphone systems? That's a strong opinion. I'll agree with you that the DAC is the HA-1's biggest weakness. Yes, the treble is bright and this is why people recommend pairing it with darker sounding headphones. I found the LCD-X and HA-1 to pair nicely. I certainly wouldn't call it an unlistenable set up and I certainly wouldn't say it sells the LCD-X short. The LCD-X doesn't scale that much...

Some people can't hear differences between DACs. Some people would laugh at dropping $3,500 on just a DAC. I'm not running the HA-1 as my main set-up anymore. I'm currently using the Ragnarok and Yggdrasil stack. Some people would think I'm nuts for dropping $2,300 on a DAC.

I posted this in a Reddit thread where someone bought an LCD-X and HA-1 and I'll say it again. I, personally, would not object if someone said I could only use that combination for the rest of my life. Maybe it's because I mostly listen to metal, but I had no complaints. I only moved to the Rag/Yggy because I wanted an HE-6 and I didn't want to worry about equipment anymore.

Obviously this is just my opinion and my own experience.

 
The amp itself is terribly flat as well. When I say flat I mean it has little dynamic or holographic effect. It really becomes obvious when you bypass the DAC and put other amps inline then compare them all off the same DAC. We did a shootout between the Oppo HA-1, Violectric V281, V200, Auralic Taurus, Sim Audio 230HA, 430HA, Woo WA22 and Glenn custom 300B tube amp (using the Auralic Vega DAC). Oppo was last by a long shot. Sounded lifeless compared to everything else. Violectric V281 and Glenn amp was the best. 
 
I would suggest a device that has a flat amp and a bright DAC is not crap. You are correct there. However if it is not crap then it is very sub-par. Below mid-range. Oppo HA-1 is a Kardashian amp. Looks good from the outside. Has all the bells and whistles. Not much on the inside and very hard to live with.

 
Certainly not endgame. I feel sorry for a LCD-X teamed up with a HA-1. It has the opportunity to perform soooooo much better.

 

[ezekiel77]

I also wanted to have a yggy for dac to pair up with my m9 amp.

Many thinks that i am nuts to get a expensive Dac and headphone in malaysia where our economy is fluctuating.

But for me, music is my source of enjoyment after i went back home and upon going to work.

...

Cheers,
Jonathan

Cheers to a fellow countryman! I'm considering the Master 11 as an all-in-one solution.

 

   
The amp itself is terribly flat as well. When I say flat I mean it has little dynamic or holographic effect. It really becomes obvious when you bypass the DAC and put other amps inline then compare them all off the same DAC. We did a shootout between the Oppo HA-1, Violectric V281, V200, Auralic Taurus, Sim Audio 230HA, 430HA, Woo WA22 and Glenn custom 300B tube amp (using the Auralic Vega DAC). Oppo was last by a long shot. Sounded lifeless compared to everything else. Violectric V281 and Glenn amp was the best. 
 

Hi, how was the pairup between Moon 430HA with the LCD-X?
 

 

[Dillan]

  Cheers to a fellow countryman! I'm considering the Master 11 as an all-in-one solution.

 
Hi, how was the pairup between Moon 430HA with the LCD-X?
 

 
What do you guys think about the BMC pure dac or even the ultra dac for an all-in-one solution? I have been eyeing that and a few others lately.

 

[TimeLord]

   
The amp itself is terribly flat as well. When I say flat I mean it has little dynamic or holographic effect. It really becomes obvious when you bypass the DAC and put other amps inline then compare them all off the same DAC. We did a shootout between the Oppo HA-1, Violectric V281, V200, Auralic Taurus, Sim Audio 230HA, 430HA, Woo WA22 and Glenn custom 300B tube amp (using the Auralic Vega DAC). Oppo was last by a long shot. Sounded lifeless compared to everything else. Violectric V281 and Glenn amp was the best. 
 
I would suggest a device that has a flat amp and a bright DAC is not crap. You are correct there. However if it is not crap then it is very sub-par. Below mid-range. Oppo HA-1 is a Kardashian amp. Looks good from the outside. Has all the bells and whistles. Not much on the inside and very hard to live with.

 
Certainly not endgame. I feel sorry for a LCD-X teamed up with a HA-1. It has the opportunity to perform soooooo much better.

I applaud your candor and I agree that the HA-1 is not end game, at least not for me.
 
I do, however, disagree with you when you say that it is just an awful piece of equipment with a pretty face. The DAC implementation using the Sabre ES9018 is average from what I've seen and it suffers from the same Sabre glare as most other implementations of that chip with a notable exception for the implementation on the Audio GD NFB-28, which has a rather unique approach to its implementation of the ES9018.
 
For the amps on your list that I've heard, they are superior to the HA-1. I also think you're being rather unfair to castigate the HA-1's performance by comparing it to units that cost more than the HA-1, in many cases nearly doubling its cost and in some cases more than tripling its cost.
 
Would I have liked the HA-1 to be better, absolutely; I also don't think it's as bad as you state.

 

[Badas]

Cheers to a fellow countryman! I'm considering the Master 11 as an all-in-one solution.


 
Hi, how was the pairup between Moon 430HA with the LCD-X?

 

I was not a fan of the 430HA. It was very musical which was good. However it was slow with treble roll. It was a SS amp trying to sound like tubes. It sacraficed a lot of detail (my tube amp had more detail) and fell apart on speed test tracks. Not really the qualities I expect from an expensive SS amp. V281 destroyed the 430HA.

The 230HA was better than the 430HA. 230HA was impressive.

I applaud your candor and I agree that the HA-1 is not end game, at least not for me.

I do, however, disagree with you when you say that it is just an awful piece of equipment with a pretty face. The DAC implementation using the Sabre ES9018 is average from what I've seen and it suffers from the same Sabre glare as most other implementations of that chip with a notable exception for the implementation on the Audio GD NFB-28, which has a rather unique approach to its implementation of the ES9018.

For the amps on your list that I've heard, they are superior to the HA-1. I also think you're being rather unfair to castigate the HA-1's performance by comparing it to units that cost more than the HA-1, in many cases nearly doubling its cost and in some cases more than tripling its cost.

Would I have liked the HA-1 to be better, absolutely; I also don't think it's as bad as you state.

You have some fair points. However at the end of the day a harsh DAC and a flat amp is not a good combination with the LCD-X or most HP's.

If you want something for around the same $$'s I think you would get better results buying seperate DAC/amps.

 

[Mardrommar]

Badas, if you really think that the HA-1 is a pathetically poor amp for the money, then may I ask why you haven't sold it? Why keep something if you think it doesn't perform well in its price bracket, and doesn't pair well with the headphones you own? Seems a bit silly to me. 
 
I'm not going to debate your preferences, as you do seem quite set in your beliefs. But, once again, and this is for anyone out there who reads through this thread and is pondering about amps/DACs for the LCD-X -- I thought the HA-1 paired well with the LCD-X. 
 
Yes, I did not do A/B comparisons between more expensive amps or other amps at its price range, and no, I haven't directly compared it to my Ragnarok and Yggdrasil stack; however, I was happier with the HA-1 + LCD-X over the Schiit Lyr 1/OG Bifrost + LCD-X, so there's that.
 
I still think that the HA-1 is a very competitively priced piece of equipment, especially with all that it offers. To each his own. 

 

[TimeLord]

The 230HA was better than the 430HA. 230HA was impressive.
 

Did you try the 430HA balanced or SE? I haven't yet heard it, but it's on my list.
 
The 230HA was really impressive.

 

[Badas]

Did you try the 430HA balanced or SE? I haven't yet heard it, but it's on my list.

The 230HA was really impressive.

I listen to it balanced. I try to run everything in balanced.

230HA I listened to in SE. No balanced output. 230HA is a nice SS amp.

 

[Badas]

Badas, if you really think that the HA-1 is a pathetically poor amp for the money, then may I ask why you haven't sold it? Why keep something if you think it doesn't perform well in its price bracket, and doesn't pair well with the headphones you own? Seems a bit silly to me. 

I'm not going to debate your preferences, as you do seem quite set in your beliefs. But, once again, and this is for anyone out there who reads through this thread and is pondering about amps/DACs for the LCD-X -- I thought the HA-1 paired well with the LCD-X. 

Yes, I did not do A/B comparisons between more expensive amps or other amps at its price range, and no, I haven't directly compared it to my Ragnarok and Yggdrasil stack; however, I was happier with the HA-1 + LCD-X over the Schiit Lyr 1/OG Bifrost + LCD-X, so there's that.

I still think that the HA-1 is a very competitively priced piece of equipment, especially with all that it offers. To each his own. 

Hard to sell equipment here. Eventually it will go as it is doing nothing right now.

It's very poor when you compare to others. So as originally said not a endgame amp.
I think if someone is going to use a LCD-X priced at $1800 they should look for something to make it perform. Members can do better than the HA-1.

 

[PrTv]

Hi guys, haven't checked this thread for so long.
 
Almost two and half years ago, I posted that I tried this headphones with various amplifiers to find the best match. I tried Bakoon, various Woo Amps including Wa5 (the one that can drive speakers), and back then, I found that the local brand tube amplifier sounded the best with these cans. [ http://www.head-fi.org/t/684394/audeze-lcd-x/2985#post_10259912 ]
 
Well here, today, in July 2016, I'm still rocking this amp and so far, I haven't found any amp (within my reach which is under $5,500), that can best it in term of sound quality (especially in acoustic / jazz / vocal type of music). I have some tube upgrade along the way, and here are some updates.
 
Size comparison with iPhone 5s. This one is quite a large amp.

 
 
Also replaced stock tubes with a pair of Sophia Princess 274B, PSVane WE300B Replica ($800 alternative to the real one), and GEC 5842 (gold pins which sounds better than a regular version).

 

 
I have tried ALO Studio 6, Manhattan and other amps under $5,500 -balanced or not- (which are available in my country), and so far, nothing swayed my from this amp (yet). FYI, I'm using this with Ayre QB9 DSD.
 
A couple days ago, I also bought this small Fostex HPA4 to use with my desktop (another set) to stream Tidal. Initial intention is just to use RCA output to my AudioEngine B2, but when I tried the phones output, to my surprise, it drives LCD-X (and HD650) quite well!

 

[Badas]

^

Sweet looking gear dude. I'm a fan of tubes with the LCD-X as well. They add diemensionality.

 

[Dillan]

Nice gear PrTv - What headphone outputs are on that amp?

 

[PrTv]

^

Sweet looking gear dude. I'm a fan of tubes with the LCD-X as well. They add diemensionality.

Thanks. Tube adds some sweetness to this somewhat "flat" cans. However, it's not as convenient as SS amp, as it needs to warm up a bit (apprx 20min) to sound its best, not to mention the heat produced from the operation (2x 274B, 2X300B + 2 small tubes can get quite hot).
 

Nice gear @PrTv - What headphone outputs are on that amp?

SE and Balanced. It can drive AKG K1000 (through Balanced output) but to my ears, may not have the best synergy with the K1000.