[Badas]

Heres how I know that I love my X...

Sometimes with audio gear, you look at upgrades and say, "hmmm...wonder what Im missing." With the X I find myself looking at other gear and then fearing what I would be without! Lol

That has only happened a few times in my many years in audio...the only other example of that would by the Magnepan speakers I bought nearly seven years ago. I cant imagine ever being without either.

Nicely put.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

I am not sure if I mentioned this a while a go. Did anyone try to remove the outside grills? I tried this with my lcd-x a while ago. The results were very nice. The soundstage decompressed quite nicely. It was so decompressed that it gave HD800 a very good run in size, but also being more natural. Besides this, the bass good deeper and more detailed and the instruments were better extended. 
 
The treble was more present and sparkly without the grills. 
 
Curious if anybody else tried this.

 

[Whataudiophile]

  I am not sure if I mentioned this a while a go. Did anyone try to remove the outside grills? I tried this with my lcd-x a while ago. The results were very nice. The soundstage decompressed quite nicely. It was so decompressed that it gave HD800 a very good run in size, but also being more natural. Besides this, the bass good deeper and more detailed and the instruments were better extended. 
 
The treble was more present and sparkly without the grills. 
 
Curious if anybody else tried this.

Dude,could you post some pictures? I know what you have done to it, but would love to see some pics. Do the cans look ugly after removing the outside grills?

 

[Articnoise]

  I am not sure if I mentioned this a while a go. Did anyone try to remove the outside grills? I tried this with my lcd-x a while ago. The results were very nice. The soundstage decompressed quite nicely. It was so decompressed that it gave HD800 a very good run in size, but also being more natural. Besides this, the bass good deeper and more detailed and the instruments were better extended. 
 
The treble was more present and sparkly without the grills. 
 
Curious if anybody else tried this.

 

I have not tried it myself, but I have read that some have done it with the LCD3. From what I got from their experiences it had both pros and cons. 

 

[musikaladin]

...some more pics of the LCD-X here...

 

[dan.gheorghe]

 
Dude,could you post some pictures? I know what you have done to it, but would love to see some pics. Do the cans look ugly after removing the outside grills?

I don't have pics with that experiment. Now I have LCD-4, LCD-3, HD800, HD800s for comparison / review. Will post it soon.
 
Well, after removing the grills, I can't say they are that they keep their nice aspect. What you can do is remove the foam from the grills only. Still helps. 
 
Btw, I tried removing the grills with LCD-4s as well, and reached the conclusion they sounded better with them on. 

 

[Whataudiophile]

  I don't have pics with that experiment. Now I have LCD-4, LCD-3, HD800, HD800s for comparison / review. Will post it soon.
 
Well, after removing the grills, I can't say they are that they keep their nice aspect. What you can do is remove the foam from the grills only. Still helps. 
 
Btw, I tried removing the grills with LCD-4s as well, and reached the conclusion they sounded better with them on. 

Is LCD-4 significantly better that LCD-X?

 

[groovyd]

just guessing Audeze already tuned them to sound best the way they are but then again there is no reason not to experiment but I would be surprised if removing something somehow improves the sound. 

 

[RCBinTN]

  just guessing Audeze already tuned them to sound best the way they are but then again there is no reason not to experiment but I would be surprised if removing something somehow improves the sound. 

 
Yeah, me too.  Seems risky.  But I like the way Dan described the SQ improvement.  May be worth a look, anyway.

 

[Badas]

I am not sure if I mentioned this a while a go. Did anyone try to remove the outside grills? I tried this with my lcd-x a while ago. The results were very nice. The soundstage decompressed quite nicely. It was so decompressed that it gave HD800 a very good run in size, but also being more natural. Besides this, the bass good deeper and more detailed and the instruments were better extended. 

The treble was more present and sparkly without the grills. 

Curious if anybody else tried this.

I tried that with the LCD-X and the LCD-3C about a year ago. I didn't like the results.

Both lost a lot. Sounded thin. They lost that Audeze mid-range.

I put the grills back immediately. Some users liked it tho.

 

[punit]

I tried that with the LCD-X and the LCD-3C about a year ago. I didn't like the results.

Both lost a lot. Sounded thin. They lost that Audeze mid-range.

I put the grills back immediately. Some users liked it tho.

Yeah, me too. Didn't like them with grills removed.

 

[Focker]

Some of you guys really love to mess with your headphones man

 

[musikaladin]

I am not sure if I mentioned this a while a go. Did anyone try to remove the outside grills? I tried this with my lcd-x a while ago. The results were very nice. The soundstage decompressed quite nicely. It was so decompressed that it gave HD800 a very good run in size, but also being more natural. Besides this, the bass good deeper and more detailed and the instruments were better extended. 

The treble was more present and sparkly without the grills. 

Curious if anybody else tried this.

My relationship to the LCD-X is quite ambivalent. Important to know, I bought a very early one from the very first batch. Long before you could actually buy it here in a shop. I bought it directly from Audeze, despite warnings, that Audeze previously had some issues with early serial production. Me idiot just couldn't wait.

So what happened? Via my LCD-X the upper bass was (with a lot of my music) bleeding into the lower midtange and making the whole ptesentation sound matt, muffled, intransparent. With some cinema-style loudness and whatever else effects treated music it created great results. But with "just" realistic, rather untreated music the result remained unsatisfying, however long I burned it in. Whatever cable or amp I used (some tube amps with suitable music were even on killer-level, but again, only with the "right", enhanced music as for example Yello and alike)....
I was considering to take the grills off, but thought that alone impossibly could make that difference. Well after reading your comment, I thought I just give it a try. I took off the grilles, removed all the syntethic felt behind the grill and put the grill back.... and what shall I say, I do not recognize this headphone anymore... it is a completely different league. The mid- and highrange came forward just enough to make it now a balanced sounding headphone, open, transparent, clear and with serious punch... all there.
Shame on me that I didn't try that earlier, especially since I am quite a DIY guy.... well, better now than never.

I saw other comments here saying they didn't like it without grills. I can imagine, if you have an LCD-X that already sounds "correct" with grill and syntethic felt, it certainly will be too bright / harsh without it. So what I write here might only be valid for my specific LCD-X.

...so @dan.gheorghe, kudos to you...

Thanks and cheers!

 

[TokenGesture]

Question - LCDX tone and balance but with HD800 soundstage?  Does it exist? Could it exist?
 
Living up to my handle here

 

[514077]

  I am not sure if I mentioned this a while a go. Did anyone try to remove the outside grills? I tried this with my lcd-x a while ago. The results were very nice. The soundstage decompressed quite nicely. It was so decompressed that it gave HD800 a very good run in size, but also being more natural. Besides this, the bass good deeper and more detailed and the instruments were better extended. 
 
The treble was more present and sparkly without the grills. 
 
Curious if anybody else tried this.

I'd read about this earlier in the thread, somewhere.  I'm concerned about exposing the internals to possible damage.  Should I worry about that?
Just read the other posts.  I'll try removing what's under and put the grils back on and have a listen.