[TimeLord]

Aww man..so lucky. I'd love to upgrade from my Mojo as main dac for that same reason, but I have size restrictions cuz my whole system is on a nightstand. So I currently rely on tube swaps to tame the shoutyness.

That clock is taking up too much space. Make your phone pull double duty for a morning alarm. Sacrifices must be made to win this war! Haha

 

[fallofdave]

  I got upset to find out that my first X was more on the brighter side of neutral.. When I switched around back and forth with HD700 the trebles parts sounded about the same..

No wonder I was struggling with some tracks being too hot and a little spikey.
 
Here's before and after photos:
 

Left: brighter vs left: perfectly balanced
See that build up at 5Khz and between 10Khz to 20 Khz on the left compare to moderately calmed 3Khz-10Khz on the right. It might not be a lot but trust me it was really bright.
If the 2016 upgrade can maintain my current freq response than I'm in.
 
 
 
I keep my fingers cross for us both.

 
That is my LCD-X with the new 2016 drivers as you can tell from the graph they were replaced on March 9, 2016.

 

[kyle1010]

Ha! Good point.

 

[Skyfall]

 
 
That is my LCD-X with the new 2016 drivers as you can tell from the graph they were replaced on March 9, 2016.

 
Ok, please allow me to interpret that to myself..haha
 
Hmm..looks like everything below 10 Khz is pretty much similar to mine ( right one) except yours less rolled off on the sub and you got a pretty good peak at around 10-11 Khz and they are at the same level as the lows and mids. It suggests to me that this headphone has a good extension both lows and especially highs.
You have extra crispiness and more "air" on top. The sound stage would feel more spacious and open but what I'm afraid it will also introduce a  potentially new problems ( for me ). This would sound close to LCD 4 that I listened at the SF meet a few weeks ago. If you read Tyll's comment on LCD 4 that what I'm talking about. 
But again, I didn't know what your graph looked like before so I'm not sure if the this graph is the result of the updated driver. Please correct me if I'm wrong, what do you think about the upgraded drivers ?
 
Andrew

 

[fallofdave]

I'm not sure what to think about the new upgraded driver to be honest.  I bought the headphone used and as part of testing it I ran bass shaker tests and noticed right away that one of the drivers was rattling so I RMA'd it within a few days of owning it.  I really only know what the new drivers sound like in regard to the LCDX, but I also own a pre-fazor LCD-3 that I can compare it to.  The LCD3 I own has a FR more in line with your old LCDX which to my ear sounds more natural.  The LCDX has a weird upper treble spike (10khz on the FR) that you can hear especially on cymbals.  For example, a crash will have more emphasis on the decay instead of the initial hit of the cymbal, if that makes sense.  I've seen other people describe it as "tss" or "sss". It's not a deal breaker, and barely noticeable, and not even noticeable on all songs as most songs aren't even recorded with real drums now a days anyway.  
 
The LCD3 has more natural treble, yet its more rolled so I feel like Audeze tried to bring more treble to their headphones by spiking the 10khz which brings an unnaturalness to it- I believe this is what you mean by the whole LCD4 and Tyll thing.   I haven't heard the LCD4 yet, but its by biggest fear as I want to upgrade to it, but if it still has the same problem I'd rather stick to my LCD3.  
 
The newer drivers supposedly bring bass back to the Fazor headphones, and are also, supposedly, less failure prone- so that in itself should be worth it despite the weird treble.  
 
Here is my LCD3 (prefazor) FR for comparison purposes:

 

[groovyd]

  I'm not sure what to think about the new upgraded driver to be honest.  I bought the headphone used and as part of testing it I ran bass shaker tests and noticed right away that one of the drivers was rattling so I RMA'd it within a few days of owning it.  I really only know what the new drivers sound like in regard to the LCDX, but I also own a pre-fazor LCD-3 that I can compare it to.  The LCD3 I own has a FR more in line with your old LCDX which to my ear sounds more natural.  The LCDX has a weird upper treble spike (10khz on the FR) that you can hear especially on cymbals.  For example, a crash will have more emphasis on the decay instead of the initial hit of the cymbal, if that makes sense.  I've seen other people describe it as "tss" or "sss". It's not a deal breaker, and barely noticeable, and not even noticeable on all songs as most songs aren't even recorded with real drums now a days anyway.  
 
The LCD3 has more natural treble, yet its more rolled so I feel like Audeze tried to bring more treble to their headphones by spiking the 10khz which brings an unnaturalness to it- I believe this is what you mean by the whole LCD4 and Tyll thing.   I haven't heard the LCD4 yet, but its by biggest fear as I want to upgrade to it, but if it still has the same problem I'd rather stick to my LCD3.  
 
The newer drivers supposedly bring bass back to the Fazor headphones, and are also, supposedly, less failure prone- so that in itself should be worth it despite the weird treble.  
 
Here is my LCD3 (prefazor) FR for comparison purposes:

here's the thing... my X and XC drivers haven't had any crinkling or failure issues and so I guess the only concern I have about an upgrade is being introduced to these things.  Like maybe giving it time to hear how it goes with others before jumping on the bandwagon is the right thing... would hate to pay more to get something that does fail me down the road.

 

[Skyfall]

  I'm not sure what to think about the new upgraded driver to be honest.  I bought the headphone used and as part of testing it I ran bass shaker tests and noticed right away that one of the drivers was rattling so I RMA'd it within a few days of owning it.  I really only know what the new drivers sound like in regard to the LCDX, but I also own a pre-fazor LCD-3 that I can compare it to.  The LCD3 I own has a FR more in line with your old LCDX which to my ear sounds more natural.  The LCDX has a weird upper treble spike (10khz on the FR) that you can hear especially on cymbals.  For example, a crash will have more emphasis on the decay instead of the initial hit of the cymbal, if that makes sense.  I've seen other people describe it as "tss" or "sss". It's not a deal breaker, and barely noticeable, and not even noticeable on all songs as most songs aren't even recorded with real drums now a days anyway.  
 
 

 
Within the freq spectrum there's not much information available above 10khz other than "sss", "tss" sizzles and occasional sibilance depending on the gears. The natural cymbals fundamental tone sits somewhere  between 3-5Khz the rest is the sizzles ie. decay. Makes sense if you hear "an artificially" longer decay because of those bump at 10Khz.
 
Yes, my X now sounds closer to pre-fazor LCD 3 tonality wise, the newer LCD 3 Fazor is a bit bright and spikey at some music, so is LCD 2 Fazor. In my own word, they are shouty.
 
Well, it looks like I'm not going to open another can of worm as I'm very happy with the way it sounds now.
 
Anyway, I brought My LCD X at the SF meet and started to compare it with Ether open and close, Flow open and close, Focal Elear and Utopia, and some other mid-fi phones. I was really excited about Ether but after auditioning and comparing it with LCD X I was like..man, there is barely any meat and potatoes in the music all I hear is detailed being shoved onto my face, skinny bass and tizzy highs. But however, they are super comfy, haha. On the other hand, the Flow made an impression on me. It sounds like a nice upgrade to LCD X. Just my two cents 

 
 

The Ether Flow and My LCD X

 

[kyle1010]

I keep my fingers cross for us both.

I did a quick and dirty 20min test of my LCD-Xs with the updated 2016 drivers upon arrival today. First thought, wow these need some break-in. The highs are very compressed but that's happened with every new headphone I've ever had fresh out the box. And being that the housings and headband are the only original parts on them now, driver-wise they're basically new cans. However, the upper midrange grain is gone and I can immediately tell that they image a little better. Bass might be a little tighter but they still rumble deeply when called for.
Anyway, they definitely need to break-in for a while as all new cans do. I'm looking forward to what the treble sounds like once the new driver wonkiness wears off.

 

[kyle1010]

....I was like..man, there is barely any meat and potatoes in the music all I hear is detailed being shoved onto my face, skinny bass and tizzy highs. But however, they are super comfy, haha

Right?! Dude I had the exact same reaction to the Ethers at CanJam SoCal. I was all excited to try them, then I sat down to listen via a Cavalli LAu and I was like...ok...that's it? Bummer. The LCD-X's insane imaging and dynamic palpable textures really spoil you to death. I listened to every headphone there from Abyss on down, and while some do one or two tricks better, money no object, nothing currently on the market makes me FEEL the music like the Xs do with the right gear. I'll be at CanJam every year to see if somebody can out-do them, but I have a feeling it's gonna be a while.

Side note: As far as scaling, the Xs through the Wells Audio Headtrip amp was ridiculous. I mean spooky good imaging, detail, and tonality. I pretty much walked by all the other TOTL cans and amps I listened to after that and laughed at them. Not even a fair fight. It costs $7k so yeah, but still..

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Are there any significant differences between the leather and vegan headband, in terms of comfort?

 

[McClelland]

There are improvements to be had with better amps and DACs. However, your biggest gain in sound quality will come from better headphones. Therefore, I'd say get the LCD-X first and then over time working on improving your amp and DAC.

I have the LCD-X and the HA-1. That was my first pairing for the X. Since then I have been working on improving the SQ by pairing the X with higher quality amps and DACs. I'm finding improvements along this road, but the improvements are not as significant as the leap in SQ that I got from listening to the X over lesser headphones.

 

  Heavily lurking this thread, and am wondering if you guys think that a schiit magni/modi stack would seriously impede the X's potential.
 
I demoed them being fed from an Oppo HA-1 at Headroom a few months ago and would've bought them on the spot if not for my infernally small college student bank account. They're my target right now but I'm still thirsty for better upstream gear even though that would slow my crawl to afford the cans. 
 
I know I need to get a better DAC not being fed by USB power because I've already noticed issues with certain ports on my PC producing a hum that resonates through the modi. 

Totally agree with going with HP upgrade first. I had Magni2/Modi2 with LCD-X as first rig and was delighted.  At that level the only thing I would think about would be considering the Vali2 for the amp as I got a lot out of that little unit in terms of tube appreciation.  Am now at MJ2/Gumby/LCD-X or HD800 combo and with its ability to drive balanced output and powered speakers I'm thinking that's where I am stopping for now.

 

[cleandean]

Right?! Dude I had the exact same reaction to the Ethers at CanJam SoCal. I was all excited to try them, then I sat down to listen via a Cavalli LAu and I was like...ok...that's it? Bummer. The LCD-X's insane imaging and dynamic palpable textures really spoil you to death. I listened to every headphone there from Abyss on down, and while some do one or two tricks better, money no object, nothing currently on the market makes me FEEL the music like the Xs do with the right gear. I'll be at CanJam every year to see if somebody can out-do them, but I have a feeling it's gonna be a while.

Side note: As far as scaling, the Xs through the Wells Audio Headtrip amp was ridiculous. I mean spooky good imaging, detail, and tonality. I pretty much walked by all the other TOTL cans and amps I listened to after that and laughed at them. Not even a fair fight. It costs $7k so yeah, but still..

How did they compare in sound to the ether flow?

 

[kyle1010]

How did they compare in sound to the ether flow?

Those weren't out back in March. They had the prototype electrostatic ones with the blue ring on the cups but those sounded even more delicate than the ethers. No thanks.

 

[Bostyn]

So, I've an lcd x with old (2014) drivers.
 
Is it worth getting the new drivers? Or is the upgrade in quality marginal?
Or rather a difference in sound signature rather than a difference in true quality?
 
Cheers

 

[thefitz]

Are there any significant differences between the leather and vegan headband, in terms of comfort?

I find the vegan quite soft and comfortable, but it's much more noticeable on the ear pads.