[David1961]

Another thing I like about wood being used with headphones, is while those that choose the same wood, ( in my case Bubinga ) that wood will look different because of the grain and possibly a slight difference in colour. So no one will have the exact look with their headphone, as anyone else's.

 

[deafanddumb]

The pictures, even mine, don't do justice to the Purple Heart. It looks pretty damn cool in person.

By chance of other purple Heart photos? Good photos of these headphones are still thin on the ground at the moment. Thanks

 

[figaro69]

Just Wondering:  Why would anyone chose to get the XCs with the microfiber earpads (which, of course, would defeat the purpose of having a closed head phone as sound would leak through the fabric) when you can have the better performer in the LCD-X and for $100 less to boot?  I can see having both headphones in the stable, but only if one is completely closed (XC) and the other one open (X).

 

[deafanddumb]

Just Wondering:  Why would anyone chose to get the XCs with the microfiber earpads (which, of course, would defeat the purpose of having a closed head phone as sound would leak through the fabric) when you can have the better performer in the LCD-X and for $100 less to boot?  I can see having both headphones in the stable, but only if one is completely closed (XC) and the other one open (X).

seems a fair point...

 

[kurochin]

Will be returning the LCD-XC in a couple of days, so might as well get this post over and done with.
 
Short answer; I'm reasonably impressed withthe LCD-XC. Doesn't quite tick all the boxes on my checklist, but what it does, it does very well.
 
The first thing that strikes me when doing an A/B comparo with the TH900 is the LCD-XC's speed. It does transients (particularly in the midrange and highs) very well. Sadly, the way it (and all other planars I've experienced) handles note decays is less impressive. The way notes die down into silence, I've always felt that dynamics do that much better.
 
Instrument layering on the LCD- XC is very good, but the soundstage feels even narrower than the LCD-2.2, which wasn't the widest staging headphone to begin with. The image (especially vocals) feels more centered than the LCD-2 or LCD-3 (I've not tried the LCD-X yet) and more in-front of you. The TH900 sounds more enveloping in comparison.
 
The highs are more delicate on the LCD-XC than the TH900, if a bit less sparkly. They probably extend higher. Both cans have the potential to please and irritate when it comes to the highs, though the circumstances might be different. On overcompressed poppy music, the TH900 can at times make me go "ugh", while the LCD-XC does well to mask those bits with a bit more finesse. Conversely, on some tracks with more ethereal sounds (mainly ambient electro stuff) the LCD-XC makes me go "meh" while the TH900 sounds more vivid.
 
I've already talked about bass response in an earlier post. Impressions haven't changed in that area. Heard on it's own, the LCD-XC has decent bass impact and great articulation. It's just not as vivid when doing a comparo with the TH900.
 
Will I buy one for myself? Probably not. The pricing seems criminal compared to the LCD-2 (my favourite ever Audeze), and it's just not as exciting as the TH900. One poster stated that he thought the LCD-XC sounded more coherent than the TH900, and he's probably right, but to my ears, this "coherence" I'm hearing makes it a tad characterless. The LCD-2 and TH900 ooze character (as does the LCD-3), the LCD-XC sounds just a bit too polite for it's own good.
 
Amping probably plays a significant role. I used a Burson Soloist, plainly because it's known to be an excellent "general practitioner" type amp, not favouring any one headphone in particular. Not quite TOTL, but by no means poor. I'm sure the LCD-XC would scale up very well on something like a Headamp GS-X, Bakoon HPA-21 or DNA Stratus but I know for a fact that the TH900 also scales up to very impressive levels based on my past experience with the excellent Bakoon.
 
At the end of the day, it's still apples vs oranges with regards to TH900 vs LCD-XC. I was practically "raised" on the Denon D5000/7000 sound, so there's obviously some bias here. Horses for courses, as the say in Britannia. I suggest anyone even remotely interested give the XC an audition if/when the opportunity arises. It might not have offered the sound I was after, but it's still objectively a very good headphone. If you're the type that keeps different headphones for different types of music, the LCD-XC could well find a spot in your collection.

 

[figaro69]

  Will be returning the LCD-XC in a couple of days, so might as well get this post over and done with.
 
Short answer; I'm reasonably impressed withthe LCD-XC. Doesn't quite tick all the boxes on my checklist, but what it does, it does very well.
 
The first thing that strikes me when doing an A/B comparo with the TH900 is the LCD-XC's speed. It does transients (particularly in the midrange and highs) very well. Sadly, the way it (and all other planars I've experienced) handles note decays is less impressive. The way notes die down into slience, I've always felt that dynamics do that much better.
 
Instrument layering on the LCD- XC is very good, but the soundstage feels even narrower than the LCD-2.2, which wasn't the widest staging headphone to begin with. The image (especially vocals) feels more centered than the LCD-2 or LCD-3 (I've not tried the LCD-X yet) and more in-front of you. The TH900 sounds more enveloping in comparison.
 
The highs are more delicate on the LCD-XC than the TH900, if a bit less sparkly. They probably extend higher. Both cans have the potential to please and irritate when it comes to the highs, though the circumstances might be different. On overcompressed poppy music, the TH900 can at times make me go "ugh", while the LCD-XC does well to mask those bits with a bit more finesse. Conversely, on some tracks with more ethereal sounds (mainly ambient electro stuff) the LCD-XC makes me go "meh" while the TH900 sounds more vivid.
 
I've already talked about bass response in an earlier post. Impressions haven't changed in that area. Heard on it's own, the LCD-XC has decent bass impact and great articulation. It's just not as vivid when doing a comparo with the TH900.
 
Will I buy one for myself? Probably not. The pricing seems criminal compared to the LCD-2 (my favourite ever Audeze), and it's just not as exciting as the TH900. One poster stated that he thought the LCD-XC sounded more coherent than the TH900, and he's probably right, but to my ears, this "coherence" I'm hearing makes it a tad characterless. The LCD-2 and TH900 ooze character (as does the LCD-3), the LCD-XC sounds just a bit too polite for it's own good.
 
Amping probably plays a significant role. I used a Burson Soloist, plainly because it's known to be an excellent "general practitioner" type amp, not favouring any one headphone in particular. Not quite TOTL, but by no means poor. I'm sure the LCD-XC would scale up very well on something like a Headamp GS-X, Bakoon HPA-21 or DNA Stratus but I know for a fact that the TH900 also scales up to very impressive levels based on my past experience with the excellent Bakoon.
 
At the end of the day, it's still apples vs oranges with regards to TH900 vs LCD-XC. I was practically "raised" on the Denon D5000/7000 sound, so there's obviously some bias here. Horses for courses, as the say in Britannia. I suggest anyone even remotely interested give the XC an audition if/when the opportunity arises. It might not have offered the sound I was after, but it's still objectively a very good headphone. If you're the type that keeps different headphones for different types of music, the LCD-XC could well find a spot in your collection.

Nice review.  I have the TH900s and have been quite skeptical regarding the notion that the LCD-XC could outperform it.  Since I don't listen to compressed music (always listen straight from CDs, mainly classical, which is usually very well recorded), I haven't experienced any
"treble issues" with it.  The TH900s are great all-rounders...every type of music sounds superbly with them...what more can you ask for...and you don't have to carry all that Audeze weight over your shoulders either. Classy looking and comfortable to boot.

 

[kurochin]

It wasn't a review by any means. Just a short post giving my impressions and comparisons for the people who asked.
I still recommend you give the XC a listen to judge for yourself.
 
The only aspect I can comment on objectively is the comfort factor. In that department, there's no contest. The TH900 is light-years ahead of the LCD-XC in terms of ergonomics. Show me someone who thinks otherwise, and I'll show you a neanderthal.

 

[deafanddumb]

It wasn't a review by any means. Just a short post giving my impressions and comparisons for the people who asked.
I still recommend you give the XC a listen to judge for yourself.

The only aspect I can comment on objectively is the comfort factor. In that department, there's no contest. The TH900 is light-years ahead of the LCD-XC in terms of ergonomics. Show me someone who thinks otherwise, and I'll show you a neanderthal.

What would be nice is a perspective on which premium closed headphone holds more of its quality when not scaled up, eg. Only a modest amp or high end DAP? Great summary by the way.

 

[Loevhagen]

TH-900 is strictly not a closed headphone - but the LCD-XC is. 

 

[figaro69]

  It wasn't a review by any means. Just a short post giving my impressions and comparisons for the people who asked.
I still recommend you give the XC a listen to judge for yourself.
 
The only aspect I can comment on objectively is the comfort factor. In that department, there's no contest. The TH900 is light-years ahead of the LCD-XC in terms of ergonomics. Show me someone who thinks otherwise, and I'll show you a neanderthal.

...a Neanderthal with neck muscles made of steel!

 

[David1961]

I'm in the process of ordering the LCD-XC which weighs 650g, but the two full size headphones I already have are the SR-009's and HD-600. I haven't weighed my HD-600's but my 009's with the new headband I did weighs around 640g. The HD-600 is a lot lighter than the 009's but I could quite easily wear them both for the same amount of time, several hour easily. I'm no Neanderthal, but I also don't have a Jelly neck.

 

[kurochin]

If you can live with them, great. More power to you. But I doubt anyone that can use them would ever say they're more comfortable than a TH900 or HD800, only comfortable enough. You'd need an unusually wide skull to reverse that.
 
With regards to my own head, it's not a matter of the absolute weight, but the way they clamp and spread that weight around. It's like Pai Mei did a stint at Audeze and somehow engineered a Five Point Exploding Head Technique into the headphones. It's a cumulative thing - bearable at first, but the pressure gets annoying at around the hour mark, and by 90 minutes I have to take them off.
 
With regards to isolation and leakage, yes the XC is better than the TH900 on both fronts, but not really by much. They still let sound in and out. If isolation is your target, the Ultrasone Sig Pro (and maybe a Bayer T5p as well) does that better than most summit-fi closed-back headphones.

 

[Loevhagen]

900 vs. XC
 

 

[David1961]

Although it was 2012 at a head-fi meeting when I got to wear and listen to the TH900 and HD800, comfort wise I recall them both being no more comfortable than my HD600's and SR-009's. I haven't worn the LCD-XC, but with what I'm going to do, I can't imagine it being any less comfortable than my HD600 + SR009.
Isolation isn't the reason why I'm getting a pair of LCD-XC's, I just really like the look of the Bubinga wood cups which is what I've gone for, if I want isolation I'll just use my UM Miracles.

 

[deafanddumb]

Although it was 2012 at a head-fi meeting when I got to wear and listen to the TH900 and HD800, comfort wise I recall them both being no more comfortable than my HD600's and SR-009's. I haven't worn the LCD-XC, but with what I'm going to do, I can't imagine it being any less comfortable than my HD600 + SR009.
Isolation isn't the reason why I'm getting a pair of LCD-XC's, I just really like the look of the Bubinga wood cups which is what I've gone for, if I want isolation I'll just use my UM Miracles.

I've also always found the LCD 3's comfortable for extended listening. A sumptuous feel. The weight gives a quality feel. Have also got light very comfortable very isolating Bose headphones for when needed. Life is a compromise... We all decide what our own will be.