no but i spoke with one of their technical experts and they said that the headphones do not need an amp to perform well, although an amp does provide some improvement. they said these were designed to be driven by mp3 players. but since I'm comparing them to the Sennheisers which are reportedly very finicky about their amps, it doesn't seem like getting an amp is going to cause these to be better than the Sennheisers.
I'm also turned off to the company due to their 15 percent restocking fee policy. To me that shows that they don't have confidence in their product and they know that once you buy their headphones there's a good chance that you won't like them and will want to return them. if you're going to play in the $2000 headphone space, you should have confidence in your product's desirability, as senn does. and the restocking fee was an audeze company policy not the policy of the store where I purchase them.
Just my opinion no offense and these are clearly better than $500 headphones I've tried.
Well, then I think you missed out. The LCD-XCs sound great out of my iDevices or portable amp alone, but I would hardly say that I get anywhere close to what I'm hearing with my GS-X Mk2 / BDA-2 combo.
FWIW, the 15% restocking fee is totally understandable IMO. Keeps the "I just wanna try it crowd and then return it" crowd.