I personally just got my lcd-2's about a week ago, and was tossing up about the same question as you have been as I primarily listen to trance / house / edm, so far, they're pretty sweet. I was split between the pro 900 / he-500 / d7000, ruled the denon / pro out due to the 'recessed mids' feedback (never got around to auditioning them though so what do I know
), and the feedback that they're a 'fun' can, I mean to me what's the point of thumping bass when it comes at the expense of something else, I like bass, but I don't want it to come at the cost of anything. Then when I was about to get HE-500's, found some used LCD-2's that weren't insanely over my budget, (though once I bought the 'mid-fi' amp and dac I was way over
) and here I am.
So far, they're pretty good, what else can i say
. The bass is there, it thumps decently, not to the same level as the sub in my car but it definently thumps, more so when you turn them up a little, and the bass has excellent detail & seperation, absolutely no muddiness. You can hear the differences between all the bass sources basically, without any effort. The bass isn't the only thing about these can's though, It's the bass + the mids (so, so lush, it almost makes me sad when I'm listening to a track that doesn't have any vocals), the seperation between sounds is spot on even if the soundstage isn't enormous, more a small club compared to a theatre hall. For EDM, they do the job great, they go loud enough to get that immersed in the music feeling you get when you're at a nightclub, but the bass isn't the main attraction, it's the whole sound you get out of them, the detail, the seperation, those vocals, it's the whole package.
Listening to
my eyes by nero for example, a track that I usually find sounds a bit muddy, on the LCD-2's it's clearest I've ever heard it. There's a part when the track really comes together after the 3 minute mark and being able to hear everything, from the low low bassline to the echoing synth sounds that phase around to the guitar, it's all there. Then something that's recorded really cleanly, like
I shine by Infected Mushroom, heck even the whole Army of Mushrooms album, you've got this amazing clear synthy sound, perfectly deep bass, every sample & loop is just so clear, lots of phasing sounds that you can hear go around you, and then when the vocals open up, they're so lush and organic.
Downsides, they don't really do 'low volume' like I'd been led to believe from some reviews and stuff, like they do it, you don't really lose any detail when it's not loud, but you lose the body that these headphones give to sound and that's what makes them special. Like on my schiit lyr, at 9 o'clock they're nothing special, but at 10 o'clock and onwards they really open up. They just have this way of giving music body & presence that I haven't heard from headphones before. Also comfort probably sucks if you've got a weak neck (I don't notice the weight but then I have a large build so I don't find them uncomfortable), and the soundstage isn't big, there is no airy-ness to it, but it's not congested either, it's just on the small side, to me this is a bonus for EDM though (I prefer the sound of a nightclub over a open air festival personally). Sufficient would be the word I guess
, or small for an open can, big for a closed can? I dunno.
They're pretty forgiving regarding sources aswell which is nice, you can still listen to podcasts and not have them sound crap, they'll sound ok, but they do lose a bit of that magical presence they bring to the sound, not to mention the details lossy containers chuck out the lower down in bitrate you go.
Then on the other side of these headphones, where when you're worn out of edm you can listen to radiohead and it's
sublime, rock in general has been so good that I keep going back to albums I havn't heard in years and listening to them again, noticing all the little details I missed the first time around on inferior gear.
