Danz03
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2010
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I find it a bit pointless in people arguing about what sounds 'better' when everyone's standard is so totally different, like how one person would say, this pair of headphones are; bass heavy/dark/neutral sounding, etc. In my opinion, even if someone thinks that the Beats Solo sounds better than the HD800, that could be totally valid.
However, there are things that cannot be right, like a 12 bit recording can never be better than a 16 bit recording, analogue/cassette tapes, vinyl records cannot be better than CDs. One can prefer the sound of analogue tapes or vinyls, but technically, they cannot be better.
Coming back to the difference between the LCD-2 and the HD800, here are my thoughts.
In my opinion, how some people would claim the LCD-2s to be dark sounding is total untrue, if the LCD-2s are any brighter than they are, they would sound sibilant. The LCD-2s sound good with all types of music because they are truly neutral sounding, one can hear everything that's supposed to be there, and if there are things that one cannot hear with the LCD-2s, then they are probably not meant to be heard.
When I first got my HD800s, I was totally disappointed by the sound signature, it is so bright that they literally hurt my ears, mostly with dance or pop music, but in the last 7 months, I've learnt that they are truly amazing for listening to acoustic music with, especially classical music. I think the reason being that with most pop, and especially dance music, they are usually so heavily compressed and limited, there's hardly any dynamic range in the mix, the whole song is always at its peak from start to finish. And if one were to listen to that with average to above average listening level, the sibilance would become unbearable. However, with classical music, which is much less compressed with a much bigger dynamic range, they are easily 15-20 dB softer than pop or dance music on average, hence, the bright sound signature of the HD800 is never a problem because the peak in classical music is a lot less frequent.
Because of how our perception to loudness is related to both the SPL and duration of sound, some people, most notably MrGreen, who listens to music at an extremely low level, would find the LCD-2s dark sounding for music with big dynamic range, or people who listen to music with lower listening level in general.
The HD800s are not neutral sounding, in fact quite colored in my opinion, but that is also what make them good with classical music. The bright sound signature brings out more details even at low listening level (like the 'loudness' button), and the larger than life soundstage gives acoustic music a livelier and spacious environment. A lot of my own mixes of acoustic music seem to be more reverberated and livelier sounding. Now that may be more preferably sounding to some, whether it's better sounding or not depends on the individuals. I think Sennheiser designed the HD800s that way intentionally, for audiophiles to enjoy audiophile type of music with, whereas the LCD-2s are designed to sound true to what one would hear in a studio environment, with more or less any type of music.
However, there are things that cannot be right, like a 12 bit recording can never be better than a 16 bit recording, analogue/cassette tapes, vinyl records cannot be better than CDs. One can prefer the sound of analogue tapes or vinyls, but technically, they cannot be better.
Coming back to the difference between the LCD-2 and the HD800, here are my thoughts.
In my opinion, how some people would claim the LCD-2s to be dark sounding is total untrue, if the LCD-2s are any brighter than they are, they would sound sibilant. The LCD-2s sound good with all types of music because they are truly neutral sounding, one can hear everything that's supposed to be there, and if there are things that one cannot hear with the LCD-2s, then they are probably not meant to be heard.
When I first got my HD800s, I was totally disappointed by the sound signature, it is so bright that they literally hurt my ears, mostly with dance or pop music, but in the last 7 months, I've learnt that they are truly amazing for listening to acoustic music with, especially classical music. I think the reason being that with most pop, and especially dance music, they are usually so heavily compressed and limited, there's hardly any dynamic range in the mix, the whole song is always at its peak from start to finish. And if one were to listen to that with average to above average listening level, the sibilance would become unbearable. However, with classical music, which is much less compressed with a much bigger dynamic range, they are easily 15-20 dB softer than pop or dance music on average, hence, the bright sound signature of the HD800 is never a problem because the peak in classical music is a lot less frequent.
Because of how our perception to loudness is related to both the SPL and duration of sound, some people, most notably MrGreen, who listens to music at an extremely low level, would find the LCD-2s dark sounding for music with big dynamic range, or people who listen to music with lower listening level in general.
The HD800s are not neutral sounding, in fact quite colored in my opinion, but that is also what make them good with classical music. The bright sound signature brings out more details even at low listening level (like the 'loudness' button), and the larger than life soundstage gives acoustic music a livelier and spacious environment. A lot of my own mixes of acoustic music seem to be more reverberated and livelier sounding. Now that may be more preferably sounding to some, whether it's better sounding or not depends on the individuals. I think Sennheiser designed the HD800s that way intentionally, for audiophiles to enjoy audiophile type of music with, whereas the LCD-2s are designed to sound true to what one would hear in a studio environment, with more or less any type of music.
