[grokit]

I have read analogies that compare the HE-6 - LCD-2 relationship to the HD600 - HD650 relationship, and they make a certain amount of sense to me having owned all four.

 

[rhythmdevils]

I love almost everything about the LCD-2, but I hear a resonance sound as well though I think it's a backwave issue because they've clearly tested for resonance.  I haven't posted about it because it is bad enough that I thought my pair is defective, and I still am going to probably send it to Audeze just to make sure but at a recent meet, there were about 3 other LCD-2's and they didn't sound that different (granted there was noise in the room).   It's bad enough that I take them off every time I try to give them another chance. 

 

[jamato8]

No resonance with mine. I have read of the reverb problem some describe but I have never had this issue. Well it did seem I heard it to a slight degree at first, when they were new but nothing now, no matter what type of music or volume. 

 

[K3cT]

Quote:

Why would the LCD2 only have a 'reverb effect' with some amps?

 
This is something I would like to know as well once I have access to a larger sample of tube and SS amplifiers. I did test the LCD2 with a Cavalli EHHA and there was no reverb there but it's a hybrid design. 
 
@rhythmdevils
 
Can you describe it more in greater details? I'm piqued. 

 

[rgs9200m]

I've been making improvements to my system to make the overall sound more solid and the LCD2s have benefited significantly from this. I added a Hydra V-Ray 2 and pair of Shunyata Anaconda CX power cords
(1 on the V-Ray, 1 on the CD player). (I also had my EMM cdp upgraded with their "X" upgrade.) The LCD2's sound has now firmed up and there is a lot less of this reverb effect (just a little now).
I do appreciate what I think the LCD2's offer as the best (maybe perfect) frequency-response curve of any headphone. There is no wincing from piercing highs, which are sweet,
extended, and palpable, and I never feel the need to turn down the treble, which I do sometimes with all other phones (depending on the recording). I love the LCD2's highs.
 
However, the changes in my system also improved my HD800's performance, such that with all my SACDs they are just plain magnificent, just plain headphone-heaven, period.
With most regular CDs, they sound excellent but I still need to turn down the treble a bit, but the changes in my system keep the directness and solid bass that can be compromised
when tone controls are used. And the HD800s have this wonderful micro-soundstaging where the layers and positions of musical components are very evident, making things
sound strikingly real. And there is a perfect balance of crispness and smoothness. I'm happy I kept the HD800s and put in the effort to make them work at what I feel is an awesome level.
 
With the upstream changes, with both of these phones, the dreaded digital glare/shout is completely gone, with CD and SACD.
 
So, for now, the HD800s still win out easily for me over the LCD2s. I'm hoping some day Sennheiser offers a somewhat toned-down mellowed out version of the HD800s, as that would be really special.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

...snip...
 
So, for now, the HD800s still win out easily for me over the LCD2s. I'm hoping some day Sennheiser offers a somewhat toned-down mellowed out version of the HD800s, as that would be really special.

That would be the HD600 with a nice cable upgrade (more so than HD650 which sound even farther from the HD800).

 

[rgs9200m]

Well, just to add to my finding if anyone is still reading at this point, I actually have 2 amps, a B52 and a Rudistor RP010B, and the Rudistor is better with the LCD2s, 
really tightening things up. While the B52 is superior and more lifelike with a golden glow on the HD800s (and PS1000s and T1s), the solid state Rudistor has an iron grip
on the Audezes, and I think that does the trick. ( I did need to put my Stealth Dream power cord on the Rudistor to get a good solid bass.)
The LCD2s retain a tubey fluidity with all this upstream stuff in place, not a tube in the chain anywhere.
The tube amp just lost control of the LCD2s in the mids and the bass.
(This is NOT the case with the B52 and the other phones, where it adds needed warmth and liquidity and saturation to the images.)
 
But I don't think just any solid state amp will work, as I tried my 1st generation Headroom Max and even my Onkyo 7555 amp output on the LCD2s, and the
sound was not too good, with a strange hollowness and looseness on vocals and various instruments (like flutes).
 
So, like the HD800s, I think the LCD2s need a really good food chain to shine, just a different kind than the Sennheisers.
 
PS: I had HD600s long ago and thought they were closed in and claustrophobic and just plain never liked them. The amp was that Headroom Max, so that was a factor.
I still have HD650s, and they are also too closed in and lacking in resolution for me on any of my amps.
 
Thanks for reading my stream of consciousness here.

 

[Phasey]

Quote:

Well, just to add to my finding if anyone is still reading at this point,

I am.  Good posts.  

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Quote:

 
But I don't think just any solid state amp will work, as I tried my 1st generation Headroom Max and even my Onkyo 7555 amp output on the LCD2s, and the
sound was not too good, with a strange hollowness and looseness on vocals and various instruments (like flutes).

Would you know if there's a difference in "generations" of HR's amps? The reason I ask is cause I have an Ultra but really don't have anything to compare it to (that will change shortly as I have a RWA Isabellina on order).
 
 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Would you know if there's a difference in "generations" of HR's amps? The reason I ask is cause I have an Ultra but really don't have anything to compare it to (that will change shortly as I have a RWA Isabellina on order).

HR?  As in HeadRoom?  Yes, big improvements in generation to generation.
 

 

[Audio-Omega]

Do they compliment each other ?

 

[oqvist]

Quote:

Do they compliment each other ?

 Seems to go along like cats and dogs lol

 

[sokolov91]

Would just like to add that with some minor EQing the HD 800 sound absolutely spectacular... remarkable what a few dB shift here and there can do to create a natural (to my ear) sound.
 
they do lose a bit of the soundstage, or so it would seem, but they don't have any of that metallic "sheen". They sound fuller but without losing too much "air".
 
TBH with this EQ I could survive with just the HD 800. The LCD-2 don't need any compromises to sound best but the HD 800 are featherlights... and look so sexy
 
For those with minor qualms with either headphone I highly suggest you try some small EQing out.
 
Might sound like blasphemy to many as an EQ can potentially "degrade the signal", but at least there are real sonic changes (in our shared reality) unlike many, if not most, tweaks people try. A few fruitful and cheap way to get these minor changes... great compared to fruitless and very expensive tweaks!
 
This "discovery" on my part pretty much sealed the HD 800 as an item I cannot sell.
 
 
I will be looking at a high quality EQ for my main rig most likely.

 

[rgs9200m]

Yep, to add to what sokolov said above, as I mentioned in other posts here and in other threads, a little treble cut works wonders with the HD800s. They have performance to spare in the areas of soundstaging (depth and layering) and can easily give up a little on these fronts.
I do it with my Mac C46 preamp with a cut at 4kHz and a smaller cut at 1.2kHz. The C46 is a very, very transparent preamp and basically disappears with the tone controls bypassed, and has a small indirectness with the tone controls activated,
but the HD800 deals extremely well with this slight indirectness, and may even sound better, less analytical.  I was actually surprised at how well the preamp fit into the chain. It was just an experiment, but now it's permanent.
 
As an aside, the preamp adds extra gain to my headphone amps and thus provides ample power to drive HE6's. HE6s also benefit from a little treble cut and are equally able to cope with the preamp in the path.

 

[purrin]

Quote:

 
It is interesting that it seems to me that, as you point out, people who actually own or have owned both cans at the same time seem to feel this way, and people who listened to the LCD-2 at a meet are most often the ones who find the LCD-2 lacking versus the HD800.  This is just an anecdotal observation - but I would like to have someone who actually owned both at the SAME TIME and compared them DIRECTLY to chime in and report that they found the HD800 to be better at low-level detail retrieval, or higher in transparency, than the LCD-2.  This is ONLY an invitation to people who owned both at the same time.  For others who heard them at meets and disliked one or the other, no need to re-state your preferences in response to this post, please.

We'll I've finally had a chance to sit down in a home environment and compare these two with the same DAC and amp. I still feel the HD800 is better at retrieving low-level information, but the LCD-2 has more clarity. The nature of the difference is consistent with what I was trying to say in an earlier post. It's close enough that in most situations, I would say it's a wash in terms of detail (by which I mean a combination of clarity and low-level information retrieval.) An area the LCD-2 falls short is the muted harmonics and air from metal percussion, i.e. high-hats, cymbals. The sounds are there all right, but it feels like high-hats and cymbals have been simplified and lack that last bit of complexity. It sounds like someone cut the EQ a little bit at 16-17kHz. Then again most other headphones fall short here anyways.
 
I have to acknowledge the sound balance of the LCD-2 does disadvantage it in meet situations. Also some of the less than ideal pairings of the LCD-2 I initially heard in very good conditions probably heavily polluted my opinion of them. I've also had some extra time to roll a few different tubes to give the LCD-2 every advantage I can.
 
Quote:

Would just like to add that with some minor EQing the HD 800 sound absolutely spectacular... remarkable what a few dB shift here and there can do to crazy a natural (to my ear) sound.
 

 
I'm still struggling with getting the HD800 to behave on my own setup - still rolling tubes to find the right one - or I might need to use my other DAC. On the topic of EQ, the nice thing about about the LCD-2 in terms of EQ is that there don't seem to be any horrible resonances - there is a minor one at 11kHz on my own pair, but it's not that bad (I've heard other LCD-2s where this was an obvious problem). Therefore I've found the LCD-2 to respond very well to EQ. On occasion, I apply a shelf filter to bump up everything 2-3db past 1.5KHz. However, with the HD800, I've found no amount of EQ could really correct things - you can push down the low-mid treble peak, but that resonance is still there. Maybe I need to warm things up instead on the HD800.