[Articnoise]

I'm listening to one now. A demo LCD 3F from my dealer that had its drivers replaced last month. Sibilance in every pronounciation of an s and breathy voices - plus elevated upper mids.

 

Is the demo ex burned in? Otherwise let the LCD 3 play for 200 hours. It will open up the sound and smooth out the harshness of the treble.

 

IME

 

[listen4joy]

Maybe they improved lcd4 after tyll review, just said...

 

[exsomnis]

 



Is the demo ex burned in? Otherwise let the LCD 3 play for 200 hours. It will open up the sound and smooth out the harshness of the treble.



 



IME

It's had some burn-in but I have now idea for how long. If my incoming copy is the same, I'll be trying that out for sure.

 

[exsomnis]

On my authenticity certificate of my 16th March 2016 LCD 2, it's still handwritten by them calling them just LCD 2.

Have you heard the 2.2s? How do yours sound?

 

[Skampmeister]

Have you heard the 2.2s? How do yours sound?

I've only ever heard the latest incarnation of the LCD2's, mine, so I can't tell you if they are better or not, but they have been stuck on my head since I bought them. I'm listening to a pair of 3's next week hopefully and if I like those better, I will be upgrading, only because I love this Audeze sound, and if the 3's really are more refined, all the better.

 

[exsomnis]

I've only ever heard the latest incarnation of the LCD2's, mine, so I can't tell you if they are better or not, but they have been stuck on my head since I bought them. I'm listening to a pair of 3's next week hopefully and if I like those better, I will be upgrading, only because I love this Audeze sound, and if the 3's really are more refined, all the better.

 
The 3Cs were more refined than the 2.2s, to my ears. The 2.2s were great on their own, but had a tendency for slightly muddled mids and highs. The 3Cs had sweet resolving mids and highs, almost delicately so. I haven't heard the new 2Fs but the 3Fs so far are fantastic - definition, soundstage and placement of instruments is on a whole new level compared to the 3Cs.
 
Good luck, I'm sure you'll enjoy them too. 

 

[Skampmeister]

It all comes down to how well the new LCD3's handle Tesseracts album "Polaris" the heavier parts of those songs can sound congested on gear that has a hard time playing them, the LCD2's can struggle a bit with it. My B&W 805Ds on my main system don't at all.

 

[roamling]

I bought my LCD XC here in Ireland in 2016 but ist made in September 2015, but to be honest I like the sound of it and i bought it based on the reviews for that model. But what would the difference be for the new 2016 version? I prefer the rather dark sound signature and if I want more straight forward sounding phones I use my Beyerdynamic T1.2. 

 

[Maconi]

My LCD-XC had the left driver fail. Audeze was pretty quick to turn it around and they confirmed that it now has the 2016 drivers in it.
 
Old Drivers

 
New Drivers

 
Can't say much impression-wise yet. The old drivers were well broken-in and most of my time spent with the old drivers was with EQ (which I haven't altered for the new drivers yet). If I had to say anything I'd say the bass sounds different somehow. I don't know if it's because the drivers are stiffer (either due to the redesign or lack of break-in) or because there's less treble according to the graph. Still need to put more hours on them and spend some time tweaking a new EQ once I feel they've settled in. 

 

[Dillan]

Interesting.. Did you ask for the newer drivers or did they just install them without asking?
 
Let us know any noticeable differences!

 

[droido256]

Just placed a order for the el-8 open. Question. I selected the apple cable thinking it was the cipher cable. Seeing as its not, could i order a cipher cable for it down the road?

 

[Dillan]

Just placed a order for the el-8 open. Question. I selected the apple cable thinking it was the cipher cable. Seeing as its not, could i order a cipher cable for it down the road?

 
They don't currently sell the cipher cable separately for the EL-8 open back, but I have heard that you can call their sales support and perhaps put in an order for it. (haven't verified that yet)
 
I have heard that they plan in the future to sell it separately, but for now they are pushing their Titanium version which is supposed to be appealing mostly because of that cable.
 
I am in the same boat and probably will order the EL-8 open soon, having the cipher would really be great.
 
If they wont sell it, I would look at the Centrance Skynn.

 

[droido256]

Sweet i dont see why it wouldnt work (hi i have a el-8 ti, and i need to replace the cable lol)

 

[Dillan]

Sweet i dont see why it wouldnt work (hi i have a el-8 ti, and i need to replace the cable lol)

LOL.
 
Yea that could work! They might ask for warranty info, but just say you don't have it and you're willing to pay for the replacement.

 

[droido256]

Actually i emailed them earlier, and they responded back they do plan to sell the cipher cable by itself in the next month or so(most likely to coincide with Iphone 7) for 150usd. But for now the el-8 ti, and Sine are the only carriers for it.