I just got out of work and got to finally hear this thing, and it. is. amazing. The only thing I have to compare it to is my Cayin C5, which was my first amp, and made me truly believe how much an amp could improve sound quality. I haven't done any a/b testing yet, but the difference is just immediately immense. This is like how I felt hearing my headphones through the Cayin C5 for the first time, but even more impressive to me.
Unless you have only ever listened to headphones through a Cayin C5, this might seem all hype, so just keep in mind this is coming from a cheap portable amp vs a $500 dac/amp combo.
Initial impressions:
Nas - One Love
I have seriously never heard this song like this. It's an entirely more 3D, lifelike story. The voice especially sounds better through this amp. I've actually never heard it quite like this. It really feels like i'm sitting there in the studio. What I was missing on the LCD2 (rev2f) was a proper amp. In retrospect the Cayin C5 only did an ok job with these. But the difference is just insane. It'll take some time before I can objectively say that this amp truly has this effect and it isn't just from the pure excitement and relief of finally listening to this thing.
The soundstage is so much better than I could have imagined coming from the C5/soundcard. I'm wondering if I'll have to take down my classified for the LCD2s because I'm hearing these in an entirely different way. It sounded so muddied before. I seriously thought the "dark" sound was supposed to evoke being choked by thick velvet curtains.
Tom Waits - Red Shoes
I'm hearing more 3D sounds from this song. It seems more cohesive in a way. Tom Waits has this incredible knack for making you "feel" a song, or the atmosphere of a song can just be so tangible in his music. These do such a great job rendering this aspect of his music.
Flako - Sun Ba
Again, the immense improvement to the soundstage completely changed my perception of my LCD2s. While I love this song no matter what, even through ipod earbuds, through the m9xx > LCD2s, I noticed subtle things that I'd never heard before. The soundstage definitely sounds more 3D than L&R panning.
Andy Stott - Luxury Problems
The bass just isn't doing it for me like it usually does with this song. It's like it's not quite prominent enough, which is strange considering this HP's reputation. The bass hits me more through my earbuds than through this combination. I would've expected this to feel this in my brain. I would almost say that this is just a bad combination for this song. Weird.
Valentine - Tricky - (Andy Stott Remix)
Immediately hit me with details I never noticed before. Voice sounds great, placement in the mix sounds way different than I've noticed before. Everything about this remix is starting to make more sense now. Andy Stott was definitely trying to make a realistic 3D soundstage here. I had never noticed it before in any headphones. My sony SA5000s represented the sounds well, but they didn't give them their space so elegantly. This song is a serious, serious win for the m9XX and LCD2.
This song is also giving me insight into the phrase "effortless separation" that I heard so much regarding the Flare R2A IEM. I noticed it through the R2As but only slightly. Through the m9XX, the LCD2s effortlessly give every sound it's own place in the mix. Even bad mixes sound great on these
miscellaneous note - through this amp, these headphones become even more forgiving to poor mixes/bad recordings. I don't listen to much heavily produced music, so this is a really important quality to me in a headphone.
Galantai Tancok - Zoltan Kodaly - Neeme Jaarvi
First off, this is an incredibly underrated piece of classical music. While the sounds of each instrument are by far, more separated than I've heard before, they don't quite fill the same space they did before. It's a trade off between clarity and succulence. Do you want those fat notes, or do you want to hear them dancing around.
Alright these are just an hour of impressions, take it with a brick of salt and the expectation that my reception to these will cool down after the excitement wears down. But what an incredible first impression. I'll add more if people are interested