[Kammerat Rebekka]

I would strongly advise folks to audition the Audeze closedbacks before purchasing. The LCD-2 closedback is without a doubt one of the worst headphones I’ve listened to, regardless of price...nah actually the closedback LCD-X may just take it. Anyhoo both of these come with complete lower-midrange suck out. They sound extremely weird imho. Great bass sure...but man those mids are just horrendous.
If you want a closedback planar, I’d look at a Dan Clark Audio one instead. After all he started out his business with modded T50rp closedback planars. There is skill involved in tuning headphones..and it can be rather difficult to get a closedback planar to sound good if you’ve only worked on openbacks previously like fx Audeze has*. The original Aeon Flow C may well suit a fan of Amanda’s stylings methinks

Edith: *I obviously forgot about the EL series.

 

[yeboyi]

I would strongly advise folks to audition the Audeze closedbacks before purchasing. The LCD-2 closedback is without a doubt one of the worst headphones I’ve listened to, regardless of price...nah actually the closedback LCD-X may just take it. Anyhoo both of these come with complete lower-midrange suck out. They sound extremely weird imho. Great bass sure...but man those mids are just horrendous.
If you want a closedback planar, I’d look at a Dan Clark Audio one instead. After all he started out his business with modded T50rp closedback planars. There is skill involved in tuning headphones..and it can be rather difficult to get a closedback planar to sound good if you’ve only worked on openbacks previously like fx Audeze has. The original Aeon Flow C may well suit a fan of Amanda’s stylings methinks

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y11srm8v7rdxxu9/Audeze LCD-2 Closed.pdf?dl=0 Tuning dont look that bad. Actually better than open back Audeze's. Looks better than Dan Clark's on paper. I would buy it if the weight is non issue. Seems like it has fun bass, fun bite to electros and sparkles up top, no big peaks or dips.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y11srm8v7rdxxu9/Audeze LCD-2 Closed.pdf?dl=0 Tuning dont look that bad. Actually better than open back Audeze's. Looks better than Dan Clark's on paper. I would buy it if the weight is non issue. Seems like it has fun bass, fun bite to electros and sparkles up top, no big peaks or dips.

Well this is the first time I’ve ever seen a frequency response of this headphone, so I am going completely off what I heard. Though to be honest with you, that frequency response looks horrendous! It looks like waves out on the ocean and explains the total lack of mids. They are masked by the bass and that second wave of energy between 1 and 2k.

Edith: just found another frequency response of this coconut.

 

[yeboyi]

Well this is the first time I’ve ever seen a frequency response of this headphone, so I am going completely off what I heard. Though to be honest with you, that frequency response looks horrendous! It looks like waves out on the ocean and explains the total lack of mids. They are masked by the bass and that second wave of energy between 1 and 2k.

Edith: just found another frequency response of this coconut.

Waves are small i don't think it will be issue but your graph looks very bad lol. My link has the best and most reliable measurement device though. Audeze probably have variation issues.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

^Yeah but when they form around the place where our human hearing is at it’s most acute and funnily enough also where 80% of all music takes place ie the midrange, then said waves can spell disaster. I don’t think it was a dud. I’ve listened to two other pairs afterwards that sounded equally poor.

Anyway let’s get back to Amanda! My friend recently bought one to upgrade from his Sundara..and have positively found his endgame headphone. I have yet to really sit down with it and listen to my music, but I am certainly looking forward to it. My friend’s other favourite headphone is the HD600, so I perk my ears whenever he mentions the words ‘headphone’ and ‘endgame’ in the same sentence

 

[yeboyi]

^Yeah but when they form around the place where our human hearing is at it’s most acute and funnily enough also where 80% of all music takes place ie the midrange, then said waves can spell disaster. I don’t think it was a dud. I’ve listened to two other pairs afterwards that sounded equally poor.

Anyway let’s get back to Amanda! My friend recently bought one to upgrade from his Sundara..and have positively found his endgame headphone. I have yet to really sit down with it and listen to my music, but I am certainly looking forward to it. My friend’s other favourite headphone is the HD600, so I perk my ears whenever he mentions the words ‘headphone’ and ‘endgame’ in the same sentence

Amanda is a delicate lady.

 

[bagwell359]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y11srm8v7rdxxu9/Audeze LCD-2 Closed.pdf?dl=0 Tuning dont look that bad. Actually better than open back Audeze's. Looks better than Dan Clark's on paper. I would buy it if the weight is non issue. Seems like it has fun bass, fun bite to electros and sparkles up top, no big peaks or dips.

You don't listen to paper. The MrSpeakers 1.1 closed is well better than either of those Audeze IMO.

 

[bagwell359]

Amanda is a delicate lady.

Get the 600 on an OTL amp to make it fair, and the Ananda on a SS with 4 wpc to make it fair.

 

[genck]

Anyway let’s get back to Amanda!

What did Amanda do to you?

 

[alexlevn0791]

So I bought the Ananda first and then the Arya later (with a return option), thinking that I might keep the Arya and sell the Ananda down the road. Much to my surprise, I decided to keep the Ananda instead. I love everything about the Arya and no doubt it's a technically competent headphone (same for Ananda), but it's really fatiguing when I listen to it at my desktop for 3+ hours. The Ananda's neutrality beats the Arya in this regard; Arya turned out to be too bright for me in the long run. Tonality wise, they are quite similar. This is why just a few hours of auditioning at the store won't do it. It must be done with my entire music collections at home. I guess now I can save up some more bucks for a different set of cans, maybe ZMF or Heddphone, for a different flavor.

 

[yeboyi]

So I bought the Ananda first and then the Arya later (with a return option), thinking that I might keep the Arya and sell the Ananda down the road. Much to my surprise, I decided to keep the Ananda instead. I love everything about the Arya and no doubt it's a technically competent headphone (same for Ananda), but it's really fatiguing when I listen to it at my desktop for 3+ hours. The Ananda's neutrality beats the Arya in this regard; Arya turned out to be too bright for me in the long run. Tonality wise, they are quite similar. This is why just a few hours of auditioning at the store won't do it. It must be done with my entire music collections at home. I guess now I can save up some more bucks for a different set of cans, maybe ZMF or Heddphone, for a different flavor.

How about bass and soundstage ?

 

[bagwell359]

Waves are small i don't think it will be issue but your graph looks very bad lol. My link has the best and most reliable measurement device though. Audeze probably have variation issues.

Audeze introduces headphones on a pace almost opposite HFM. Look at how long their 3 headliners have been in production. I don't see variation issues. I see a reference by the designers which is in fact a "house" sound. The LCD-4 is a fine listen, but at $4k? Try $1750, and a digital EQ - then you are talking. They are a good counter to the German mega treble Houses.

 

[bagwell359]

So I bought the Ananda first and then the Arya later (with a return option), thinking that I might keep the Arya and sell the Ananda down the road. Much to my surprise, I decided to keep the Ananda instead. I love everything about the Arya and no doubt it's a technically competent headphone (same for Ananda), but it's really fatiguing when I listen to it at my desktop for 3+ hours. The Ananda's neutrality beats the Arya in this regard; Arya turned out to be too bright for me in the long run. Tonality wise, they are quite similar. This is why just a few hours of auditioning at the store won't do it. It must be done with my entire music collections at home. I guess now I can save up some more bucks for a different set of cans, maybe ZMF or Heddphone, for a different flavor.

Which of your amps do you do your critical listening with, and what's the WPC?

 

[yeboyi]

Audeze introduces headphones on a pace almost opposite HFM. Look at how long their 3 headliners have been in production. I don't see variation issues. I see a reference by the designers which is in fact a "house" sound. The LCD-4 is a fine listen, but at $4k? Try $1750, and a digital EQ - then you are talking. They are a good counter to the German mega treble Houses.

That is a known problem with Audeze headphones. Same headphones end up sounding different.

 

[Dramlin]

I love everything about the Arya and no doubt it's a technically competent headphone (same for Ananda), but it's really fatiguing when I listen to it at my desktop for 3+ hours.

Was your Arya version 1 or 2? Version 2 started shipping within the last few months, and has a dust filter/cloth covering the window shade system. It's rumored to fix the peaks in the highs entirely while also subduing the bass a little, but up to this point the user reviews are all over the place without a clear consensus. Second question is were both headphones burned in for 150 hours?

Not challenging your decision in the slightest. I think it's rad that you were able to find you liked the Ananda better, and I have seen others make that same decision. Just asking for details so that others that are comparing the Arya & Ananda's have a clear idea of what to factor in when they try both headphones to make the same decision.