Fearless1
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2011
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Quote:
J$ pads help in the process. That was my first thought when I tried them was "These sound identical to my Lcds". They add that bit of dark and a better seal for the bass impact
Actually it's quite amazing just what Hifiman does with their planars. I get the sense that the LCD-2 relies far too much on its (oh god, so comfortably fitted' sealing earpads) and a hefty damping scheme around its drivers. Meanwhile the hifiman might as well not be sealed (although it does rely on a little bit of seal too, don't get me wrong.) You can also get a sense of how the HE-400 fairs in its bass production compared to the LCD-2 if you just put your ear maybe a foot or so away from them. You can clearly how the drum strikes on the LCD-2, but with the HE-400 you get a sense of pressurized air being thrown about further out. I actually don't know how makes their headphones so open-air and bassy. I don't know if it's from stronger magnets or excursion from the driver itself, but it definitely seems to be moving a crapload of air at times in comparison to the Audeze. Judging by the size of the audeze cans, the driver has to be way bigger.
In terms of lack of air from being too damped, it's probably one of my biggest distractions from the LCD-2. The HE-400 no doubt sounds very thin at times after coming from the LCD-2, but I just love the way it lets sound decay out deep into a virtual stage with many defined layers around your head. The LCD-2 can do this at times too, and profoundly so, but not as all around as the HE-400.
Tomorrow I'm going to focus on EQ'ing the HE-400 to sound like the LCD-2. Then I'll perhaps start a simple writeup and comparison of the two on friday after I ship them out.
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be getting LCD-2 as my end-game. Despite my obvious love for its looks and earpads, I don't feel it's different enough for me. I much rather get an LCD-3 or HE-6 with speaker amp or wait and see what new stuff Audeze and Hifiman come out with. I would much like a closed LCD-2. I get the sense that I might as well have a closed headphone with the LCD-2 as it stands.
J$ pads help in the process. That was my first thought when I tried them was "These sound identical to my Lcds". They add that bit of dark and a better seal for the bass impact