[Rhamnetin]

Personally, I think a birth child of Hifiman and Audeze will be the superior breed. Hifiman driver and Audeze design and build quality.

And Audeze magnets

 

[omniweltall]

Personally, I think a birth child of Hifiman and Audeze will be the superior breed. Hifiman driver and Audeze design and build quality.

Never thought of that. Doesnt actually sound half bad.

Personally I also prefer Audeze still keeping their old sound, and create a new lineup for that for that joint collaboration. There is something addictive to old Audeze sound. I would miss it.

 

[SilverEars]

Never thought of that. Doesnt actually sound half bad.

Personally I also prefer Audeze still keeping their old sound, and create a new lineup for that for that joint collaboration. There is something addictive to old Audeze sound. I would miss it.

One thing that differentiates Audeze from Hifiman is the bass, probably generally more of a warm tilt with Audeze. I got to try out the LCD3F and interestingly, it has good amount of treble that I didn't find with their lower models like LCD2 or C as much. I generally thought they tuned it to recess the upper-mids than neutral to perhaps cause sensation of smoothness with certain tracks. Which on the other hand, Hifiman is the female vocal headphones that tend to provide that upper-mids without holding back.

LCD3F broke my expectations of Audeze treble. I thought it didn't sound upper-mids recessed with ample treble without being bright. So far, it's the most tonally balanced and righter sounding Audeze I've heard so far. I haven't heard X or any of the 4 series.

I don't know if it's particular to my ears, but I generally have at least slight issue with Audeze mids tonality.

 

[MadSounds]

Personally, I think a birth child of Hifiman and Audeze will be the superior breed. Hifiman driver and Audeze design and build quality.

As long as we're talking crazy how about a zmf / hifiman merger. Fang can design the drivers and Zach takes care of the rest. basic woods and good build quality for made in China flagship, USA made versions can focus on custom woods and Rolex level fit and finish.

 

[omniweltall]

As long as we're talking crazy how about a zmf / hifiman merger. Fang can design the drivers and Zach takes care of the rest. basic woods and good build quality for made in China flagship, USA made versions can focus on custom woods and Rolex level fit and finish.

Personally, I don't think Zach needs help with his drivers. Unless Fang needs Zach's help.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Audeze needs ZMF's treble if anything. Also my favorite sounding planar is the ZMF Ori (though I'm guessing the Abyss Phi CC will dethrone it).

 

[MadSounds]

only said that because zmf is known for extremely good build quality that hifiman needs and zmf is currently getting their own driver production up and running. didn't mean to take any stance on zmf's new drivers, which i understand are a very impressive debut offering. which is very impressive when I often hear about read about companies having setbacks manufacturing new product lines.

Plus would really like someone else to take a stab at the at optimizing a headphone that totally sacrifices drive-ability (sensitivity). I suppose Abyss might fit this description, but it crosses the absolutely not line for me $$$ wise even used.

 

[Luke Thomas]

i take the hex2 over the lcd3. In overall sound and comfort. Must be my amp

 

[seanwee]

i take the hex2 over the lcd3. In overall sound and comfort. Must be my amp

Same here. Its not just you.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

i take the hex2 over the lcd3. In overall sound and comfort. Must be my amp

Same here. Its not just you.

I’m in the same camp as you all.

 

[thecrow]

i take the hex2 over the lcd3. In overall sound and comfort. Must be my amp

Same here. Its not just you.

I’m in the same camp as you all.

Why? Why? Why?

I'm curious to know - I have owned the ananda and own the zmf auteur and lcd 2 (was happy with all 3 of them to a big extent) but have only demoed the lcd3 a couple of times
So wondering where/how you see that lcd3 (i guess relative to the ananda/hex v2 as a reference point)

thanks in advance

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Why? Why? Why?

I'm curious to know - I have owned the ananda and own the zmf auteur and lcd 2 (was happy with all 3 of them to a big extent) but have only demoed the lcd3 a couple of times
So wondering where/how you see that lcd3 (i guess relative to the ananda/hex v2 as a reference point)

thanks in advance

For me, it’s always the same three issues with Audeze: weight, tuning, soundstage. All the LCD’s are too damn heavy and they all have too much rolled off upper mids and lower treble, and some even have too rolled off upper treble. And none of them will amaze you with their soundstage, especially compared to the higher end Hifiman.

Some think the HEX V2 is too smooth and inoffensive in the treble. But compared to Audeze, the HEX V2 might as well be a Sennheiser 800.

Off topic, but how are you liking your Auteur? The only reason I haven’t bought one is because a lot of owners say it doesn’t have a very good soundstage. But everyone praises its timbre, tuning, and tonality.

 

[thecrow]

For me, it’s always the same three issues with Audeze: weight,tuning, soundstage. All the LCD’s are too damn heavy and they all have too much rolled off upper mids and lower treble, and some even have too rolled off upper treble. And none of them will amaze you with their soundstage, especially compared to the higher end Hifiman.

Some think the HEX V2 is too smooth and inoffensive in the treble. But compared to Audeze, the HEX V2 might as well be a Sennheiser 800.

Off topic, but how are you liking your Auteur? The only reason I haven’t bought one is because a lot of owners say it doesn’t have a very good soundstage.

I was surprised how good the Auteur was relative to the eikon and atticus that did not impress me/my preferences at all.

My opinion is the Auteur is a worthy complement to say an hex v2 or hd800 or something like that. Quite uniques relative to my other HPs i have. Great with acoustic stuff and probably Jazz - that kind of stuff. It has a tone that is not completely neutral but has that little bit of thickness/delay/bouncing around/layback thing going on.. that's what it brings to the table and does well

For me it's never going to be my number one however if i hang on to it (and not trade it in for (say) an lcd3) then it will definitely get it's fair share of use

Recently enjoyed it and performed really well with Alice in chains unplugged, rem automatic for the people and some nils lofgren. That's the kind of stuff that i have it looking for when i'm in the mood for that

On zmf's website there is a quote from a reviewer saying (something like) it mixes a neutral sound with the zmf house sound - that sums it up pretty well for me and why i easily prefer it to the other two zmfs i have heard

 

[Luke Thomas]

Why? Why? Why?

I'm curious to know - I have owned the ananda and own the zmf auteur and lcd 2 (was happy with all 3 of them to a big extent) but have only demoed the lcd3 a couple of times
So wondering where/how you see that lcd3 (i guess relative to the ananda/hex v2 as a reference point)

thanks in advance[/QUOT
With a violectric amp. I liked the hex 2 better than the lcd 3. More detailed.

 

[SilverEars]

Plus would really like someone else to take a stab at the at optimizing a headphone that totally sacrifices drive-ability (sensitivity). I suppose Abyss might fit this description, but it crosses the absolutely not line for me $$$ wise even used.

Yeah, I really don't understand why they want it more difficult for it to be driven and make it expensive as hell. It's like, we give you the previlages of difficulty fo yo azz, so pay up.

Also design. Abyss, frankenstein. It looks like DIY headphone designed by frankenstein. And you got to adjust that thing every time you put on. With all this, they also want rediculous amount of money for us to suffer bad design and inconvenience. Only in this audiophile world we can be so masochistic.

We shouldn't condone that kind of behavior from companies.