[TheR0v3r]

Some Audeze’s and the Hifiman Ananda Nano (part 2)
Another big surprise was the Audeze LCD-X 2021. This one I really liked!

My view of this series have first and foremost been HEAVY. The whole LCD-4 experienced was marred by its weight. It’s not about being to heavy to wear but about weight coming in the way of enjoyment. With that in mind I tried on the LCD-X… And it was nowhere near as heavy as the LCD-4!

In its default tuning the LCD-X is a very nice contrast to the Ananda Nano. It presents a smaller, more intimate soundstage with nice depth. In comparison it feels more laidback, not as quick, as the Hifiman. Oddly enough despite being positioned as a professional tool for mixing it actually sounds more like headphone tuned for a casual listening experience, not at all like the MM-500.

Very nice.

 

[Toriga]

Whats the EQ you guys are using so we can all be on the same page ?

Equalizer APO

 

[TheR0v3r]

Some Audeze’s and the Hifiman Ananda Nano (part 3)
The Audeze LCD-2 Classic (LCD-2C). I had zero expectations.

Moving from the LCD-X to the LCD-2C didn’t feel that different when it comes to weight and overall feel. No problems. They are technically not as good as the LCD-X and come up short in almost any area. Somehow they end up being addictive in their own way. Again using the test tracks (thanks @martel80) it was easy to hear where they come up short but it somehow didn’t matter. They present music in a way that sounds so put together, the whole is much more than the sum of the parts.

They are so different from what Hifiman is aiming for that it’s hard to make any sort of comparison, at least those I’ve heard. I think that the use case is fairly simple with the LCD-2C. You can use them to listen to almost any music no matter its production qualities or, better yet, lack of production qualites. It somehow makes poor recordings sound good.

The David Copperfield of headphones, a legendary illusionist.

 

[martel80]

@TheR0v3r .
Thanks for that review.

I’m shocked by your review of the LCD-X.

I was expecting them to be very technical with a lot more resolution and details with equal transient response and definition.

You commenting on the MM-500 being mid forward also make me wonder if it would be an upgrade for me to go that way. I mix urban pop music so I’m wondering if it’s the tool I need.

It’s also sad you were on a subpar setup as it makes it difficult to judge the real quality of certain high end headphones.

I wish I could hear those by myself in April when I come back in Montreal.

Thanks for the review. I appreciate.

 

[TheR0v3r]

@TheR0v3r .
Thanks for that review.

I’m shocked by your review of the LCD-X.

I was expecting them to be very technical with a lot more resolution and details with equal transient response and definition.

You commenting on the MM-500 being mid forward also make me wonder if it would be an upgrade for me to go that way. I mix urban pop music so I’m wondering if it’s the tool I need.

It’s also sad you were on a subpar setup as it makes it difficult to judge the real quality of certain high end headphones.

I wish I could hear those by myself in April when I come back in Montreal.

Thanks for the review. I appreciate.

First of all, I’m not an audio professional. And on top of that I’m not even an experienced reviewer (in its broadest sense). I just enjoy music and hifi, sometimes in that order

I really liked the LCD-X. It’s great in every way, it’s just that the tuning is more “laidback”. The other issue is the subpar setup.

 

[martel80]

First of all, I’m not an audio professional. And on top of that I’m not even an experienced reviewer (in its broadest sense). I just enjoy music and hifi, sometimes in that order

I really liked the LCD-X. It’s great in every way, it’s just that the tuning is more “laidback”. The other issue is the subpar setup.

What do you mean by laidback ?

 

[Lightspeed12]

@TheR0v3r .
Thanks for that review.

I’m shocked by your review of the LCD-X.

I was expecting them to be very technical with a lot more resolution and details with equal transient response and definition.

You commenting on the MM-500 being mid forward also make me wonder if it would be an upgrade for me to go that way. I mix urban pop music so I’m wondering if it’s the tool I need.

It’s also sad you were on a subpar setup as it makes it difficult to judge the real quality of certain high end headphones.

I wish I could hear those by myself in April when I come back in Montreal.

Thanks for the review. I appreciate.

Nothing wrong with the lcd-x they are very technical & crisp sounding & I have the 2020 model before the revamp.
I have use mine on topping d90le & a90 discrete along with both the ef400 & 600 also the wa7 fireflies gen 3.
I rate them as good as arya stealth, focal clear og & he1000v2. I also run them on ifi audio micro idsd signature & fostex hpv1 hybrid tube amp for travelling. Excellent headphones.

 

[dd051]

I just trie

I just tried your EQ in Sonarwork and sadly I cannot fix the slope of the Low Shelf. I think it's off a lot because of that. Still, I find your EQ very party friendly. Not much in the mid lows definition but HUGE sub frequencies. At low volume , it almost remember me of my old living room sound system.

Yes, those lows are a bit crazy. I'm wondering, how would you change the curve for more definition and resolution? I like the sub bass, as there are just some songs that use large/oversized drums that it's crazy good on. I definitely have been trying to tune for more detail and retrieval in the mids -
I added a
10000 : +3.1/1.41
4400: +2 / 1.7
9000: +0.8/1
all trying to fix specific problems (violin / cello resolution, specifically)

I would definitely like to try to tune it more for general beauty than for bass - I don't particularly listen to much bass-heavy music. I used another user's bass shelf and just never changed it because it felt pretty good.
Do you think the bass shelf could be toning down the mids significantly?

Appreciate your advice! I would love to try your suggestions.

 

[martel80]

Nothing wrong with the lcd-x they are very technical & crisp sounding & I have the 2020 model before the revamp.
I have use mine on topping d90le & a90 discrete along with both the ef400 & 600 also the wa7 fireflies gen 3.
I rate them as good as arya stealth, focal clear og & he1000v2. I also run them on ifi audio micro idsd signature & fostex hpv1 hybrid tube amp for travelling. Excellent headphones.

Thanks for the input. I guess the question I’m asking here is how much (if any) they are an improvement technically compared to the nanos. I can definitely see how more flat tuned they are compared to the nanos but given Rover review, it just seem like it might be a miss if I follow only reviews cheering them. At least, what i understood is that he seem not that much impressed by the product compared to the nanos.

So for me to chug a thousand bucks on a very small or “subject to opinion” improvement seems like a bad calculated risk.

I don’t know….. what’s your point of view in comparison to the nanos. Do you have any knowledge about audio engineering ? Can you pin point how the lcd-x are that much better then the nanos technically? ( other then the tuning obviously)

 

[Lightspeed12]

Thanks for the input. I guess the question I’m asking here is how much (if any) they are an improvement technically compared to the nanos. I can definitely see how more flat tuned they are compared to the nanos but given Rover review, it just seem like it might be a miss if I follow only reviews cheering them. At least, what i understood is that he seem not that much impressed by the product compared to the nanos.

So for me to chug a thousand bucks on a very small or “subject to opinion” improvement seems like a bad calculated risk.

I don’t know….. what’s your point of view in comparison to the nanos. Do you have any knowledge about audio engineering ? Can you pin point how the lcd-x are that much better then the nanos technically? ( other then the tuning obviously)

I don't own the nanos mainly because of the bright treble & I couldn't be bothered equalising the crap out of any headphone to change it into something else lol
Don't get me wrong I do equalize using my schiit Lokius for small tweaking but nothing extreme.
I bought the ananda stealth instead of the nano after reading a few reviews that put me off.
Joshua Valour gave the original lcd-x a 10 out of 10 & he's a highly regarded reviewer & he said the 2021 revamp one was an improvement.

 

[martel80]

Yes, those lows are a bit crazy. I'm wondering, how would you change the curve for more definition and resolution? I like the sub bass, as there are just some songs that use large/oversized drums that it's crazy good on. I definitely have been trying to tune for more detail and retrieval in the mids -
I added a
10000 : +3.1/1.41
4400: +2 / 1.7
9000: +0.8/1
all trying to fix specific problems (violin / cello resolution, specifically)

I would definitely like to try to tune it more for general beauty than for bass - I don't particularly listen to much bass-heavy music. I used another user's bass shelf and just never changed it because it felt pretty good.
Do you think the bass shelf could be toning down the mids significantly?

Appreciate your advice! I would love to try your suggestions.

I will have to use an EQ plugin in my DAW to try to figure it out as the low shelf is obviously not comparable to what you must have did.

One thing that I can already point out is that I think you should change your approach as far as frequency range you are trying to fix. Especially because you mention Violin and cello which live right in the mid range and you are currently beefing up the smiley curve so your details and definition return gets deminished even more.

As i said previously , I’m definitely a bass fan but your +12 db low shelf is way over the top. I’d bring it back to +6db knowing that I’m still putting my whole frequency balance on loan for the benefits of the bass. You’ll gain a ton of bass details as it will have more overhead to articulate.

Also, as much as the highs are effortlessly going through on your tuning, I would add a -3db high shelf (at least) at 3.5khz. Also, remove those peak you added in the treble range. Again, you are killing the mids by putting high frequencies energy upfront.

Another part that was seriously revealing to me was the +4db peak at 2khz with a medium wide bell shape. Enough to cover from 1khz to 3.5khz and have its peak at about 2 kHz. Yours is good, just put the bell wider.

That will help you massively with instrumentation resolution and details and will also reveal a lot more depth.

That to me is just a testimony that you should try, as a listener, to give more attention to the mid highs, mids and mid lows. Bass and highs are cool put music and balance live in the mids.

So to resume quickly.

+6db low shelf at 55 (experiment going to +4db)
-3 db high shelf at 3.5 kHz (experiment going down to -6db)
+ 4.5 db at 2khz with a wide bell.

Try getting use to it and then I’ll follow with more specific frequency adjustments once you understand where we are heading. And I’ll also provide an explanation why we are going there so you can understand and hear what’s going on.

Let’s get those violin and cello alive again.

Let me know once you’re done and comfy.

 

[dd051]

Excellent!

Two things I’d like for you to adjust to make it even more inline with what I did:

• Adjust the Q values on the shelf at 22 Hz, 3850 Hz and 10800 Hz to Q=0.71 for all three. If you can’t adjust the slope of the curve then you’ll be fine with that Q.
• Remove the settings at 80 Hz and just keep the one at 70 Hz. I was trying to figure where to do the cut and with what Q, that’s why I wrote an intervall.

How does it sound?

Looking at his Peace APO, I think his low shelf filter is using the regular low shelf filter setting and not the Q as slope filter setting. The Q as slope filter setting will have a letter 'Q' placed on the lower part of the shelf display

 

[martel80]

I don't own the nanos mainly because of the bright treble & I couldn't be bothered equalising the crap out of any headphone to change it into something else lol
Don't get me wrong I do equalize using my schiit Lokius for small tweaking but nothing extreme.
I bought the ananda stealth instead of the nano after reading a few reviews that put me off.
Joshua Valour gave the original lcd-x a 10 out of 10 & he's a highly regarded reviewer & he said the 2021 revamp one was an improvement.

Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand better your statement.

 

[Phidel]

Excellent!

Two things I’d like for you to adjust to make it even more inline with what I did:

• Adjust the Q values on the shelf at 22 Hz, 3850 Hz and 10800 Hz to Q=0.71 for all three. If you can’t adjust the slope of the curve then you’ll be fine with that Q.
• Remove the settings at 80 Hz and just keep the one at 70 Hz. I was trying to figure where to do the cut and with what Q, that’s why I wrote an intervall.

How does it sound?

Done!

Last question, pre amp setting? I have it at 0 at this moment.

 

[TheR0v3r]

Done!

Last question, pre amp setting? I have it at 0 at this moment.

Put it at - 6 dB for now.