Introducing the Audeze LCD-R!

[M3NTAL]

Year later check-in. Has anyone found an alternative amplifier that they are happy with? Some old school Krell amps are stable down to 2ohm, but usually very tough to find in good condition. I've been thinking of asking bottlehead if they have any kits that they could modify with custom transformers with taps for a RAAL and LCD-R setup.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Year later check-in. Has anyone found an alternative amplifier that they are happy with? Some old school Krell amps are stable down to 2ohm, but usually very tough to find in good condition. I've been thinking of asking bottlehead if they have any kits that they could modify with custom transformers with taps for a RAAL and LCD-R setup.

Most Woo Amps support the LCD-R, just need a different cable.

The Raal Amps should work as well or any amp with their new TI-1A Transformer Interface.

More important is the question, a year later, will we see a rerun a successor or anything like that?

 

[elwappo99]

Year later check-in. Has anyone found an alternative amplifier that they are happy with? Some old school Krell amps are stable down to 2ohm, but usually very tough to find in good condition. I've been thinking of asking bottlehead if they have any kits that they could modify with custom transformers with taps for a RAAL and LCD-R setup.

Most high end Woo amps are good (WA22, WA33, etc) per Jack Woo. Also Alex Cavalli has blessed any of his amps. Had the WA22 and Liquid Crimson. Liquid Crimson's technicalities really play up the LCD-R's abilities. Plus it's got a resistor channel built in to allow for more volume play (albeit, lower sound quality).

Liquid Glass has a noise floor that is audible on silence. Maybe I should roll some lower gain tubes into it.

 

[M3NTAL]

The Bottlehead Kaiju might actually work for just the LCD-R also - it has a 2ohm tap. https://bottlehead.com/product/kaiju-300b-amplifier-kit/

 

[elwappo99]

You could ask. My guess though, is that you'll get a very high noise floor. The LCD-R is a very sensitive headphone (like opposite of HE-6).

 

[Currawong]

You basically want a very low gain speaker amp, or something equivalent to it, that wont balk at a 2 Ohm load.

 

[eskamobob1]

You basically want a very low gain speaker amp, or something equivalent to it, that wont balk at a 2 Ohm load.

All the slew, none of the gain

 

[chargedcapacitor]

Year later check-in. Has anyone found an alternative amplifier that they are happy with? Some old school Krell amps are stable down to 2ohm, but usually very tough to find in good condition. I've been thinking of asking bottlehead if they have any kits that they could modify with custom transformers with taps for a RAAL and LCD-R setup.

100% get an NC252MP or comparable hypex amp + the HE attenuation box from hifiman. It will cost you $500-800 total, and will blow away anything else in the price range, and even most amps costing much more. The Jot-A will sound like a cheap sound card in comparison.

Alternatively, if you have money burning a hole in your pocket and just "have" to spend more, any decent speaker amp (AHB2, for example) + HE adapter box. You can thank me later.

 

[eskamobob1]

100% get an NC252MP or comparable hypex amp + the HE attenuation box from hifiman. It will cost you $500-800 total, and will blow away anything else in the price range, and even most amps costing much more. The Jot-A will sound like a cheap sound card in comparison.

Alternatively, if you have money burning a hole in your pocket and just "have" to spend more, any decent speaker amp (AHB2, for example) + HE adapter box. You can thank me later.

Or just get an amp that's 2ohm stable. I posted a list earlier in this thread. The ahb2 for example will run it directly (though tbh I didn't think that combo was super great)

 

[M3NTAL]

I assume you'd need to run a different cable for the HE Adapter since the pin-out is different, or possibly just wire the amp->adapter in a different configuration.

 

[elwappo99]

100% get an NC252MP or comparable hypex amp + the HE attenuation box from hifiman. It will cost you $500-800 total, and will blow away anything else in the price range, and even most amps costing much more. The Jot-A will sound like a cheap sound card in comparison.

Alternatively, if you have money burning a hole in your pocket and just "have" to spend more, any decent speaker amp (AHB2, for example) + HE adapter box. You can thank me later.

That's something I didn't think of. Although usually adding resistors in series with the headphones kills some of the dynamics.

I assume you'd need to run a different cable for the HE Adapter since the pin-out is different, or possibly just wire the amp->adapter in a different configuration.

The cups are wired like a normal Audeze headphone, so a standard Audeze cable will work.

 

[eskamobob1]

I assume you'd need to run a different cable for the HE Adapter since the pin-out is different, or possibly just wire the amp->adapter in a different configuration.

A better option would probabaly just be to use the new raal adapter

 

[chargedcapacitor]

A better option would probabaly just be to use the new raal adapter

Yeah but that adapter (transformer) cost as much as an NCore amp. Adding audio rated resistors do not reduce dynamics, or add compression. That's electronically incorrect. It's a great, easy, and cheap way to solve the LCD-R issue without boxing yourself into a corner.

Regardless of whether or not the amp is 2 ohm stable, the resistance floor really needs to be raised as much as possible. Being a highly sensitive and detailed headphone, it will highlight all the noise and distortion of the amp (assuming a power amp with no attenuation is being used).

 

[deafenears]

Thought I'd mention this here too, Jeff Zhu from Holo Audio said this about the upcoming Holo Bliss headphone amp:

"Bliss will have a mode that should be able to drive LCD-R well. But I need to one for test."

 

[cwoo]

Thought I'd mention this here too, Jeff Zhu from Holo Audio said this about the upcoming Holo Bliss headphone amp:

"Bliss will have a mode that should be able to drive LCD-R well. But I need to one for test."

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/audeze-lcd-r-schiit-jot-a-amp.30731/

Jeff Zhu can buy @number1sixerfan's pair.