Introducing the Audeze LCD-R!

[Sword of Damocles]

Talking about stands for Audeze. When I had my LCD-2 Classic, I had this kind of selfmade stand. This won't probably work so nicely with the LCD-R's different connector housing, but maybe after some modifications.

 

[04gto]

The Omega stands suit the LCD earpads nicely IMO (EDIT: Not a good stand for LCD pads). The AudioQuest stand looked real nice, but it is not available anymore.

Have you heard the HE-1 by any chance? That is the last headphone that I heard that I felt the same way about. The Susvara didn't impress me. The SR007 has too many compromises for my music catalog to be worthy of a one-and-only. Empy was a let down and the Abyss is a wearing nightmare.

Dude, are you sure you want to say that about the Susvara and Stax on here? The fanboys are gonna come at you real hard!

Signed- Audeze/Sennheiser fanboy.

 

[eskamobob1]

Talking about stands for Audeze. When I had my LCD-2 Classic, I had this kind of selfmade stand. This won't probably work so nicely with the LCD-R's different connector housing, but maybe after some modifications.

I like the concept of that stand a lot. I may just make my own with a similar concept (though avoiding resting on the suspension strap so it doesn't get floppy)

Dude, are you sure you want to say that about the Susvara and Stax on here? The fanboys are gonna come at you real hard!

Signed- Audeze/Sennheiser fanboy.

I ain't ever heard sus or stax, but I'm ready to go m8. Dont you dare diss my dreams of sus being LCD-R with speaker sound stage and 2003 civic bass slam.

 

[ThanatosVI]

The Omega stands suit the LCD earpads nicely IMO (EDIT: Not a good stand for LCD pads). The AudioQuest stand looked real nice, but it is not available anymore.

Have you heard the HE-1 by any chance? That is the last headphone that I heard that I felt the same way about. The Susvara didn't impress me. The SR007 has too many compromises for my music catalog to be worthy of a one-and-only. Empy was a let down and the Abyss is a wearing nightmare.

May I ask which headphones do you currently use, that you like?

 

[M3NTAL]

May I ask which headphones do you currently use, that you like?

That I own currently? My favorite full-size over ear is currently the Focal Clear. I don't think it is better than the Utopia, but not 100% outright win either. I also prefer my modified HD800 to the Utopia for certain things also. It all depends on the mood. I think the LCD-4 is a better all-around package if you are willing to build a system and do some EQ work. The Meze sounded Lazy-Fi to me, but a beautiful product that is worth the money honestly. The RAAL is pretty neat, but its kind of a fussy one trick pony.

 

[paradoxper]

The SR007 has too many compromises for my music catalog to be worthy of a one-and-only. Empy was a let down and the Abyss is a wearing nightmare.

Did you find the 1266 uncomfortable or just a burden.

Asking because the revised headband really does make a significant difference.

Once you get the fit, the sound they produce is most rewarding.

 

[M3NTAL]

Did you find the 1266 uncomfortable or just a burden.

Asking because the revised headband really does make a significant difference.

Once you get the fit, the sound they produce is most rewarding.

Just too much work. Same for the ear speaker / wings type headphones. I already have speakers if I need to go that route. I use headphones for the intimacy and the ability to lay in all kinds of positions without losing my stereo presentation.

I do think the 1266 is one of my favorite headphone experiences though. The HiFiMan stuff just isn't worth it to me when they are all kind of janky in my opinion and you basically have to modify every single one of them in some sort of way unless you enjoy that whispy timbre.

 

[SeniorBrother]

Damn! Now you just need the Gold Planar GL1200 to complete the ribbon trifecta haha

I do also have that as well.

 

[X1787X]

I do also have that as well.

You are living the dream man, congrats. Can you quickly describe what you think about them? There is not a whole lot of info out here

 

[eskamobob1]

Disclaimer: I am not a reviewer with extensive TOTL experience (had utopia shortly, but diana v2 is the next higher can I've owned) and am almost exclusively portable further hampering the stuff I do have (though I have a plethora of totl portable sources and several portable amps that well outperform the GSX-mini i owned previously). On top of that, as much as I try not to be biased, these are $2.5k (may actualy be a negative?) and extremely pretty. I'm sure thats biasing me some how. Now onto my thoughts.

Thoughts:
Got about 7 hours of listening in today. Its amazing how fast you get use to new SQ gains. It was about an hour before I could concentrate on my work and about 1 more before it sounded completely normal. My listening today was mostly weeby edm (porter Robinson radio on roon) in the morning finished off with some relaxing bosa nova style jazz after lunch (last about hour and a half of my day) out of a hugo 2 rca -> jot a.

I am currently fully convinced this is the highest-fi experience I have had. Seperation and layering are amazing. The imaging could be better (far shaper image on utopia) but it never once felt smeared at all and movement was well tracked. The instrument texture was on the level of diana V2 and the raw resolution is distinctly a step higher. I'd love to comapire the resolution to utopia but tbh its just been too long since I've listened to them so I dont have a high confidence in my feeling.

All that is great, but what realy stands out to me is the timbre. It truly is exceptional at strings and drums. Indont trust my ears on vocal timbre so I won't comment on the naturalness there, but violin, guitar (acoustic and electric), bass (upright and electric), banjo (if yall have any electric banjo let me know), and drums are truly amazing. The only thing I have heard that had a similar level of realism here is the raal on an mha150 (severly underpowered).

My only real complaint here so far is bass slam/impact. I dont want anyone to take this like the LCD-R doesn't have bass. It absalutely does. The extension is realy damn solid, the presence is excelent, the texture/control is easily on par with diana v2, and the bass presentation is extremely reminiscent of LCD-X. I just listen at an average of 55-60 dB SPL (yes, I did type that right) and want to feel like I have a bazooka tube lodged in my colon. The LCD-R does not deliver there bass boost on or off (doesn't change slam at all, just presence). That said, the only cans I've ever had that do hit hard enough where I like to listen are t50 mk3 argons and I'm fairly certain that's just because I could use them higher in volume from a non-existant trebble extension. I have some vauge hope susvara would make that happen, but over all I'm actualy very very satisfied now.

I was actualy gearing up to buy myself a holo may, Rivera AIC-10 and susvara some time in the next month or so. These legitimately have me rethinking that plan. I expect that chain to be better than this one, but I'm just not sure I care. We will see how the feeling develops over the next several weeks, but as of right this second, I want to buy more audio gear to *play*, not because I'm *unsatisfied* like I have been since I started my journey. Honestly, its a bit of a wierd feeling. Its safe to say though that I enjoy these quite a bit.

 

[Currawong]

No need to disclaim anything about experience, honest impressions such as yours are often just as good or better than some of us with experience can write.

About the bass slam: That requires a serious power amp that can handle the 2 Ohm load. Then they really wake up. Somewhat like the Susvaras.

 

[AudiophileJargon]

Out of the box can it handle a bass heavy track like Billy Eilish - ‘Bad guy’?

 

[X1787X]

Out of the box can it handle a bass heavy track like Billy Eilish - ‘Bad guy’?

Are you talking about burn in or what?

 

[HK_sends]

Disclaimer: I am not a reviewer with extensive TOTL experience (had utopia shortly, but diana v2 is the next higher can I've owned) and am almost exclusively portable further hampering the stuff I do have (though I have a plethora of totl portable sources and several portable amps that well outperform the GSX-mini i owned previously). On top of that, as much as I try not to be biased, these are $2.5k (may actualy be a negative?) and extremely pretty. I'm sure thats biasing me some how. Now onto my thoughts.

Thoughts:
Got about 7 hours of listening in today. Its amazing how fast you get use to new SQ gains. It was about an hour before I could concentrate on my work and about 1 more before it sounded completely normal. My listening today was mostly weeby edm (porter Robinson radio on roon) in the morning finished off with some relaxing bosa nova style jazz after lunch (last about hour and a half of my day) out of a hugo 2 rca -> jot a.

I am currently fully convinced this is the highest-fi experience I have had. Seperation and layering are amazing. The imaging could be better (far shaper image on utopia) but it never once felt smeared at all and movement was well tracked. The instrument texture was on the level of diana V2 and the raw resolution is distinctly a step higher. I'd love to comapire the resolution to utopia but tbh its just been too long since I've listened to them so I dont have a high confidence in my feeling.

All that is great, but what realy stands out to me is the timbre. It truly is exceptional at strings and drums. Indont trust my ears on vocal timbre so I won't comment on the naturalness there, but violin, guitar (acoustic and electric), bass (upright and electric), banjo (if yall have any electric banjo let me know), and drums are truly amazing. The only thing I have heard that had a similar level of realism here is the raal on an mha150 (severly underpowered).

My only real complaint here so far is bass slam/impact. I dont want anyone to take this like the LCD-R doesn't have bass. It absalutely does. The extension is realy damn solid, the presence is excelent, the texture/control is easily on par with diana v2, and the bass presentation is extremely reminiscent of LCD-X. I just listen at an average of 55-60 dB SPL (yes, I did type that right) and want to feel like I have a bazooka tube lodged in my colon. The LCD-R does not deliver there bass boost on or off (doesn't change slam at all, just presence). That said, the only cans I've ever had that do hit hard enough where I like to listen are t50 mk3 argons and I'm fairly certain that's just because I could use them higher in volume from a non-existant trebble extension. I have some vauge hope susvara would make that happen, but over all I'm actualy very very satisfied now.

I was actualy gearing up to buy myself a holo may, Rivera AIC-10 and susvara some time in the next month or so. These legitimately have me rethinking that plan. I expect that chain to be better than this one, but I'm just not sure I care. We will see how the feeling develops over the next several weeks, but as of right this second, I want to buy more audio gear to *play*, not because I'm *unsatisfied* like I have been since I started my journey. Honestly, its a bit of a wierd feeling. Its safe to say though that I enjoy these quite a bit.

Excellent impressions and they track with mine as well!
Cheers and All the Best!
-HK sends

 

[eskamobob1]

No need to disclaim anything about experience, honest impressions such as yours are often just as good or better than some of us with experience can write.

About the bass slam: That requires a serious power amp that can handle the 2 Ohm load. Then they really wake up. Somewhat like the Susvaras.

I always find it helpful to disclose where impressions are common from tbh, so i just try and make a habit of it so epple can gauge my experience. Kind of just one of those things I feel cant hurt

As for the slam, I was wondering about that tbh. You can feel it wants to and should slam but just isn't. Tbh im quite tempted to grab an HSA-1B. I'd love to throw these on an aic-10 or 23r but afaik, neither of these will handle sustained 2ohm loads