[Mark Up]

They also measure differently. Lcd-2,3,4 still have completely flat bass response as far as I know whereas the LCD-X has a 3-5db drop-off.

True. That said, I've heard well amped versions of the above and honestly, despite the roll off on the graph, the LCD-X seems to consistently have more low sub bass. This is using specific tracks with content below 30 hz you can't hear on rolled off headphones. On the Senn. Momentum I hear all of it. On the HD820 I hear 90% of it. On Audeze's Mobius I get about 70%. Maybe 50% (it's there but quiet) on the LCD-X. Almost none of it is heard on the LCD-2 or LCD-3, the LCD-4 maybe 40%.

Not easy to describe that. Trying my best. Again, The Abyss headphones (all of them, all open backed, the flagship is WIDE OPEN) prove that open back planars could have incredible low sub bass, while the low mids to true mids won't have the overly present bump found in most LCDs, and won't have the high mid to high end roll off found in all but overly thin sounding newer LCD-1's which end up being too bright instead. I wouldn't care if they charged so much for these inadequacies.

I remember trying a prototype of a closed back LCD-1 (ie. a Mobius like design, but wired and not active with 3D FX) at Can Jam NY and they still were rolled off, in lower sub bass. I remember telling them that and also for God's sake make it so the ear cups extend farther down to fully reach my ears. LOL. Anyway. Granted some don't care about sub bass, or seem fine spending ridiculous money then needing extra gear / wires just to really be full range as they brag about their being.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Very helpful response, thank you @Mad Lust Envy. One additional evolution w/newer Audeze releases is the low impedance of the new designs. As an OTL owner, I would love to try MM but at 18 ohms hard to imagine it would play nice with my amp. Does the future Audeze roadmap (hopefully) include some lighter weight planars like MM that have higher impedances like the LCD 2, LCD3 & LCD4?

We do not discuss potential future products, possible or not.

If you'd like to stay up to date on releases, promotions, etc. you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

 

[LoryWiv]

We do not discuss potential future products, possible or not.

If you'd like to stay up to date on releases, promotions, etc. you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Understood, subscribed. I phrased my question unartfully. Not really asking for a specific product roadmap just interested in the trend of Audeze to favor low impedance headphones in a bit of a departure from their history.

 

[OhmsClaw]

V shaped planar? No. It has a larger diaphragm and by default what you're buying is either EQ dependent and/or very EQ'able.

The MM500 is an evolution in low impedance, relatively easy to drive planars for the pro crowd. It's lighter with an increase in technicals/flatter than X tuning.

 

[cwoo]

After reading 10 pages of speculation, its been 'exciting' to see the same old same old. Where are the frequency graphs, how can we run these from our powerful amps, are they better than the LCD1/2/X/3/4/R/5, why arent they diana's, how do we know they have bass, are they harman, why cant i just order them right now, etc? It's like the girl scout's released a new cookie and everyone wants to know if its gonna be better than their tag-alongs.

Give it a minute...

 

[mikecheck95]

After reading 10 pages of speculation, its been 'exciting' to see the same old same old. Where are the frequency graphs, how can we run these from our powerful amps, are they better than the LCD1/2/X/3/4/R/5, why arent they diana's, how do we know they have bass, are they harman, why cant i just order them right now, etc? It's like the girl scout's released a new cookie and everyone wants to know if its gonna be better than their tag-alongs.

Give it a minute...

I think generally people on this forum get really excited about new headphones. Isn’t that a big part of the fun? When a new product comes out?

 

[Netforce]

After reading 10 pages of speculation, its been 'exciting' to see the same old same old. Where are the frequency graphs, how can we run these from our powerful amps, are they better than the LCD1/2/X/3/4/R/5, why arent they diana's, how do we know they have bass, are they harman, why cant i just order them right now, etc? It's like the girl scout's released a new cookie and everyone wants to know if its gonna be better than their tag-alongs.

Give it a minute...

Right around the corner from CanJam Chicago... Lets make a bingo card and see how many of these repeat for that event and the new launches next week.

 

[cwoo]

I think generally people on this forum get really excited about new headphones. Isn’t that a big part of the fun? When a new product comes out?

I just feel like the daggers come out for a company that is trying something new. I love hype, but it comes dripping with same old attacks.

 

[mikecheck95]

I just feel like the daggers come out for a company that is trying something new. I love hype, but it comes dripping with same old attacks.

Ah fair enough. Idk.. people think they want harman. I use EQ with my LCD-X 2021 and it certainly doesn’t make them harman… if I DO go for target adherence and try out one of the EQ profiles made from GRAS measurements they are just way too shouty and harsh in the mid range. Should Audezes be harman-tuned? Do technicalities affect our perception of tuning?

I think so. I think the audezes are heavy, they have a big driver and it moves a lot of air. They have some “tactility” or “dynamics” or whatever we want to call it and a lot of headphones that are around 350 dollars that match the harman target are not technically capable and maybe need to have a more exciting tuning to make up for it.

Anyway, I think the question of bass is an important one. It seems Audeze is doing something new in that they are creating a more lean, clean headphone for studio use that has great tuning but is lacking in the amount of bass punch that many came to Audeze for. As Mad Lust Envy has hinted at though, Audeze is not abandoning their audiophile fan base so even if this one is not for them it is probably still for tons of people who like that more “objective” presentation.

Still… I really want to see graphs and I want impressions from reviewers I trust.

 

[cwoo]

Ah fair enough. Idk.. people think they want harman. I use EQ with my LCD-X 2021 and it certainly doesn’t make them harman… if I DO go for target adherence and try out one of the EQ profiles made from GRAS measurements they are just way too shouty and harsh in the mid range. Should Audezes be harman-tuned? Do technicalities affect our perception of tuning?

I think so. I think the audezes are heavy, they have a big driver and it moves a lot of air. They have some “tactility” or “dynamics” or whatever we want to call it and a lot of headphones that are around 350 dollars that match the harman target are not technically capable and maybe need to have a more exciting tuning to make up for it.

Anyway, I think the question of bass is an important one. It seems Audeze is doing something new in that they are creating a more lean, clean headphone for studio use that has great tuning but is lacking in the amount of bass punch that many came to Audeze for. As Mad Lust Envy has hinted at though, Audeze is not abandoning their audiophile fan base so even if this one is not for them it is probably still for tons of people who like that more “objective” presentation.

Still… I really want to see graphs and I want impressions from reviewers I trust.

I am totally with you, this is probably an evolution of the LCD-X and even more so, a straight up mastering and mixing headphone tuned by professional mixer. This headphone is probably going to occupy that space for what it is intended for. I love the Audeze LCD house sound and the improvements they have made with the R and 5. I think they offer a line of a variety of different shapes, weights, and styles based on preference.

I am also a big fan of EQ and the LCD-5 is no slouch in bass, and honestly, its a lot better than the 4 (yep, i said it.. cleaner, tighter, more accurate, more natural - maybe not as deep, but denon and fostex have that figured out if you want gobs of flabbergasting bass). But I don't think they are looking for the MM-500 to be anywhere close to a reference headphone. It's a monitoring headphone. Totally different use case.

It would be like a speaker company making a mastering and mixing monitor speaker and then also releasing a line of reference speakers and people expecting the monitoring speakers to be better than the reference line. It doesn't happen. The monitoring speakers have their own use case.

 

[chargedcapacitor]

After reading 10 pages of speculation, its been 'exciting' to see the same old same old. Where are the frequency graphs, how can we run these from our powerful amps, are they better than the LCD1/2/X/3/4/R/5, why arent they diana's, how do we know they have bass, are they harman, why cant i just order them right now, etc? It's like the girl scout's released a new cookie and everyone wants to know if its gonna be better than their tag-alongs.

Give it a minute...

Same thing happened with the LCD-R, 5, carbon, and any other future Audeze offering. Everyone will come out of the wood work to voice their opinion even though they have no intention of even listening to, much less purchasing, the new Audeze can.

 

[cwoo]

Same thing happened with the LCD-R, 5, carbon, and any other future Audeze offering. Everyone will come out of the wood work to voice their opinion even though they have no intention of even listening to, much less purchasing, the new Audeze can.

Yeah, the LCD-R was a nightmare for awhile with the comments... I just chalked it up to the fact that very few people would get their hands on it. Sadly, I think its the status quo for all new headphone releases these days. I love the excitement, but just get tired of the the negative speculation before anyone has even heard it.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

The idea of these being promoted by Manny is to sell them to those in studios, or using headphones for mixing and mastering in various places and setups. The idea of multi-thousand dollar cans needing EQs, to just give you enough sub bass to actually hear it, makes these obtuse. Remember, these are constantly lauded for sub bass extension & power, without EQ being mentioned as how you get it. That is my issue.

Let me address this in addition to a similar line of thought from a previous post of yours. I've worked closely with Manny on this project. He's clearly stated on numerous occasions that he wants to mix on something where no frequency spectrum/region is "hyped", as that would lead to a dead spot in that area of the mix. The MM-500 has an extremely flat tuning, and the excellent bass extension and low bass distortion that Audeze planar drivers are renowned for. Just in the last few months Manny has mixed for Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone, among others, using this headphone. I can assure you there are no issues with the ability to use this headphone to mix and master material intended to have powerful lows.

We do currently have an MM-500 on the way to Jude for his assessment. We'd like to have done this before launch day, but were extremely limited on headphone quantity.

 

[yeboyi]

Let me address this in addition to a similar line of thought from a previous post of yours. I've worked closely with Manny on this project. He's clearly stated on numerous occasions that he wants to mix on something where no frequency spectrum/region is "hyped", as that would lead to a dead spot in that area of the mix. The MM-500 has an extremely flat tuning, and the excellent bass extension and low bass distortion that Audeze planar drivers are renowned for. Just in the last few months Manny has mixed for Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone, among others, using this headphone. I can assure you there are no issues with the ability to use this headphone to mix and master material intended to have powerful lows.

We do currently have an MM-500 on the way to Jude for his assessment. We'd like to have done this before launch day, but were extremely limited on headphone quantity.

Kendrick Lamar album slaps. Good work.

 

[drkhermushov]

Well, I would wait for mm500 to go through 10 silent "revisions" before buying one.
Just look what a mess LCD-5 connectors have been so far. 4500 dollars with glued connectors.
Never, and I mean never buy a new Audeze product before at least couple of revisions. It's as if Audeze launches new headphones in early
access mode with full price and wants the customers to play test them first.