clarktrent
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2015
- Posts
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- 16
What exactly are the differences between the two?
What on earth is warm instrument separation?
Well, I still have no idea what you're talking about.
Based on facts and impressions:
-LCD-X is $1.7k and LCD-4 is $4k
-LCD-X has aluminum cups and LCD-4 has wooden cups
-LCD-X has a leather headband and LCD-4 has a more smooth and flexible headband on your head and leather headband over the flexible headband (LCD-X has this option for more cash)
-LCD-X has ultra thin film diaphragms and LCD-4 has ultra thin nano-grade uniforce diaphragms
-LCD-X is lighter than the LCD-4
-LCD-X has a much lower impedance (20 ohms) than the LCD-4 (200 ohms)
-LCD-X has a more forward sound presentation than the LCD-4
-LCD-X has a "colder" sound presentation than the LCD-4
-LCD-X has a smaller soundstage than the LCD-4, though the instrument separation is not as warm (this may be amp and/or DAC dependent)
Neutral similarities and differences between the two can be disputed on many sound presentation parts and various setups, so I left this part out of the list. If you do not have a good DAC or amp, then I highly suggest going for the LCD-X and spending the cash saved on a good DAC and amp, as the LCD-4 will need a really good DAC and amp to make the $4k price tag show its worth in sound signature, sound presentation, and overall listening experience.
Edit: Confused LCD-4 connectors with Mr.Speakers Ether Open/Closed connectors.
Edit #2: If you choose the LCD-X and need suggestions for a good DAC and amp, a Schiit Gungnir Multibit ($1,250) DAC and Schiit Mjolnir 2 amp ($850) will work great and both have balanced and unbalanced connectors.
Edit #3: Changed "colored" to "warm", since the LCD-4 has a oddly scaleable sound presentation, probably reflected in the price tag.
Thank you for your detailed comments! I have been looking into those dacs and amps, but how would a Benchmark DAC2 compare to those?
Well, I still have no idea what you're talking about.
Well, I guess you will have to hear it for yourself. BTW, nice HD800 you have for sale.
I have to admit, I too was curious to understand what you meant. When I think of a warm sound, I hear the notes represented at a bit lower frequency and the natural musical peaks having been somewhat shaved. This can be be a good thing in moderation, making less-than-well-recorded music less fatiguing and therefore allow for longer listening sessions. With that context, a warm instrument separation didn't make sense to me since separation speaks to the ability to distinguish individual instruments from each other.
The more I thought about it, did you mean that some headphones with warm separation do a better job of separation in the low end and cold separation headphones do a better job in the higher frequencies?
We all use these terms like warm, airy, and woolly and they're not necessarily well defined, so it makes communication a challenge.