[iviustang50h]

Not especially hard to swap, but as soon as I swap I can literally never go back, because (from what I gather) these are going to be the new stock Audeze pad...

Which means that the EQ profiles i've agonized over for months are rendered not only irrelevant, but much harder to re-do because I won't have A) relevant FR graphs from Audeze themselves (which I didn't use for amplitude quantity, but for which frequencies to target) or B) measurements from Crin, Resolve or Oratory which were super helpful in determining what features are quirks of my pair and which features are, generally, similar across the LCD-X line as a whole.

This will be a totally unique (regarding being previously unmeasured) headphone, having 2020 drivers with 2021 pads, so I'll be flying completely blind when doing my EQing.

For a pair that's going to be used heavily EQ'd very often (& not just normal EQ btw, stereo EQ for fixing channel balance issues too), I'm not sure the benefits to stock FR outweigh the detriments of having to do all of that again but much harder this time.

I'd be interested to know from @AudezeGrover if pads can be reattached after removal, because if so, that makes this a lot less daunting.
As far as I know though, the pads use an adhesive, and as such I'd be pretty uncomfortable trying to reattach after removal.

An edit, just for clarification: Even with all of that said, I'm still mulling it over. @metal571 has told me that many people think the initial revision of the pads to use memory foam (because they were originally normal foam, apparently) is what ruined the stock FR around 2-4.5kHz on these in the first place, which was interesting... and others on reddit are telling me the comfort on 2021 versions is still really good. So I'm not exactly saying it's not possible (if anything, I'm leaning more towards doing the change, just so the community has at least a modicum of information regarding what 2021 pads will sound like on older units) but I'm hesitant. I just woke up so I'm gonna start listening to the stock FR with fresh ears, write down impressions of the sound of songs I know *very* well, and go from there.

Oh wow, I didn’t realize they weren’t easily interchangeable and are instead held on with adhesive. That sucks! Audeze needs to step up their game and use a similar system to what ZMF or Focal use...

Good luck with the comparison! I look forward to your impressions if you do indeed make the swap.

 

[mikecheck95]

Okay. Luckily I was able to have a co-worker drop them off after closing (i'm not allowed back until Saturday due to being exposed to COVID) so shouts out to my homegirl Eagle for hooking it up.

I have the pads in hand and, subjectively, they feel somewhat cheap, to be honest. The leather feels of a somewhat lower quality, noticeably thin, and a little sticky. I do not remember my pads feeling or looking like this when the headphones first arrived. However, this could definitely be just me misremembering the texture of the pads themselves, yet I'm fairly certain it's a new type of leather. They are, almost unnervingly, shiny. Not saying this is a bad thing, how they age remains to be seen, and how they sound remains to be heard, after all.

Below are pictures comparing the outer texture of the pads, the ones on the headphone are the original pads that came on the headphone in October 2020, the shiny ones in hand are the new ones. Obviously the older pad will be less shiny due to wear, but I'm pretty positive they were never *this* shiny.



Secondly, and possibly more importantly: these pads are definitely no longer memory foam. Rebound after pressing into it is immediate. Whatever consequences this has for comfort are yet to be seen, but as of right now I'm hesitant to make the swap because I *love* the comfort of my LCD-X as it currently is.

I'd like to know if @Resolve has had a similar experience with his 2021 pair.

For now, I'm going to take this opportunity to reacquaint myself with the tuning of these with the stock pads, in the event I decide to make the swap tomorrow and want to make comparisons. As of tonight though, I'm not exactly confident in making the change any time soon... Because, personally, comfort is one of my favorite things about the headphone and a lot harder to fix than the tuning is.

Hopefully @AudezeGrover or Andrew can chime in with some insight into the comfort changes.

EDIT: A few reddit users have chimed in saying they received the same pads on their units which came stock with the new revision. They also said comfort was subjectively very good. This bodes well and alleviates some of the concerns I had about swapping. However, still unsure if I'm going to make the swap. Will update tomorrow.

I recently bought an LCD-2 and they have this shinier finish to their pads as well. And yes, definitely not memory foam... honestly, doesn’t take much to make these pads collapse. Luckily, they are still huge so the comfort is fine.

 

[Infoseeker]

It's possible the new pads are more similar to the first iteration of the LCD-XC pads considering they no longer use memory foam. Total conjecture on my point, but yeah.

It does seem that way with forgoing the memory foam.

 

[metal571]

I recently bought an LCD-2 and they have this shinier finish to their pads as well. And yes, definitely not memory foam... honestly, doesn’t take much to make these pads collapse. Luckily, they are still huge so the comfort is fine.

Then that's some pretty big news for this thread.

@AudezeGrover explicitly said none of these changes are being made to the other models. So which is it?? lol

 

[Seannlifts]

If you are in my situation with a 1st gen lcd xc. There has now been two earpads revisions. So new earpads are not compatible and you will need new earpads eventually due to the angled earpads collapsing even a little over time shifting things.

But you could just further eq to compensate, but it may cause too big a shift to eq.

I'm looking at the LCD-X and in particular the complete change of the drivers and the pads.

According to audeze's email, they did change the driver's magnet structure as well. So yes, not sure how the pad change alone would affect the FR of the older models. We might be unlocking an LCD-X hybrid that could rule them all! Lol!

 

[mikecheck95]

Then that's some pretty big news for this thread.

@AudezeGrover explicitly said none of these changes are being made to the other models. So which is it?? lol

Edit: I just checked with some photos online. It seems the LCD-2 pads have always looked slightly different from LCD-X pads. It’s not clear enough for me to feel comfortable making the claim that my 2s “came with the new pads”.

 

[metal571]

Edit: I just checked with some photos online. It seems the LCD-2 pads have always looked slightly different from LCD-X pads. It’s not clear enough for me to feel comfortable making the claim that my 2s “came with the new pads”.

My 2018 LCD-2F still has the memory foam and the dead sort of FR. A change to make the foam non memory would be very interesting to know about, even if nothing else was modified.

 

[mikecheck95]

My 2018 LCD-2F still has the memory foam and the dead sort of FR. Even a change to make the foam non memory would be very interesting to know about, though

Mine are definitely not memory foam. The rebound is instant. I would describe them as “floppy”. Not necessarily in a bad way because they are so giant. The FR is not as dark/mellow as I thought it would be however, I have no way of being sure as I can’t compare directly to “older” versions. They certainly benefit from some EQ.

Regardless, I bought these last week and can still return them. It was one of the last Shedua sets I could find so I thought I should jump on it however, If the LCD-X is going to be the better set, I may be making an exchange.

 

[Nitrium]

I got one LCD-X as part of the new batch, per the serial number. I never had an LCD-X before, so can't really compare to the previous one FR, but... heck, it still needs mad EQ, IMO Sounds pretty bad out of the box.

 

[Seannlifts]

I got one LCD-X as part of the new batch, per the serial number. I never had an LCD-X before, so can't really compare to the previous one FR, but... heck, it still needs mad EQ, IMO Sounds pretty bad out of the box.

What's your definition of 'sounding bad'? Dark, bright, dip in the mids?

 

[Nitrium]

What's your definition of 'sounding bad'? Dark, bright, dip in the mids?

Mids completely muddled, borderline dark.

 

[listenerwww]

Ok so... I did it. Took the leap and changed the pads.

This is gonna be a long, multi-post assessment, so strap in.

Preface:

It’s important to know *how* I’m listening, so all impressions for both before and after the pad change were formed with the following procedure:

-I chose 3 high quality recordings I have known and loved for 10+ years and listened to *countless* times, and that I wager most audiophiles have heard at least a few times.

-In terms of headphone fit: yokes are extended two notches down, headphones sitting rather low on the ear and forward (like papa Tyll taught me)

-Plugged via stock Audeze 1/4” cable into an SMSL SH9 fed by an Apple Dongle, full volume out of the Macbook/dongle, volume at 75 on low gain on the amp.

Things I already know about this headphone, as it currently stands with stock pads:

-Imbalanced uniformly ~3dB to the left between 1.5-3kHz

-Matches Crin, Oratory, Resolves measurements very well (precipitous drop around 4kHz, peak around 5.3kHz)

-Treble is a peaky mess all over, to be honest.

Subjectively, mids and treble are *very* poorly balanced due to the massive 4kHz dip + sharp ~5kHz peak being in such close proximity and the rest of the range not being too even either.

Listening tests to follow in the next post. For now, have a pic of the new headphone

 

[listenerwww]

This is the post for listening impressions on the stock pair of pads, so you know what i'm listening for, what i like about these songs, and what changes on the new pads.

Here we go!

First track:

Fleetwood Mac “Dreams” ripped from a japanese SACD. A record known the world over for being well-recorded and quite detailed given the technological limitations of the time. Favorite parts of this track (on good systems) are the snare drum and the vocals, both Stevie and her accompanying background voices.

-Stevie's vocals sound simultaneously bright/crispy while lacking detail/energy. Second verse starting around 2:00 is supposed to sound somewhat intimate relative to the preceding chorus, and the lower midrange and mid-treble does sound in-my-face, but the dip area sounds further, which makes the aforementioned ranges sound unnaturally close and congested. When Stevie goes higher in energy but is mixed lower in volume (“...and what you haaa-aaave” at 2:48) she almost disappears, instead of getting quieter in volume, but more intense in timbre.

-The snare drum sounds very scooped, in a way that isn’t exactly super detrimental, but in a way that makes it sound simultaneously too bright and much too warm. An absolute lack of “crack” instead favoring a somewhat muddy “thump” with a side of “fizz.”

-Background vocals are normally quite bright on this track, even on good headphones, but the peaky nature of the treble causes them to sound exceptionally breathy/papery

-Electric piano (wurli?) disappears almost completely due to lack of higher harmonic representation.

-Hi hats similarly lack a natural sound, much too airy and lacking their fundamental midrange body.

-Bass a tad lower-mid-bloated but it sounds like that on most flat-bass headphones, if memory serves.

So overall about what I expected: midrange suckout makes things simultaneously muddy and bright.

Onto the next...

Donald Fagen's “New Frontier,” again ripped from SACD. My favorite parts of this song are the bass-line, snare drum, piano, the particularity (meaning, hearing the weight of the pieces inside) of the shaker in the left channel, and Fagen’s signature honky voice.

-Bass line much too blunted/warm, should be quite vocal and almost shiny, especially on the slides up and down and the motif break on the I (one) chord at the end of each intro phrase.

-Snare drum sounds completely hollow, just low-mid and hiiiiigh treble. It's a trebley snare, by nature, but it's pretty much a hash-fest up there on these.

-Acoustic piano transients are nil, you can hear the voice of it but the impact of the hammers in the midrange is just gone.

-The shaker in the left channel sounds much too light, lacking weight and substance, again: hash-fest.

-Fagen’s voice sounds okay on it’s own, but relative to the track it’s supposed to be much closer to the listener than the rest of the music, and all of the music sounds very much in the same position on the z-axis

So far again, not impressed at all. I chose two bright/older hi-fi recordings to really stress the most flawed area of the headphone, and they are truly giving the headphones no place to hide.

Last one, a bit different:

Norah Jones' “Don’t Know Why” once more ripped from SACD. Favorite parts of this song are how intimate and dynamic Norah’s vocal is, the imaging/front-to-back depth, and the guitar being quiet but always “there”

-As soon as Norah enters the song, the problem is all too apparent: the midrange dip takes away from both the timbre and the dynamism of her bombastic entrance and leaves it flat/off sounding.

-The front to back depth is compromised as well, Norah sounds further back than she should be (except for the low mids which sound *way* too close). Left-right imaging regarding the drum kit and background vocals is still okay.

-Parts where the guitars are really supposed to come forward are somewhat indistinct in imaging and recessed in tone.

-Drum tone is surprisingly not that bad, though quite fizzier than my preference, it works with the style of performance/arrangement, seeing as it's brushed snare drum.

-Piano is *very* blunted. Super annoying when you know how great this recording can be on other systems.

So that's the assessment of stock. I'm sure it's not surprising to see how underwhelmed I am, but it's worth noting for comparison's sake.

Now, moving on to changing the pads:

Pad change was pretty painless (and gave me a chance to grab a stray hair or two that’d gotten into Fazors on the right driver. Possible this caused the L/R imbalance around 1.5k-3k?

Importantly: Comfort is honestly a bit worse for me, the drivers/fazors are definitely touching my ears a bit due to the pads crushing much easier. The headphones weight feels reduced though, so it’s a trade off.

Is it worth it though? Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z- I mean... find out in the next post where we discuss the changes in sound brought on by the new pads

 

[listenerwww]

Gonna start this post with a TL;DR for those who don't feel like reading the specific impressions:

Do it. Just do it. They fixed it. And more importantly, it seems like the pad change is the dominant factor in the tuning difference.

By the way, for clarity's sake: this was all written live during the listening/testing.

Anyways, let's get right into the impressions!

Fleetwood Mac "Dreams"

-Immediately, the opening snare drum is way less tonally jarring. Has more of the crack, sounds less hollow, but also less bright? Fuller, in a word.

-Stevie’s voice sounds better. Less sibilant, and a bit more forward/legible. Sounds like ear gain to me, Captain. The 2nd verse section previously mentioned at 2:00 is just... better. Doesn’t sound like someone eating an SM58 anymore. The “what you haa-aave” no longer disappears because the upper midrange is there to let you know it’s still there despite the dip in overall volume.

-Background vocals might be the best i’ve ever heard them on this song, on any un-EQed headphone... They’re usually bright and breathy (esp the male vocal on the right) on even good headphones, but the breathiness is *really* toned down in such a pleasing way.

-Wurli in the right channel is back and it's timbre is much more correct.

-Hi hats and tambourine are much less sickeningly airy too. More weight and less hash. Bueno.

Okay so far so good. I’m really *really* glad this seems to be working out at this point.

Now we move on!

Donald Fagen “New Frontier”

-Bass has gained a little bit of it’s “vocal” character back, but not much of that shine I mentioned.

-Snare is definitely better, just doesn’t sound like bad airy hash now. Again, fuller. Still got tons of top end but that’s the actual sound of the recording on everything i’ve listened on, even darker systems.

-Shaker is SO. MUCH. BETTER. You can hear the weight of the particles *much* better.

-Fagen’s voice definitely has more balance in the high midrange and has been moved forward a decent bit.

-& Some things I didn’t note on initial listening with the original because it just didn’t jump out as especially bad or especially good: the background vocals are AWESOME on the new pads, as is the guitar starting around 4:28 (much improved timbrally and dynamically).

I’m gonna hold my tongue until the end and say let's just move on while my memory of the original pair is still fresh.

Norah Jones “Don’t Know Why”

-Immediately the piano is standing out as being much better. Still warm, but not nearly as veiled/cuppy sounding

-Norah’s entrance is definitely improved, though still a little less timbrally correct than I'd prefer ideally. The “i... WAITED” is more even in tone and more honest in presentation of it’s dynamic swing.

-Norah is also closer to the listener, but less congested sounding. Again, less of that “eating the SM58” proximity effect type sound.

-Imaging on the guitars is clearer and tone is more inviting/correct

-Drum-kit sounds more balanced, room tone sounds more coherent with the recording and it images further back now.

Overall conclusions in the following post

 

[listenerwww]

Overall Conclusions (and one last test)

Okay. I’m gonna be honest... I have no clue why they ever used memory foam pads in the first place. Yes, comfort has gone from maybe a 9 to an 8 for me, but goddamn the sound is *unquestionably* better. I wish I hadn’t seen Resolve’s graph so I had less of a chance of cognitive bias creeping in, but still: I trust my ears (especially on these recordings, which I’ve been listening to since I was literally pre-pubescent).

Which leads me to another somewhat unscientific test:

Sine sweeps!

I did a few tests and the cavernous drop that was once there is massively reduced/evened. Ear gain seems to follow up to about 2800Hz and mellow a little until picking back up for a reeeally even sweep between 4.8kHz and 7kHz, dropping narrowly a fair bit at 7.5kHz, and picking right back up at 8kHz and keeping even until the only real "peak" in amplitude (relative to the rest of the range) around 11kHz, but again evenly extending until around 14kHz where it drops off past where I can hear.
Usual disclaimers, different ears different sound/sensitivities yadda yadda. But... s**t y’all. I’m shocked. Impressed doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Final Thoughts

My overall impression is nevertheless very close to what Resolve’s graph tells me: they lifted amplitude at ear gain, fixed the massive 4kHz drop, and brought the peaks in the lower/mid treble down. It’s literally exactly what I wanted. It actually reminds me of a smoother, planar Focal Elear as far as tuning, but the technicalities are obviously way better (and just so you know, completely unchanged, to my ear).

Also, as a bonus/aside, the process of changing the pads fixed the massive channel imbalance issue I’ve been having literally since I got these. I don’t know if it’s the pads themselves, or me removing the 2 hairs I found on the Fazors, but regardless I’m SO pleased.

TL;DR (anotha one)

If you are one of the many unhappy with the tuning on your Audeze LCD series headphone, I highly suggest swapping pads for the new iteration. Comfort takes a hit, but it’s worth it. Never thought i’d see the day when I advocated for listening to LCD-X without EQ... but here we are.

Thanks so much to all who have read and liked, feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer as best as I can. <3