Mike - You just have to decide the most neutral way of doing so. I have not spent a lot of time with the XC, just 15 minutes or so at a meet. I came away feeling the sound signature of the Alpha Dogs was my preference over the XC's. I suspect the Alpha Prime house sound will have me feeling roughly the same about the Primes. However.... My XC experience is meet conditions, unfamiliar rig, noisy, trying to be critical, and being well familiar with the AD's, and unfamiliar with the XC's. You have had the chance to live with both of them. Your comments will be interesting. You (and most here at head-fi) have a greater love for the Audeze house sound than I do (except for the LCD3 - I lust after that one). It will be hard to be unbiased, but it will be interesting to see what you find are the relative strengths and weakness of each can. One man's point of view so to speak. I say give it a go - it will be fun for us peanut gallery folk. It wouldn't even have to be long and involved. For the record - I am sending my AD's in for the upgrade today or tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting them back. Mr. Speakers voicing really suits my sonic preferences, so I expect to be happy with the upgrade.
I just sent in my Alpha Primes for an update as well!
And I wholly appreciated this response - Re: Alpha Prime vs. LCD-XCs - I'm gonna tackle it for the fun of it here.
I think I shouldv'e said, at least, in my last response about this - that the LCD-XCs have remained my #1 preference in closed-back planar cans because of their ability to, at times, sound more open and airy than the Prime. They also, to my ears, reach farther into the frequency extremes at BOTH than the Prime.
HOWEVER:
As I've been using the Prime more than ever recently, and they MAY have just broken-in - or hit that magic hour - but they are slowly starting to run neck and neck with my XCs!
So I'm pumped to hear my Prime after the update!!!
and then I'll tackle this shoot-out of sorts...
Thanks for the impression. I am just using shure 846 IEM at the moment, not sure what to expect from using the prime. You reckon i will gain a lot apart from soundstage?
OH - if you decide to pull the trigger on the Alpha Prime - you're going to experience a whole new world sonically, IMO - and NOT just with regard to wider and deeper sound-staging (wich you WILL experience). I think you should go for it! After all, you can always return the Prime if you need to.
But, I have a feeling they won't be going anywhere cept the top of your head!
BTW guys:
I'm SO SORRY for the late responses.
I'll be sure to keep monitoring this Thread more closely from now on!!
My wifeys health took a nose-dive around Thanksgiving and hasn't let up!!
So I'm sorry I left MANY of you hangin...
So I don't waste your time:
As I see some people with questions when ahead and took action Already (justifiable) -
Are there any posts from here (back in Nov) that you are still seeking an answer to?????
I feel terrible for not getting back to this Group in-time.