papomaster
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2006
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Hmmm, these are two other booths: the grado one is the Filtronique room, and the sennheiser booth was a wide open table right beside the entrance.
I know some people took pictures of our room, I hope they chime in at some point. Chen maybe, or Brian?
Now, here are some impressions:
Audeze LCD-2 + ASL Twinhead + (Sl1200 or Denon Sd-5900) : Beautiful by all means. I had some extended listening sessions with that setup, including a 1h alone session before the show opened on sunday. It did things that I haven't heard in any other headphone setup: present a beautiful, coherent, vibrant and lively sound. What I mean by coherent is that every part of each sound is presented in an easy and natural manner. Most headphones tend to emphasize a part of each sound, may it be the attack (hd800, ad2000), body (dt800), decay (Denon 5000), air (ad2000, k701), focus (hd800), body, etc. With the LCD-2, I couldn't find a single part of a sound, may it be strings, percussions, electronic sounds or everything else, that had emphasis or was deformed in any way. It also had world-class dynamics, very good soundstage and imaging, and was able to present details in a natural way. Unlike some very detailed headphones, it doesn't push all the details in your face but just lets them hang there so you can choose which ones you want to focus on. It is very similar to the T1 in that regard, which was one of the reasons I loved the T1 every time I've listened to them.
Also, it had, by FAR, the best bass output of every headphone setup I've listened to yet. Punchy, tight, textured, it has enough power to make rock sound AMAZING, but you present it acoustic or classical music it doesn't overpower the rest of the music. If anything, it emphasizes the acoustic quality of guitars! People just kept listening to Eric Clapton - Unplugged on either vinyl or redbook for track after track because guitars had amazing body without losing their textural qualities.
The only shortcoming that I would see is a clear tendancy to smoothness on most setups. I definately prefered the LCD-2 on my Twinhead than on the TTVJ Apex Peak + Volcano, even though the Hd800 sounded better on that setup. The Apex sounded smoother, with a lusher, more seductive sound on the LCD-2 and Hd800, but while it didn't help the LCD-2 it made the Hd800 more listenable on long listening sessions than the Twinhead. However, the Twinhead's clarity and power made the LCD-2 sing! I know this is a setup I could live with, which is the nice thing about listening to new headphones on your own gear.
Also, I must stress that the Apex totally, and I mean TOTALLY, trounced the Twinhead when paired with the Grado HP-2. Absolutely night and day.
More to come this week.
I know some people took pictures of our room, I hope they chime in at some point. Chen maybe, or Brian?
Now, here are some impressions:
Audeze LCD-2 + ASL Twinhead + (Sl1200 or Denon Sd-5900) : Beautiful by all means. I had some extended listening sessions with that setup, including a 1h alone session before the show opened on sunday. It did things that I haven't heard in any other headphone setup: present a beautiful, coherent, vibrant and lively sound. What I mean by coherent is that every part of each sound is presented in an easy and natural manner. Most headphones tend to emphasize a part of each sound, may it be the attack (hd800, ad2000), body (dt800), decay (Denon 5000), air (ad2000, k701), focus (hd800), body, etc. With the LCD-2, I couldn't find a single part of a sound, may it be strings, percussions, electronic sounds or everything else, that had emphasis or was deformed in any way. It also had world-class dynamics, very good soundstage and imaging, and was able to present details in a natural way. Unlike some very detailed headphones, it doesn't push all the details in your face but just lets them hang there so you can choose which ones you want to focus on. It is very similar to the T1 in that regard, which was one of the reasons I loved the T1 every time I've listened to them.
Also, it had, by FAR, the best bass output of every headphone setup I've listened to yet. Punchy, tight, textured, it has enough power to make rock sound AMAZING, but you present it acoustic or classical music it doesn't overpower the rest of the music. If anything, it emphasizes the acoustic quality of guitars! People just kept listening to Eric Clapton - Unplugged on either vinyl or redbook for track after track because guitars had amazing body without losing their textural qualities.
The only shortcoming that I would see is a clear tendancy to smoothness on most setups. I definately prefered the LCD-2 on my Twinhead than on the TTVJ Apex Peak + Volcano, even though the Hd800 sounded better on that setup. The Apex sounded smoother, with a lusher, more seductive sound on the LCD-2 and Hd800, but while it didn't help the LCD-2 it made the Hd800 more listenable on long listening sessions than the Twinhead. However, the Twinhead's clarity and power made the LCD-2 sing! I know this is a setup I could live with, which is the nice thing about listening to new headphones on your own gear.
Also, I must stress that the Apex totally, and I mean TOTALLY, trounced the Twinhead when paired with the Grado HP-2. Absolutely night and day.
More to come this week.
