New Audeze LCD3

[Jian]

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Sorry for you and audeze. Get another replacement pair, give it one last try. I think the sound is worth the risk, and it only take 4 days.

 
 

Jian dont you have to pay shipping as well?

 
 
No, they paid fedex week day express for me. And they made huge effort to get it back to me before our annual headphone meet. As I live in HK, so there is no import tax issue.

 

[MacedonianHero]

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This new pair I got sounded like another league compared to the ones I heard at the Irvine meet (my memory can be foggy from this) and the TP modded veiled version. I had been reconsidering getting back to STAX with the 007 this time around, but now after hearing these, I have no desire given that I already have a good dynamic rig.
 
I stayed up well into the early morning last night listening and immensely enjoying them. From my limited time with this LCD3 pair, they sounded clearer, more articulate, faster, and possibly provided more "plankton" (to borrow a word from that crazy Lampizator guy) than the HD800.

Exactly matches my sentiments. Hopefully no one will accuse you of being a fanboy.

There's a reason these cans have had 75% of my head time since last November....they're that good.
 
That said, hopefully you get a solid pair next week and get back to the music.
 

 

[n3rdling]

What's plankton?

 

[WarriorAnt]

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What's plankton?

Nourishment for whale audiophiles.

 

[Wingstrike]

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I stayed up well into the early morning last night listening and immensely enjoying them. From my limited time with this LCD3 pair, they sounded clearer, more articulate, faster, and possibly provided more "plankton" (to borrow a word from that crazy Lampizator guy) than the HD800. Anax and I pull no punches when it comes to gear, and many of you know we hold the HD800 in the highest regard and have experimented with all sort of tweaks to address its shortcomings. IMO, these LCD3s are a significant, not "incremental" upgrade from the r2 "not worth the price" (which is how I felt about my previous "veiled" pair). These things will give the 'stats a run for their money, and some people may even prefer them over the 009 because they are more palpable in the bass.
 

 
This truly makes me wonder if my pair is veiled. While I do enjoy listening to the LCD3s, I can't start to justify the price i paid for them. When I had my LCD2r2s, I liked those on the same level as I liked my HD800s. Now with the LCD3s, I prefer the HD800s most of the time. The LCD3s did improve with burn in as well as a silver cable upgrade, but I don't think I'm hearing what people are describing. Maybe I should talk to Audeze, but I bought my LCD3s used so I don't know if they will take it back for testing.

 

[MuppetFace]

I guess I'll be sending my pair back to Audez'e for analysis, since I find the SR-007 and SR-009 blows them away in most respects. They don't seem that much of a leap from the LCD-2 to me.

 

[wuwhere]

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Nourishment for whale audiophiles.

Whales are into music as well.
 

 

[MacedonianHero]

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I guess I'll be sending my pair back to Audez'e for analysis, since I find the SR-007 and SR-009 blows them away in most respects. They don't seem that much of a leap from the LCD-2 to me.

I guess its a matter of taste too. I've never been enthralled with the SR-007s (haven't heard the SR-009s yet).

 

[MuppetFace]

I like both the LCD-3 and Staxen, and both enthrall me, but for quite different reasons. In terms of objective performance I don't hear the LCD-3 as matching up to what purrin describes. Not so much an issue of preferring one coloration over another, or one presentation over another, but I genuinely don't hear the LCD-3 as performing on that level. It doesn't seem that much of a step up from the LCD-2 to my ears.
 
I think sending it in to Audez'e is definitely worth a shot.

 

[purrin]

Put another way, the prior pair I had sounded more like an LCD2 "r3" with certain things better such as smoother treble, little bit better articulation on the bass, slightly faster treble, but a step back in clarity and excessive thickness and mud in the bass. Though most who heard it at the Bay Area meet felt it sounded very good, at least with the TP mods in place. However, the consensus was basically: "not worth it over the r2." 
 
These new ones to me were like "holy cow!" There's a certain realism in which instruments and voices are articulated and enunciated which transcends the tonal balance of the headphones (it still maintains the Audeze house sound.) The mid-centric nature, i.e. the creamy mids of the r1 are back, but yet without the dullness that sometimes came with that. The speed and separation of notes is just on another level compared to the r2. These new pair have a little more air too - not to far off from the HD800 - but obviously more subdued because the HD800 is just crazy elevated in the last octave. Honestly, I was wondering if Audeze purposely gave me a special cherry-picked pair which was LCD3r2 or a prototype LCD4 by accident! Or if my food got spiked with some magic mushrooms.
 
I don't usually stay up all night very much these days listening to music, but it got to the point where after a I went through a small stack of CDs, I was so tired (half-asleep and half-listening) that I had to peel myself off the bed to shut off the amp. Again I probably need more time with these; and it's unfortunate Anax never got to hear it from a  good setup (the Sony X is one of those weaker portables that really can't anything more than high efficiency headphones) so he could provide additional input. But even from the portable, he did say that he had some dangerous thoughts about actually grabbing one of these for himself. And he was never a big fan of the Audeze 'phones to put things politely.
 
I hope this won't be making things more difficult for Alex and Sankar. On one hand, their product, when working according to spec, is crazy good. Something that all owners and potential customers should have no doubt about. On the other, they may have their hands full with owners sending in their headphones wondering if their headphones are indeed up to snuff.
 
And no, I really don't want to go back to the HD800s tonight.
 
 

 

[MuppetFace]

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Put another way, the prior pair I had sounded like an LCD2r3 (with certain things better such as smoother treble, little bit better articulation on the bass, slightly faster treble, and a step back in clarity.) 
 

Thanks, purrin. When you put it like that, I'm pretty damn sure my pair is veiled.

 

[purrin]

Forgot to mention: nice punchy fast bass too on the new one.
 
 

 

[purrin]

This is surreal. I hope I'm not actually dead going through some kind of twisted M Night. Shamalan Sixth-Sense purgatory thing.

 

[MuppetFace]

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This is surreal. I hope I'm not actually dead going through some kind of twisted M Night. Shamalan Sixth-Sense purgatory thing.

 
Shouldn't you be able to hear dead drivers if that's the case?
 
Maybe there's hope for you yet!

 

[wuwhere]

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This is surreal. I hope I'm not actually dead going through some kind of twisted M Night. Shamalan Sixth-Sense purgatory thing.

Well, you already have one whale of an ear/hearing so the next is a Moody experience (Dr. Raymond Moody)?