[jax]

Quote:

Elliott Smith is the closest I've been able to find but they are very different.  Duncan Browne was tremendous before he sold out.  I put Blue and Clouds on a similar pedestal melodically.  If there's one argument against smoking it's the travesty of Joni's voice on later albums.  Some would put Buckley in this category for his "man and a guitar songs".  To me the delivery is too flowery to be in that camp.  Nick is more about the notes, their relation to the swirling chord progression, and most of all - being direct.  Jeff comes more from the acrobatics school of many of the jazz singers, such as Holiday and Simone (whom he covered.)  
 
Most vocals I love on the HD800 - whether it's cooke, hartman, or callas.  It's the "guy and a guitar" singers that find the HD800 just can't get right.  Unfortunately some of my favorite artists come from that school.  

I completely agree on Joni, I think...I don't like anything much after Shadows and Light, and much prefer her earliest stuff (Blue and Court and Spark are top two).  I never could get Elliot Smith (I have most of what he's done and do listen on occasion), and wouldn't put him in the same class of musicianship or songwriting as the likes of Mitchel or Drake, both of whom I could listen to all day.  He does really convey the sense of darkness in the world he lived in, I'll give him that, but his voice and music don't resonate much with me..neither occur to me to have much depth or nuance and his choices of orchestration and instrumentation just don't click for me (and I normally prefer very dark and melancholy music - but tend to prefer more simple, stark acoustic arangements).  I don't know Buckley well enough to comment.  Duncan Browne has been recommended to me numerous times and I've never followed up, but just now ordered two of his earliest (Give Me Take You, and the self-titled album) taking your tip to stay away from later stuff. Absent from your list is Bonny Prince Billy (Will Oldham), who I think is prolific (under various names) and brilliant at times. 
 
Yes, I get your comments on the male vocals being more desirable on the Audeze.  I no longer have either one to comment, but always thought the Audeze lent some presence and authenticity to vocals in general.  I found vocals on the HD800 to be more distant, and that headphone to be a bit more fatiguing overall, especially in the top end.  Female vocals, or male...either were better for me on the Audeze.
 
To add further to the list with perhaps a bit more obscure and more a departure from very specific easy connections to Drake, but they there for me nonetheless....perhaps just in the general category of darkness revealed:
 
Mark Hollis (solo effort - self titled)
Richard Buckner (adds a bit of country edge to it)
Damien Jurado
King Kreosote and John Hopkins absolutely brilliant album, Diamond Mine
William Fitzsimmons

 

[Radio_head]

Elliott Smith's voice... is terrible.  His songwriting and musicianship are debatable.  While he couldn't play like Nick or sing like Joni I personally think as a songwriter (lyrics aside so I guess I mean as a composer/arranger) he was right up there, and in fact had a more varied oeuvre than Drake and others.  But Smith is the type of artist where you get him or you don't - for many people he just doesn't click.  Will Oldham did not come to mind immediately but he too shares some common points.  Many suggest John Martyn and Sibylle Baier as well.
 
Browne's Give Me Take You has some phenomenal lyricism but most of the music is a little to renaissance-y for my tastes - his eponymous album is my pick.  But they are both stellar.
 
If it was "Callas and a guitar" with an intimate feel to it I would prefer the Audeze too.  "Man and a guitar" was meant idiomatically. 

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

Alexi Murdoch does share some similarities but... (don't want to get too far OT.)

Spoiler: Here's%20Some%20Others.

 
Duncan Browne (first two albums) 
Elliott Smith
Big Star (Acoustic numbers)
Jackson C Frank
Jose Gonzalez
Vashti Brunyan
Margo Guryan
Joni Mitchell
 

Ultimately, none of these musicians recapture exactly what Nick did the same way that Nick couldn't do what Joni Mitchell could for example.
 
This type of music is one that I think the LCD series knocks it out of the park where the HD800 doesn't.  While the HD800 does have better low-level detail, the intimacy of being in the room seems artificially voyeuristic.  

 
Loving this discussion.  Murdoch, Drake, & Gonzalez are some of my favorites.  
 
How do you find the Gonzalez recordings?  While I love his music, I always thought the recordings weren't all that special, a shame really.
 
I like Vashti Bunyan's Train Song and only click with some of Elliot's songs.  Haven't really heard the rest, will check 'em out.

 

[sperandeo]

I still have not pulled the trigger on the LCD3. Since I created my sound room i don't listen as much as I used to.

 

[YoengJyh]

Guys... 
 
Actually, i don't really get what is the FR graph means to be.. cause i don't know how to read them.
 
If db low @ higher frequency(fre) mean? low @ treble? or the fre is audible if the db @ certain level?
 
For example of the LCD-3 Graph,
 
The wave is almost flat @ 92db from 0 fre to 1k fre and it drops from 1k fre to 4k fre @ 78db. How to define it?

 

[Radio_head]

Originally Posted by sphinxvc /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
How do you find the Gonzalez recordings?  While I love his music, I always thought the recordings weren't all that special, a shame really.
 
I like Vashti Bunyan's Train Song and only click with some of Elliot's songs.  Haven't really heard the rest, will check 'em out.

I never really focused on the fidelity of his recordings.  I'll have to take a listen more critically when I start listening again this week.  I can say that there was nothing that particularly stuck out and bothered me.  Either way, I listen to what I like regardless of whether it's low-fi, demo recordings on a field recorder, or live bootleg recordings.  Good sound is a welcome plus but doesn't really dictate my tastes - I like good music.  I'm waiting for the day when the two are coterminous.  
 
A couple recent names I was remiss in not mentioning: Ane Brun, Fionn Regan, and Sean Lennon.  I really think there's no one headphone that can do it right for every genre - the closest I have would be the JH13.  Still waiting to try the 009 though.

 

[Solude]

Quote:

Actually, i don't really get what is the FR graph means to be.. cause i don't know how to read them.
 

 
The frequency graph is a measure of the sound level at each frequency when driven by the same voltage.  Basically on an Audeze, it reads that frequencies from 20Hz-1KHz are equal and then drop before flattening out again from 4KHz-20KHz.

 

[estreeter]

Went back to Tyll's site to see if there was an update on the quality control issues - saw the apology from Audeze but no updates from Tyll. Has anyone here purchased a pair of LCD3 in the last month or so ? I find the bad batch prospect unnerving when I'm still seeing the LCD3 advertised on a number of sites all over the world. Audeze are charging way too much money for the LCD3 to allow something like this to slip by them. Kudos to Tyll for blowing the whistle. 

 

[Grev]

Quote:

Went back to Tyll's site to see if there was an update on the quality control issues - saw the apology from Audeze but no updates from Tyll. Has anyone here purchased a pair of LCD3 in the last month or so ? I find the bad batch prospect unnerving when I'm still seeing the LCD3 advertised on a number of sites all over the world. Audeze are charging way too much money for the LCD3 to allow something like this to slip by them. Kudos to Tyll for blowing the whistle. 

I looked at A2A's site two weeks ago and they have the March 2012 LCD-3s in stock, so they're keeping up with the game, not too sure about the other Australian dealers though.

 

[YoengJyh]

Quote:

 
The frequency graph is a measure of the sound level at each frequency when driven by the same voltage.  Basically on an Audeze, it reads that frequencies from 20Hz-1KHz are equal and then drop before flattening out again from 4KHz-20KHz.

 
So? Meant that? If compare to other headphones, for an example,  A: db @ 80 @ Fre 10k compare to B: db @ 90 @ Fre 10k...
 
What is the sound different when listening to them?

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:
With all due respect, that whistle was blown long before the article.

 

[Solude]

Quote:

A: db @ 80 @ Fre 10k compare to B: db @ 90 @ Fre 10k...
 
What is the sound different when listening to them?

 
10dB  This might help...
 

 

[TheWuss]

10kHz pierce.
yes, that's how i would describe a lot of headphones. 

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

With all due respect, that whistle was blown long before the article.

 
I saw various posts here, just as I've seen various complaints about other goodies over the years - Tyll put several pairs together and measured them, leaving no doubt that this wasnt a random problem. There have been murmurs of 'bad batches' with various headphones on Head-Fi for years, but have the manufacturers taken them seriously ? Ever seen someone complain about a headphone's characteristics and thought 'Whoa - no way are you listening to the same headphone I'm listening to !' ? Maybe they weren't ..... 
 
Taking it further, could you see a site like Headfonia publishing a similar set of tests ? 6Moons ? Srajan spends so much time telling us how Ken Ball's cables have changed his life, followed by a roundup of obscure Latvian pop, that he wouldnt be able to find space for the results of any testing, much less criticise a sponsor's product. I dont begrudge these folk the need  to make a living, but I applaud Tyll for being willing to swim against that tide. 

 

[YoengJyh]

Quote:

 
10dB  This might help...
 

 
Wow, really thanks a lot, i appreciated it.
 
What is the legends mean? Could you describe them in the listening definition?
 
Low Fundamentals:
Fundamentals:
Harmonics:
Overblow/Breath/Air:
and Property Range: 
 

 
Many thanks.