richard-ec2
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2016
- Posts
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First post here - hi everyone.
I've just been reading the recent posts in this thread saying the LCD-3s have been revised from the beginning of this year. I'd been planning buy a pair of LCD-3s but after seeing the charts posted by people with the new revision (282xxxx), I must say those plans have gone on hold.
Looking at the charts, the really good news is that the bass is now flat down to 30 Hz instead of starting to fall away at 40 Hz. That’s surely something that almost everyone will welcome.
More controversial, to my mind, is the large uptick in the frequency response at the other end of the frequency spectrum, starting at around 8 kHz and peaking at around 10 kHz. There had always been an uptick here but it’s much larger now. I can see that many or most people will welcome this as adding “air” or “transparency” to the sound. But to me, the big attraction of the LCD-3 had always been its sweet and forgiving top end, and it seems to me that this latest revision is a step away from that.
I must emphasise that I haven’t heard the newly revised LCD-3s yet. I currently own a pair of LCD-2s (Rev. 2, non-Fazor) and these are wonderful apart from just a bit too much emphasis at the top end for my ears – for example, I find my LCD-2s tend to highlight, rather than tame, harsh sibilants. Last year I tried some LCD-3s at a show and had one of those “YES!” moments where I decided they were absolutely perfect and completely resolved the LCD-2 problem. It’s only now that I’ve come to make the purchase – only to find that the sound signature of the LCD-3s has now been changed and is no longer what I heard at that show.
I’ve already come up with a conspiracy theory about this. The problem with the hyper-expensive LCD-4 is how to differentiate it from the LCD-3, which is (or was) already as good as it gets. So maybe Audeze has decided to make the LCD-3 sound the same as the LCD-2, so all those people who once bought the LCD-3 for its sweet and forgiving top end will now have to buy the LCD-4 instead! You could even speculate that the LCD-2, now pretty much redundant, might soon be dropped - though that’s probably pushing it even for a conspiracy theorist.
I've just been reading the recent posts in this thread saying the LCD-3s have been revised from the beginning of this year. I'd been planning buy a pair of LCD-3s but after seeing the charts posted by people with the new revision (282xxxx), I must say those plans have gone on hold.
Looking at the charts, the really good news is that the bass is now flat down to 30 Hz instead of starting to fall away at 40 Hz. That’s surely something that almost everyone will welcome.
More controversial, to my mind, is the large uptick in the frequency response at the other end of the frequency spectrum, starting at around 8 kHz and peaking at around 10 kHz. There had always been an uptick here but it’s much larger now. I can see that many or most people will welcome this as adding “air” or “transparency” to the sound. But to me, the big attraction of the LCD-3 had always been its sweet and forgiving top end, and it seems to me that this latest revision is a step away from that.
I must emphasise that I haven’t heard the newly revised LCD-3s yet. I currently own a pair of LCD-2s (Rev. 2, non-Fazor) and these are wonderful apart from just a bit too much emphasis at the top end for my ears – for example, I find my LCD-2s tend to highlight, rather than tame, harsh sibilants. Last year I tried some LCD-3s at a show and had one of those “YES!” moments where I decided they were absolutely perfect and completely resolved the LCD-2 problem. It’s only now that I’ve come to make the purchase – only to find that the sound signature of the LCD-3s has now been changed and is no longer what I heard at that show.
I’ve already come up with a conspiracy theory about this. The problem with the hyper-expensive LCD-4 is how to differentiate it from the LCD-3, which is (or was) already as good as it gets. So maybe Audeze has decided to make the LCD-3 sound the same as the LCD-2, so all those people who once bought the LCD-3 for its sweet and forgiving top end will now have to buy the LCD-4 instead! You could even speculate that the LCD-2, now pretty much redundant, might soon be dropped - though that’s probably pushing it even for a conspiracy theorist.