Quote:
Some people reported a 'veil' in the mid-range. This is considered the 'bad version', I suppose.
Here's my mini LCD3 review off the top of my head after extended listening this week:
LCD3 "veiling" and highs in general:
There is no veil, none, nada, not with Pinnacle or B52 (a warm amp). Just fine phones, period, on the level of 009s, HD800s, even R10s IMHO (I'm a former owner of R10s).
They are just not sharp-edged or super-analytic sounding, which some phones can pull off sort of, like the HD800s, and some phone try and sound fatiguing (HE6s, which I sold, but full-disclosure never used a speaker-amp for them, as was recommended,
so don't take this as a condemnation of the HE6s, as I didn't give them what I guess they needed as it was too inconvenient for me). Highs are sweet and extended and liquid, not brittle or tinny or piercing.
LCD3 Bass:
And wait until you hear the bass on the LCD3s. There is something uniquely satisfying and BIG but not overwhelming about the bass. I hate boomy, pushy bass (like PS1000s and JVC 1000s did, and even Denon D7000s sometimes),
but the LCD3s have big but natural bass that makes a great foundation to the music and transcends the headphone vs. speaker divide better than any headphone for me.
I was listening to piano on them and kept thinking, gee, this sounds like a full-size piano somehow, with deep impact and harmonics, but without uncontrolled bloat down low, as I heard on the PS1000s and other phones with lesser-quality bass.
There is none of that woozy sound or unnatural looseness I heard in the bass and lower mids with a number of other phones.
LCD3 Mids:
And they have nice density in the mids (like vocals) that is just right, with nice saturation of images that preserves the detail but is not bloated or thick.
I kind of go back and forth with the LCD3s and SR009s and can't decide which I like better.
On some bad CDs (or even certain tracks) there is a trace of glare in the upper mids, but I now conclude this is just them revealing the truth of the particular recording. It is not frequent and even when it occurs, is not too bad or painful, just noticeable.
LCD3 Break-in:
I found break in for Audezes takes about 40 hours (rough estimates; I have not been measuring carefully, but this is since I had mine RMAd about 3 months ago).
Break-in helps a lot with imaging, which is now very good (it was a little flat at first), with nice depth and micro-placement of images in front and back of each other,
and left-right emphasis on a recording is still natural, not collapsed to one side or the other. And the aforementioned glare is a lot less than when they were new,
and I'm hoping this glare will further dissipate with more break-in.
LCD3 Cabling: Mine are balanced with Moon Black Dragon V2 with Furutech Rhodium XLR connectors, as recommended by Drew of Moon Audio. This cable also helped make the highs sweeter and helped significantly with
the glare I mentioned.
