philo50
Headphoneus Supremus
^^^^very similar to my own experience.....glad it worked out for you......
My story has a happy ending. I sent my LCD3s to Audeze and in exactly one week, I received them back. Audeze replaced both LCD3 drivers, made a new graph, and cleaned and buffed the headphones. Their point of contact was incredibly polite and communicative and let me know exactly when my headphones arrived and were shipped back out to me.
They sound dramatically different now. They're extracting detail better than they were before. Cymbals are particularly noticeable. Vocals are more forward. Everything just sounds clearer and less recessed. I don't remember the LCD3s sounding like this when I first listened to them on my First Watt. The LCD3 was kind of meh overall, not great, not bad. They sound a lot more fun now. I can make out backgrounds instruments better, while vocals, guitars, and drums are tighter, and vocals are much more engaging. Before, vocals, sounded like they were buried. I usually have pretty good memory when it comes to audio, and I'm shocked at the difference. I just thought the LCD3 paired poorly with my First Watt J2 and every other amp I've heard them on. I can't wait to hear them on a Leviathan and balanced Dynahi.
Audeze's customer support was some of the most courteous and responsive I've ever experienced in electronics. I'd recommend them unreservedly to anyone thinking of picking up an Audeze headphone.
I think that's a good way of putting it. I like dark sounding headphones, but they were previously a bit too dark for my tastes. I wouldn't call them bright, but they sound less muddy and recessed than I had remembered. They sound closer to the HE-6 now but with the Audeze house sound.
There are a few reports that are easy to find of Q1-2 2013 LCD3s failing.
Finally Audeze caves and makes fully metal headphones. Looking forward to the impressions and measurements of LCD-X and LCD-XC.