mrbigsby
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2012
- Posts
- 357
- Likes
- 79
So these are just my own opinions, please dont get offended if you own these headphones and dont agree with me but need to justify your purchase. Its fair to assume we all have different tastes, ears... all the rest... sigh... SO
where to begin?
Tried the LCD2 r2 today at A2A, with both the Ray Samuals thing with the bass knob (rx?)/clas combo, and then with the clas to a 2w outputting Violetric. I found the cans really really hard to drive and EASILY maxed out the ray samuals (had the violetric at 3:00 with comfort, then at 4:30 sure it was very loud but it wasnt beyond rocking out to your favorite song in your undies on your day off). They didnt have a WA7 just yet- but with these amping results, and my pre-paid WA7 on the way- i wasnt overly excited about the LCD2. Sure it sounds really nice! But the bass- as apparently perfect as it is- wasnt enough in quantum for someone like me. Yes im a basshead but not a sony X*** basshead, somewhere below that but above most of the over $500 stuff. Which is a shame because i would spend the higher dollars without remorse should i have been satisfied by the sound. Compared to other reviews by some owners, i believe its fairer to say that this is a warm-ish, realistic, not sibilant, and relatively flat sounding phone. Another surprise is they were no where near as heavy or uncomfortable as others here led me to believe, i didnt mind the fit or weight at all- they were a demo pair so they may have been worn in, but i was surprised by the lack of discomfort.. pads are awesome! Love the overall design. (bamboo tested.) IMO if your not a pronounced bass addict and you enjoy genres other than HipHop/electronica, and you dont have a feeble neck ( i couldnt see the comfort problem other than maybe needing to stretch the band on a new pair to relax the clamp) than these cans are worth the big ticket. They also look the business.
I also tried the SigDJ and SigPro through the same amps same tracks.
Comfort first:
I dont usually like the middle pad lump on ultrasones as it just feels so damn wrong and makes my head numb. I was delighted that these dont have that! The fit and finish feels quality. The inserts are glass, and the plastic stuff is not your regular plastic- not sure what it is, but it feels GOOD. Pads feel nice too, but god the cups are SHALLOW. i have smaller than average ears, not tiny, but certainly small ears. They are also quite flat to my head and barely stick out. I usually only adjust headphones 1 click on each side and my ears rarely if ever have touch- my ears touched in both pairs significantly. Not the edge of my ear- the whole ear!!! It felt so wrong to me, but to 'on-ear' headphone owners this may not be an issue. Other than that not bad at all.
Fit and finish was really nice! comfort was very good but had that one nagging fault that was too big to ignore for me.
Sound
More similar than reviews have led me to believe. I had tried the DJ not too long ago and enjoyed it as a fun set of cans, but this is my first time with the PRO, and first time directly comparing with the same passages of the same songs on the same amps, with the same settings. Both are pretty nice, warm but just crisp enough, but they just dont justify their price. They seem to me like a closed DT990 (no i dont mean an 880, just an audio descriptive) with slightly improved mids and a warmer overall signature. This would sound almost ideal to some people only it wasnt as fluid as the Beyers but more contrived. The bass was a little uncontrolled and a bit too much for me. Not in the sense of quantity as i love my DT770 (for its bass, dont love the lack of mids), but in the sense of separation and clarity. It had a nice drive, but it felt out of character to the rest of it. Its like the look/build and bass belong together in one set of $250-$400 cans, but the rest of the sound and actual price belong in another.... Combined its like one of those childrens books that have divided animal pictures you mix and match. Its very odd, and i couldnt learn to love it. For $300-$400 i would have taken them home and thought "theres no perfect headphone anyway and these are well made, nice sounding, and pretty cool", though for $1000 give or take ...Personally I wasnt a buyer.
If these had deeper pads, were semi open (or if were closed yet at least had better mid bass control/separation to show off the rest of the mid range sound better), and had a slightly classier finish (quality was excellent, im talking styling here, maturity), and were a little less schizophrenic they would certainly be worth even up to $700. In no scenario could i conjure up a $1000 price tag.
In the end Im counting on this new batch of FA-011 due soon, the arrival of the Hifiman HF400 to trial, and a new brand (for headphones) to our shores and a dark horse with some great feedback so far that ill reveal soon!
Tried the LCD2 r2 today at A2A, with both the Ray Samuals thing with the bass knob (rx?)/clas combo, and then with the clas to a 2w outputting Violetric. I found the cans really really hard to drive and EASILY maxed out the ray samuals (had the violetric at 3:00 with comfort, then at 4:30 sure it was very loud but it wasnt beyond rocking out to your favorite song in your undies on your day off). They didnt have a WA7 just yet- but with these amping results, and my pre-paid WA7 on the way- i wasnt overly excited about the LCD2. Sure it sounds really nice! But the bass- as apparently perfect as it is- wasnt enough in quantum for someone like me. Yes im a basshead but not a sony X*** basshead, somewhere below that but above most of the over $500 stuff. Which is a shame because i would spend the higher dollars without remorse should i have been satisfied by the sound. Compared to other reviews by some owners, i believe its fairer to say that this is a warm-ish, realistic, not sibilant, and relatively flat sounding phone. Another surprise is they were no where near as heavy or uncomfortable as others here led me to believe, i didnt mind the fit or weight at all- they were a demo pair so they may have been worn in, but i was surprised by the lack of discomfort.. pads are awesome! Love the overall design. (bamboo tested.) IMO if your not a pronounced bass addict and you enjoy genres other than HipHop/electronica, and you dont have a feeble neck ( i couldnt see the comfort problem other than maybe needing to stretch the band on a new pair to relax the clamp) than these cans are worth the big ticket. They also look the business.
I also tried the SigDJ and SigPro through the same amps same tracks.
Comfort first:
I dont usually like the middle pad lump on ultrasones as it just feels so damn wrong and makes my head numb. I was delighted that these dont have that! The fit and finish feels quality. The inserts are glass, and the plastic stuff is not your regular plastic- not sure what it is, but it feels GOOD. Pads feel nice too, but god the cups are SHALLOW. i have smaller than average ears, not tiny, but certainly small ears. They are also quite flat to my head and barely stick out. I usually only adjust headphones 1 click on each side and my ears rarely if ever have touch- my ears touched in both pairs significantly. Not the edge of my ear- the whole ear!!! It felt so wrong to me, but to 'on-ear' headphone owners this may not be an issue. Other than that not bad at all.
Fit and finish was really nice! comfort was very good but had that one nagging fault that was too big to ignore for me.
Sound
More similar than reviews have led me to believe. I had tried the DJ not too long ago and enjoyed it as a fun set of cans, but this is my first time with the PRO, and first time directly comparing with the same passages of the same songs on the same amps, with the same settings. Both are pretty nice, warm but just crisp enough, but they just dont justify their price. They seem to me like a closed DT990 (no i dont mean an 880, just an audio descriptive) with slightly improved mids and a warmer overall signature. This would sound almost ideal to some people only it wasnt as fluid as the Beyers but more contrived. The bass was a little uncontrolled and a bit too much for me. Not in the sense of quantity as i love my DT770 (for its bass, dont love the lack of mids), but in the sense of separation and clarity. It had a nice drive, but it felt out of character to the rest of it. Its like the look/build and bass belong together in one set of $250-$400 cans, but the rest of the sound and actual price belong in another.... Combined its like one of those childrens books that have divided animal pictures you mix and match. Its very odd, and i couldnt learn to love it. For $300-$400 i would have taken them home and thought "theres no perfect headphone anyway and these are well made, nice sounding, and pretty cool", though for $1000 give or take ...Personally I wasnt a buyer.
If these had deeper pads, were semi open (or if were closed yet at least had better mid bass control/separation to show off the rest of the mid range sound better), and had a slightly classier finish (quality was excellent, im talking styling here, maturity), and were a little less schizophrenic they would certainly be worth even up to $700. In no scenario could i conjure up a $1000 price tag.
In the end Im counting on this new batch of FA-011 due soon, the arrival of the Hifiman HF400 to trial, and a new brand (for headphones) to our shores and a dark horse with some great feedback so far that ill reveal soon!
