[Bonddam]

To derail the thread a tad here, I'm currently between getting a heddphone and a rad-0.

If you've got a few moments to spare, do you have any thoughts on both headphones? It sounds like you ended up preferring the heddphone.

The Heddphone would be be better in certain areas and is really good. It's ugly and does not do 1266 bass or it would be more popular. I'm trying to remember if it was musical like the Abyss and Rosson. I was going to get another Heddphone to enjoy what it does but waiting till my addiction bug starts jonezing for that next hit which it's starting to because someone had to bring it up !!THANKS!!

 

[Bonddam]

covid brain kicked back in and ill just cut some more lawn. maybe fill the hot tub for the kids.

The test for RAD is putting them on my $300 amp from Aune X7S and see how they do on something of entry level with no color to the sound.

 

[LCMusicLover]

To derail the thread a tad here, I'm currently between getting a heddphone and a rad-0.

If you've got a few moments to spare, do you have any thoughts on both headphones? It sounds like you ended up preferring the heddphone.

Sure.

It wasn't that I preferred Hedd, rather that Hedd's signature fit better with my other cans.

Tonality on RAD-0 was very close to my Blackwood Auteur. And even though Auteur is DD, while RAD-0 is planar, there just wasn't that much separation.

Hedds came in sounding different enough that they made a better complement.

Another way of putting it was that Hedd/Auteur/HEKse was a bigger triangle than RAD-0/Auteur/HEKse.

This is actually an approach I first used when picking skis.

I will say that I never really got over the comfort issue with RAD-0, so that colored the decision as well.

As I said in an earlier post, my RAD-0 sale was ironic in that I swapped Empyrean out for Rad-0 because Empyrean was 'too far away' from my preferences, but swapped RAD-0 out for Hedd because Hedd were a bit farther from my preferences (than RAD-0).

Of course, the fact that I sold my RAD-0 for almost $600 more than I paid for Hedd (net of fees) helped.

But other than the weight/pressure on top of the head thing, I have nothing negative to say about RAD-0 -- I really enjoyed listening to them ... lying down

 

[Kevintj604]

The ball is rolling again on my custom grille option. They contacted me back with four artist mock-ups today three of which I'm super excited with. To be continued.

 

[ardbeg1975]

I violated my audio “prime directive” of having only one headphone per category (open and closed per driver type), but I picked up a used Rad-0 this week because a coworker was raving about them and my Kennerton Wodan open back planars are up for sale in the classifieds section so only a partial violation (or so I’m telling myself). To be very brief, the Rad-0s are great — very smooth, great timbre, enjoyable downward sloping treble, good but not piercing detail like a ZMF but very fast like a planar. I’m pleased.

 

[Kevintj604]

What a turnaround of events. I've now gone VERY far with the grille and dealing with the Rosson team directly with a tonne of back and forth.

I think their team is even more excited about the project than I am if that's even possible.

I guess good things happen to those that wait.

This will turn out to be a few months in the process but should be well worth the wait.

To be continued.

 

[supaninja]

Has anyone compared the RAD-0 to the LCD-5?

 

[Kevintj604]

Has anyone compared the RAD-0 to the LCD-5?

I’ve A/B’d them both at my local headphone shop for about an hour of back and forth.

I own the RAD-0 so keep that in mind as i’m sure there’s a bit of bias.

The LCD5 is very detailed. Quite a noticeable jump in resolution and overall performance with excellent clarity in the mid range. Great performance on clarity of trailing ends of tones and subtle details in the highs that the Rosson can’t complete with.

However, the LCD5 by comparison is bass lean. It’s a VERY mid forward headphone. So much so that it takes over the mix for me and it’s missing the low end thump and sparkly treble that I need in a headphone to enjoy them. It’s also quite relaxed in the treble. For me it lacks the sparkle and energy and can come across quite boring for the genres that I listen to.

I find the Rosson much more tonally balanced with excellent extension on both the lows and highs. The bass on the RAD-0 has a much nicer sense of note weight. The mids are perfect. Not as detailed as the LCD5 but close enough for me to not want for anything. My original intention was to possibly sell a few of my other headphones to “upgrade” to the LCD5 but after hearing them compared to the Rosson I was quite disappointed in the Audeze’s.

Like all headphones I think source and signal chain plays a much bigger role than some reviewers would suggest. I’m sure the LCD5 could sound awesome with specific gear but for me I vastly prefer the RAD-0.

 

[supaninja]

I’ve A/B’d them both at my local headphone shop for about an hour of back and forth.

I own the RAD-0 so keep that in mind as i’m sure there’s a bit of bias.

The LCD5 is very detailed. Quite a noticeable jump in resolution and overall performance with excellent clarity in the mid range. Great performance on clarity of trailing ends of tones and subtle details in the highs that the Rosson can’t complete with.

However, the LCD5 by comparison is bass lean. It’s a VERY mid forward headphone. So much so that it takes over the mix for me and it’s missing the low end thump and sparkly treble that I need in a headphone to enjoy them. It’s also quite relaxed in the treble. For me it lacks the sparkle and energy and can come across quite boring for the genres that I listen to.

I find the Rosson much more tonally balanced with excellent extension on both the lows and highs. The bass on the RAD-0 has a much nicer sense of note weight. The mids are perfect. Not as detailed as the LCD5 but close enough for me to not want for anything. My original intention was to possibly sell a few of my other headphones to “upgrade” to the LCD5 but after hearing them compared to the Rosson I was quite disappointed in the Audeze’s.

Like all headphones I think source and signal chain plays a much bigger role than some reviewers would suggest. I’m sure the LCD5 could sound awesome with specific gear but for me I vastly prefer the RAD-0.

Thanks for the detailed review. You just saved me $4500. How do the RAD-0 compare to the LCD-X? I've been hearing a lot of reviewers talking about how LCD-5 were the best headphones they ever heard which made me interested. That's pretty disappointing to hear about the LCD-5

 

[dude120]

Thanks for the detailed review. You just saved me $4500. How do the RAD-0 compare to the LCD-X? I've been hearing a lot of reviewers talking about how LCD-5 were the best headphones they ever heard which made me interested. That's pretty disappointing to hear about the LCD-5

I can't personally attest to this, but while it is often noted to be bass lean I've heard several people indicate that the LCD5 is significantly better with eq.

Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt though. I've not personally experienced it either way, I've just seen that sentiment echoed many times.

 

[musicman59]

I’ve A/B’d them both at my local headphone shop for about an hour of back and forth.

I own the RAD-0 so keep that in mind as i’m sure there’s a bit of bias.

The LCD5 is very detailed. Quite a noticeable jump in resolution and overall performance with excellent clarity in the mid range. Great performance on clarity of trailing ends of tones and subtle details in the highs that the Rosson can’t complete with.

However, the LCD5 by comparison is bass lean. It’s a VERY mid forward headphone. So much so that it takes over the mix for me and it’s missing the low end thump and sparkly treble that I need in a headphone to enjoy them. It’s also quite relaxed in the treble. For me it lacks the sparkle and energy and can come across quite boring for the genres that I listen to.

I find the Rosson much more tonally balanced with excellent extension on both the lows and highs. The bass on the RAD-0 has a much nicer sense of note weight. The mids are perfect. Not as detailed as the LCD5 but close enough for me to not want for anything. My original intention was to possibly sell a few of my other headphones to “upgrade” to the LCD5 but after hearing them compared to the Rosson I was quite disappointed in the Audeze’s.

Like all headphones I think source and signal chain plays a much bigger role than some reviewers would suggest. I’m sure the LCD5 could sound awesome with specific gear but for me I vastly prefer the RAD-0.

I used to own the Rad-0 and listened to the LCD5 at Axpona and agree 100% with your assessment.

 

[legabian34]

For those having hotspot on the top of the head, I've tried the leather suspension strap mod made by @puck and it's really night and day. It fits perfectly on the head and the hotspot disappears
Just wanted to share my impressions if it can help someone

 

[smodtactical]

For those having hotspot on the top of the head, I've tried the leather suspension strap mod made by @puck and it's really night and day. It fits perfectly on the head and the hotspot disappears
Just wanted to share my impressions if it can help someone

Wonder why Alex is not doing something like this ?

 

[iFi audio]

Wonder why Alex is not doing something like this ?

Aesthetics maybe? Either way, it's good that there's enough space there for folks to mod

 

[Kingofthecrate]

Picked up my RAD-0 after listening to them at Rosson’s shop thru a Neve Fidelice (what an amazing sounding amp/dac) and I went back and forth between the acrylic cups and the wooden cups (even though I had ready picked customer colors, I ended up going with the mahogany cups. I just preferred the sound of them better, not that I didn’t enjoy the acrylic models, it was just different for me and I am sensitive to highs so these just made sense. I am happy with these, I am going to compare them to my LCD-X via RME-AD2>Singxer sa1