The Audeze LCD-2 Ortho thread (New)

[DefQon]

Haven't heard the Mjonir but I preferred the V100 when I owned it over the Burson by a lot.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Of course it is my opinion I don't need to say that it is my opinion because forums like this is only comprised of opinions gathered by everyone. Also I have listened to a fully decked out balanced b22 and it sounds the same as my fully decked out 3 channel b22 (ever wondered why Ti Kan always recommended the 3 channel topology over the 4 due to cost and performance gains). The SPL Phonitor I had a listen to was balanced XLR connected to some SACD transport system that was at my local Jabens, I was listening to a demo disc from a Marantz pre-amp and some of the classical that was being played, the depth of the music piece playing was entrancing, something I had not heard from 5 different b22 builds I have built, heard from other locals and my personal own one, what I also noticed is that the Phonitor to my ear's at least is more neutral, the b22 can be fairly bright sometimes.
 
Also there is no need to get defensive at all.....just saying. 

 
Now why on earth would I be on the defensive DefQon

  Not at all.  I just said that because some peoples opinion come ac cross as if they were stating facts.  That's all - noting more, noting less.
 
That's funny about AMB.  I read the exact opposite on his forum - yep that the 4 channel was the ultimate build with many more benefits than a 3 channel.  B22 bright?  That's a new one to me as well.  Oh well, different builds, different builders all may yield different results.  
 
I would compare the Phonitor with my balanced M^3 - both are of the opamp design.  One circuit and one chip..  By the way they sound similar. My B22 just sounds better than both IMO..
 
Now the Mjolnir is something to recon with when paired with both LCDs.
 
 
Peace out..
 
 

 

[Solude]

The B22 is often thought of as 'hard' not 'bright' mostly because of the output part.  Not that its MOSFET, but that particular MOSFET part if that makes sense.  Smoother than most though.

 

[preproman]

What's meant by "hard"?

 

[Solude]

[size=medium]

hard[/size][size=medium]

 Tending toward steeliness, but not quite shrill. Often the result of a moderate frequency-response hump centered around 6kHz, sometimes also caused by small amounts of distortion.[/size]
 
[size=medium]

Stereophile's words, not mine.  And again it's due to the International part, not the B22 design.  I'd have to review my notes but I think it's because the alternate part isn't compatible with onboard heatsinks.[/size]

 

[preproman]

Gotcha...

 

[DefQon]

I think Solude has got it right about hard sounding (to an extent that can be almost cold), but there have been a few others than myself to find the b22 only bright in some cases with the HD800's specifically.
 
I don't know if it's Mike from headphonia or stereophile or another company reviewer, the reviewer also did mention that the 2 channel b22 they used against the Burson H160 can sound bright sometimes and I know for the fact from my personal experience as well as reading few other sources from hydrogen and diyaudio that adding more boards into a basic passive b22 design will not change the sound sig but instead reduce background noise and a slightly subtle expansion with the soundstage if you go via 4 boards for fully discrete balanced design but in my opinion that does not make it worthy of the extra hundreds of dollars spent when it only sounds only marginally different to a 3 channel design sometimes pretty much the same in my case.
 
Another thing I want to have a crack at is that whether or not one can use the 2 / 3 channel topology to balanced since 2 boards already have a proper ground (nwavguy and few others on hydrogen audio technically confirmed this) from AMB's site. 
 
Oh yeah another worthwhile note to add (if I can find it), was an older thread here based on the discussion of the b22, long discussions chimed in by Ti Kan himself, purrin and Steve Eddy on the b22 with the few points I've already stated in my post.

 

[preproman]

Some people here seem to go off what others say about gear.  I can only go off my own personal experience.  
 
It was a lot of hype about the LF months ago, a certain head fi'er at the time was rolling amps.  This head -fi'er got the LF in to compare with other amps.  The LF hit the door.  
 
Point being we all have different impressions on gear.  In my personal experience the B22 never sound cold, in fact I would consider it to be more on the warm side. Maybe it's my source..

 

[Solude]

Warm and polite.  Next to the Mjolnir it's very polite  A lot of that slight hardness is hidden in the warmth and politeness.  Where an aggressive amp would spotlight that hardness.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 
It was a lot of hype about the LF months ago, a certain head fi'er at the time was rolling amps.  This head -fi'er got the LF in to compare with other amps.  The LF hit the door.  
 

I also heard that the LF is quite hyped for what it does and cost.
 
 

In my personal experience the B22 never sound cold, in fact I would consider it to be more on the warm side. Maybe it's my source..
 

 
Now that's a new one I haven't heard before, maybe it is your source. 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 
 
Point being we all have different impressions on gear.  In my personal experience the B22 never sound cold, in fact I would consider it to be more on the warm side. Maybe it's my source..

 
That's how I hear it too.

 

[Rawrbington]

I've had mine for about 2 weeks now.  And im starting to wonder something.
I have the rev2, the measurment from Audeze shows mid sept 2012.
Are there any channel imbalance issues?
I swear the right channel seems slightly louder than the left.
It could be the imaging is so strong that im not used to it
it could be my amp
it could be the headphones
what do i do?

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

I've had mine for about 2 weeks now.  And im starting to wonder something.
I have the rev2, the measurment from Audeze shows mid sept 2012.
Are there any channel imbalance issues?
I swear the right channel seems slightly louder than the left.
It could be the imaging is so strong that im not used to it
it could be my amp
it could be the headphones
what do i do?

There have been issues in the past regarding this but it is rare. Try listening to the same track with different hp's (if you have any) just to make sure it isn't just the mix, although a lot of music tends to be mixed with a bias towards the left.

 

[Barry S]

I've had mine for about 2 weeks now.  And im starting to wonder something.
I have the rev2, the measurment from Audeze shows mid sept 2012.
Are there any channel imbalance issues?
I swear the right channel seems slightly louder than the left.
It could be the imaging is so strong that im not used to it
it could be my amp
it could be the headphones
what do i do?

I haven't noticed any channel imbalance issues and haven't heard of any being mentioned. A good start would be switching the left and right cables that plug into the headphones. If the imbalance switches, that points to the source being the problem. If the imbalance stays on one side after switching the cable, it may be an issue with your headphones.

 

[Solude]

My original LCD-3 was off by 2dB ear to ear.  Sent it in, came back 0dB difference.