[Xcalibur255]

Quote:

Can you just run them through some sweep tones to see where it starts resonating.

Something like this?  http://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_sinesweep20-20k.php

 

[Maxvla]

Try NCH Tone Generator, that way you can step up the frequency on demand instead of trying to listen to a sweep.

 

[Xcalibur255]

I have to confess I'm not entirely sure what to listen for.  Nothing really stood out as resonance, there were section in both the lower and upper mids where there seemed to be a secondary tone of a monotone nature in the background against the rising tone of the sweep but I'm not sure you could call that resonance.  I'm rather new to this particular form of troubleshooting.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Something like this?  http://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_sinesweep20-20k.php

Sinegen.

 

[Defiant00]

I know, I'm baffled by it.  I can't impress enough that I'm not exaggerating the issue either.  It's enough to make you physically cringe, as though the drivers were blown.  Switch to any other kind of music and it sounds fine.  I played some bass heavy material with very aggressive transients to test and even at ear splitting volumes it sounds crystal clear.  Switch to a piano solo recording and the mid/high notes are nails on a chalkboard even at moderate volumes.  I find it incredibly hard to believe that every single piano recording I like has this resonance inside the recording itself either.

For the record most of these recordings sounded great on my late K701s.  If you pushed them hard they would blare a little but that was normal given their capabilities in general.

That is really bizarre. I use my LCD-2s with piano music (and occasionally with my digital piano as well) and have never had any similar issues. It really sounds like you've gone out of your way to troubleshoot this so it does seem like it's time to have Audez'e take a look at your cans.

 

[DefQon]

Drivers failing? Cable problem? Hmm....have you tried disconnecting everything and reconnecting everything together? Actually sounds like you tried your K701's and had no problem. Shoot Audeze an email, possible driver failure.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

I have to confess I'm not entirely sure what to listen for.  Nothing really stood out as resonance, there were section in both the lower and upper mids where there seemed to be a secondary tone of a monotone nature in the background against the rising tone of the sweep but I'm not sure you could call that resonance.  I'm rather new to this particular form of troubleshooting.

 
Can you provide a few tracks so we can test and compare.  HDtracks or where ever you downloaded from?

 

[The Monkey]

Maybe you don't like the headphones.

 

[LugBug1]

If its fine at the highest freq's but not so a little lower, it has to be your ears. No ones ears are the same and certain peaks even on very flat headphones like the LCD2's will still cause you annoyance. HP's at this level are very transparent and can easily cause fatigue or annoyance if you are vunerable to certain FR points  

 

[Barry S]

I listened to the Ludovico Einaudi track you posted earlier--I found a well-rendered 320kbps version. I also listened to a selection of other Einaudi tracks from other recordings. As a reference I listened to some "benchmark" piano recordings by Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Buchbinder, and David Fung.

There were no LCD2.2 defects I noticed through my Gungnir>Mjolnir setup listening to the Einaudi track. No distortion or breakup due to the LCD2.2--even at high volumes. However, I noticed that many of the Einaudi tracks are recorded in a lush warm style that includes some layered reverb and ringing in the recording--and sometimes excessive distortion.

All of the benchmark recordings were cleaner and tighter. If you can listen to the recently released Rudolf Buchbinder recording of the Mozart piano concertos, #23 and #25 (2013 Sony Classical), it should sound clean, tight, and perfect on the LCD2. It's a beautiful crisp dynamic recording that sounds superb on the LCD2s.

It may be you have defective drivers, but you may also be hearing some issues with your recordings that don't match well with the LCD2's.

 

[Xcalibur255]

I'll try to track down the Rudolf Buchbinder recordings.  I have a 2L release 24/96 recording of Beethoven's Sonata #32 that seems very well recorded that is serving as my reference, perhaps you could give me your opinion on it's quality?  The ringing/resonance appears at specific frequencies, in the upper midrange.  The lower notes are always clean and undistorted which is why it seems like resonance to me.
 
My ultimate "cringe" track is rather, I guess the word esoteric would be right, it is the worst sounding I have heard so far.  I'm sure it isn't the best recording, but this track makes the LCD-2 sound utterly broken, no matter how bad the recording it shouldn't turn into pure distortion like what I hear on this track.  It's the first track of this album:  http://animeost.info/18975/aria-piano-collection-stagione
 
edit:  found a youtube link if anybody would like to hear it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx7p39JFrq8&list=PLCBCCEB446D323130&index=12
 
If this track sounds fine on other owner's LCD-2s then I'm convinced there is something wrong with mine, because this track is more distortion than it is music on my pair even at low volumes.

 

[Maxvla]

Should be no ringing from the headphones in the upper mids (2-6KHz). That's actually the cleanest part of the LCD-2 Rev. 2.

 

[Solude]

Aside from being uber sharp and high pitched it's otherwise fine which is to say painful.

 

[Xcalibur255]

Would you be willing to elaborate for me a bit?  Do you feel the LCD-2 is just laying bare issues in the recordings?  I can play this track back on anything else I own and it sounds perfect pleasant.  My speaker system isn't full on audiophile but it is competent and fed off the same DAC the headphone setup benefits from and the track sounds nice on them.  I thought it sounded decent enough on the K701s back when I had the luxury of comparison too, I do recall hearing the upper notes bite unnaturally from what seemed like a combination of enhancement from mixing and reflections in the room it was recorded in.  On the LCD-2 it is a totally different animal though, the resonance is so bad that you can't recognize some of the notes as coming from a piano even it is just noise.

 

[Xcalibur255]

Quote:

Should be no ringing from the headphones in the upper mids (2-6KHz). That's actually the cleanest part of the LCD-2 Rev. 2.

I'm not trying to make any kind of argument against the LCD-2 in general, I'm just trying to determine if there is a defect in my particular pair or if I need to turn my attention away from them and towards other gear in my setup.  Or maybe neither as it may turn out, it could be I've achieved a level of transparency that finally reveals how bad some of my favorite recordings are.  My initial reaction is "that can't be it" simply due to how severe the issue is, if it were just just a minor sound quality issue I would let it go and just accept it.