[koiloco]

I personally did not find lucid mode appealing at all. Kind of gimmicky. In my brief experience, it works on only very few tracks in my collection. As an amp, the taboo is wonderful at driving planars. Make sure u get the balanced 4 pin xlr and ur HPs run off that balanced connection cuz 1/4 will have to have original lucid mode on permanently to sound right cuz of merged grounds. I didn't like this a bit.

 

[negura]

I personally did not find lucid mode appealing at all. Kind of gimmicky. In my brief experience, it works on only very few tracks in my collection. As an amp, the taboo is wonderful at driving planars. Make sure u get the balanced 4 pin xlr and ur HPs run off that balanced connection cuz 1/4 will have to have original lucid mode on permanently to sound right cuz of merged grounds. I didn't like this a bit.

 
+1 The same in all respects. Balanced is the way to go. The lucid modes I never use as the Taboo is fantastic as is & I am not actually finding myself using that gimmick. It's an work-around for using single ended.

 

[koiloco]

Just to put things in perspective, the taboo mkIII drove my he500 better than my wa22 does now. After all, taboo was born as a speaker amp and he500 lovesssss speaker amps.

 

[mwindham08]

How does the cryoset differ from the stock tubes? Thanks for the suggestions guys, makes me feel a bit better that my tubes aren't bad at least.

 

[WNBC]

Definitely a track-to-track decision with lucid modes.  Some tracks do benefit from it.  Many do not.  I definitely give Steve credit for experimenting with the lucid modes.  They definitely do some 'interesting' things to the sound.  Widens the soundstage and brings the sound up front and center as well as increases the listening volume.    
 
 
Quote:

I personally did not find lucid mode appealing at all. Kind of gimmicky. In my brief experience, it works on only very few tracks in my collection. As an amp, the taboo is wonderful at driving planars. Make sure u get the balanced 4 pin xlr and ur HPs run off that balanced connection cuz 1/4 will have to have original lucid mode on permanently to sound right cuz of merged grounds. I didn't like this a bit.

 

[koiloco]

 

Yup, for using no DSP, that's taboo magic in itself.
 
Though, I don't have the taboo anymore, I still remember and really appreciate how good it sounds with my HE500.  Now even with a Woo WA22, it's great overall for HD800, Q701 and does a good job with HE500 but everything else/problems aside, I still think taboo has a little edge over WA22 at driving my HE500.

 

[WNBC]

In terms of the WA22, was the Taboo better at driving the HE-500 in regards to volume or was it something else that the Taboo did better?  I've never heard the Woo amps so I'm not familiar with their sound signature.  
 
 
Quote:

  Yup, for using no DSP, that's taboo magic in itself.
 
Though, I don't have the taboo anymore, I still remember and really appreciate how good it sounds with my HE500.  Now even with a Woo WA22, it's great overall for HD800, Q701 and does a good job with HE500 but everything else/problems aside, I still think taboo has a little edge over WA22 at driving my HE500.

 

[V-Duh]

 

I personally did not find lucid mode appealing at all. Kind of gimmicky. In my brief experience, it works on only very few tracks in my collection. As an amp, the taboo is wonderful at driving planars. Make sure u get the balanced 4 pin xlr and ur HPs run off that balanced connection cuz 1/4 will have to have original lucid mode on permanently to sound right cuz of merged grounds. I didn't like this a bit.

 
+1 The same in all respects. Balanced is the way to go. The lucid modes I never use as the Taboo is fantastic as is & I am not actually finding myself using that gimmick. It's an work-around for using single ended.

I also have not found many tracks that work well with the Lucid modes.  However, as of yet, all my cans are dynamic and SE so I thought maybe this was the reason for my impression of the Lucid modes.
 
In an effort to decide between purchasing the LCD-3 and the LCD-X, I was trying to differentiate the two based on Decware's Lucid design scheme with 50-ish ohm cans.  If going to a balanced planar (regardless of impedence) will not make substantive difference to the Lucid modes than this approach has little merit.
 
So, as a straight amp, the Taboo may work fine with the lower impedence LCD-X.  It seems like it would be easier to tune the Taboo to the LCD-X having been described as a bit brighter than the LCD-3 and a good "all rounder" [MH quote].  

 

[negura]

I don't see why it wouldn't be driving the LCD-Xs really well. I used to run the Sennheiser Momentum on the Taboo and that one is 18 Ohms impedance, so likely even more sensitive than the LCD-Xs.

 

[Argo Duck]

I presume the benefit of the lucid mode ('m talking about the Taboo II here - it's was my first Decware and what I still use with my LCD2) is that it helps expand the sound-stage of the LCD2. My one solid-state option that sounds acceptable next to the Taboo interestingly has cross feed (Meier Classic).

Steve explained in his (Decware) thread about the Taboo III that the re-design came about because he bought an LCD2 and felt he could do much better than the standard lucid mode with this phone.

But now we come to the LCD3 and X, which I understand have better sound-staging than the 2: lucid modes not needed, perhaps?. If other phones with wider/deeper staging than LCD2s don't benefit from lucid, then it may be lucid is mostly a one-trick (LCD2, Grado RS1 etc) pony where phones are concerned?

I do like lucid with speakers though.

 

[negura]

I think it's more that once you go balanced, the old lucid mode is of very limited use. And the new one highly situational/gimmicky. This is with MK3.
 
There's a good point about single ended use though.

 

[Argo Duck]

Yes, could be balanced makes the difference. Have yet to build a set of pig-tails to drive my LCD2 straight off the speaker taps - that will be educational I'm sure.

FWIW, my DAC (BMC's PureDAC) has a very good built-in amp which I use balanced with the LCD2. Sounds good (maybe better than the Meier) but still prefer the LCD2 single-ended with the Taboo (and, obviously, standard lucid as the SE alternative is mono!).

 

[funch]

Yes, could be balanced makes the difference. Have yet to build a set of pig-tails to drive my LCD2 straight off the speaker taps - that will be educational I'm sure.

 

 
I use a pigtail-to-4 pin female XLR to connect my LCD2's to the speaker taps on my Taboo II. Definitely superior to the TRS jack on the Taboo.

 

[WNBC]

Good to know.  I've been thinking about this.  My understanding is that there is only a small resistor in the headphone path so it can't be more power that makes the speaker taps better.  Or is this a wrong a assumption?
 
Does it have to be a 4-pin female XLR to bananas?  Can it be a 6.3mm female TRS to bananas as well?
 
 
Quote:

  I use a pigtail-to-4 pin female XLR to connect my LCD2's to the speaker taps on my Taboo II. Definitely superior to the TRS jack on the Taboo.

 

[funch]

These observations are for a Taboo II, not III. Refer to Decware's website for a diagram of the current version III.
 
No resistors pass between the positive speaker posts and the TRS jack.
 
There is one 4R7/5W resistor that connects between the right channel negative speaker post and the TRS ground when the lucid switch is on.
 
With the lucid mode off, a second 4R7/5W resistor is connected between the left channel negative speaker post to the TRS ground as well.
 
The TRS ground is not connected to earth ground, nor are the speaker tap's negative terminals, so I don't think a TRS pigtail would work.
 
*After reading the manual further, I've revised my post in regard to the lucid switch. I believe the description of the positioning of the switch
as to 'on' and 'off' in the manual to be reversed.*