Pharmaboy
Headphoneus Supremus
Anyone heard the LCD3 and can compare the bass to VO? I love the bass of my LCD3 and don’t want to give that up but getting the itch to try something new and my decision is between VO and Empyrean. Unfortunately I can’t audition either of these.
I had a lovely pre-fazor LCD-3 for a couple years (since sold). Had the Empyrean much of 2019. Now have a silkwood VO (among others). Never had the chance to compare the LCD-3 & VO. That would have been a fascinating comparison.
The LCD-3 is a planar and thus has subtle but meaningful differences in sound vs any dynamic. Having said that, I'd say the bass between the LCD-3 & VO would be a very close call (quality & quantity). Both have bass that I would consider relatively neutral, not exaggerated, with no particular frequencies jumping out. Both readily convey the correct timbre of bass instruments and subtle nuances of bass notes (plucked strings of standup bass, for example). They both have some sub-bass, though not in record territory like others (Ori; Eikon). However, those driver differences matter in the bass:
- The LCD-3 has typical low distortion planar bass that rises out of blackness and briefly pressures my ears. Planar bass doesn't bounce into my ears, as it does from dynamic drivers--instead, it very briefly presses against them, for lack of a better description (I find this difference very easy to hear but hard to describe)
- VO bass is very tuneful & solid on every genre. I'm a borderline basshead but never find fault w/VO bass. That's probably because it sounds rather amazing, top to bottom.
But the biggest difference between these headphones IMO is something above & beyond tonality, bass, etc: it's dynamics. When I played any music with a strong pulse and big/deep bass on the LCD-3, it refused to "go there." The macrodynamics didn't scale up to match those genres...the LCD-3 never woke up and boogied, no matter what volume level I used. By comparison, the VO will readily rev up & jump higher with all those genres. In fact, the VO is one of the few headphones that sounds terrific on every genre I try.