Mine arrived today. First impressions: Cardboard box is unremarkable. Much better packaging on HiFiMan HE-4XX, Koss ESP-9XX and Sennheiser HD6XX. Fuzzy pouch. Cans inside. Very nice cables...XLR and adapter for phono jack. Plugged into my Class A Schiit Asgard 2. Qobuz high-Rez... Sounds good. Highs bright. Not as much bass as I want. Grabbed my HiFiMan HE-4XX. Aaaah, much better at 1/6 the price. Back to Mr. Speaker...Added double-notch white pad to cans. That's better...highs more mellow...warmer sound...volume increase = more bass. Back to HE-4XX. Better all around. Not apples to apples...4XX are open back; these are closed. Expecting better bass with closed. Tried black felt and double notch white. Killed mids and highs too much. Back to double notch white. Better. Back to 4XX. Better. Hmmmmm...these will need to break in before I can give a fair assessment. Gonna burn them in for a week. Right now I'm not blown away or anything - especially at this price point, but I will give them a chance. I need some good closed cans for travel / airplane use. Ususally I use IEM's (Ultimate Ears UE11Pro custom) on an airplane but I like the bass that a set of closed cans offer, and closed cans are better for noisy passengers and screaming kids. I hope these wow me once they break-in. Please post up favorite tuning pad combos for these...I don't believe foam or felt can "break in" or "settle down". So much audiophile nonsense in this industry...but the drivers themselves are another story and burn-in can be very real, so I'll let these burn and we shall see. Bear in mind my favorite current setup is my Darkvoice 336SE with a Sylvania Bad Boy tube on the Pre and a vintage late 50's RCA for the power tube with Sennheiser HE-6XX. That is an almost unbeatable combo at any price point - and one I recommend to anyone. 336SE has no warranty, so it's a risk you take if you buy one. 6XX are KILLER for the money. My second favorite combo is my Schiit Asgard 2 on my buddies HIFiMan HE-560 and my third favorite is the same amp with my HiFiMan HE-4XX The HiFiMans excel with bass-heavy tracks more-so than the Senns on Darkvoice...but those tubes! I also bought the Koss ESP/95X...sold those immediately. Not my cup of tea. No bass. Dull. Anyway, I'll write a full review on these at the end of next month. My buddy and I are going to have a full review session in Detroit with some serious DACs in the next month or two and I'll post up some detailed reviews and possibly some video reviews. The quest continues for the holy grail.
I get it; and really the packaging doesn’t really matter. It’s just that $175.00 cans come with much better packaging, nice boxes, foam, etc. These are $900 and came in a cardboard box. My $99.00 ESS cans came in superior packaging. It wasn’t a judgment call I’m making on the product itself, I’m simply stating a fact / description of the unboxing experience. I’ll report if they SOUND good after break-in. Right now they lack bass and open-ness and are bright to my ears.
Hey man. No offence intended😅 Have u seen the InnerFidelty MrSpeakers factory tour on YouTube? They spend a heap on Rand D for a small company.. Even tho they run each driver thru a burn in before shipping I reckon they probs need another ten hrs at least before making any judgements. Just plug them in and listen to your normal HiFi. Im certain you haven’t wasted any coin on those beauties!
After focal elegia (aka "Ops I forgot the highs on another can") which I sold after 1 month, I bought the lcd2 closed. Fantastic can. From what you wrote to be looking for, I would pay a test on those. Bass are extended and full without being over the top like with tx00, and treble extension is superb.
Very helpful; I’ll try the LCD2. Thank you!!!!
The LCD2 is pretty warm and dark with soft highs. They have good bass but not "basshead" quality of lows that you may want and on some songs can still come off as bass-shy. A bit too forward around 1k hz for my taste and that big dip at 5k hz really hurts their overall clarity. Tonally, they're a bit colored but some may enjoy this. Personally, unless you're willing to EQ them, I found them to be a hard pass given the cost.
Right, I was responding back to DiMora that stated LCD2. Personally, the LCD2 closed was a bit too flat sounding for my taste and has a slight boost up top I don't really love. I prefer the mid-range push and clarity of the Elegia and their tight bass. Especially since he mentioned the 6XX which excels in the mids as well. Just my .02 cents.
The thing is, you may not like the sound from this type of driver material. Tonally, some can perceive this to be "metallic." Just like beryllium drivers have their quirks, the alum-mag drivers can impart the same. The same with planars and their graininess (which can be seen on their FR, CSD, etc). For whatever reason, that graininess irks me to no end but I'm so used to metallic domes tweeters I think it's a matter of growing up with them in my loudspeakers. Their timbre and tonality is pretty spot-on as it's been measured. The LCD2 closed timbre is close to almost neutral but just doesn't quite make it. I think when it comes to overall resolution and accuracy, I give that to the Elegia. My wife plays cello and what I hear while she's playing, matches a live recording without coloration. I think due to how the Audeze is in the mids doesn't help them here for a lot of instrumentation and certain genres of music. Same with that slight boost in the treble that the Elegia doesn't have and helps them sound more natural (especially for cymbals and the like). With the Elegia, when someone is smacking away at a snare drum, it sounds like they're actually hitting the skin of the drum. It sounds real as if I'm at a live show. The LCD2 just makes it all sound like "drum sounds." It doesn't sound bad, bit it doesn't quite sound like the real instrument if that makes more sense. Again, I didn't think the LCD2 closed were bad by any means, just had some funkiness and graininess I couldn't fall in love with. Same reason I didn't go with the CX due to how the original Ether was. Same issue I had with the Aeon Flow Closed. And much like the OP, I still preferred the 4XX. Also really enjoy the T60RP as well. At least for me, they don't have that weirdness and graininess in the mids that just sticks out to my ears.
I also should caveat I did like some of the higher end Audeze cans like the LCD XC. They were quite good actually. Just hated the weight and didn't think they were worth the cost at the time. Had hoped the LCD2 closed would have been closer sonically so that may have lead to a lot of my disappointment as well.
I didn't know you tried the LCD-XC! I think those are prob in the top 3 best looking cans on the market. Can you describe the sound for me? I want to get them down the road, but the price doesn't seem to justify the performance from what I hear. Also the weight is also keeping me away. But that reddish wood just looks remarkable.
The Elegia has a lot more in common with the 650 than the LCD2. Not really apples to apples, but I think that says something at least how they measure when you factor in differences in dB overall. The Elegia, overall, looks and sounds much more natural and linear to me. Again, they reproduce what a cello sounds like. The LCD2 closed did not get this right especially when it came to conveying texture. Maybe I'm more sensitive to that instrument as my wife plays, but I know for a fact the Elegia reproduces what I hear when she's practicing compared to a recording of Yo-Yo Ma. But, seeing as you like Beyers, you may just enjoy that emphasized treble. Nothing wrong with that, just preferences. I have not found a Beyer I like as their overly sharp treble is grating to my ears. The Elear, I agree, has an interesting sound due to a sharp drop-off it has in the upper mids. But, just because they aren't neutral, doesn't change that they are a sound sig I enjoy. I have many many headphones and IEMs and neutral isn't something I always shoot for. The TRX00 Ebony's aren't neutral, nor the TH900, but they are still great sounding cans. And yeah, these are all just my opinion as well, but I can't agree that the LCD2 closed (or the LCD-2) are neutral. They don't sound bad or anything (just their mids are off to me), but neutral they are not, IMO.
I found them more forward and clear than most of the other Audeze I have heard with good attack. They aren't neutral, but I don't hold that against them. Just fun and good sounding. Typical Audeze weight and price. They sound above average and nothing really irked me except the price for performance and weight. I think most of the other Audeze I've heard are just average due to that funkiness in the mids but this is just for comparison.
Yes, probably we have difference "reference" for highs. I tried lot of beyers because yes, they were appealing for tone and confort and I always felt I could hear more, but in the end, I kept none. because for open, Elex was best, for closed dt 1770 pro is too boomy/hollow/strange. But yes, I never found them bright, so I see your point. Thanks for sharing!