Audeze LCD2C Great Expectations

I have to agree with @I_want_all_the_tacos

Give it some time. I wasn’t blown away either the first listen but it has really grown on me and lately I find myself reaching for it more than the Eikon.

 

I bought one, I mean.. it has a 30 day return. I'll be comparing to the HE560 and my modded 7XX. Bifrost Multibit/Jot and iDSD BL

 

Is this what @Marvey has been telling us to wait for?

Massdrop Liquid Carbon X + SDAC DAC/Amp | Price & Reviews | Massdrop

 

I have a feeling its the new line up of schiit amps or at least something that isn't a liquid carbon. its not march yet Lol.

 

Ships in March... just sayin'

 

The Liquid Carbon X is not a new amp. They've just packaged it with a dac this time around like they did with the CTH.

 

This is not what Marv was alluding to. Maybe we should have a speculation thread for people to get their rocks off.

 

Tempting, since I've heard it has good synergy with the 560 but - I think I'll just take the solid advice and wait.

 

Feb. 1st, price goes up to $799. Just FYI, although I think someone may have already posted about this.

 

Did we get confirmation from Audeze on this? Last I heard from The Source AV guys is that it wasn't decided? I know The Source AV finally received a store model, but they aren't allowed to sell it yet.

 

https://www.facebook.com/AudezeLLC/...19953092131/10154916863172132/?type=3&theater

Unfortunately the price hike has been confirmed, lowers my likelihood of getting a pair.

 

Great, thanks for the confirmation, I put my order in!

 

So far, I have pretty mixed feeling about lcd2c.

I like it very, very much because of

• Great technicalities

We all know audeze lcd bass is great, no need to argue. I was impressed rather by crisp-sharp-clean-clear trebles, decent resolution, and incredibly fast transient responses. When I shortly owned pre-fazor lcd2 in 2012 (and returned after three weeks), such virtues were critically lacking.

• Great comfort (very important virtue to my taste)

I evaluate comfort in four categories: gross weight, weight distribution, clamping, and ear pads/cushions.
Weight is almost the same as other lcd2 variants, 550g in my scale.
Weight distribution and clamping are fantastic. Almost on par with AFO (which I regard as world-best comfortable hp). Suspension headbend did the magic to lcd2c. And this magic is only available to very limited audeze cans - lcd4, lcd-mx4, and lcd2c, unless one spends another $200.
Artificial leather pads are pretty decent, like afo. Not as good as genuine leather used in Eikon though. Cushions feel nice.

• Good sounding even from budget gears

This hp is very far from amp-picky or dac-picky. I thought afo had such good traits (when compared with hd6xx), but lcd2c is even easier. I suspect lcd2c may have low scalabiltiy AND low threshold to shine.

This is one of the very few headphones which do not push owner to spend $$$ on upstream gears, but just sound gorgeous. Think lcd2c is located on one extreme where (unmodded) hd800 exists on the other end.​

But I cannot comfortably recommend lcd2c because of

• Bad? cohesiveness

Lcd2c sounds like two different worlds existing together where bass and midrange live in one country, and trebles in the other country. Each of bass, midrange and treble is indeed damn good. But combined together, I hear some disconnections between high mid and lower treble in some recordings. AFO or hd6xx are way more cohesive in this respect.

Tricky thing is that, once getting familiar with this (needs several days or weeks to burn one's brain), such un-cohesiveness generates quite unique sonic pleasure. Lcd2c just did it very tastefully.

From my memory, lcd2 in the old days sounded duller but much more cohesive.

• Inaccurate timbre

Like some already pointed out in this thread, harmonics of many string instruments are affected by lcd2c's scooped fr. I am the guy who takes this positively. To my ears, strings sound a bit recessed or controlled. But to someone else it must sound muted or missed. Totally YMMV.

Bottom line, lcd2c is very far from "headphones with accurate timbre reproduction".

• Artificial (as opposed to natural) sounding

I said that I liked lcd2c's treble as being much crisper, sharper, cleaner, and clearer than expected. But to me, they sound quite artificially so. Maybe un-cohesiveness and too fast? transience might play some roles. A little bit "over-sharpened".​

Of course, I will never return it. Lcd2c is very satisfying to me!! They are just deviated from (de-facto) standardized audiophile naturalness.

Here are my conclusions

• As a secondary hp, lcd2c will be easily recommendable.
• As a sole and primary hp, owners (particularly those coming from senn hd6xx) MUST accept or adapt themselves to some idiosyncrasies or guilty pleasure.
• At $600, to me lcd2c was no-brainer. Even at $800, it will be still a worthy consideration in this price range ($500-1000). But I think AFO is much safer recommendation at the end of the day.

EDITED:
PS. I forgot to mention build quality. Totally fantastic. Industrial and rock-solid look. Nice combination between metal and plastic. Doesn't look cheap. Sleek cable, too. This is the required level of quality we want for $500+ headphones. Yes, I am looking at you, hifiman!

PS2. LCD2C is one of the only three "affordable" planars which I had no regret to spend money for to date. The other two are HE500 (Hifiman) and Aeon Flow Open (MrSpeakers)

Quick comparisons

• HE500: Extremely clean and clear sounding (he500 was the main reason why I returned lcd2 in 2012 lol) . Somewhat sibilant in upper treble. A bit fatiguing after long listening. Worst build quality and ergonomics among the three. Perfect seal is almost impossible to get on my skull, which results in sub-optimal bass (HE500's bass measures very good, but sounds not that good)
• AFO: The most natural and cohesive sounding among the three. Somewhat slower transient responses than LCD2C. Sounds a little muffled (but not very annoyingly). The lightest among the three (320g). Bass is better than HE500 but worse than LCD2C.

 

Your analysis matches my own well. I'm comparing the 2C to 560 right now. The 2C vocals and lowend are fantastic, however as you say the transition to the upper freqs is not so smooth. I'm going to fiddle with EqApo to see if I can fix this a bit. I love the 560 as is - just comes down to if it's party time or business time.

 

I've only been listening to mine for a couple of days, and all I have space for until April is a Fulla 2 (that I haven't owned long) so no detailed sound impressions but:

• These really are pretty fantastic "relaxed" cans. This is not always a good thing, as I've found myself playing Magnum Opus till much later than otherwise ...
• I swear its like they were designed for 80s New Wave.
• They seal really, really hard! Like, popping my ears every time I put them on from the pressure. I don't remember older Audezes doing this? Admittedly its been years and they were relatively short auditions.
• The suspension strap is almost perfect. Klingon head ridge means the top of the strap is a hair away from being against the metal arch. I hope the strap doesn't stretch much with wear. Might look into modding it.
  
• Weight is no issue, though I also don't feel the Atticus to be heavy either. I think ear protections and welding shields have trained the wuss right outta me
• These new Audeze pads are really very shoooft.
• The cable is nice for a 599$ can. I'll get an XLR cable from FAW for the MJ2, but otherwise I think I'd be happy with it.
• Marvey was right, the photos on their site don't do them justice, they're a very sexy matte black job. Grimdark Batman would approve.

Happy I took the plunge before possible price increases, even with shipping & import tax they're totally worth it.

 

@Vtory you have to try the vegan pads. I'm hoping that @Hands can chime in with some measurements in the future, but I thought it made the cans more cohesive, less rough in the treble, and alleviates the upper mids. They actually sounded super neutral when I had them. I actually do miss them with vegan pads, but I don't see a reason to own two headphones at the moment. I have some vegan pads sitting here, so if someone is willing to pay shipping, I'll be happy to offer it. The condition on one is almost perfect, and the other is fair. Shouldn't matter with some double sided tape.

 

@Cellist88 I couldn't think of that option.. Definitely worth trying it. What a chance!

 

going to @Vtory

 

Does that mean that you have 2 pairs, or 2 pads? If it's 2 pairs and you still have one lying around, I'd be so happy to take one.