Audeze LCD-X (2021) Measurements and Impressions: Audeze Strikes Back

Jesus, can never order comfortability with Audeze. It seems the 2021 changes are favourable. I recently had the chance to order a pre headband change LCD-2 in bamboo brand new for much less than retail and having owned the late 2017 model before this one seems consistent with my previous one. I'll prob keep it this time as the LCD-2 always was a nice reference and had something I enjoyed about it. It seems that buying any Audeze is a risk though as changes are always around the corner at least I sort of know what I'm getting with this one.

The X was always a mixed bag for me in the past, some had even bigger holes in the upper mids than usual and some sounded weird and metallic while others sounded pretty okay so if finally Audeze has gotten their shit together even for a small period of time before the next update then cool.

The good thing is since the changes in late 2015 early 2016, I've yet to hear any QC issues with Audeze and it seems things are holding strong still. I don't know how I feel form a consumer point of view I mean it's good that their finding ways to improve their existing line up but it happens all too often.

 

For those who are considering getting a balanced cable for Audeze, or want a cable upgrade I would recommend ZMF cable over Audeze.
The one I got (flat with four wires) is the best I have in terms of build quality and usability: no memory, completely soft, no micrphonics, hp connectors are neither too tight or too loose in the sockets. The best cable cable I have, beats HEKSE, HD800S stock cables, and the stock Audeze cable, better in my view than Blue Dragon.

 

Just to offer my personal experience, I like ZMF OFC cables (I think the next leve up from the flat) as they are supple, non microphonic and the like. That said the 4 pin male XLR used has no branding on it (so not Neutrik, etc.), and always inserted rather tightly into my various amps (i.e. Schiit, EC, DNA, etc.). I ended up selling one and the buyer could not get it to insert properly at all. The next one I order from Zack will have to be upgraded to Neutrik or similar quality.

 

The 4 pin on my cable works with BHA-1 without problems but it looks cheap. So your may be just different batch.

 

Neutrik plugs aren’t expensive. This is super cheap. Might as well go AliExpress.

 

To my knowledge, there are two types of Neutrik plug: the original and the ones made in China. Both are officially Neutrik. They look very much alike but the price difference is big.

 

The NX3-B or whatever costs 5 dollars for 1/4” and XLR everywhere in the USA. Audiophile Ninja cables cost 40-50$ and use all these same black body gold plated Neutrik connectors that are sold in the USA.

cheap

 

Also of note, IIRC Zach has stopped making the flat cables, their stock cable is now braided..I have one & enjoy it very much.

https://shop.zmfheadphones.com/collections/cables/products/zmf-stock-cable

 

This thread convinced me. I need another stack and was hoping to get something that is both good and complementary to my ZMF VC. I bought my LCD-X from b/a because they are trustworthy and specifically indicate that they are providing the latest 2021 revision. I received it today and had some time to play with it. I'll not attempt to review with so little experience but can provide a few quick impressions in case it is helpful.

I briefly listened to the LCD-X with the ECP T4 that is my primary VC amp. Not too impressive at a glance, but not surprising. I switched to my Lyr3, which is probably a more suitable amp. I was able to do some back and forth between the LCD-X and the VC with Pi2AES > Bifrost2 > Saga > (T4>VC)|(Lyr3>LCD-X)

The LCD-X is definitely a complement to the VC, which is exactly what I wanted. It's particularly engaging in the bass and mids, making it a real toe tapper with the right tracks. The VC seems more balanced and to have the edge in detail retrieval. But at this point, I don't know how much of that is electronics and familiarity with the VC. My usual chain is nicely setup for the VC and I've been enjoying just about daily for nearly a year. So there is certainly some old friend vs. new buddy coloring my experience.

No sense in making a long post on first impressions. Maybe I'll have more later...

 

I am planning a long trip and want to take with me only Kann Cube, IEMS, and just one pair of headphones. 2021 LCD-X, HD650, HD800S. HE500, I excluded HEKSE as too difficult to handle while traveling. All with balanced cables.
In terms of sound I like LCD-X on KC the most, It sounds a touch brighter and maybe looses some of this fullness of sound but still very appealing. HD800S is more comfortable and lighter, but the LCD-X has great travel case... I thing LCD-X is going for a trip

 

I should have posted here before but I bought two pairs of brand new LCD-X from Audeze's website to mod, and both sound the same as far as I could tell from memory. (one is modded and one is not so I didn't A/B them stock, but had the same impression of both). I'll be more sure when I get moth modded.

In stock form, I think they could be more resolving they're a bit dull sounding to me. And the treble lacks refinement I find it a bit grainy and rough due to the damping material they're using. So I'm not as hyped on the LCD-X as @Vtory but they're definitely the best stock ortho I've ever heard. They just could be better.

One problem everyone should be aware of is just how sensitive the LCD-X is. Much more sensitive than the LCD-2. I think you basically need a solid state amp not to hear any buzz. My SOHA1 has a slight buzz in one channel but it’s quiet enough to ignore when music is playing. I think a lot of tube or hybrid amps would be unlistenable.

As far as the LCD-4 sounding worse, if the LCD-4 isn't significantly better than this that would be very sad.

SBAF will be getting loaner LCD-X and LCD-4 from Audeze when the current Audeze loaners are done so more people will get to hear these and we'll get to compare the current X and the 4.

 

The 4 and MX4 have been my favorites at meets, but I usually skip the X and XC since they used to be sort of the middle child. Sort of like the Elex and Clear. Most people skip up to the Utopia, but there can be a sweet spot in the middle also.

Note - It's usually a Hugo 2 that Audeze pairs up with their headphones at meets. I always feel it is holding the LCD4 back IMO.

EDIT: This was a reply to @rhythmdevils - sorry for the "worthless post"
At least lets other readers know the Hugo 2 is not enough for a LCD4, yet - that's how Audeze shows them at shows.

 

Got a LCD-X 2021 few days ago.

I had bought the LCD-X not too long after it first came out (2014?) and found it weird sounding:
the lows were kinda suffocating, the mids sounded uneven ("wonky") and thick as thuck.
Top it all off with some brightness (is it a Audeze headphone?!) and peakiness in the treble and you can see why I sold it very quickly after.

Fast forward 2021, the LCD-X is a very different animal!
Sure, my chain has changed a lot* and is no longer tuned for the Hifiman sound, so there's that. But what I'm hearing goes beyond just improvements of the chain and most of it comes down to the headphones themselves.

As others have mentioned, it has one of the most agreeable stock tonality of all the orthos I've owned. While it can probably be improved by some carefully located EQ, I can listen to it for hours stock without fatigue. The only other headphones that manage this are all (variants of) Senn HD6** headphones and they are responsible for my favoring timbre and tonality over technicality nowadays! It's kinda hilarious, considering I was a Hifiman guy for years (granted, most were modded).

I'm not going to go into much details today (do I ever? ), but I'll say this: if, like me, you've had bad luck with the LCD-X in the past, the 2021 edition could very well change your mind

(*) The chain: Project Stream Box S2 Ultra -> Rockna Wavelight -> Radial J-ISO (I like the tonality ) -> Bakoon HPA-21 (current mode) -> LCD-X 2021.

 

I dunno man... I heard both the X and XC back when they first came out and I felt like the X was a big wtf and the XC was an even bigger honkier wtf. Tonality to both was boxy and FR uneven, especially in the XC.

I heard a 2021 XC a couple weeks ago and it was a slightly less awful wtf but still wtf nonetheless. Maybe Audeze is still having their box-o-chocolates problem? The new XC was not so much boxy but still felt stuffy, and still had an uneven FR. I don't expect magic from a closed back, but this was too much with some big dips in a few spots. I keep hearing and reading good things about the X (and it seems to be popular in studios?), but my own experiences make me very hesitant to want to try it.

 

I hear you.

I remember my first time with the XC, at CanJam, a couple months after I sold my LCD-X.
It took me a couple seconds to start laughing (in my head, of course, I'm an introvert ). It was the wonkiest headphone I'd ever heard to that point: a bass-light closed back (an Audeze, no less ) with the most unever vocals I'd ever heard!

I was surprised to read the reviews of the 2021 XC, describing them as the most neutral Audeze to date! 2021 might be the year for well tuned Audeze headphones

 

X vs XC can be a little too challenging primarily because both don't seem to pursue the same tonality at all. Let alone I am not the best person to judge that.

That being said, in general, it's very possible that one feels X boxier and more closed than (cherry-picked) LCD-2. X'21 have addressed key failures of prior X's. But still maintains its identity of stacked magnets (first presented in LCD3 but X took a little modified arrangement). This naturally limits influx and outflux of air while lcd2 can be more open physically due to its staggered magnet array. I believe well-corrected X gave better control of drivers but that comes with cost. Indeed this applies to all high LCD lineup except 2, 2C, and 24. I hope to give a shot to 24 some day (lcd4 driver + lcd2 magnet array + all the lcd4 updates).

Whatever, I've been still enjoying my X even after 4.5 months of regular and solid uses. Jotunheim 2 and Dac 2541 could help it alleviate physical constraints and open up a little bit. Tragedy is, very unfortunately, the weight (650g) turns out too much for 1+ hours of listening. My untrained neck isn't strong enough. Oh well.

 

Where are you getting this information? I assume by stacked you mean the front and back magnets are aligned. This is actually better for soundstage in my best guess because the sound pressure waves are equal out the back and front. And this is how orthos have been designed for 4 decades.

to be clear, this is the best magnet alignment IMO. AFAIK all Audeze drivers are like this now. But I could be wrong.

 

NOTE: This must have been a temporary experiment because new LCD-X's come with the foam not the felt disc.

Audeze is indeed still tweaking the LCD-X. I just bought some extra shower grills for a modding experiment. The LCD-X that I bought and I’m assuming @Vtory owns as well given the timing, came with the same foam disc behind the grill they’ve been using for years. It’s very acoustically transparent. It doesn’t damp the driver at all, but may do a very very little bit of resonance absorption. The new grills came with a thick fuzzy low density felt glued to the inside back of the grills, which means this is what they’re using on the new production LCD-X. Damping the opening of a headphone has a certain affect and can be good, but is mostly useful in closed back designs. From what I know, this is a very poor choice. Damping on the LCD-X should be against the driver and the rest should be resonance control. This is neither. I’m guessing @Clemmaster ’s pair has this new felt so probably sounds a bit different from the pairs @Vtory and I have.

Who knows if they are tweaking the driver too, but it seems possible.



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On a separate note, Audeze has started adding a fine metal mesh to the inside of the shower grill. It is for appearances only. It does look nice, but it further impedes airflow on their already fairly closed back grill. I don’t know what they’re thinking aside from trying to make them look prettier. I would recommend everyone with this fine mesh inside the grill (you can see it looking through the cracks in the grill, there is a metal mesh instead of just blackness) to simply remove the grills, and peel this mesh off and put the grills back on. It’s glued to the inside of the grills at two spots and is easy to pull off. I don’t know how much it will help the sound, but it cannot be helping in any way. Can’t hurt to get rid of more obstruction to the open back to these orthos which are already fairly closed in sounding.

 

Their white papers, interviews, and youtube videos (some talk, some chat, etc) Kinda scattered here and there.

One thing I still remember is they said they didn't do stacked arrangement for lcd2. See below.

LCD 2 (1: magnet, 0: empty space)
Outer magnet layer: 100010001
Inner magnet layer: 001000100

LCD 3,4,X, and many others --> I don't think this approach per se is Audeze's original. Maybe I didn't express clearly for this regard.
Outer magnet layer: 10101010
Inner magnet layer: 10101010

On top of that they seem to experiment rotation of each magnet's N and S poles to vary magnetic flux. ... with some random fancy names each time which I am not a fan of ..

 

yes we mean the same thing by stacked magnets. AFAIK Audeze only used staggered magnets in the original LCD-2 back in the day and it’s possibly what caused the reverby sound of them. The new LCD-2 couldn’t have staggered magnets because they have Fazors which are the same on both sides of the driver. And I’m almost certain the LCD-2 Classic has stacked magnets too just from memory of looking at the driver, it’s the same on front and back.