SF Bay Area Mini Meet

Thanks @Bill-P for the impressions and measurements and for all the other impressions!

There's something amiss with the LCD-5 here. I bought 2 pairs used very soon after they were released, and they both have a very large, broad upper midrange hump that is also very sharp in tonality and makes vocals totally intolerable for me - piercing. They're not neutral at all.

This isn't just me, if you look at @Magnetostatic_Tubephile 's recent measurements of a stock pair of LCD-5 they show this upper midrange bump





@Bill-P measurements of the stock LCD-5 they had there show no sign of this bump



There's just no way that my 2 LCD-5's measured the way @Bill-P 's LCD-5 measured or sounded when stock. You could never listen to them and think "neutral headphone" they are very forward in the midrange.

I think Audeze either has consistency issues or more likely did a silent revision. I'm curious when this "neutral" pair of LCD-5's was purchased from Audeze. @loadexfa is there any way to ask them? It would be very interesting if they were purchased after mine, or very recently from Audeze.

this is concerning in general, but really disheartening for me because of how much time I've spent trying to tame the upper midrange bump on my LCD-5's. 50% of my mod is about trying to bring down the upper midrange bump and it has detrimental side affects as @Bill-P noticed. But I did tame the bump! I would kill to be able to mod a flat pair of LCD-5's like measured here.

 

I agree the LCD-5's from the meet sound different than yours, sucks that Audeze is so inconsistent.

I don't remember the details but can ask in the Discord from the meet to try and get an answer for you.

 

I'm not sure if it help but every LCD-5 that I have heard present that super forward midrange. I think the Diana TC actually does a better job aiming for the sound signature Audeze designed with the LCD-5... the midrange is more laidback and inline with bass and treble and it's airier sounding, not as muffled as the LCD-5.

 

From the owner of the LCD-5 in question:

1. I received them mid March of this year so relatively recent compared to the early pairs.
2. They have two revisions as far as I am aware.
   1. The reduced clamp force headband.
   2. The updated connector change.
3. I put extended yokes on though I doubt that matters.

I can’t think of anything else which might be significant.