a few more systematic notes on the Audez'e LCD-1 headphone: using the XLO reference recordings test & burn-in CD, the Denon audiotechnical test CD, the Stereo Review gold stereo & surround sound set-up disc, the Chesky ultimate demonstration disc, and the Alan Parsons & Stephen Court sound check CD.
using the Stereo Review & chesky records gold stereo & surround sound set-up disc, the responsiveness, sound-staging, and channel separation of the LCD-1 can be tested in a variety of ways (and my VDA2 DAC can switch phase on the fly, so the tracks testing in and out of phase can be further toyed with). in the channel balance test the Audez'e LCD1 cleanly separates left and right; the stepped pan test demonstrates the width of the sound-stage with the LCD1 (on some headphones, that test reveals a compressed in-head stage). music tracks confirm the same: the CD has an image and resolution test with a percussionist moving around a microphone in a large room, and a mozart piano concerto movement that allows you to discern the grand piano and its placement on stage with an orchestra, with brass, woodwinds, strings, drums. the piano sounds fantastically airy on the LCD1, with quick attack and crystal clear tone, the microphone close and above the open piano. - a shock was the clap test from the stereo review & chesky records gold stereo & surround sound set-up disc, which they encourage you to try on high-end headphones and compare to your speaker set-up. the claps are far outside your head with the LCD1, and very precisely localized. same with the latin music tracks that include guitar, claps, percussion, and voice: very real imaging.
the XLO reference recordings test & burn-in CD also has a clap track, to test for decay. as others have observed, the LCD1 is uncannily fast on the attack, and shows fast decay as well. - the Denon audiotechnical test CD offers sine waves at different frequencies, music samples to test balance and phase, as well as pink and white noise. the LCD1 again proves its speed and accuracy, and a cleaner mid-range than most headphones I've heard. string quartets sound liquid and smooth, detailed. piano keys are limpid, somewhat bright. organ music has lots of room and air, full ambiance. the Denon jazz test track has a piano that is a bit harsh, but the saxophone sounds sensationally close and well-miked. the rock test has clean and fast drums in a spacious stadium.
the Chesky ultimate demonstration disc offers a series of audio tracks, introduced with hints as to what details to listen for in terms of reproduced detail. again, the LCD1 offers very high resolution and spacious staging width. in testing for depth, you're told to listen for a ten foot distance from the microphone, and I feel the stage the LCD1 throws is not as deep as it is wide. (then again, most recordings will only offer 'artificial' depth that the engineer dialed in, so this is a tricky one to listen for.) the filigreed drumming on this bluesy track is nice on the LCD1, and the upright bass, sometimes bowed, is recessed to make room for the female voice, and the other accompanying instruments. the piano and bass on Leny Andrade's rendering of Maiden Voyage have heft without giving up any degree of clarity and resolution. this CD also offers a test track for midrange purity, and the magneplanar technology clearly has its best foot forward on this count: amazingly nice a capella vocals. but as with my large Magnepan speaker panels, I feel the LCD1 does better if you power it up a bit - I turned this one to about two o'clock on my WA3+ where usually I hardly go beyond noon.
the Chesky demo disc asks you to listen for certain things introduced before each demo track - naturalness, transparency, presence, impact, rhythm and pace, focus, holographic imaging, transients, resonance, dynamics, atmosphere. on each count, without typing up the details, the LCD1 does very well; but it sometimes requires the listener to invest a certain amount of belief in what is briefly described about the recording set-up ("how much do I believe that the saxophone is between the drummer and the pianist", or "how high is the cathedral where this Britten Te Deum is recorded with one microphone suspended 30 feet up"), which one may or may not find important in other recordings where such information is not explicit, although of course it may be audible if it's there. an example given, which the LCD1 does extremely well on, is a monty alexander track, with two drum sets and two bass players, a brass section, and a lightning fast piano sailing through "sweet georgia brown" - the audez'e headphone clearly separates the walking upright from the thumping electric bass, and spaces out the brass players nicely around the stage. sonically it tilts this big group more to the mid-range than my DT880s do, though.
as others have observed in listening to the LCD1, there is a bit of roll-off above 17Khz, and below 80Hz (hardly any discernable bass tone below 60, but you can still 'feel' a sound down to about 40Hz). but there are no spurious resonances in the housing that are identifiable with the test sweep. a track like Oregon's "Leather Cats" demonstrates that the LCD1 accurately reproduces deep electric bass and synthesizer sounds, just more on the lean side compared to other cans. (I am a cello and bass player, and have a disproportionate amount of bassy music, ranging across jazz, classics, and electronica in my collection, so that's why a DT880 does well for me. and, second disclosure, my hearing measurably weakens in the high frequencies, so I won't hear any sharpness or sibilance in very high bands that may be perceptible to younger ears on certain tracks with certain phones. I try telling myself that I make up with musical training and experience what I miss physiologically. oh well...)
to conclude, there is certainly an astonishing comfort level with the Audez'e LCD-1, no fatigue, very high resolution, no particular weakness or exaggeration in its voicing - very similar to Magnepan speakers.
