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Audeze LCD-3


johnwmclean

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A few simple impressions after a couple hours with the LCD3 with a variety of gear a week ago (thanks Purrin and Cee Tee).

Better balanced across spectrum than LCD2 (also on hand). Quickly noticeable and nice upgrade. Reverb not heard (though took forever to hear on LCD2, thus not definitive). Overall very nice and a great all-arounder (easy to see why it's manys favorite can), but if you felt the LCD2 presentation was a bit tunnel-like/underwater-y (I did) you'd likely feel the same about the LCD3 (associated gear swap unlikely to change). Heard no mods or with nuclear power plants.

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Edited by blessingx
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I hear the reverb/echo in the LCD-3 as well, but it's a lot quieter and less noticeable. It took me a few days to acknowledge that I heard it (I think it was bubbling up with me the whole time) whereas it's one of the first things I noticed about the LCD-2rev1 right after putting them on. It's more noticeable at higher listening volumes with the LCD-3 for some reason. Actually, I've thought lately that a lot of colorations are more noticeable at slightly higher than normal listening levels. The LCD-3 kind of falls apart when you crank it up IME. I haven't tried it on that many amps yet, but since it's the same as what I heard on the LCD-2, which I did try on many amps, I'm not going to point fingers upstream.

Still a definite improvement over the LCD-2 rev1 I had for a while- I see it as a much better version of the same headphone. Faster, cleaner, more linear. It is a really easy headphone to listen to. It's not perfect, but it's a big relief to listen to a headphone where nothing in the upper mids or treble is sticking out sharply. The downside to this is that they lost some air and clarity in the process. (not compared to the LCD-2 but compared to something like an HD800 which has the opposite problem)

Edited by rhythmdevils
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  • 1 month later...

I have had the LCD-3 for a month or so. I thought I would give my two cents. Considering this is my seconds post, I don't expect anyone will give it more value than two cents anyway.

I think they are very nice. Definitely the best headphone I have heard. Of course I have only heard LCD-3, SR-507, SE310, PortaPro, LCD-2 (rev1 and rev2), DT770pro, and DT800 (600).

To me the the LCD-3, sounds almost identical to the LCD-2 rev2. I would lie and say that it has so much more detail, etc, but I don't hear it. I do without a question hear a much better soundstage. It is wider and deeper in my opinion. I personally preferred the sound of the rev1 to the rev2 if that helps anyone gauge what type of sound I like. Unfortunately they were giving me some problems and Audeze swapped them for the rev2.

I do not believe that the level of perceived quality increase I am receiving merits the price. However I have them, and I like them better than the LCD-2, so I will keep them. I don't want to take the loss on them.

I may build a TOTL STAX setup in an attempt to consolidate everything down a bit. If I do that, then I may part with the LCD-3 after all.

I read someone who said they did not care for the chrome blocks on the bottom of the headphone. Well, I can say functionally it is a great improvement. It keeps the cables from occasionally jabbing into my shoulders. The new pads are also nicer. I think the brown leather looks nice, but I can not say I love the new wood choice.

Sorry if my thought patterns are a bit disjointed. Lets blame it on me being new. I would say you are welcome to criticize, but I suppose if you plan to do that you were not going to wait for my permission.

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...To me the the LCD-3, sounds almost identical to the LCD-2 rev2. I would lie and say that it has so much more detail, etc, but I don't hear it. I do without a question hear a much better soundstage. It is wider and deeper in my opinion. I personally preferred the sound of the rev1 to the rev2 if that helps anyone gauge what type of sound I like. Unfortunately they were giving me some problems and Audeze swapped them for the rev2.

I do not believe that the level of perceived quality increase I am receiving merits the price. However I have them, and I like them better than the LCD-2, so I will keep them. I don't want to take the loss on them...

That's about what I thought - a little bigger and better sounding than my LCD-2 rev1 but maybe not worth 2x the price.

I once thought I'd get the LCD-3 before the SR-009, but I crave transparency, micro-detail and speed more. In the end, I felt the 009 disappeared better and gave me everything I loved about my HE-60 and everything they were missing.

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Don't know anything about the LCD-3, but if you're at all interested, there's been some good deals to be had on used LCD-2's. I bought a 3 week old pair for substantially under the original price. I wasn't a big fan of the originals, but I'm liking the r2 a lot.

I see people comment about the R2s and 3s being very similar. I've been needing a full size headphone but I'm having a very difficult time compromising due to budget constraints. My 'affordable' but not yet setup is the LCD3 + Darkstar and a good source which is $5k + source. If the R2s indeed sound like the 3s that would significantly reduce my time waiting for money. At RMAF I listened to several LCD2s but I never knew which version they were so I couldn't be sure about my opinion of them. The 2s I heard on Ray's Darkstar setup were excellent, but I don't know if that is because of the high end source, the great amp, or them being R2s. I recall the 3s being better on the same setup, but I was listening to them on different days.

The other option is just to tank the budget and get something cheap ($200-300, say Philips Fidelio) and new to play around with, but after putting my HD600s on for the first time since I got my UERM.. I don't know if that's wise.

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I see people comment about the R2s and 3s being very similar. I've been needing a full size headphone but I'm having a very difficult time compromising due to budget constraints. My 'affordable' but not yet setup is the LCD3 + Darkstar and a good source which is $5k + source. If the R2s indeed sound like the 3s that would significantly reduce my time waiting for money. At RMAF I listened to several LCD2s but I never knew which version they were so I couldn't be sure about my opinion of them. The 2s I heard on Ray's Darkstar setup were excellent, but I don't know if that is because of the high end source, the great amp, or them being R2s. I recall the 3s being better on the same setup, but I was listening to them on different days.

The other option is just to tank the budget and get something cheap ($200-300, say Philips Fidelio) and new to play around with, but after putting my HD600s on for the first time since I got my UERM.. I don't know if that's wise.

Why would you spend that much on something like the Dark Star?

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