Audeze LCD2C Great Expectations

Well, they're still at $599 on Audeze's site. Do we think Audeze will keep the price at $599 and cream the $500 to $800 segment?

 

If I were audeze I would keep them at $599 at this point. They are selling like mad, and as soon as the price increases by 33% people will get turned off. Also, at $599 they are a no brainier recommendation for many people, at $799 not so much.

 

It sucks to live in Europe, because if they rise the price to 799$, then it will cost like 899€ here
(to add context and insult to the injury, LCD2 Rosewood costs 1329€)

 

You can orde

You can order them directly from Audeze right now.

$600 + 100 shipping + 160 import/tax =~ €750,-

Even the Elears are still €1000 here so that’s not bad, considering.

For what it’s worth: Someone on the other forum mentioned that Audeze support said the holiday pricing would end at the end of January.

 

Yeah I was the one that mentioned this on the HF thread, but holiday pricing should be good through end of January. Here is the e-mail response I received on Jan. 5th from Audeze CS:

"Thanks for your interest in the LCD-2 Classics. The introductory pricing will be effective until the end of January.
We have a few in stock now with more coming off the line next week.

Hope this helps, and let us know if you have any further questions.
All the Best"

 

Urrrh .... fakit, I getting one >_>

I was all "hey lets wait and see if they really fixed qc" but nope, not that patient, it turns out

 

Anch'io

 

Back in stock - ordered a few hours ago and I'm now 'waiting to ship'.

Fingers crossed, when the Atticus came, the McBumblefucks at Fedex Genova ... well, when I moved here from Venice I was surprised by the shipping guys' competence, now I know where all the useless people ended up.

 

In for one, looks like a great cost per value proposition. Seems that $800 to $1500 is the new midfi battlegrounds. This is a bargain.

 

Boy, tell me about it. I waited over a year to be able to get my Valhalla 2 in black being in Europe - I had a friend buy it from the US store for me and then forward it over to Portugal, would probably take me like a decade to get my Gungnir Multibit, Jotunheim, Mjolnir 2 and Freya (which I do not yet own but want) all in black. I dream of a world where/when Schiit offers black finish as a default option. Utopia more likely than not, though, if we're being realistic.

Regarding the LCD2C's pricing - shame about corporate greed, really, these are a no-brainer to recommend at $599 but at 799 competition becomes fierce; there's no way the increase will ever drive up the profits for Audeze in my opinion, only reason to ever do it is if their margin is somehow infinitesimally small at the current price point which I highly doubt is the case.

Do they want price/performance ratio under $1000 that rival the uncontested champion that the HD650s has been for the past 15 or so years or would they rather have the 2C be just another good option under a grand in a sea of like 15? What can we do, ey.

 

Heard back from Audeze the other day, they still don't have a price set yet for after January. Still waiting to put in my order and seeing what the price will be.

 

The $799 MSRP on their website isn't necessarily the price they are going to move to after the January holiday promotion ends? I have sort of been getting close to pulling the trigger to get the lower price, but is it sounding like they might keep the $600 price point as standard?

 

Weighing the options if they can keep that lower price or go a little bit higher. But nothing set in stone yet.

 

@netforce: Do you have it in stock?

EDIT: sorry, I just read above.

 

I have my wall space ready for when they come!

 

I’m happy to hear that they may be sticking with the $599 price. In case they don’t though, I would really urge people to jump on them in January.

Two weeks in and I’m really enjoying this headphone. Initially, I had issues with the narrow staging but I’ve been running it the last few days from the built in amp on my Soekris 1541 and the staging has improved a bit with a little more width and depth. Bass remains super tight and punchy, very well integrated. I’d say that this is a pretty neutral headphone. I might have thought that the Classic was a bit too dark for my taste but the Soekris seems liven it up quite a bit. It’s still a very relaxed, comfortable listen but the speed has moved up a few notches. I’d say it’s a great pairing for every genre expect classical.

The thing the Soekris has revealed to me is how resolving this headphone can be. I’m picking up a few new details I’ve never heard before.

 

Just got mine in, impressions the same as everyone, great neutralish sound with bass in the right place and forward mids. Balanced Jot seems to lift some of the darkness that's being reported. Like these better than the Hex v2.

 

I glad you got the "except classical" part. I had the soekris pairing with the lcd2c's. They sounded really good and I really miss that bass, but anything string related, or orchestral related sounded very muted even with eq. Its been returned, but I do miss it when some pop and anything with heavy subbass.

 

I can't say I'm as fond of the LCD-2C as most people are...the bass is great, of course, but I can't really get over the veiled-sounding treble. Even on tracks that sound good with the LCD-2C (and it certainly does sound great for some kinds of music), I just can't get past the feeling that there's something missing at the high end. (And some music sounds so bad it almost sounds like the singers are underwater.) I mean, I do get that not everything is an all-rounder...even my beloved HD800's definitely have their flaws...but usually I can get on board with the positives and look past the negatives. With the LCD-2C, everything I listen to just sounds like something's conspicuously missing. Oh, well...not my cup of tea, I suppose. Kind of a pity...I'd been looking forward to them as a nice complement to the HD800.

I am impressed with the comfort, though. I usually hate heavy headphones, but the LCD-2C is actually quite comfortable for its weight.

 

Looking at your list of headphones, it definitely seems like you heavily favor bright headphones (HD800, K702, Grados, and even HE-500 is a brighter planar). The only headphone with a warm tilt seems to be HD650, so I'm not surprised you find the LCD2C a bit dark and veiled. One thing that always emphasizes that to me when I first get a new headphone is switching back and forth to brighter headphones. Before you decide to return LCD2C you might want to just take a week or so of exclusively listening to it, let it get the mental burn in, and then re-evaluate after that time.