A Headphone Comparison: HD800 vs HD650 vs Paradox Slant vs LCD-X vs DT250 vs DT880

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Arnotts, Apr 7, 2016.

  1. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

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    Same. I've heard three different samples of LCD-X and they were all a bit etchy and peaky in the treble. It's still a pretty good headphone but nowhere near as good as some people make it out to be. I also don't like the LCD-2 too much because I think it's stuffy and lacks soundstage, something which I brought up at release too when the Audeze hype was reaching cataclysmic levels over at HF. I suppose the LCD-3 is the one I like the most but there are so many iterations and so much driver variation it's a bit of a mess to sort out what LCD-3 you actually like. And I'm pretty certain I'd still like my HD800 better than any of them so... yeah. I think if I was to go another way it would probably be hifiman.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2016
  2. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    My latest pair of slants is definetly improved over my original hardwired pair. Not sure if it's just the wire and connectors I am using now. It would appear Luis has wired them up with gold plated switchcraft mini xlr's. I think those are copper based under the gold from looking at switchcrafts website. Anyway using a custom Zenwave cable. Basically D2 flat braid OCC litz copper interconnect converted to a headphone cable. It would be interesting to know if there were any changes in Luis tunning or mods over the two year interim. Still want some Code X's but these will do nicely...working on updating my DAC presently,
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2016
  3. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    How do the 3 headphones in the LFF line (Paradox/Slant/Enigma) differ? Do you like the Slant among them the most?
     
  4. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    @songmic i found the slants to be more accurate than the enigmas, which were slightly warmer, darker, and more intimate. that said, the slants still have elevated low-end compared to the regs paradox. the slants also have a larger soundstage and are slightly more resolving than the enigmas... love them both, but decided to sell the enigmas and keep the slants. i have a larger-than-average head and the enigmas have a pretty powerful clamp force. slants were more comfortable. enigmas look sick though. curious what @zerodeefex thinks about them.
     
  5. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    To really apreciate the 650's do the full mod as Marv, Hands or Flysweep suggest. You have to do the dynamat mod and instead of dynamatt try damplifier pro...get sample pack! Use the Contact premium grip shelf paper as suggested. Then compare them to anything! I suspect they will surprise you!
     
  6. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    And also try felt damping doughnut or foam around back frame...even more improvement!
     
  7. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Sorry to dig up an old thread, but figured I'd try here first. My references: HD650M (coin, rear foam, Dynamat), Andromeda/ZX2 (foam in port).

    Luis converted my T50RP Mk3s to Starving Student Slants and I've had them for a couple of weeks now. My overall impressions are positive (large stage, good clarity/detail and extension), but I'm finding a bit of recession in the mids (vocals sound a bit thin), somewhat strong sibilants, and too much mid-bass that's quite "wet" with some boom and resonance. The mid bass bothered me to the extent that I'm now running them with 1/2 the vents taped over. This gives me a fairly good balance without loosing too much extension, but I still occasionally get an underdamped sensation in the mid-bass (possibly lower-mids as well). I pretty much agree with what @Hands said, but the problems I have seem to be a bit stronger. I've seen very little negative regarding the Slants, @Huxleigh having sold his after buying them from @jowls. Wondering if I should have gotten the Paradox Original Flavour instead.

     
  8. deafdoorknob

    deafdoorknob Almost "Made"

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    just curious, did you like the bass of the blackwoods over the slants?
     
  9. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    The Blackwoods had better extension, were tighter, and had flatter response through to the mids. The Slants have better texture though. Blackwood bass tended to all sound more or less the same, but Slants produce bass notes with more distinct timbre. Some of this may be due to the 'wetness'. Perhaps the Blackwoods being well-damped reduced their ability to produce different timbres. I may just be making low freq farting noises out of my mouth.
     
  10. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    kinda bowled over with the lff slant

    Agree with most everything the OP said when comparing lff slant with hd650 and hd800.

    some differences though:
    HD650 mids are king: more organic with better vocal magic. however, compared to the slant, I feel as if the hd650 put the mids a little forward, crushing the soundstage as a result. Slant's mids are more in line with the treble and bass and seem to present the mids further away: mids are slightly recessed.
    The Slant bass with electronica or pop is in another league: bass is tastefully elevated. The slant are extremely balanced and cohesive, with hd650-like timbre and planar bass.

    what would be a concrete upgrade from Slants? I'm thinking maybe modded he-500?
     
  11. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

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    HE500 wont have the downslope of the Slants though they will stage better and have superior bottom end extension. Modded HE500 will have more linear, less crisp/colored treble than the Slants too. Modded HE4 is the closest thing I've heard to an open Slant in terms of FR and timbre. You can borrow mine if you like (not sure where you're located), but they are almost as hard to drive as HE6.

    A well modded TH900 can have very similar tone to the Slants and feels like a more direct upgrade path IME (borrowed the Slants from @captkirk some time ago and did get a chance to directly compare to my TH900, HE4, and HE500 w/ Jerg pads).
     

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