Audez'e LCD-4 -- again -- anyone...?

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by MuppetFace, Nov 5, 2015.

  1. MuppetFace

    MuppetFace Sultana of Seafoam Green - Moderator

    Staff Member Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,600
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    lake of mud
    Home Page:
    Howdy folks! Since the first LCD-4 thread was locked a while ago, I figured it might be worthwhile to open a new one now that these have actually been released. Any lurkers out there who have one or have at least heard one, please feel free to share your impressions.

    Try to keep the "WTF was Audez'e thinking?" chat to a minimum please lmao.
     
  2. velvetx

    velvetx Gear Master West/Vendor Spotlight Moderator

    Staff Member Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,067
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    From my RMAF thread and I gave these a second listen to at the Source A/V and still think the same thing:

    I got a chance next to listen to the LCD-4. For my taste it is far too neutral but not only that the HD800s bass on a cruddy amp sounds more noticable than on the LCD-4. It was just a very flat and boring headphone to me. I like rock, I like bass, I like instruments that sound like instruments. I found nothing but a desolate wasteland of bore. I tried I listened to it for 20 mins trying to understand what there was to like overall. I spoke to a guy in a lab coat. He said well this is going to sound completely different than anything you ever heard. He was right and it wasn't good. The highs seemed constricted on the vocals the lows were nowhere to be found. The mids were readily available but it was like the music had no substance. I thought the detail retrieval was very good but I think that the HE1K as well as the HD-800 had it beat in spades at this. The sound stage as well wasn't as open as either the HE or the HD. Honestly I don't want to deter anyone away from buying these or not being PC in my statements but this is one of those things where you really had to be there and listen. I don't care about the price subjectively this in my mind was just disappointing. My advice is: DO NOT BUY THIS HEADPHONE UNTIL YOU LISTEN TO IT FIRST HAND.

    I have to say this and in no way would I ever take what Mike Mercer says seriously but at least even he spoke up and said the following:

    "I'm surprised the LCD-4 is shipping already. Though I don't want to offer anything in-terms of my final word on the 4s, as I have yet to receive a pair for review, I do have some early impressions to offer. I got a chance to hear them on the Audeze DECKARD and Burson Audio Virtuoso (both are references for me) headphone amp/DACs at Canjam at RMAF weeks ago, as well as this event of course. I think they can be great, but thus far, I've yet to hear anything that would justify my recommendation at four-thousand dollars a pair." Take that for what it's worth but for someone who at a time gave nothing but glowing reviews to Audeze to now at least say this to me is progress.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2015
  3. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12,285
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Colorado
    Home Page:
    Copy/pasta some of my thoughts from the pair I heard at RMAF, minus the rant about the rep I talked to.

    "Finally, an Audeze headphone with decent tone! And, yet, this one still has the LEAST slam and overall bass power out of the lot I've heard (2F, a couple 3F, and an X). So, more neutral, smoother, faster, and more cohesive than the LCD-2, 3, X, and either EL-8 model, yet the most lean and boring sounding. Kinda like how the Ether can be boring sounding, but more refined than the Ether. Better clarity. Smoother treble. Maybe it had some midrange emphasis in a shouty area, but nothing major."

    Not a bad sound necessarily, just too lean for my tastes. Maybe I'm just too used to the HD650.

    On the other hand, I believe it was OJ that heard another pair, and he said it sounded bassy, phat...something like that. Some other guys, I think it was velventx actually, heard that exact same pair and also heard it lean the same way I did.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    "desolate wasteland of bore." LOL
    "a guy in a lab coat" ROFL
    "but thus far..."
    [​IMG]
     
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    OJ translator: bass was distorted / blurry / indistinct / one-note. Not mutually exclusive with lean.
     
  6. velvetx

    velvetx Gear Master West/Vendor Spotlight Moderator

    Staff Member Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,067
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Just an FYI I am sure that there are going to be more opportunities to listen to this at upcoming meets (CES, Canjam LA) and I will post if I found anything different in this thread.
     
  7. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12,285
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Colorado
    Home Page:
    I will copy/pasta exactly what OJ said:

    "+Phat bass brah

    - Lack of control and precision
    - Seeping warmth
    - Lack of top-end"

    "Yeah, not lean to me. Bass was slow and plodding."

    I actually didn't hear it as lacking anything on the top-end and found it to have better control and precision than the Ether...certainly more control and precision that most Audezes I've heard so far.

    We very well could be using terms differently.
     
  8. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,923
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Grand Rapids, MI
    Wow, I'm surprised to see Mercer say that. Maybe he's turnings things around. He's always seemed like a really cool and honest(?) guy who has been kinda torn up to see his favorite 'phones start getting more mediocre and overpriced.
     
  9. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,923
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Grand Rapids, MI
    As Merv mentioned, when I say phat bass it's not necessarily boosted 10dB or anything. It's just...thick and slow and with the texture of slapping cellulose.

    While I hate to presume, Muppetface seems to have more esoteric taste in headphones so maybe there are some positive qualities of the LCD4 that we're glossing over. I'm sure there's some but I know I personally would need a more extended listen to zone in on all aspects.
     
  10. Judeus

    Judeus Facebook Friend

    Banned
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    202
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    summit-fi purgatory
    If you have $4000 to blow, spend $3000 on the HE1K and $1000 on hookers and blow ??? profit
     
  11. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12,285
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Colorado
    Home Page:
    Yeah, I figured that much, but still didn't hear it like that. Oh well!
     
  12. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

    Pyrate IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    California Bay Area
    Home Page:
    Judeus: OP said, "Try to keep the "WTF was Audez'e thinking?" chat to a minimum please lmao."
     
  13. Judeus

    Judeus Facebook Friend

    Banned
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    202
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    summit-fi purgatory
    sorry, was just trying to put the consensus in layman's terms :cool:
     
  14. No_One411

    No_One411 Fired by Jude

    Staff Member Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    560
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Saratoga, CA
    I think Mike Mercer was close friends with Alex Rosson. Perhaps his departure from Audeze might have something to do with this?

    I can't speak for how honest he really is, but he's a chill enough guy that just seems to get really excited.
     
  15. Judeus

    Judeus Facebook Friend

    Banned
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    202
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    summit-fi purgatory

    Have you read his liquid gold review?
     
  16. kapanak

    kapanak Canucklehead - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    259
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Alright, so four measurements straight from Audeze have been posted by buyers on the Head-Fi thread. I shall post them here.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    First thing to note, these are all on the same measurement system. Anything past 2K seems inconsistent between them by a small margin.

    Secondly, compared to the LCD-3F and LCD-2F measurements I've seen from this same measurement system, the lower bass and upper bass and lower mid seems less present on these LCD4 measurements than the older LCDs. I actually think they look similar to the LCD-3C measurements and perhaps even like my own LCD-2.1 measurements.

    Comment.
     
  17. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,425
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Here
    Certainly surprised to see that coming from Mercer too.

    Though his new love is for MrSpeakers... dude is forever creaming to those closed ethers.
    [​IMG]
     
  18. briskly

    briskly Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    59
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    New York
    Interesting plots. I was going to say that LCD-4 had tonal similarities to the EL-8, minus the part where the treble disappears into a hole. The heavily smoothed plot of the EL-8 for comparison. Note that this starts from 10Hz instead of 20Hz.[​IMG]
     
  19. velvetx

    velvetx Gear Master West/Vendor Spotlight Moderator

    Staff Member Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,067
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Sorry very noob when it comes to graphs but in theory would you expect with the variance of the graphs to mean that there is a possibility that each headphone sounds different in the sample of 4 you provided?
     
  20. kapanak

    kapanak Canucklehead - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    259
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Could be. There certainly are some differences in the 3K-10K range that could be audible. Although anything above 3KHz in measurements should be measured at multiple positions the way Tyll does it, which I doubt Audeze has done. Also, Audeze uses very heavy smoothing. So, I honestly don't know how to interpret the differences.
     

Share This Page