Audeze LCD-R Review and Measurements

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by purr1n, Oct 2, 2021.

  1. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I heard the LCD-R when it first came out. While I didn't spend extensive time with it, my general impression was that it was more of a sins of omission thing. It overall felt clean, but dead, and the FR was a little wobbly and dipped hard in the upper mids and again in the treble somewhere. I didn't see measurements of the pair I heard, but I feel they were perhaps wobblier than the ones Marv has. I didn't hear any particular peakiness. We played a bit with EQ but it still didn't quite feel right.

    I'd be curious to see more measurements pop up to confirm whether there was much production variance in these.
     
  2. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Would the RAAL speaker interface work with this?
     
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    RAAL interface probably too much. 0.2-ohm ribbon (basically a metal strip ) vs 2.35-ohms.
     
  4. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

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    I'll quote @brams (head-fi post) - "pins 1, 2, 3, and 4 are ch1+, ch1-, ch2-, ch2+"

    You can use any traditional Audeze cable with the LCD-R, just remember that whatever you hook the LCD-R up to is going to react to the load presented to it.

    As purr1n stated - I know what I'll be looking for :)
    [​IMG]
     
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  5. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I agree with this, though it's really impossible to separate the sound of the Jotenheim A form the LCD-R because neither can be used with anything else.

    I would also describe this as the emphasis being on the tone of notes with the LCD-R rather than on the attack. The LCD-X has more sense of attack The LCD-R sounds very pleasing because of this emphasis on tone. But they also can sound boring compared to the LCD-X (both modded)

    I had the opportunity to buy two pairs of LCD-R in the span of a couple days and went for it because of my concern for this very thing - unit to unit variation. One of mine came from Audeze B stock and the other was ued. They sounded exactly the same, and in line with Marv's measurents. I hear the dip and little peak.
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Transformer coupled toob amps will not explode. In a worse case scenario, the tube simply cannot make enough current - the result will be distortion. Opamps will smoke, crap and pop, sending bits of plastic into the air (don't ask how I know). I should do this for fun to a condiment.

    OTLs will have difficulty. Inherently high Z out and the output cap will ensure low end rolloff. I'll get some voltage sensitivity figures. The LCD-R seem to have super voltage sensitivity like Grados (but lower Z means eats up electrons for lunch). I have another LCD-R with which I re-terminated with a phono TRS. Will report back tomorrow.
     
  7. brams

    brams New

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    To be clear, the issue would be almost no play on the volume control to go from off to really loud ... correct? My assumption was that the Jot-A was basically just the Jot-R with reduced gain. If this is the case would an external dac with a properly implemented volume control resolve the issue?
     
  8. brams

    brams New

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    @rhythmdevils did you try pad rolling these? I have a pair of Dekoni elite sheepskin fenestrated pads I'm itching to give a try, but not liking that the stock pads are glued on.

    Perhaps for the reason @purr1n had suggested with respect to the waterfall plots, I can barely hear the low treble dip, but on paper these Dekoni pads should subtly increase the response in that area.

    Really looking forward to seeing measurements of your fully modded unit and hearing impressions when used with other amps. The Jot-A is not bad, but may not be allowing the LCD-R to express its true potential.
     
  9. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I’ve got 3 large size garbage bags full of every earpad I can find online. And a bunch of custom designs. I basically knew what I wanted to use on the LCD-R and didn’t need to pad roll. :)
     
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  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I can testify to this because 10 years ago, it was only one large garbage bag.
     
  11. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Geez, and here I am with only two mid-size grocery bags full of pads. I need to step up my game.
     
  12. Pars

    Pars New

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    I'm guessing that my DynaFET would drive these well. Also, a CFA2 or 3 would likely handle these as well.
     
  13. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    So I’ve found something very peculiar about the LCD-R that I bet someone could diagnose just by the description of it. I’m trying to have an OCC copper cable made for it, with a female 4 pin XLR plug of course. I already got an AliExpress cable in the mail, but have 2 Forza cables on order. I got a female-female 4 pin XLR adapter in the mail so I could try my current Forza cables with the LCD-R. The same weird thing is happening with the AliExpress cable and the Forza cable. I thought the AliExpress cable was just wired wrong at first. But it must be something else.

    Both aftermarket cables create this really strange soundstage affect. It’s party really cool because the soundstage becomes huge and really spacious, but it’s way more than a cable should/could do. And its not natural, it sound very wrong, it sounds somehow like the soundstage is inverted or inside out. Vocals sound hollow. I’ve never heard anything like it, but there’s clearly something wrong. I’m guessing that Audeze wired something backwards in the LCD-R and then realized it after all units were complete and instead of re-doing it, they just wired the cable the opposite way too to cancel it out and correct it. So when I use a correctly wired cable, I’m getting the mistaken wiring. Is it out of phase that I’m hearing? I’ve heard people talk about headhones being wired out of phase.

    I don't know enough to diagnose what's going on here but it must be something simple in how they're wired. If I can figure it out than I can have the Forza cables wired the same way this stock cable is wired.

    Thanks!
     
  14. EagleWings

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    The effect you are describing, inverted phase is one of the possibilities. If your DAC has a phase-invert button, could you try experimenting with it to see if that helps?
     
  15. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I do on my Yggdrasil but it makes no difference. The affect is really strong, not subtle at all, it's unlistenable. The soundstage must increase to twice the size subjectively but in such a weird twisted way that messes with the tone of instruments, it's like sounds are getting twisted and pulled into each other. Vocals have a hole right in the middle of them.
     
  16. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Could be that only one channel is out of phase? The question is, how to test this…you’d have to have the ability to wire one channel in reverse phase.
     
  17. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    How do I figure that out? It must be the same on all LCD-R’s because this is just the stock cable.
     
  18. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    One channel out of phase could definitely mess with the sense of space.

    But I also wonder whether at such vanishingly low driver impedances, that cable capacitance somehow starts becoming a concern. What's the construction of the stock cable, versus the new cables?
     
  19. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Ask Audeze? Check around headfi (gasp!) or other forums to see if anyone else noticed the same issue replacing cables.
     
  20. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    The stock cable is OFC copper and the new cables are OCC copper. I can’t imagine that making an electrical difference. Otherwise the cable debate wouldn’t exist. ;)

    I got banned from head-if 10 years ago so I can’t ask there and haven’t browsed the forum since I was banned it would be very painful to read all that noise.
     

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