Confusing is exactly right: I've had mine for 13 months now and still can't make up my mind about them. There's plenty of wonkiness to the sound but they have other redeeming qualities. The Reveal plugin made a big difference and is worth trying. It clears up the haze quite a bit.
What I'm most digging right now is how thick they sound. It really plays to anything with strong groves where the bass and kick are in lockstep. Snares in rock and metal have this satisfying wet 'snap' to them that I just love. That energy in all of the bass and lower-mids has a certain quickness to it. It's a groovy sound.
But once you get firmly in the mids and up, it's sort of inconsistent and the sound doesn't really breath well. Things can sound plasticky and overdamped.
Certain things, they do really well. Everything else is kind of hard to place. They're not much like anything I've ever heard. That's for sure.
The trick with Audeze headphones is amp pairing. Amps like the Cavalli embedded hybrids (Fire, Crimson, Platinum) can fill in the mids and get the Audeze headphones to sound right. When I listen with other amps I do recognize that the Audeze headphones do sound wrong. But with the Cavalli amps they're so right.
I miss my LCD2C... have been saying for awhile now I might grab another pair if a good deal comes along. I thought they were awesome with metal. Had them paired with a Jot1. Have a Jot2 incoming and would love to check that pair out.
@e.schell hoping to do just that! Going for the loaner mostly to hear that pairing. See how it does balanced.
I'm really into the way metal sounds too. The treble loses a bit of that bite, but you get way better attack delineation between instruments. Drums and bass just lock in and detuned guitars sound SUPER meaty. It sounds chewy as hell. Triple chocolate cake.
I've noticed that they also like to be LOUD. I wouldn't turn up my 6xx's this loud and even hope to dream of really making out everything, let alone of being comfortable.
I like and enjoy metal. I also like and enjoy classical. I'm listening to Brandenburg Concertos right now with LCD-2 Classic, Liquid Fire, Gungnir MB A1 and I'm in sonic heaven. With the right amp the Audezes can do classical, metal, and everything else.
Vali 2, which seems to do the job, though obviously not ideal. Anything past 2-3 o clock on lo-gain is getting dangerously loud. Hi-gain has me at my limit by 12 o clock.
It's not that it sounds like something is missing at lower volumes. More like FR and dynamics don't fall off with volume nearly as easily. It still sounds clean.
Amps that don't fill in the midrange right want you to play louder due to the Fletcher Munson curve. Amps that get the Audezes to sound like the midrange is filled in will let you play at a lower volume. Filling in the midrange is about soundstage/imaging density, not necessarily measured frequency response.
Indeed, I'm sure these will be interesting to EQ, too. Looking forward to trying different amps with them as well. It doesn't sound too scooped to me. It's the presence dip that I really notice most. Stage/imaging sound normal to me now, though.
I'm totally sold on these. Over the course of one long listening session I've gone from noncommittal to wanting to hear more. It's the sound I never knew I needed.
EQ can help. But the real deal is finding an amp and DAC combo that has more sonic density in the midrange and bass. Trying to replicate that with just EQ is like trying to make a SS amp sound like a tube amp using EQ. The amp and DAC combo either does the right sound for Audeze or doesn't. Can't completely fix it with EQ.
@Hands has some excellent measurements on the improvements the OEM Vegan Pads bring, amp pairing is important but I feel that the PADs are even more worthwhile
I had mixed feelings about them too for a while, paired with my Jot 1 and Vali 2+. I almost ended up selling them after about a month.
Then I read about people who pad rolled to the Dekoni Elite Velours, bought a set for myself and now I think I'll be keeping these.
LCD-2C needs only two things...the vegan slanted pads to give them some space and tame that 8K peak, and a good amp with good power. Vali 2 was never enough - too congested. Lyr 3 was great, Liquid Carbon is what I use now, and Liquid Platinum is what I would use if I were a rich man.
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