Audeze LCD-2 Classic Over Ear Open Back Headphone with New Suspension Headband

I fell in love with the original LCD-2 many years ago, and having the LCD-2 Classic meant re-experiencing the quality of the LCD-2 at a more affordable price. The headphones are surprisingly easy to drive, and can be used at reasonable output levels straight from the laptop or cellphone using an appropriate adapter dongle. My headphone amp setup is a Schiit Modi+Magni uber combo, which tends to accentuate the darkness of the headphones to the point that the lower highs lack brightness to drive orchestral tracks. Regardless, the lows are very well resolved, have excellent attack and decay, and bass drum strikes sound more like a pedal striking a diaphragm than thump. Mids are less forward than more mid-centric models (like an AKG K701), placing the singer comfortably in-between the performance at a reasonable distance. That said, the soundstage is wide, but not as expansive as a K701 or AH-1000. Slightly veiled mids, but otherwise soothing to listen to. Highs have enough sibilance to remain crisp, but don't get too crazy to cause listening fatigue. Dynamic range is superb with proper amplification, so you can enjoy the "impact" of soft segments in a piece even at low listening volumes. Comfort is also very good, although you can feel the weight of the headphones if you shake your head. Take note that these are open-ear headphones, so there's a lot of sound leak. Cable could also be a bit longer. Otherwise, a very solid purchase indeed!

I love these headphones. The mids are great and the highs are passable. But the glory of these cans resides in the bass. That beautiful bass. It's full but not over powering. You'll feel your favorite songs in whole new ways. I Love these headphones. But, I returned them. LCD2-C are wonderful but, the Focal Clears are better with mids, trebble and sound separation. Not bass though. LCD2-c's low end is better than any one aspect of the Clears. If you are a bass head, these are for you. You don't lose out on anything but you get to appreciate the low end in a buttery smooth goodness.

I was surprised when my package came and it did include a case AND an XLR cable. That is not all though, they include an XLR to quarter-inch adapter, and an XLR to 3.5mm adapter. That is around $200 of value in itself. The sound: I honestly was a little anxious to get these since I prefer a V-shaped sound in IEMS and I am used to my neutral sound quality from my DCA Aeon Noire's (However, the DCAs are a little spicy in the treble to my ear). I wanted something different and after watching Z Reviews and him praising these I decided to make the purchase. These are darker than my DCAs but because of the spikes (still recessed if you look at a graph) in the treble, these are slightly dark with no harsh peaks. This is a great addition to my collection as this really is a headphone that you sit back and relax to. You can get lost in the music but if you pay really close attention you can still pick out small details that you are accustomed to in a brighter headphone.

Did not like the sound of these at all - no highs and too much mid bass lends to a laid back and inarticulate midrange - jeez, my old Koss Pro 4AA"s sound better, for chrissakes, and are absolute crap when compared to my reference, the Etymotic ER4SR - so sorry I bought into all the hype about these Audeze planar magnetics - what a waste of money !!

These are my end game. I upgraded to these from the Monolith M1060's and wow was it ever an upgrade, these blow the M1060's out of the water. I've also had the HIFIMAN HE-400i's, both being Planar and using the Audio-gd R2R-11 headphone amp/dac. The vocals seem elevated but yet I wouldn't say they are above the music or stand out too much. There's a smoothness that these things pull off and it's amazing, it allows for long listening sessions because the sound is not fatiguing on the ears, and yet at the same time they are in no way muted or veiled, you hear everything, and the balance that Audeze has struck with these is magic. The bass is amazing, it's very tight and hits hard, but again like the vocals it's not exaggerated, these cans do something that words fail to describe. They also take the volume being cranked up like it's nothing, your ears will stop you from increasing the volume before these stop sounding good. The sound they produce really stays together at high volume. You really get the sense that these are a finely tuned instrument, due to the fact that the highs and lows and everything in-between come at you in a way that is so relaxing and yet so clear, every instrument is played the way it was meant to be. A lot of reviews complain about the weight, which I find humorous If sub 3lbs is too much for your neck look up some neck exercises, cause that's nothing. In summary, they're warm sounding. The kind of comfortable warm you get when you pee in the morning and then come back to your warm bed, they're that kind of warm combined with a dark sensuous kiss to your ears from the girl of your dreams.

Acceptable bass, poor mids, surprisingly good highs paired with Chord Mojo. Very similar in sound to the much more modest Sennheiser HD650. The primary difference is the slightly larger sound stage and superior highs. I thought the LCD2-C's mid-range was a bit bloated and off-putting, and while the bass was good, it was certainly not mind-blowing. I also can't ignore how uncomfortable and heavy these are in comparison to other planars I've tried. I did however LOVE the ear pads on these and how much room there was for the ears. The sound is relaxed and warm. Easy to listen to at high volumes. Easy to tell which where sounds are coming from. That intruding mid-range though... It's a shame. Overall great cans, but too veiled for me. I returned them.

Update: I've been using these for several hours a day for the last 10 days. There has been no noticeable change in tone after more burning in. I'm really happy with them, and have quickly grown accustomed to the width of the sound-stage. These are my initial views after spending several hours last night going through my music collection. I don't really believe in "burn-in" in general, and these certainly sounded impressive straight out of the box. 20 odd hours of constant playback later there hasn't been any sonic change worth mentioning. I'm going to be comparing them to my trusty Sennheiser HD650s, since many people know how those sound and these LCDs are an obvious potential upgrade from them. SOUND Moving from a pair of (very old) HD650s to these it was immediately clear that the overall sound signature is somewhat similar, with enough roll-off in the treble to avoid too much sizzle in snares and hats, or screeching in the high vocal range, but enough to be able to pick out details. That's good, because I like the HD650s slightly soft sound (I also have Shure iems, which are even more rolled off, ideal for long fatigue-free listening periods while travelling) . That said, there is definitely more treble present in the LCDs sound than the HDs. I think I understand now when people call it "grainy", as it does have a few peaks and troughs in the 2-6kHz range, but for me it is very pleasing in tone. Tone aside, it definitely offers more detail, across all frequencies, than the 650s. There is a small but noteworthy bump in response at 1k, which is perhaps not ideal given this is also where hearing is most sensitive, but it does mean that vocals (particularly more "modern" music-style vocals - Radiohead sound epic on these, as does Nina Simone) tend to be very well-presented in the mix. I will mainly be using these for electronic music production (Trance, Breakbeat, House etc), so would prefer a flatter response in this critical area, but, the bump is small enough that it shouldn't cause any problems. I did listen to a few pieces of classical music, and K626 Gardiner Bonney/Von Otter in particular showed that the LCDs are in a different class, though that is as much about the stereo image as the frequency response. Compared to the 650's pleasant but veiled presentation I could really place pick out individual voices from the choir in certain sections. The only downside was that there are a few moments where that 1k hump over-cooks the strong female choral notes when they coincide with that frequency. Note enough to grate however. What also impressed me everywhere was the transient response. From delicate vocal trills hidden in the choral section of Domine Jesu, to the biting full-on kick/bass grooves and electronic plinks in psytrance tracks like Liquid Soul/ViniVici's Universe inside me and Astrix/Avalon Moonshine the LCD2C delivers them all accurately and with punch or delicacy as called for. While this headphone is not as full-bodied in it's bass as the 650, this is mainly because the 650, like most dynamic headphones it seems, has a humped and rolled-off bass response. The hump in the 650s is wide, from 800Hz to 70Hz, with a fairly steady roll-off from there. The LCD2C on the other hand is virtually flat right the way from 700Hz all the way down to 10Hz!! Massive Attack sound immense on these things, and the slightly kooky Luke Vibert track SharpA2, which rattle my Senns, is handled with consummate ease by the LCDs. This does however mean that bass-heads might want to boost in the 100-500hz range to generate the boomy bass that seems so popular. But purists will love the accuracy and clarity of the, essentially bottomless, bass. It has made headphone monitoring bass-heavy tracks so much easier, without needing to cross-reference against my Genelecs all the time. Sound Stage So good that it was actually off-putting. I spent the first few hours listening to a wide variety of 60s-00s "pop" music, and so much of it was to the left in the sound stage that I thought maybe I had a badly-matched pair and the right earphone was dodgy. Turns out that just seems to be the way many tracks were produced, and I'd just never heard it so vividly before! The 650s are very narrow by comparison. So much so that I think it will take some time to become fully accustomed to the very real width provided by the LCD2s as it is a totally different type of presentation. The kick and bass on all the EDM stuff I listened to was dead-centre with everything else dancing around it nice and symmetrically, so it there clearly is anything wrong with the right headphone...! This width is part of why the sound is so detailed and you are able to pick voices out of a choir. The separation is excellent. Comfort Big, heavy, tight, but not uncomfortable for me even after 4 or 5 hours yesterday. The headstrap should be further from the metal headband when on, or padded, as this would improve the comfort. Ymmv though, as I believe comfort depends a lot on head size/shape. These leak noise rather a lot, and don't really cut out any background noise either. They are open, though, so that's to be expected. Amps I plugged straight into my RME Babyface headphone output and it does the business. I'm pretty sure any non-mobile amp will be able to power these. They're only 72 Ohm impedance, and also twice as sensitive as the HDs, so should get plenty loud with even basic equipment. Overall Expensive, heavy, but definitely a fine pair of headphones. Like: Detailed, with great transient response, super flat bass response, and pleasant overall tone, nice wide presentation Dislike: Bulky, 1kHz bump could be smaller, high freq response could be flatter, expensive but quite possibly worth it

Provengo da una Hifiman Sundara che non mi ha soddisfatto poichè essendo troppo sensibile alle alte frequenze, mi trapanavano le orecchie fino a farmi venire il mal di testa dopo appena 30 minuti di ascolto. Deluso, ho voluto provare queste LC-2 Classic che si sono rivelate sin da subito molto più educate nella zona alta, anche se inizialmente le ho trovate un po' granulose, dopo circa 10 ore di rodaggio sono più vellutate e musicali. I bassi che dire, hanno un rolloff molto stretto ma esteso con un punch fantastico nella zona medio bassa, cosa che con le Sundara non si ottiene. Le medie sono letteralmente DIVINE, soprattutto con le voci maschili da il meglio di sè, il cantante è come ce lo avessi davanti la fronte, meno invece con le voci femminili dove tendono a rimanere dietro, in particolare con le voci squillanti. Hanno una firma sonora calda ed avvolgente, il soundstage soprattutto nelle medie è qualcosa di indescrivibile. Le piloto con il cavo stock attraverso un DAC Aune S6 Pro è i volumi sono ottimi per me riuscendo ad ottenere dei volumi decisamente più alti delle Sundara, anche se credo che acquisterò il cavo bilanciato CBL-XL-1015 direttamente dalla Audeze del valore di 150€ per poterle pilotare attraverso l'uscita bilanciata del mio DAC dove so che da il meglio di sè Credo che queste sono le cuffie perfette per chi come me è sensibile alle alte frequenze, finalmente posso godermi la mia musica per ore senza emicranie. Per quanto riguarda il peso, stiamo parlando di 550gr ma sinceramente a meno che non siate dei debolucci non sono assolutamente un problema, appena indossate non si sentono nemmeno. L'unica nota negativa ma che non intacca tutti gli aspetti positivi è un certo effetto sottovuoto dei padiglioni nelle orecchie ma nulla di che.

Da der Kopfhörer ja immer gegen Monatsende hier verfügbar ist hab ich dann nach langem überlegen ihn doch Bestellt. Und mein Fazit ist, dass ich es schon wesentlich früher hätte tun sollen. Der LCD-2C ist Klanglich sehr warm und meiner Meinung nach angelehnt an seinen Großen Bruder dem LCD-X, nur wesentlich sanftere und etwas zurück steckende Höhen (Was auf keinen Fall heißt, dass er in den Hochtönen nachlässt, er "versanft" nur alles was er zu spielen bekommt) Für mich ein absoluter Wohlfühl Kopfhörer. Es sei nocheinmal gesagt, dass er nicht auf der leichten seite von Kopfhörer liegt (jedoch für mich einer, wenn nicht DER, bequemste Kopfhörer ist den ich je getragen habe). Seine 70 Ohm mit den Planaren Treibern machen ihn zwar auch vielleicht nicht mobil tauglich aber ich denke, dass jemand der sich in dieser Preisklasse einen Kopfhörer kauft auch einen AMP hat um ihn zu betreiben (ich habe mir mittlerweile auch ein Kabel für den Symmetrischen betrieb gebaut und kann nur sagen, dass er sich dadurch noch ein wenig Imposanter in der Darstellung anhört. Höhen sind etwas dramatischer und die Tiefen werden auch einen tick aggressiver, ich bin ein Fan von beiden Symmetrisch und Unsymmetrisch) Ansonsten kann ich nur sagen dass ich sehr gespannt auf die Fazor mods der Hifi-Community gespannt bin und möchte auch schon bis dahin jedem diesen Kopfhörer empfehlen.

The build is like a tank. Everything is quality. The comfort is good, but not the best. The weight is high, but they should break in to be better, as most headphones do. The sound is very good, there is almost no ceiling to the volume these can achieve and still sound clean. Its dynamic, Mids are forward, treble is recessed but not lacking detail, Bass is clean, fast detailed, and subbass is where this can really dig in and outshine most headphones you can get such a beautiful slam out of them and subbass is so deep while maintaining detail in other bands of the EQ, or can enjoy a tame song with plenty of detail. They are forgiving to recording quality and genres. They take an EQ well. The soundstage is decent. Reverb in vocals standout particularly well to me. Price is well, I would say fair (with build quality and American made and sound quality all considered) but I would always appreciate something with bang for the buck in mind (and these are not that). There are a lot of other much cheaper and very good headphones to consider so you really have to think about it. I still have 150$-400$ cans in my collection I love and use. But these edge any of them out in all but the upper air of sparkly cans, and I would say the HD 600 mids are still more to my liking but these are more detailed still to my ears. When it comes to bass, I dont think anything can touch them however if you feed them enough power and the song calls for it they will rattle your skull with not even the slightest hint of giving up.

Es díficil escribir una opinión sobre estos auriculares, porque intervienen muchos factores que son subjetivos/personales y muchas veces el matiz de pasar de unos cascos de 200 euros a otros de 900 es mínimo, pero ya digo intervienen otros factores entre ellos una pasión irracional por querer tener un poquito más de calidad. Digo esto porque he leido alguna opinión que decían que estos cascos no eran para rock, pop, etc y no estoy de acuerdo, en mi opinión, todos los cascos tienen una firma sonora que los puede hacer más idoneos para según que estilo de música, pero no hay una correlación género musical/precio, en mi opinión. La música que escucho es Metal, practicamente todos los subgeneros, pero sobre todo, black y death, en estos estilos la presencia y rapidez de los graves es fundamental y por ese motivo me incliné por estos Audeze, son el modelo que más se asemeja al LCD-2 original, y al no llevar los fazors, tienen una mayor presencia de graves y ahí está el punto fuerte de estos cascos, ¿unos beats? no, no, no, esos son calientaorejas de lujo, estos audeze aparte de darte unos bajos llenos, tiene buenos medios y unos agudos que ahí están, simplemente están. Tienen una buena escena sonora He notado un cambio radical, porque hasta ahora usaba en casa los AKG k701, que son todo lo contrario a estos audeze, su fuerte están en los medios/agudos, tengo tambien unos B&W P5 y unos IEM, los westone 4R, los dos muy buenos para el Metal, sobre todo los segundos, pero prefiero unos auriculares abiertos para estar en casa. Hace tiempo que estaba deseando un cambio y quería unos planares por su rapidez, al final despues de leer sobre mas de 6 modelos, dudaba entre los hifiman sundara, un sonido más neutro y estos audeze, pero no había leido opiniones buenas sobre los controles de calidad de hifiman, así que todo me empujó a los Audeze. Lo ideal hubiera sido poder escucharlos todos, pero desgracidamente no todos tenemos esta posibilidad y no te queda más remedio que guiarte por opiniones e imaginarte como puedan sonar. En mi caso he acertado. Son unos cascos pesados, pero comodísimos, los he tenido puestos hoy durante un par de horas y sin problemas, no se si es pasión, pero diría que son hasta mas cómodos que los akg (que ya es decir).