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Audeze LCD-XC Review (Closed-back Headphone)

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 4 2.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 12 6.5%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 76 40.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 94 50.5%

  • Total voters
    186

_thelaughingman

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Why are you so certain that this is calibrated at 425Hz? You’ve obviously not provided any logical explanation for your rebuttals to other members responses to your questions.
 

Kyle / MrHeeHo

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Audeze is one of only two companies providing headphones to me for testing. For this alone, they deserve many kudos (as well as waiting some 6 months for me to test this headphone :) )
it's interesting that both of them are science oriented companies from Southern California that specialize in planar magnetic headphones
 

TheFrator

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I had a chance to try out both these and the LCD-X 2021 revision and they sounded great. But man they're uncomfortable for more than 45 mins of wear. Hopefully they carry down the weight reduction from the LCD-5 to the rest of their headphones.
 
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amirm

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Why are you so certain that this is calibrated at 425Hz? You’ve obviously not provided any logical explanation for your rebuttals to other members responses to your questions.
Because he knows I calibrate to 425 Hz although in this case, I pulled down the levels a bit lower to make EQ easier.

To the larger question, here are the three frequency response measurements:

Audeze LCD-XC Measurements Linearity Difference Closed Back headphone.png


As you see, levels increase progressively for each one. Bass increases as much as midrange and treble. Here is an actual mathematic subtraction of 94 and 104 dBSPL:

Audeze LCD-XC Measurements Level Difference Closed Back headphone.png


I rely on the toggle gain switch on Topping A90 headphone amp for the three levels. So instead of being 10 dB different, it is 9.7 db. Using that as reference (as shown by the cursor) we see that all frequencies are raised the same albeit with some measurement noise.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Wrong. It is allegedly calibrated at 425Hz and therefore will have bass at -10 to -20 lower than it would be with a Harman-correct headphone.
Distortion percentage nullifies that difference in response since it is all a ratio.

index.php


If the output is lower but so is distortion, then the ratio doesn't change.
 

Jimbob54

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That would take many years of selling my body.
There was meant to be a wink on my podt, sorry. I feel your pain though. But, I reckon with audeze you can probably eq the X to sound very similar to the 3, 4 or 5. Can't be worth the difference surely.
 

Robbo99999

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Compression also shows up as distortion in the measurements, so you can infer the former from the latter. (And this means if it's claimed the measurement mic compresses at extreme levels, its distortion measurements at those levels would be inaccurate too.) As Oratory said in his message to you about his measurements of your HD560S:
Although, distortion measurements are ultimately more useful than compression measurements, as it's distortion that is the detrimental aspect, and it's probably hard to determine that from the compression tests, for instance with the HD560s there was some compression but the distortion was still fine at those very high levels still (except maybe at 114dB below 30Hz):
distortion graph:
HD560s Distortion.png
compression graphs:
HD560s Compression Test#3.pngHD560s Compression Test#2.pngHD560s Compression Test.png


So there's probably a good argument that it's most necessary to show the distortion graphs and the compression graphs are less significant.
 

mk1classic

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The 2021 LCD-XC where my first headphones after 20+ years without quality headphones. It's nice to see the measurements confirm what I hear.
I see people complain about the weight. They are heavy but aren't uncomfortable while listening to them at my home office for a few hours at a time. They are not suitable for being active or on the move.
 

MKreroo

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I think sometime ago I heard somewhere that their hp are low distortion mainly because of how tight their drivers are, and that it reduces the lifespan of the hp. Not sure if this true though.
 

Red@

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I think sometime ago I heard somewhere that their hp are low distortion mainly because of how tight their drivers are, and that it reduces the lifespan of the hp. Not sure if this true though.
These are not moving coil headphones. They are magnetic. I don't see how they would be tight
 

Jimbob54

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I see it differently.
The LCD5, plays in a completely different league, compared to the XC.
(I adjusted both according to Oratory's EQ Settings).
Well, I didn't say "sound the same" nor did I mention the XC. But I would question how much better an EQd 5 is compared to an EQd X to the same target.. One would hope there were some pretty obvious improvements in some areas of the sound to warrant the $$
 

Disruptor

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Im sorry this surely has been asked a thousand times already but i wasnt able to search through all the previous reviews
Why doesnt Amirm measure and plot a diagramm post his EQ settings?
 

staticV3

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AdamG

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Thread Notice: Please, please, please Stay on Topic in Official Product Review Threads. Off topic posts deleted and reply ban handed out. Keep the conversation rooted in discussing this product and/or the actual test results presented in the first post.

Further off topic posts will be deleted and Warnings handed out. Thank you kindly for your assistance and understanding.
 

PeteL

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it's interesting that both of them are science oriented companies from Southern California that specialize in planar magnetic headphones
Are Sony, Bose and Apple science oriented companies? I am not sure what that means? Audeze are headphone manufacturers. Sean Olive is doing science, for what it's worth. Science research and application engineering are two different things.
 
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