Audeze LCD-24 Review (Headphone)

[pwjazz]

I too would like to think of Audeze headphones as a low distortion platform for EQ, but the fly in the ointment is that they have a reputation for sometimes significant unit variance, including the depth and width of that 1-5KHz dip, weird undulations in that area, etc. So if you don't have a reliable way to measure your own unit, it's not so easy to EQ in the appropriate ear gain.

If every individual Audeze unit (not just model) came with a bespoke EQ profile from the factory, that would make things interesting.

 

[Helicopter]

To be fair the LCD-X had a larger & sharper dip at 4kHz than the headphone reviewed here. So here's a pic of the frequency response of the LCD-X where you can see the even larger & sharper 4kHz dip:
View attachment 133912
Now that one is truly un'EQable, the LCD24 is more EQ'able in that region, not as bad as the LCD-X above. Although I'll reiterate my prior statements that the LCD24 is unreasonable in the 4kHz area (and not easily EQ'd at that point) and especially for $3500.

Amir wasn't measuring distortion in the same way for that early LCD-X review, so I find it hard to compare the capabilities of the driver from that point of view, either way the LCD-X is more troublesome than the LCD24 as seen in the reviews here.

I agree, and I was not objecting to a changing perspective. If I wanted to object to the LCD-X review I would have said 'inconsistent' instead of 'changed.' I agree with the assessment of LCD-X. It is my least favorite kilobuck headphone in my collection. I only use it when I want a big thumping bass sound, and I am sure cheaper DCA models would do it better.

As for the LCD-24, agree it is a little better, but you can get a refurb Focal Utopia for a little less. Utopia is nearly perfect for my listening.

 

[Robbo99999]

I too would like to think of Audeze headphones as a low distortion platform for EQ, but the fly in the ointment is that they have a reputation for sometimes significant unit variance, including the depth and width of that 1-5KHz dip, weird undulations in that area, etc. So if you don't have a reliable way to measure your own unit, it's not so easy to EQ in the appropriate ear gain.

If every individual Audeze unit (not just model) came with a bespoke EQ profile from the factory, that would make things interesting.

I do like that idea actually - a low distortion, high spaciousness/soundstage headphone as a blank canvas for EQ.....but the fly in the ointment that you mention for me is the unreasonable 4kHz dip that is not really reliably EQ friendly combined with the $3500 price tag. Now if this headphone was $500 with a flat response that had no sharp dip at 4kHz then that would truly be a dream blank canvas...Amen!

EDIT: @Francis Vaughan was previously alluding to a blank canvas high performance low distortion flat headphone that was totally EQ friendly by design, so that the engineers didn't have to make compromises to try to mechanically shoehorn the desired frequency response into the headphone - instead it would be down to the user to apply their individual EQ preference onto the flawless without compromise driver.....they'd have to make pains to ensure it was smooth flat rather than with un'EQable notches so I'm not entirely sure if that's the same challenge anyway, but you'd think relying on software EQ rather than hardware EQ could result in better overall results......at the moment that would be a very niche market though - ASR users please!

 

[617]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Audeze LCD-24. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $3,499.

I must say, this is a manly looking headphone:

View attachment 133845

It would fit right at home with someone wearing their leathers and driving a Harley Davidson motorcycle! There is an unusual mechanism to adjust the headband which puts side ways pressure on the headphone. I kind of like it. Overall comfort is very good.

This is the second heaviest headphone since I started to keep track of them at 575 grams:

View attachment 133846

It doesn't feel that heavy though. The inside cup dimensions are 70 mm, 56mm and 34 mm (height, width and depth).

Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!

Fitting the LCD-24 to the fixture was extremely easy. With the large cups and excellent seal, the first try worked and I ran with it.

Audeze LCD-24 Measurements
As usual we start with our frequency response:

View attachment 133847

Looks like some attempt is made in having a flat response even though there is "ear gain" in my fixture which doesn't make much sense. End result is lack of bass and uninteresting, muffled sound due to shortages in the 1 to 5 kHz We will confirm this in listening tests.

As a deviation from target, this is what we have:

View attachment 133848

I design my EQ by eye and in this case, creating a curve for 1 to 10 kHz is going to be challenging. So automated filter design may work better.

The next measurement popped the eye out of my socket:
View attachment 133849

This is one comfortable driver no matter how much sound you expect it to produce! Even at incredible 114 dBSPL, it is cruising with minimal distortion. I hope companies that produce distortion factories (I am looking at you Abyss), are paying attention. Distortion barely touches our 40 dB reference line:

View attachment 133850

And that is in upper bass, dominated by second harmoni.

Group delay is messy indicating internal reflections, resonances, etc:

View attachment 133851

Impedance is typical dead flat but very low at 14 ohm:
View attachment 133852

You need an amp that has good current delivery. Fortunately efficiency is quite good:

View attachment 133853

So most portable devices should be able to drive it to reasonable levels.

Audeze LCD-24 Listening Tests and Equalization
Stock listening experience was not good. The sound was dull and sub-bass almost faint, non-existent. So EQ tool came out fast and furiouis:

View attachment 133854

Despite the crudeness of my EQ design, the transformation was massive. You now had good sub-bass and the spatial qualities bloomed like nobody's business (function of 1 to 5 kHz). Instrument separation was very nice and fun. It feels like there is a miniature orchestra playing little instruments around your head. One of my reference test tracks for spatial qualities (and general fidelity) is Jewele's Serve the Ego:

The detail, resolution, bass and localization of different sounds was just excellent. I just compared the youtube version above which plays without EQ compared to my Roon player doing so with EQ, and the difference is night and day. The youtube version is totally uninteresting and recessed. The EQ version is just a delight. If you own this headphone and have not applied EQ correction, you don't know what you are missing.

I wanted to compare my EQ to presets that ship in Roon for Audeze. Alas, there was not one for LCD-24. Hope Audeze remedies that.

Conclusions
Despite the incredible popularity of headphone measurements and talk of preference curves, it is amazing how many headphones ignore that and produce a headphone with its idea of target response. LCD-24 is one such example. Fortunately it provides a capable platform for equalization with its extreme low distortion driver. Producing an EQ curve takes some work but what I have above generates more fidelity and delight than I need. I hope Audeze moves more towards having a response that is closer to target so that out of box experience is better.

Overall, I cannot recommend Audeze LCD-24 in stock form. With equalization though, it gets my strong vote for a wonderful sounding headphone.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

First harvest from the Garden!!! Been behind this year in my gardening chores so it was nice to have something ready to eat:
View attachment 133855

The nice head of cauliflower came out of a plant that I potted back in fall of last year! It produced some fruit which instantly got eaten by some creature. I put it in the greenhouse nearly dead looking. This spring it sprouted back to action and produced to heads! What a delight. Crunchy, flavorful and sweet. Flowers you see are from kohlrabi which is normally grown for its over the ground bulb. If you leave it in the garden though through winter, in spring you get this amazing harvest of yellow flowers that taste like broccoli. I eat them while working in the garden all spring. Below that is a smorgasbord of greens from different lettuces to beet greens and cilantro.

On the right was a new planting: wasabi radish. Was hoping that it would taste a bit like wasabi as advertised. Well, it does not. It just tastes like a normal radish, albeit in that pretty green color. These were pulled out to let the others bulb out better. They were decent eating. And oh, I am growing real wasabi for the first time!

Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Have you done a soil test? I think I read wasabi is very hard to grow.

 

[Helicopter]

I too would like to think of Audeze headphones as a low distortion platform for EQ, but the fly in the ointment is that they have a reputation for sometimes significant unit variance, including the depth and width of that 1-5KHz dip, weird undulations in that area, etc. So if you don't have a reliable way to measure your own unit, it's not so easy to EQ in the appropriate ear gain.

If every individual Audeze unit (not just model) came with a bespoke EQ profile from the factory, that would make things interesting.

Just need to get Amir to review your sample. Worked out great for my Focal Celestee.

 

[Zensō]

I find the heavier LCD-X quite comfortable. My biggest objections are the wood on several models, the seemingly random pricing of various combinations of parts, and the raw FR, that always has bad tonality and a dip that will need 8dB or so to EQ. I like the design of the metal cupped models, and the undistorted power handling across the whole range.

Headphone comfort seems to be a very personal thing. I’ve tried various Audeze models and they’re all too heavy for me (I tire of any headphone over 400-450 grams in short order).

The ultra-low distortion is amazing, it’s a shame the other issues are such deal breakers.

 

[muslhead]

Per chance Is a neck brace included?

 

[solderdude]

Per chance Is a neck brace included?

muslhead, you just need a musclehead

 

[flipflop]

Yes you are. Toole is talking about reliable recognisable resonances in a frequency response. That's a long way away from equating the same Q-values to sensible/advisable EQ strategies for headphones where the unpredictability of the measurement & frequency response increases the higher up the frequency range you go. By all means flipflop, apply Q10-50 filters on your headphones and see how you go, but you'll be worse for wear.

I think you are misunderstanding what I'm saying.
We are both in agreement that a Q=3 filter is appropriate to deal with the 4 kHz dip. My position is that the dip (1-5 kHz in its entirety) has a low Q-factor and should therefore be dealt with with a low Q-factor EQ filter. Your position seems to be that what constitutes as a low Q-factor deviation in the unequalized frequency response does not translate to a low Q-factor when it comes to EQ filters, because the low/medium/high descriptors are inherently different depending on the context.
This has become a semantic discussion. We can agree to disagree.

 

[Robbo99999]

I think you are misunderstanding what I'm saying.
We are both in agreement that a Q=3 filter is appropriate to deal with the 4 kHz dip. My position is that the dip (1-5 kHz in its entirety) has a low Q-factor and should therefore be dealt with with a low Q-factor EQ filter. Your position seems to be that what constitutes as a low Q-factor deviation in the unequalized frequency response does not translate to a low Q-factor when it comes to EQ filters, because the low/medium/high descriptors are inherently different depending on the context.
This has become a semantic discussion. We can agree to disagree.

Semantics aside, I'm not happy with the fact that this headphone requires a +12dB Q3 or above filter at 4kHz and especially when equated with a $3500 price tag, and for me the super low distortion of the drivers don't make up for that shortfall as in my experience the measured distortion variable (beyond a certain threshold) is not the most important factor in headphones. So I'm not putting this headphone on my recommend list.

 

[Jimbob54]

Semantics aside, I'm not happy with the fact that this headphone requires a +12dB Q3 or above filter at 4kHz and especially when equated with a $3500 price tag, and for me the super low distortion of the drivers don't make up for that shortfall as in my experience the measured distortion variable (beyond a certain threshold) is not the most important factor in headphones. So I'm not putting this headphone on my recommend list.

But if it was $500 you might recommend it? Have you heard it?

 

[GWolfman]

The next measurement popped the eye out of my socket:
View attachment 133849

This is one comfortable driver no matter how much sound you expect it to produce! Even at incredible 114 dBSPL, it is cruising with minimal distortion. I hope companies that produce distortion factories (I am looking at you Abyss), are paying attention. Distortion barely touches our 40 dB reference line:

View attachment 133850

At what frequency was the target SPL set to, 1 kHz? If so, I wonder how much distortion was added with such large EQ boosts.

First harvest from the Garden!!! Been behind this year in my gardening chores so it was nice to have something ready to eat:
View attachment 133855

The nice head of cauliflower came out of a plant that I potted back in fall of last year! It produced some fruit which instantly got eaten by some creature. I put it in the greenhouse nearly dead looking. This spring it sprouted back to action and produced to heads! What a delight. Crunchy, flavorful and sweet. Flowers you see are from kohlrabi which is normally grown for its over the ground bulb. If you leave it in the garden though through winter, in spring you get this amazing harvest of yellow flowers that taste like broccoli. I eat them while working in the garden all spring. Below that is a smorgasbord of greens from different lettuces to beet greens and cilantro.

On the right was a new planting: wasabi radish. Was hoping that it would taste a bit like wasabi as advertised. Well, it does not. It just tastes like a normal radish, albeit in that pretty green color. These were pulled out to let the others bulb out better. They were decent eating. And oh, I am growing real wasabi for the first time!

Thanks for sharing, hard work pays off!

 

[Robbo99999]

But if it was $500 you might recommend it? Have you heard it?

If it was $500 or less then I may recommend it, or at least I wouldn't dissuade people from it if they were EQ'ing it. Believe it or not, I'm gonna recommend headphones that I haven't listened to as well as ones I've listened to.....the measurements tell the truth and subjective opinion is icing on the cake.

EDIT: the one variable where I place quite a lot of stock in subjective opinion is soundstage & "speaker-like" qualities....that one is not really captured in measurements.

 

[KiyPhi]

But if it was $500 you might recommend it? Have you heard it?

Some things I don't think I'm willing to go out of my way to try and hear, this would be one of them. I too can't wrap my head around a headphone that costs so much that doesn't sound good without EQ. All of the headphones I've enjoyed and recommended sound great without EQ and improve with EQ. I mean, I guess if you really like the looks (I'm personally not a fan) or the comfort, but it seems to have the typical Audeze tuning so why not just get a cheaper Audeze headphone?

 

[Jimbob54]

Sput ioome things I don't think I'm willing to go out of my way to try and hear, this would be one of them. I too can't wrap my head around a headphone that costs so much that doesn't sound good without EQ. All of the headphones I've enjoyed and recommended sound great without EQ and improve with EQ. I mean, I guess if you really like the looks (I'm personally not a fan) or the comfort, but it seems to have the typical Audeze tuning so why not just get a cheaper Audeze headphone?

I dont disagree. Im not going to touch a £3k headphone either, purely on price. But I have to take issue with this cold reading approach some take when it extends to recommending to others. If one will actively dissuade others from headphones you havent heard, you will also recommend on the same basis. This is a dangerous stance to adopt IMHO and seems to put more faith in the current suite of measurements than perhaps even those doing the measuring have. We have seen enough of examples of 'phones that look good on paper but fail to fully convince the reviewer and vice versa to tell us measurements should be a guide not a hard line. Especially saying 'phones like this cant be effectively EQ'd. Its not ideal; having such a large drop in that area- but not terminal by any means. Our host's comments are a good example of this.

Rule out on price by all means, and rule out by horrific FR and distortion levels overall, but I think ruling this pair out on FR alone is naive.

 

[Helicopter]

I am a bit surprised @muslhead has a neck.

 

[amirm]

Have you done a soil test? I think I read wasabi is very hard to grow.

I am growing wasabi in pots. It is doing very well there. They like shade, lots of water, and have to be protected in winter so pots work best.

What I showed in the picture was not wasabi. It is a type of radish with the name wasabi in it. I was hoping it would have some element of wasabi in it but it does not.

 

[milezone]

I'm also growing wasabi. I found that like many plants, you can plant the left over remnants of a used wasabi rhizome and it will quickly start producing leaves and a new rhizome. In addition you can probably subdivide a single leftover plant into multiple sections to produce multiple wasabi plants from one original plant. It's curious to me that this particular produce is so expensive as they seem quite hearty so long as you don't let the soil dry out and expose them to too much sunlight. Perhaps it's something to do with Japanese culture that is a mystery to me. While traveling in Japan I discovered many stores selling $50+ dollar small boxes of prized strawberries and very expensive prized red mangos.

 

[Tks]

Headphone comfort seems to be a very personal thing. I’ve tried various Audeze models and they’re all too heavy for me (I tire of any headphone over 400-450 grams in short order).

The ultra-low distortion is amazing, it’s a shame the other issues are such deal breakers.

I've spoken this before as I've had the 2C's for a while. But Audeze's insistence on maintaining their signature look ruins it for me. The ergonomics simply aren't there for long-term sessions. The primary issue is weight for me, but not because "ouch my neck" or anything of that sort that some people talk about when describing the weight issue. The problem with the weight is it throws off any ability to tilt your head or move it in any quick motion if you wanted to. What I mean is, they're so heavy, if you tilt your head, the thing wants to fall off.

The second issue, is the headstrap loosens over time, and the headband starts to dig into your skull eventually. (And before anyone tells be about the headstrap lengthening mod, please don't, it's a fix that makes the first issue I mentioned and order worse by completely heightening the center of gravity of the headphone, and making it even more unstable than it already is. I've tried it, it solves the issue of the headband diggining in, but the imbalance of the headphone becomes unacceptable moreso than it originally is).

The third issue, is an issue that can be levied against many headphones (which makes me wonder why so many manufacturers are in all honesty: idiots, for not emulating the cup size and spacing of the HD800's for example), and that issue is for a headphone seemingly so large, the internal diameter of the pads is simply too small. At first they're fine for normal sized ears, but as heat builds up (since the pads are pleather) or as the material slowly gives way like every pad does - the internal diameter shrinks and your ears begin having constant contact with the internal portions of the earpad. I just don't understand why comfort is such a massive problem on a headphone of this size.

Besides this, a Harman EQ on these headphones turned them into literally the best sounding headphones I've had the pleasure of hearing (without EQ, it's as Amir describes, it's just a pretty dead headphone). It's just a shame (like many other headphones) that they suffer these ergonomic deathblows to anyone who wants to use them longer than thirty minutes or something.

Also these, for $3,500 is simply insane. For that price, I want that THD figure + proper FR target (either Diffuse or Harman, pick something that makes sense), and comfort. The reason it's insane is, for that sort of price, I expect something more than simply low THD. So either bring the ergonomics, or bring the FR as well. And while you're at it, Audeze would do well to take a look at how to make someone feel like they're getting their money's worth (since this is a luxury product, I want luxury finishing, and for $3,000 you can get Meze Empyreans that blow every other headphone in terms of finishing to smithereens).

 

[Robbo99999]

I dont disagree. Im not going to touch a £3k headphone either, purely on price. But I have to take issue with this cold reading approach some take when it extends to recommending to others. If one will actively dissuade others from headphones you havent heard, you will also recommend on the same basis. This is a dangerous stance to adopt IMHO and seems to put more faith in the current suite of measurements than perhaps even those doing the measuring have. We have seen enough of examples of 'phones that look good on paper but fail to fully convince the reviewer and vice versa to tell us measurements should be a guide not a hard line. Especially saying 'phones like this cant be effectively EQ'd. Its not ideal; having such a large drop in that area- but not terminal by any means. Our host's comments are a good example of this.

Rule out on price by all means, and rule out by horrific FR and distortion levels overall, but I think ruling this pair out on FR alone is naive.

To be honest I think it's naive to accept it when it does indeed have those frequency response issues (in terms of EQ) at 4kHz - frequency response is one of the most informative measurements, don't ignore the measurements and certainly not when the product costs a dangerous $3500. There's plenty of headphones that have more EQ'able frequency responses that don't cost $3500 and the excellent distortion measurements in my view are a bit of a red herring, as undeniably they are some of the best distortion measurements we've seen (in fact the best I can remember), but beyond a certain point in my experience it's immaterial & not influential. I like the fact that Amir noticed very good soundstage with this headphone & that is for me a major positive, but at $3500 and with that frequency anomaly at 4kHz - naaa, you gotta be choosy at $3500!