Audeze LCD-X Review (2021 Edition Headphone)

[Helicopter]

Thanks Amir. This is a nice improvement, but I won't be swapping out my 2020 LCD-X for this version.

For those discussing the fasteners, the headband retainers are little e clips, the snap rings that go on with pliers, mine seem pretty secure and should not need loctite.

 

[Zensō]

Because (even with that mod, which I also did with mine) the downside is the center of gravity rises, and makes the headphone more unstable when moving around or swaying).

I never had a problem with weight in terms of "ouch my neck" with LCD's. Their biggest problem is they have no ergonomic stability. You either get the headband digging into your skull through the headstrap. Or you raise the headband (by shortening the strap) and the center of gravity makes the headphone more unstable, and with this weight you can't even lean your head anymore.

Another issue is they can't be employed for long computer sessions. The pads start to compress slowly over the weeks to where the internal dimensions eventually start touching parts of your ear. Which makes you want to throw them out of window when you realize for cups these massive, you can't fathom why ANYTHING is touch your actual ears.

Audeze simply refuses to move away from this design (it's their brand in reality). At first I thought they can fix a few things, but then realize because of some intrinsic aspect, this design inherently cannot be salvaged unless they find a miracle in lowering it's weight by half or more. Only then can you do something with this moronic design.

Shame really though. With EQ, these headphones obliterate basically everything I've heard. Their ergonomics are so bad though, I envy any years-long owners that have no issues with them (though i guess i would be in the same boat if I didn't head headphones on nearly all the time in front of a computer).

Agreed. These have so much potential, but the extreme weight, poor ergonomics, and DIY-ish build offset the pluses. They really need to rethink the physical build from scratch.

 

[tential]

So why get this when the he6se v2 is cheaper (when on adorama sale) and less eq is needed?

Seems like audeze has been upstaged unless I'm missing something.

 

[Doodski]

Agreed. These have so much potential, but the extreme weight, poor ergonomics, and DIY-ish build offset the pluses. They really need to rethink the physical build from scratch.

They really do appear like some sort of World War 2 aircraft headphones.

 

[Helicopter]

Agreed. These have so much potential, but the extreme weight, poor ergonomics, and DIY-ish build offset the pluses. They really need to rethink the physical build from scratch.

I think they are pretty iconic, widely coppied, and shouldn't change much. They could try Carbon fiber or aramids or something, but I think they will do best if they keep the basic build intact.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

I'm confused about group delay too. Aren't the large values in the sub 50 hz region evidence of 'soft sub bass' although how audible it'd be would depend on the music (organ music might notice it?).

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

I've used the LCD-2 for a few years - it has the same screw. It's not loose.

Agreed. You can toss these around, flop the speakers over 180 degrees and land on the screw and that small piece of steel and it holds just fine. I've done that several times on both sides.

I am having a problem where the earpad doesn't want to stay up, but falls down into my ear and flips over. So I have to hold them together from the bottom.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I clearly see the dan graph from Ether c flow is lower than x.
View attachment 143712
Head fi graph is correct, don't ignore that graph because Its made by grass ap.

Other graphs clearly showed higher than 0.1% distortion at some frequency. So I can safely assume the level is not at 104dB so it should be ignored.
Ether flow has a bump of THD at 1-2khz. LCDs don't.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Other graphs clearly showed higher than 0.1% distortion at some frequency. So I can safely assume the level is not at 104dB so it should be ignored.
Ether flow has a bump of THD at 1-2khz. LCDs don't.

Yes, you are right. The graph from head fi is not at 104dB, its at 96dB, but the audeze show very high distortion in 20hz-50hz in comparison, in fact the lcd x raise a lot the distortion in the sub bass vs the bump 1-2khz in the efo.
20hz in the lcd is nearly at 0.4%. Much higher than efo 20hz-20khz overall distortion. I think the max distortion in efo is 0.2% in 1-2khz and less than 0.1% in the rest of the FR and lcd x 0.4% in 20hz - 50 hz.

 

[Zensō]

I think they are pretty iconic, widely coppied, and shouldn't change much. They could try Carbon fiber or aramids or something, but I think they will do best if they keep the basic build intact.

Serious question, widely copied by whom?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Yes, you are right. The graph from head fi is not at 104dB, but the audeze show very high distortion in 20hz-50hz in comparison, in fact the lcd x raise a lot the distortion in the sub bass vs the bump 1-2khz in the efo.
20hz in the lcd is nearly at 0.4%. Much higher than efo 20hz-20khz overall distortion. I think the max distortion in efo is 0.2% and lcd x 0.4%.

That's correct. But there are two things to consider. One is the sudden drop in magnitude in the sub 30dB region can make the THD number higher. Granted this is not a good thing but it has effect. This doesn't show on LCD24 compared to LCD X. So something is not right with LCD X that's for sure.
Distortion at low frequency is vastly less important than distortion higher up around 1khz.
I have measured different distortion when the headphones are running free air or in a pressure field(on the head) on some planars. LCD doesn't show that.
One question is that, it's true that ether flow has higher distortion at 1-2khz by default. What about LCDs after EQ? I'm pretty sure that will increase distortion by some margin. If you look at 114dB graph there's also sign of increased distortion there.

 

[Helicopter]

Serious question, widely copied by whom?

Monoprice blatantly, but also DCA Ethers, Rosson RAD, HiFiMan Sundara, Andover PM-50, Abyss...

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

That's correct. But there are two things to consider. One is the sudden drop in magnitude in the sub 30dB region can make the THD number higher. Granted this is not a good thing but it has effect. This doesn't show on LCD24 compared to LCD X. So something is not right with LCD X that's for sure.
Distortion at low frequency is vastly less important than distortion higher up around 1khz.
I have measured different distortion when the headphones are running free air or in a pressure field(on the head) on some planars. LCD doesn't show that.
One question is that, it's true that ether flow has higher distortion at 1-2khz by default. What about LCDs after EQ? I'm pretty sure that will increase distortion by some margin. If you look at 114dB graph there's also sign of increased distortion there.

yep but at the same time, as you said do you need to increase the sub bass in the LCD X with EQ, that will increase the distortion, like the red graph.
But the '' bump '' of only 0.1% is at 104d and is less present at 100dB ~, in the efo you don't have that bump of distortion in the sub bass

The roll off in 20hz in the efo is much less


The drivers in lcd 24, 4 and 3 are different, apparently better because they have better distortion in the sub bass

 

[JohnYang1997]

yep but at the same time, as you said do you need to increase the sub bass in the LCD X with EQ, that will increase the distortion, like the red graph.
But the '' bump '' of only 0.1% is at 104d and is less present at 100dB ~, in the efo you don't have that bump of distortion in the sub bass

The roll off in 20hz in the efo is much less


The drivers in lcd 24, 4 and 3 are different, apparently better because they have better distortion in the sub bass

Yea. As you spoke on Audeze and DCA in general that's why I brought up the conversation. In general I think Audeze has lower THD by default, and similar when EQed.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Yea. As you spoke on Audeze and DCA in general that's why I brought up the conversation. In general I think Audeze has lower THD by default, and similar when EQed.

That +10dB EQed in the sub bass region gonna put a lot of thd not similar, but worse. IMHO.

 

[Zensō]

Monoprice blatantly, but also DCA Ethers, Rosson RAD, HiFiMan Sundara, Andover PM-50, Abyss...

The Monoprice, sure. The Rosson, sort of? I wouldn’t call the others copies for anything other than the fact that they have round earcups. They all have more sophisticated methods of connecting the cups to the headband, which in my opinion is one of the weakest points of the LCD design.

 

[Helicopter]

The Monoprice, sure. The Rosson, sort of? I wouldn’t call the others copies for anything other than the fact that they have round earcups. They all have more sophisticated methods of connecting the cups to the headband, which in my opinion is one of the weakest points of the LCD design.

I would guess the Audeze EL-8 disappeared after relatively poor commercial success driven by its different appearance too, but who knows?

 

[JohnYang1997]

That +10dB EQed in the sub bass region gonna put a lot of thd not similar, but worse. IMHO.

Is there any other Mr Speakers/dca measured at 114dB?
At least LCD24 doesn't show large increase in distortion at 114dB. It would be great if there are measurements to compare.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Is there any other Mr Speakers/dca measured at 114dB?
At least LCD24 doesn't show large increase in distortion at 114dB. It would be great if there are measurements to compare.

the aeon RT 500$, the small hp

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Am I really reading 500$ for the box to put it in?

The base version actually comes with a box. The premium version throws in another cable and upgrades the box to a premium box. The extra cable costs the same as the basic box on their web site, so yes, they are actually charging $500 for a very fancy box. Clearly they are just providing excuses for people with more money with a way of giving them that money. Can't blame them for doing so. If someone wants to pay $500 for a box, who am I to say they are an idiot?

It had better be a really nice box.

However, given the bare headphones are priced at about $1000 (no box, no cable) the price of the premium box really makes the value of all their other products look suspect. If the markup on the box is that much, one wonders how extreme all of the product markups are.