THE WORLD HAS GONE CRAZY
I love these headphones! But, there seems to be so much hate online about them. Let’s discuss! By that I mean, I will talk and you shall read, please.
THE LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTY AUDIO SOCIETY
In February 2023 I went to an LAOC Audio Society meet at the Audeze factory on SoCal. It was a wonderful experience and I recommend joining the society if your interested in high-end audio events. Visit LAOCAS.com for more info.
After meeting some genius level engineers and employees, I decided it was time to bring some Audeze into my life. Caught up in the excitement of it all, I threw my card down and purchased the flagship model LCD-5! I was very excited to own state of the art headphones from such a well respected company. Did you know the drivers are thinner than a red blood cell? I can’t even wrap my head around how they manufacture this or even more challenging build a durable product with it. But I felt like I was buying something from NASA. State of the Art, indeed!
BREAK IN
A week later the Headphones showed up at my door. There’s plenty of reviews explaining the cool case they come in the high end accessories. I’ll just say it was a very pleasing experiencing.
Plugging them in for the first time, they did not sound right. So I gave them a few hours of break-in and listened again, they were starting to loosen up. I could tell they needed more break-in, but I was impatient, so let’s kick out the jams!
Plugged into my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium headphone jack, they sound pretty good. Not great just good. After a week or so, I got a little bored and packed them up in the case and stuck them in the corner. I even thought, “should I keep these or sell them?“. But life got busy so I left them for another day.
BEAUTY AND MAGIC REVEALED
Many months later I decided to give them a shot again. This time trying various amps, my portable Oppo HA-2 (sounded good!), the outs on my Universal Apollo interfaces (sounded bad). So I settled on using the PrimaLuna and committing to spending some time with them.
After a couple of weeks, all of a sudden magic was happening. I was delighted and surprised! How could these change so much? Oh well, just enjoy them. Each day they seemed to get better and better.
G.A.S.
Then the old audio itch of curiosity crept in. I’ve been meaning to bring a Balanced headphone amp into my life and these LCD-5s certainly deserved something special.
That’s when things got weird online. I was finding message boards like Head-fi and Reddit, where people were bashing the headphones. Many calling them shouty and unlistenable. Then a small army of EQ fans preaching various EQ techniques to make the LCD-5s tolerable. I strongly choose to not use EQ, it always sounds artificial to me.
So how could this be? So many unsatisfied listeners. My experience is near perfection with the LCD-5s. They do everything I wished in a headphone. Plenty of bass, plenty of clarity. Nothing offensive about the sound. They are so low in distortion that after listening to them and switching to other headphones, I immediately hear flaws in other headphones. Harsh distorted trebles and sloppy bass. Blurry details and lame soundstages. I couldn’t wait to return to the superstar LCD-5s. Back to headphone bliss. Deep satisfying soundstage and imagining.
Sadly, I haven’t been able to find the right balanced amp, yet. No worries though as I am absolutely loving the LCD-5s through the Primaluna. I’m quite happy at the moment and may never need to change.
Some amps I considered: Woo Audio WA22 is top of my list. But their portable amps are also tempting. I recently got to hear the New Woo Tube Mini. It’s awesome and fun! I will get one for travel.
Because I’ve been to the Schiiter in Old Town Newhall, CA, I regret not buying a Moljnir when they were still in production. Now the Jotenheim seems to be a good option. I was lucky enough to try a bunch of Schiit products. They are a fun company that really does make great products.
Last on my list is the Manley Absolute Headphone amp, Because it’s killer! It’s also pricey, so not today.
I’ll probably just keep using what I already have. It’s very satisfying.
WHY ALL THE HATE?
I felt compelled to blog about these headphones after reading and watching all the haters. I have some crazy explanations for what might be going on.
Humans like distortion. I know I do. I love tube amps and vinyl records. Anyone into digital studio recording knows that “saturation” has been the missing element for good sound. Harmonic distortion can make the perception of bass increased or add a “glow” to midrange and treble. It adds texture and excitement to the sound. Basically, we like broken things. Maybe we just get used to that sound.
Real change takes time to adopt. Perhaps the advancements with the headphones and super low distortion are catching people off guard. Maybe they are used to over hyped bass and treble. Distortion! Maybe these headphone expose flaws in gear that used to be perceived as exciting. Whatever it is, I wish I could invite some haters over to my place to have a listen. Maybe they have heard better sound, but I certainly have not.
POINT BLANK
I love these headphones! Not a new product, but still current and still the flagship. Congratulations to Audeze on their hard work. Pushing the boundaries of what headphones are capable of. I’ll be enjoying these for years to come.
rePtile like Me 