Salam to all PG members today I bring you probably my End Game headphones I mean at least for the time being lol..I have had the itch to buy one for quite some time and I spent a lot of time figuring out which one to get and during my search I narrowed it down to Hifiman predominantly plus some others and the top of the list were
ARYA
HE1000se
edition X V2
HD800s
Audeze LCD X
Audeze LCD 4
Meze Empyrean
and there was also another consideration of an IEM
Empire ears Legend X
The only reason I didn't get those was I could try them before buying and with relatively small or medium sized ears I was a bit afriad about the fit I mean its 2300$ and you would want them to fit like a glove right?
I checked countless reviews over the internet for all of the above mentioned headphones and the most highly rated of them all are Hifiman Arya and HE 1000se which are 1700$ and 3500$ respectively and in this scenario money no object I could get 1000se but then there were these talks about them being a bit bright a bit thin and all since all these reviewers listen to audiophile music they can enjoy them to the fullest I listen to hiphop, rap, rnb, pop, coke studio etcetera I was reluctant to buying those thinking I might not like what I hear in the end and the biggest issue I have is that I cannot demo any of these things due to time and availability concerns so I have to go by the word of mouth and opinion of the professional reviews.
I had the pleasure of listening to LCD 2 and HD800 side by side in the past so I could at least refer to the sound signature going by the memory and I did like the LCD back then and now fast forward to 2019 there have been plenty of new developments in the headphones and IEMs still LCD-X were holding their own there was just another review from head-fi.org and Joshua valor about these where he even called these his endgame headphones as well plus there are numerous reviews on the internet now.
The Box:
Meet the LCD - X
These are the most efficient and neutral Audeze headphones to date but they need a good powerful amp none the less to bring out the best in them and out of all the portable audio gears I own I am only satisfied with Woo Audio WA8 for powering these and its quite a powerful amp for its size.
Build:
The build quality is top notch it there's use of metal and leather throughout and the headphones scream quality when you hold them in your hands. Other Audeze headphones come with wooden housing for the ear cups I mean the finishing on some of those is to die for but then can crack easily so in that context these are going to last longer.
Headband:
The only gripe with the headphone is the old style headband which can easily scratch from the sides where the metal bars reside holding the ear cups and the weight distribution is not optimal as it creates a hotspot right in the middle of my head but I am getting used to it and I think this can be easily fixed by upgrading to the carbon fiber headband that they sell separately but that's 200$ on top which is quite steep so chances are that I am going to get used to it if not then yeah might upgrade it down the road.
Ear pads:
The ear pads are thick and soft made out of leather and are of extremely good quality they do seal pretty well from the sides since they are leather they do get fairly warm after a while. The downside is that they are still glued to the ear cups which makes replacement a tad bit uneasy so Audeze need to improve this going forward with LCD X V2 or LCD 5 or whatever they are planning next.
Weight:
The elephant in the room is the weight on these things I mean yeah you fo feel they are quality build but at over 600 grams that's stretching too much for what you should put on your head for listen to music and it shows when I listen after a very busy day I cant listen to more than an hour but on better and less busy days I can listen to 2-3 hours without issues so as of today Audeze and weight are mutually exclusives maybe the carbon fiber band can fix this problem as well.
The Hifiman 400i feels like feathers in comparison, g933 is comfortable as well however the ALO Cascade isn't much behind the LCD X in terms of weight and comfort they are also build like a tank.
They are pretty much wearable dont get me wrong and dont be put off from buying these just because of their weight.
Sound Quality:
Well in one word fantastic they sound as good as they look the devil is in the details where you listen to other gears back and forth and appreciate all the little details that are there.
Tonality:
They are the most neutral headphones by Audeze but they are far from dead neutral by other manufacturers they have the Audeze house sound which is the prime reason they were bought so no complaints there and due to the nature of these headphones everything sounds coherent and in place.
Highs:
The treble is good not peaky or harsh but its able to retrieve a lot of information in the highs but yeah they are not the ones with the highest of resolution like the LCD 3 or HD800s but that's one of their strongest suits or selling points so X's performance is fine and I am sensitive to highs as well so for me they are pretty reasonable.
Mids:
The mids are slightly forward and I find instruments to sound pretty good on this plus it makes them an energetic pair the male and female voices are good but not exceptional there are other headphones that can do this a bit better but then again they will be lacking elsewhere.
Lows:
The bass is good on these it slams hard enough when called upon but it stays in control unike the LCD 2 where it gets boomy and slams too much its detailed and accurate and goes much lower so with proper amplification you get the whole package there and its bass is the reason why I chose the Audeze over the others like Arya or HEX.
Sound stage and Imaging:
The stage is not very wide being an open back headphone but wide enough for my taste I dont like my music to sound too distant but its not crammes up as well there's a sense of space and due to this kind of a stage its more energetic where everything is happening close to your ears. The imaging is top notch on these I couldn't find any fault there you would know where everything is located you can pin point the direction of the sound quite accurately.
Sonarworks:
Guys if you own a decent pair of headphones and you want them to sound the best they possibly can then do try the sonarworks software its like an equalizer but I think it does much more than that because the LCD-X dont require much of an EQ but after hearing them through this software I cannot go back I am still on a 21 days trial and it costs 100$ which is steep I know but I think its much more of an upgrade compared to cables, ear pads etcetera. Your milage would vary is all I would say because I tried it on the X's and loved it but it killed the sound of my 400i's they got too bassy and lose their sparkle the very thing that would want me to wear instead of the X. Luckily more and more headphones are being added to their database so if you can find your headphones or iems there you can try it for 10-21 days.
My Humble Audio setup in all its glory
Headphones: G933-LCD-X-Hifiman He 400i-ALO Cascade
IEMS: Shure se846-ALO Comet-Whizzo-ALO Lyra ii
Surface Pro 2
Ibasso DX150 with AMP8 and AMP6
Centrance DAC mini
Woo Audio WA8
End game:
This term is relative to the time in this moment in time these are my endgame headphones I dont want anything more anything else I think I am done here but yeah maybe a year or two down the line there will be something else but it has to do so much more to convince me its worth the upgrade I am seeing my self getting a proper electrostat system next Sr009s or something nothing less would suffice. In terms of IEMS there are two Empire Ears Legend X replacements the EE Wraith and Fearless Audio Roland I might pick one of these two somewhere next year.
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