Audeze LCD-2C (LCD-2 Classic) - Open-Back Planar-Magnetic Headphones - Official Thread

I have been looking at the Clears since your last review mainly because of your comments about how good guitars sounds on them.

2 Likes

Yeah hahaha I play guitar, and honestly a Marshall Plexi played through a Clear sounds very much like a Marshall Plexi. I love how realistic guitars sound on them. Treble can get a little funny at times, but if you use EQ it shouldn’t be a problem.

3 Likes

I believe that they do indeed use different drivers. Audeze headphones saw a driver revision across the board in 2016, and the LCD-2C is based off the current-gen LCD-2 driver. Also, I do prefer warmer sound signatures. As of now, my favorite headphones are the standard 2020 LCD-2, and the Focal Clear; both with EQ.

Also, welcome to the forums! :smiley:

4 Likes

I’m no guitarist (too ham-fisted) but I agree with Chrono. Electric guitars have much more bite and precision to them on the Clear. The LCD2-C can bring out more of the growl or crunch of some guitar riffs, and I actually find them to be more appealing on a few songs. But this is a tonal and textural preference, not really a superior presentation of the sound.

Where the Clear really step ahead is in resolution and imaging - if you have several guitars playing at once, and at times overlapping, you’ll hear them separately and distinctly on the Clear. There’s more precision; the Clear are also much faster headphones, which makes a difference with electric guitars. The LCD2-C can be more mellow, though, and less fatiguing, for longer sessions. But the Clear have far superior treble extension. Chiming guitars sound muted on the LCD2-C.

As I posted above, I’ve yet to listen to the LCD2-C with EQ or the Reveal plugin. Another caveat: don’t forget that the Clear are twice the MSRP than the LCD2-C, so they really ought to be a significant step up!

A few tracks I used for comparative purposes for electric guitars re. the above statements:

The Stooges, I Wanna Be Your Dog
Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Down by the River
The Breeders, MetaGoth
Stone Roses, Daybreak
Terminal Cheesecake, Poultice
Nirvana, Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Melody’s Echo Chamber, Some Time Alone, Alone
Mint Field, Párpados Morados
Mogwai, Rano Pano, Glasgow Mega-Snake, and Like Herod

2 Likes

While you are comparing the Clear and LCD2-C are you using EQ?

@Tchoupitoulas I made a playlist of your songs - so far so good (like, the music is good :slight_smile: ) Anyway, I am using EQ settings I got from Oratory here (I am not using the preamp gain setting though)

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets

I’m listening to Poultice, and when I turn the EQ off, it sounds very recessed and dark - a muffled sound. When I flip the EQ on, it brings it forward. What part of the frequency is doing that?

1 Like

No, I’m not. I don’t feel the need for EQ with the Clear, which isn’t to say I’m unwilling to give it a go in the future.

Until the past month or so, I’d been listening to the LCD2-C without EQ, either. The reason for this is that I’ve found it a challenging headphone to get used to. In most respects I very much like it. But I’m not sure it scratches all of the right itches. And then, as I was beginning to get a handle on its sound, the summer heat came along so I’ve been listening to music almost exclusively with IEMs and, more specifically, my Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 (for which I’m fully in the dizzying madness of new toy syndrome). Playing with EQ on the LCD2-C is on my fall to-do list!

I’m no expert on EQ, which is part of the reason I’ve not experimented with it yet, so the following should come with a big caveat. My (limited) understanding is that those Oratory settings involve a pretty aggressive alteration to the frequency response from the upper midrange (2-4 kHz) and just into the lower treble region (4-6 kHz). More specifically, see the 7.5 dB cut (in gain) at 2600 Hz and then the 10 dB boost at 4060 Hz. (It’s worth noting that the song Poultice is pretty dark to begin with).

The changes to the treble at 6050 Hz and 8000 Hz are also noteworthy. Compare them with @Chrono’s, as listed above:

It would be interesting to see the figures for Audeze’s Reveal plug-in and to see what it does to the LCD2-C’s sound signature.

I tried Chronos EQ settings and its much closer to the original - which is to be expected. I kinda like the oratory more - which is also to be expected since its based on the Harman consumer preference curve.

Once you install, it lets you pick the headphones, a filter type and then you’re going. From there, they have an aural map feature (thats when I had to take a picture of my ear). Using AI(?) they can then simulate different speakers and studio locations. There’s a setting that places the speakers at 30 Degrees from you and its very convincing. I took my headphones off to make sure it wasn’t playing from my computer speakers.

2 Likes

Can someone post a frequency chart for the closed back version also!!?

Hi…;-).

Anyone who knows how to eq Audeze lcd-2 classic with Chord Mojo 2?