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Calling all LCD-4 owners. Would love to hear your thoughts
I own the HD800 (original and S), HE1000 (original and new version), and the LCD-4. While here is some music that I prefer with the HD800 or the HE1000, the LCD-4 is what I keep coming back to. It is simply mesmerizing.
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Hereās my likes and dislike of this headphone. Likes, amazing attack and sounds I have never heard in music before! its super analytical in my opinion. If thereās something in the music, and you have the hearing to hear it, this can will show you exactly what that thing is. The dislikes? Its not nearly powerful enough and distorts at volume levels that I need, and its waaay too heavy to ware for any length of time, so I did not keep them. But man did they sound amazing when I tried them.
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It is definitely a very enthralling headphone. The first time you really hear its bass response is an experience I wonāt forget. It was surprisingly a lot more detailed than I expected. I had tried the LCD-3s before I got my hands on these and I was a little disappointed in them as I found that the low-end I had heard so much about just wasnāt there for me.
I havenāt tried it with the new carbon fibre headband and pads that all the new LCDs are shipping with. I wonder how much of a difference it makes comfort wise.
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Not sure if punny or not.
That is of course up to you 
Distortion? Iāve played them pretty loud and Iāve never heard distortion, or even close to it. What music/DAC/amp did you use?
In my limited time with the LCD-4, I can say definitively that they sound amazing. Itās critical without being fatiguing, and I think that is a quality that I look for in a lot of headphones. Great soundstaging, as far as Iām concerned. I do not recall hearing any distortion when I tried them out.
That said, I did not love how the headphone fit on my head. I found it too heavy and, during longer sessions, downright uncomfortable. Had I not had issues with the fit, this headphone would be a winner in my books.
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The LCD-4 was the first Audeze headphone I heard that made for a compelling case to upgrade from the LCD-2.2c (pre-fazor, from around 2012). And my first audition of it was rather underwhelming - something later attributed to the DAC/amp that I listened to it on (a dealerās McIntosh MHA-100).
A subsequent audition in my own system yielded a very different result and I bought them immediately.
Initially I found the sound to be very seductive, lucid, rich/warm with a liquid midrange and, perhaps, a slightly recessed treble region. Detail/resolution was excellent, but not quite on the same level as the HD800S and Abyss AB-1266 I was also using at that time. Much as with the LCD-2.2c that came before them, I could easily get lost in an evening of listening with the LCD-4 and what started off as wanting to listen to a specific album often consumed the entire evening.
Once the āshiny new toyā syndrome had worn off, I found that I was using them less and less, and really only for some very specific genres/styles of music. They live in pretty exalted company, so thatās not really intended as a slam on them:
But they were getting the least head time of all my cans, especially once the Focal Utopia arrived.
I tended to gravitate towards the LCD-4 when listening to jazz-club recordings, and other intimate, female-vocal biased, smaller-scale works. They had the uncanny ability to draw out, say, Diana Krall, and make it seem like she was singing into my ear, while curled up on my lap. Something I found to be an entirely desirable state of affairs ā¦ 
But with big orchestral works, or more intricate contemporary pieces, I found that I was spending more time with the Abyss (which is one of only two other headphones that I know of that has better bass performance than the LCD-4) or the Utopia.
That remained the case until Audeze released their āRevealā plug-in (itās a DSP/EQ plug-in for many of their headphones). At the same time, Roon incorporated that DSP/EQ into their DSP engine, which was really nice as Iām a heavy Roon user. And I would have to say that the LCD-4 adjustment those tools provide transformed the LCD-4 into something that worked much better with almost every genre I can think of. Itās free to try and one of those things that yields a bigger upgrade, as far as Iām concerned, than even major updates to oneās DAC or amp (provided you have a suitably beefy amp to start with).
They get a lot more head-time with the plug-in than they ever did before.
Now, to sound their best Iāve found they like power. Having an excess of it on tap helps keep the amp operating in itās sweet-spot (since obviously the headphones will only draw what they need for a given output level), but always seems to make them sound more dynamic and impactful.
Slam is excellent, beaten only by the Abyss AB-1266 Phi, resolution only trails the JPS labs cans by a little, though isnāt quite on the same plane as the Utopia and HD800S, tone is lovely (and pretty neutral with the plug-in), and theyāre a thoroughly engrossing listen. Not āexcitingā and āfastā in the same way the Abyss are, and they donāt have the soundstage of the HD800S, but theyāre excellent nonetheless.
I find them pretty comfortable ā¦ and Iāve never had a problem with the weight, though thatās perhaps because I spent 3 years with the LCD-2.2c for 6-8 hours a day before getting the LCD-4.
Of all the TOTL cans Iāve heard/own, theyāre my 4th favorite, but weāre talking about splitting single-point differences there for the most part, and they still do somethings that other cans are less eloquent at.
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Yes but keep in mind I need things louder than most as I have a saveer hearing loss.
I used both the Schiit Lyr2 and Fiio K5 for headphone amps to power it
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Sorry about your hearing loss! Itās possible those amps arenāt powerful enough to drive the LCD-4 at very high volumes; but someone smarter than me will have to comment on the power requirements.
I drive them through a Cavalli Liquid Gold so Iām pretty sure if I tried max volume, Iād develop hearing loss myself fairly quickly.
Never heard of the Liquid Gold.
Its ok, I mean Iāve had it all my life, so its something Iāve always has to contend with.
Its why I hoped the Addition X V2 would work , but the sound isnāt quite there.
Iāve found for me, based on the headphones I have, that I need high sensitivity, low impedance levels.
How do you find the LCD-4 with tubes?
Iāve only ever used them with solid state and I absolutely loved them. Comfort was definitely an issue for me though which is probably why I gravitated towards the MX4.
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I love the combination of LCD-4 with tubes. Itās definitely my preferred way to run them. But then thatās true for every full-size headphone I listen to on a regular basis.
Another aspect of that is that in my primary headphone rig, the only solid-state output available is the direct output from the Chord DAVE. In my opinion thatās not quite grunty enough to show the the LCD-4 or the Abyss in their best light. Though even with the Pro iCAN, with itās ability to use solid-state, tube and tube-plus modes, while still delivering more than enough juice, I invariably have it running in tube or tube+ mode.
But in the case of the LCD-4 and my main tube amp (and the one that was my main one before it moved to the office), I find the sonorous, lucid, liquid and holographic presentation coming out of the amp is very much at home with the strengths of the LCD-4 and winds up enhancing the overall delivery quite nicely.
And I totally get why lots of people have an issue with comfort and the LCD series headphones. I had the LCD-2.2c for long enough that I got used to that, and had the HiFi-Man HE-500 before that which had similar fit and mass.
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Forgot to say I also use a Headroom Total Airhead, and also will be using the Headroom Max (with factory stepped attenuator upgrade.)
Iāll be posting my full review of these here shortly thanks to the community preview program, but for the moment my primary takeaway is the following:
Build - 10/10
Comfort - 5/10
Detail - 10/10
Speed - 10/10
Timbre - sweet/rich
Stage - 8/10
Imaging - 8.5/10
Tonality - 6/10
This is one of the best performing headphones Iāve heard. Itās right up there with the Utopia in terms of what itās capable of. However in my opinion it requires a bit of EQ to get the tonality right. The treble āairā boost above 10khz throws off the tonal balance a bit and itās overall a bit too warm/dark to my liking. Also, the weight is like 600g, which is unfortunately a bit of a dealbreaker. Nonetheless, this is the best Audeze product Iāve heard to date. Iām normally not that into the Audeze house sound but the LCD-4 is addictive, and itās likely the best iteration of their sound.
Hereās my video review for now.
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Have you tried them with the Audeze āRevealā plug-in? Itās effectively Audezeās own EQ settings, selectable for a large number of their headphones. The same settings are available directly within Roon without needing the plug-in.
For me, they turn the LCD-4 from a somewhat specialist piece (i.e. I only used it with a limited array of music) into something actually special.
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Unfortunately I didnāt try it (no Roon either). But I was chatting with a few people about it and it makes sense that theyād correct tonal balance by using EQ rather than tweaking the headphoneās physical characteristics or the driver. Itās a trade-off but Iām thankful they have the option.
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I actually prefer the LCD4 I have without the plugin, or at most with 10-30% wetness. Is it possible I have a unicorn pair that measures more accurately than average? Or more likely that I just prefer the dark tilt with 10khz air boost?
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