Audeze LCD-X Open-Back Planar Headphone - Official Thread

Is the KU 100 more, or less accurate than a Mini DSP EARs?

Fantastic question, and unfortunately I don’t know for sure so I will defer to oratory1990 on that one. I think he has written about acoustic impedance on his subreddit before, and I believe he mentioned the KU100 in that blurb, but I don’t have a link to it at the moment.

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Would they be unreliable even relative to other KU100 graphs?

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That’s what we’re talking about though, right? QC as in making sure that produced units are within spec. These are after all supposed to be identical products, but those graphs vary a fair bit.

Now, if the KU100 isn’t precise enough for a trained operator to produce repeatable measurements, then it would seem to be unsuited to QC as well.

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I was thinking this as well.

Why would Audeze use an inaccurate tool for QC? Perhaps this is the reason why they’ve had so many units variances.

@Resolve, are you familiar with the Neumann KU 100? Is it known for being inaccurate?

From the product literature, it looks like the Neumann unit isn’t designed for headphone measuring but rather for binaural recording.

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When he said ‘QC’, that likely doesn’t refer to its accuracy but more so consistency and driver matching. So it’s probably not something you’d use to show deviation/adherence to a target like we do with the GRAS.

In general, stick with GRAS measurements for getting a sense of how the tuning is, because at least with that we have a well established reference point. To be clear, there are reasons why you’d use other rigs - and even in-ear mics - but that always requires qualification beyond simply showing the graph. So in short, it’s not necessarily about what’s better (looking at you 5128), but rather what’s the most useful to us for understanding tonal balance, and that is still the 711 couplers.

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Doing an Audeze LCD-X and LCD-XC 2021 update live stream today to help clarify stuff:

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I think the original point that @pwjazz and I were trying to make that got a bit lost in the thread was that while yes, the Neumann KU100 (or any measurement tool) are imperfect and will not give you a “true” response graph, it should be able to consistently reproduce it’s own results when measuring the same headphone - which, as you mentioned, is necessary trait for QC equipment. So, going back to the different graphs for different 2021 LCD-X units, either:

a) The Neumann KU100 is producing different results for headphones that actually sound the same (IMO very unlikely, which was my original question), or:
b) The driver variance in LCD-X has not been resolved whatsoever, and the sound change is due to the new pads brightening up the sound + getting a “good” driver in the lottery (the more likely conclusion)

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Driver variances do seem to have been solved - even since 2016 apparently - so this has way more to do with the pad change than anything else. According to the post they updated the magnetic circuit, but to what extent I’m not sure. But… just a note on the pads, you will see way more measured variation once the pads are on the headphone with headphones like these, or any other that have really thick pads. DCA stuff is another example of that.

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Would you recommend a Focal Celestee over an LCD XC?

Just thought I would share photos of the new vs old fazor array that may be indicative of differences in magnet placement as well as the number of magnets. disclaimer These photos are not mine and were shared on Head-fi.

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My LCD-2f that I received recently does not have memory foam pads (which makes me think it is part of the pad update). Unfortunately, because there is no information on how these measure I don’t really feel confident keeping them. I wish there would be information as (or before) changes are rolled out and not after. I’d hate to exchange for an LCD-X and then find out later that mine were part of some revision. Only seeing graphs months later and left guessing as far as EQ until then.

All, where would Resolve post his EQs from the live session on 4/3/2021?

Thanks!

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Thanks, the xc is on the way so I can compare it to the x.

A head-fi member is claiming Audeze confirmed that the pad change was made universally. I’m wondering if @Resolve has any plans to measure the LCD-2f, LCD-4 etc. with the new pads!

Edit: If not… can I send you my set? I’m located in Canada as well.

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Update: Audeze has confirmed… all models received a pad update.

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Would be nice to get a date or a serial number to identify which units have the updated pads.

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Wow! Hopefully the measurement gurus get their hands on the full model lineup and are able to measure them.

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Copypasted from the Head-Fi thread:

For those who may be curious, here are the start dates and serials for the new configuration:

11/23/20 LCD-X Leather-Free 7527615

11/9/20 LCD-XC Leather 8523700

11/23/20 LCD-X Leather 7527600

11/23/20 LCD-XC Leather-Free 8523710

Any serial after those numbers is a new version, previous to those numbers is an older model.

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