Audeze LCD-XC over-ear planar magnetic Headphones - Official Thread

Determine deviation if you believe your scale is inaccurate.

Measure a known value (some quarters?) that you know weigh a certain Gram. IF it deviates, then you know your scale is off, and you can then weigh the delta it is inaccurate by against your headphone measurement to get true weight.

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will try this
im in the uk so no quarters :grin:
will report back

The EQ software I use with my portable setup is limited to 10 bands. Can you advise which 2 filters I would be best dropping?

Both 7000 and 4510 have zero db adjustment, so those would be great to drop.

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Thanks! I did wonder why there were 0db adjustments. Am I missing something or would this have no effect anyway?

Just bought an LCD-XC and wanted to use Resolveā€™s EQ. Iā€™m running them on an A&K KANN Alpha and the built-in EQ is too narrow. My other problem is I have a Mac so I canā€™t build an EQ on EqualizerAPO and save it. The A&K uses a .dat file extension for saved EQ presets. Anyone have any thoughts on how to get the EQ saved as a .dat file?

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Hey friend. Congratulations. I really love my XC and the community here is really getting more exposure to just how good the XC is for the money.
Let me know about your adventures. Always love hearing people being so happy with this headphone.

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Got my pair (2021) today from Audeze direct. I have to say, I really donā€™t like them very much without any EQ haha. Way too much midrange and upper midrange for my liking. These seem really bass-lite or at the very least in comparison to what I find in most closed-backs (albeit, I havenā€™t tried the likes of the Stellia, Verite Closed, etc).

More on the sound, theyā€™re really mid-centric sounding - reminiscent of the Audio Technica ATH-AD series but even more shouty. Iā€™m not 100% sure about the bass and treble at the moment. The bass seems sorta one-noted and lacking in texture (possibly due to sub-bass roll-off?) though it is fairly punchy. The treble seems to sound fairly uneven with some fairly sharp peaks coming through. The forward upper midrange sorta masks the peaks but the peaks become more obvious if the midrange is dialed back a bit. Iā€™ve done a bit of EQā€™ing and I think it remedies my problems with the sound for the most part. Thereā€™s still something about the treble that Iā€™m just not satisfied about like a treble peak or two that sounds really ā€œhardā€/sharp. Like for example, the Susvara has more treble but is much smoother and easier on the ears with its treble presentation.

May play around with EQ some more or just return/trade them for another U12T having sold a pair a while back.

Also, seeing that people have varying weight measurements, hereā€™s mine:

Please ignore the dustā€¦ and maybe even the soundbar if thatā€™s sacrilegious to some of yall.

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Not sure about saving an EQ on a .dat file, but in my experience, the best EQ solution on a Mac is an app called Soundsource that lets you create and save multiple EQ profiles. Unfortunately, itā€™s $30 rather than free, but it has a lot of functionality for that price.

I ended up sending mine back as one cup was ruff like I sent in the photos.
Also weight seemed a bit off. Think a bit of bad QC on one cup :crossed_fingers:t3:
Awaiting a replacement from supplier here in the UK.

I have to 100% agree with this. I have never had to give such a massive EQ Bass boost on any of my headphones before.
I give mine a +8 to +10db shelf boost around 120hz and to get them to sound exciting in the bass region.
But god wen you do they sound amazing. You get this thick like bass that I enjoy very so much :grin:
I find them super comfortable considering the weight but I do notice after a while my left ear starts to hurt because the inner driver is slightly touching my ear. Fixed with a bit of better placing on my head.
Anyway I tend to use Resolve EQ with a much bigger 120hz shelf boost in the bass.
It is strange because I owned LCD 2C(2019 memory foam version) before buying the xc and x 2021 models and they had loads more bass I only had to give them a 2 to 4 db boost for my preference.
Even my aryas only need a 2 to 4 max db in the bass to sound good to me.
I think the pads and new driver revision has maybe affected the bass but cant confirm as never tried lcd xc pre 2021.
Apart from that the XC is a amazing headphone. The amount of details you get in your music for the price is exceptional.

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I got LCD XC finally but Iā€™m so huge disappointed for now. They are very quiet, bass is miserable and while playing movies I think some sounds are just missing. It is not quality I was expecting for the price. So I guess they are not as easy to drive as they are described. I have read they need a lot of power so I need Dac and amp but Iā€™m out of budget spending $1300 for then. I plan to buy Topping a30 pro amp as it is only one with enough power in spec I have found and can afford then later I could add dac when I have money. Should it help? Or I need dac with amp?

What are you trying to drive them with now?

If itā€™s a phone, or straight off a PCā€™s sound output, then they probably will sound like arse. While they do not require much power (mW) to drive, and need very little voltage, they do require more current than most phones or sound cards tend to be able to provide.

In which case, an amp would help.

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As with @Torq, really consider your amp situation. Many planar headphones transform with an amp. A big desktop amp. A bigger desktop amp than you think necessary or the specs indicate.

I will tell you that they drive surprisingly well from a qudelix 5k on the 2.5mm balanced port. However, these are one headphone that did do better on my idsd signature. They can eat power if you let them.

Qudelix + a balanced adapter (xlr ā†’ 2.5mm) is likely around $130 total on amazon.

I canā€™t say for sure it will make you love them. But it would give you a reasonable starting point to work from.

Something to consider.

I own topping A90, Smsl SH-9, Cayin Iha-6 and they all sound the same.
I have just received a rebelamp that definetely has more punch/slam than the other amps.
My aryas and radiance definetely get improve slam/impact from this amp which I enjoy a lot.
Looking forward to giving lcd xc a go with the rebelamp to see how they pair.
Just waiting for a replacement of my LCD XC been 2 weeks now. Not sure whats taken them so long.
I am by no means saying its a bad headphone.
The oposite. Its my go to closed back that I use the most out of alll my headphone collection and I think it has better detail than any of my headphones.
But theres just a big lack of bass and even more of sub bass.
Maybe my LCD XC were defective and hopefully the replacement will change this. Who knows but I have read a few people have the same experience as I have that suggest that this isnt just the case with my returned set.

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@Torq I drive them straight from PC (Realtek), I didnā€™t expect it will be aloud like that but I expected better sounding. Like that it is not worth the money. Iā€™m waiting for amp and have hope it will help.

@Dynamic just ordered Topping a30 pro. I have hope it will be enough even without dac, couldnā€™t get both already, I have to eat sometimes :wink:

The a30 pro would be great, but if you donā€™t have a dac, what input are you using on the a30 pro? Some splitter to rca?

@Dynamic I bought this cable: https://audiopolis.pl/inakustik-premium-3-5-2x-rca-przewod-mini-jack-3-5-mm-stereo-2x-rca.html I have Realtek on mobo and additionally bought Sound blaster X G6 to check if it can be better substitute of dac then Realtek. If it works in future I could get Topping d30 and stack with a30 pro. Seriously if it will be not enough for LCD XC then I would rather by something cheaper but not so demanding. I have hope I will not be disappointed with LCD XC + a30 pro finally.

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If you still donā€™t like the xc, you likely never will.

The g6 output by itself should do better than your motherboard (and possibly enough to know if it is for you). A topping e30 would probably be better than a g6 or your motherboard. Itā€™s a wonderful dac. But, I donā€™t think it will make any difference in if you like the xc or not.

The biggest thing here is the a30 pro. You will either like the xc cause of that, or you donā€™t like the XC.

The good news is the a30 pro can power almost anything out there. Itā€™s top on my list if I ever go for a desktop stack again. (I am purely mobile)

@Dynamic just reading about e30 and found this ā€˜- Volume at 100% by default on Windows, unlike sound cards which adjust volume to not blow your earsā€™ ā€¦ does it mean I canā€™t control volume in Windows? Sorry for lame question but Iā€™m confused :slight_smile:

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