Hi! If anyone is wondering, the LCD-2F should be the same now (April, 2022) as it was in 2020 at the time of the above measurements and reviews, according to Audeze. I was wondering myself, so I asked them and they said “The LCD-2 has not changed from around 2016 with the exception of minor parts in term,s of supply changes, etc. The only change worth nothing is the newer pads that started being used around Nov 2020, which is a subtle change.” They also changed the headband somewhere around 2020, but he was mostly referring to things that influence the sound, which is most of what I care about anyway. Unit variation should be the only source of differences.
Here is a smoothed graph he attached showing some of the small difference the pad change in 2020 made, according to Audeze:
Thanks @GabeM!
I was wondering this very thing last week as the wooden rings are now rosewood (not sure which kind though) and I wasn’t sure if any silent revisions occurred.
The type of woods used was probably one of the “supply changes” due to the prices of wood skyrocketing lately. Importantly, it shouldn’t influence the sound, though.
Again, this is just me taking them for their word, but most people have said that audeze tends to be pretty transparent, so there likely hasn’t been any sound-altering silent revisions.
I also messaged audeze on head-fi, and their response was very similar: “The LCD-2 has been a very consistent headphone for us, in that outside of subtle parts changes (supplying issues here or there cause changes in parts, but nothing that will affect the sound or performance).
The only thing you could consider a change has been the adoption of new earpads that were introduced in late Nov 2020.
These pads compress are a bit more comfortable from our own experiences, and sonically, can alter some aspoects of sound by less than 2db.” He also offered the same graph.
Hi. I thought I’d share my EQ profile for the 2021 LCD-2. Personally, I find @metal571 preset too dark. I took the measurements form DMS’s review (The NEWER Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-3?? - YouTube) and used AutoEQ to create a starting point which I slightly tweaked. I didn’t try to EQ anything above 10K as the location of peaks may vary for different people. You can add a 10K high shelf to set the amount of treble you prefer. You should also set the low shelf to your preference. Don’t forget to lower the preamp by the amount you increase the bass to prevent clipping.
I’ve been using a very similar profile I created by ear before this one which gives me fairly high confidence that AutoEQ did a great job. Ideally, I would measure the headphones after EQ but I don’t have a measurement rig.
Preamp: -6.8 dB
Filter 1: ON LS Fc 105 Hz Gain 6.5 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 113 Hz Gain -2.2 dB Q 0.23
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4907 Hz Gain 4.8 dB Q 2.25
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1038 Hz Gain -1.9 dB Q 0.63
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2401 Hz Gain 4.6 dB Q 2.30
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 6466 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 6.00
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 5746 Hz Gain 1.6 dB Q 6.00
I take this back. You probably should not EQ you headphones to DF with a slope. I’ve been refining my eq presets since I’ve posted this and I don’t like this preset anymore. Compared to Harman 2018 which I personally find too bright DF with a 1dB/octave slope has almost 1.5dB louder peak which is at 2.7K compared to Harman’s 3.5K. This makes it sound even brighter.