The Audeze LCD–X – An essential for any aspiring music professional or lover with the budget.
These are hands down the best pair of headphones I have ever listened to. Designed to deliver the most transparent and accurate sound reproduction they are impressive on every level. The first thing you will notice when you rest eyes on the LCD-X for the first time is the almost industrial build quality. Lots of metal and leather like taking a new car out of the garage for the first time, similar smell as well. Weighing in at 612g these are beasts and just putting them on raises your expectations of something spectacular. Looking through the Audeze website I note that they are the set of choice for the likes of the Lord of the Rings sound team and Metropolis Studios amongst many others. This kind of backing from professionals of cinema and music was instantly intriguing as my listening is always broadly between both mediums.
Audeze LCD-X carry case
Using the Marantz PM7000N streaming amp I was surprised to find out how little power it actually required to drive these. Sporting very efficient and lively ultra-thin diaphragms and planar magnetic transducers you get a 20 Ohm resistance, allowing you to run these off almost anything. I choose this amp for more than just its quality, the Audeze LCD-X presents you with a quarter inch jack as your primary connection, with no adaptor to hand the Marantz was the best option. The cabling I should mention is a detachable weave of balanced cables, a reassuring feature given all headphones eventual cable wear and tear.
Picking up a wide variety of my demo tracks it really showed off just how versatile the LCD-X is. Kaleo – No Good, is a bass rich track with a lot of bounce, along with plenty of guitar riffs and shouty vocals that can become messy on a lesser system or a well-timed concerto as is the case here. The frequency response drops to an incredible 10Hz so there is endless depth, the bass response is fast and with a very natural reflection. Newton Faulkner – Teardrop, shows of the texture of the bass really well. During the moments of guitar body drumming you can really hear the body of the guitar echoing, I could picture the timbre of the wood it is made out of. ZZ Top – Tush, has space in the midrange I never knew existed and gives it a live soundstage that just does not exist even on a lot of Hi-Fi speakers. When you start to hear new things in well listened tracks it’s definitely getting a gold star. Classical is always on my test list with Bach and the London Cinematic Orchestra for the high-end control and excessive sibilance, on the LCD-X it’s so good it’s a hair-raising experience. The top end is never grating but clean, light and uplifting in the mix and always properly balanced.
I could go on for some time about each track and just how the Audeze LCD-X did something special with it, however you should enjoy discovering these things yourself. We have a demo set that can be ordered to any Richer Sounds store, my ears have been in them so they are well run in. We also offer home trials which you can then keep when you fall in love with them as you surely will. If you want to chat to me in person come find me in the Bath store, drop me an email or visit your local team to find out more or book a listen.
Learn more about the Audeze LCD–X headphones.
Author: Joe, Bath store
