Audeze LCD-X, A Journey into Audiophile Excellence - A Comprehensive Review
by Samuel Kalenga on Sep 13, 2024
A Glimpse into the Audeze LCD-X: Unveiling its Design Prowess
Thoughtfully crafted and sold at a premium, immediately evident and somewhat intuitive is that the Audeze LCD-X was built to impress. You will feel it as much as see it because these are stylish, audiophile-grade cans, with finely detailed construction and a cool, sleek black aesthetic paired with brushed aluminium earcups that add just the right amount of sophistication to each cup. Each gives off the impression of being ready to promote the finest in 20th century European classics. Size-wise, the cups are generous and will appeal to the wide-headed, yet also manage to contour sufficiently to the more narrow-headed of vinophiles; no excuse here, fellas. Furthermore, the headband is expertly padded so that you can listen for hours without feeling any pain. At the heart of the LCD-X is the planar magnetic driver which powers its awesome sonic capabilities.Sonic Performance: A Masterclass in Clarity, Detail, and Accuracy
Listening to the Audeze LCD-X will engage your emotions as well as your mind. The LCD-X has superb clarity and detail retrieval, rendering a presentation that while analytical and detailed never gets harsh. Listening to the Audeze LCD-X is a revelatory experience, and puts you in the hall with the musicians, immersing you in detail, nuance and taking you into previously unexplored areas of musical complexity. The LCD-X is often perceived as a neutral, balanced sounding headphone.
That’s actually a bit of a misstatement, as the LCD-X has a subtle warm low-end that slightly rounds the highs, making the Audeze LCD-X a very natural sounding headphone. The low end mellowness makes the LCD-X a great headphone for classical, jazz and acoustic music. In the bass response, the LCD-X score is feeling, deep, handled with the most articulate power and taut control of any headphone I had before had such a profound response. It’s damning with faint praise to say that the LCD-X reproduction has no hint of mud or lump; you experience the amazing impact of the low frequencies with perfect clarity.
The mids are rich and articulate, and from the highs to the lows you will hear almost every detail of every instrument and every performer. On LCD-X, everything is lifelike – every breath, every inflection – incredibly real. The highs are more extended and extended, airy, lifted, and take on a greater sense of space and room; these lush and airy highs also create an almost three-dimensional experience by placing them further and higher within the virtual soundstage. However, the LCD-X’s greatest strength may be the way the extended highs result in clearer-than-clear reproduction of the high-frequency ranges, without any trace of harshness or sibilance.
These cans are the epitome of a smooth musical soul, but they really catch fire when you realize they also capture all the detail in between the notes. The LCD-X is immensely musical, quite detailed, and a blast to experience. It’s the highly intimate listening experience that would bring great joy to anyone who is the very definition of a music lover. It’s perfect for jazz-heads and tonal junkies alike. If there’s any one reason to own the LCD-X for playback of music, it is its soundstage; the imaging is so solid that it draws you into a mediated, holographic space, where you can discern individual instruments playing with those in their section, and those with their counterparts in a larger orchestral group.
In blind tests, I could hear soloists lost in a density of sound and shimmering instrumentation while still being able to pick them out of the texture, as though they were standing in a spacious cathedral playing a single note.
Comfort and Fit: A Symphony of Ergonomic Excellence
Photo credit: Keith Haring Foundation. Courtesy of Audeze Inc.The Audeze LCD-X was designed for long listening sessions, and one prop for that is the level of comfort provided by the headset. The headband is heavily padded and plush resulting in a horizontal spread of the weight across the head and not to many pressure points. The big earcups are filled with soft, breathable earpads, and offer a snug fit. The latter eliminates many problems that appear with over-ear cups after long listening sessions.
Combining enough space and a forgiving amount of breathable padding for the ears reduces the factor of overheating and standing hair. A gimmick, no doubt, the LCD-X is adjustable to varying degrees in order to fit each listeners’ comfort. The adjustable headband was a nice touch but something I could do without. It allowed for varying degrees of fit for comparing headphones of different sizes, while one must embrace what feels right to your specific head/face size. It’s a small detail that would mean much enjoyment for my large head and will surely do the same for a wide range of head sizes. Like I said, a small detail.
The Audeze LCD-X in the Market: A Contender Among Audiophile Titans
This is a serious high-end headphone that can cost a small fortune, but the top-shelf sound, comfort and build quality mean that money is well-spent for a true audiophile. Leading critics and audiophiles sing its praises: this is a seriously good headphone, a true audiophile headphone with a reputation for sonic excellence and sound design. It is on par with the aforementioned HiFiMan Susvara as well as the Sennheiser HD 800 S at this price point, all of which lends a certain heft to its very name. Although those headphones deliver slightly different sound signatures overall, the most striking difference for me was Audeze’s near unparalleled ability to retrieve detail, and the clarity and balance of the LCD-X’s sound.
The LCD-X isn’t ‘better’ than those other headphones, and in some regards it might not be my personal favourite; but it’s the closest I have ever gotten to that perfect audio experience that has always compelled me to search out the best sound I can find. Which one you prefer is really going to come down to personal taste – as well as your different budgetary considerations. But all told, the LCD-X certainly might just be the headphone par excellence at this price that you have been hoping it to be.
The Audeze LCD-X Creator Edition: A Touch of Luxury for the Discerning Listener
They also sell the LCD-X Creator Edition, for the connoisseurs, with a custom-designed cloth-wrapped cable, woven by hand to be supremely clear and transparent, and infecting every audio signal that passes through thusly, by sheer virtue of the physical contact points. Then, naturally, it includes a beautifully crafted wooden carrying case wherein they can be transported and protected with style. Besides the ‘extra burnt-brown’ denim and durable colour-matched cables are completely identical to the regular LCD-X, but the Creator Edition represents a little bit of over-the-top luxury in an otherwise necessity-minded production.
It’s a long way from what I’d call ‘bling’, but it allows a luxury headphone enthusiast to indulge his or her desire for perfect audio performance, while enjoying the trappings of luxury in headphone cabinets and listening environments. That the Creator Edition even exists could be seen as a nod to a certain type of luxury-minded audio enthusiast, presumably one of Sank’s former customers. By offering a luxurious experience and packaging along with the reference-level sound performance of the LCD-X, Audeze has shown a dedication to giving the discerning listener what he or she wants.
The Audeze LCD-X: A Legacy of Audiophile Excellence
Audeze has never wavered from its fundamental mantra of building a great sounding headphone that gets out of the way of the music … And so, one of the best and most iconic headphones, not only from Audeze, but from the entire audiophile world, was born – the Audeze LCD-X. With its stellar sound, comfortable 3D foam ear pads and all-metal headband, magnetic, replaceable ear cups, and American craftmanship, the LCD-X is one of the best headphones for the money, regardless of the price. But it’s an investment that’s worth it: if you’re an audiophile veteran or a newcomer to high-end audio, experienced enough to discern a fine wine from a low-budget jug, the Audeze LCD-X will take you on a trip worth discovering. Its fantastic build, expressive and revealing sound, and the quality of its accessories all speak to the care taken in constructing it. It’s a remarkable experience – an audiophile’s dream.FAQ
Q: What are the main differences between the Audeze LCD-X and the LCD-XC?
Q: What’s the difference between Audeze’s LCD-X closed-back headphone and their LCD-XC open-back headphone? A: The LCD-X is a closed-back headphone, so it does a better job at sound isolation (for the listener) because it is somewhat sealed off from the outside world. It’s a good choice for someone who wants to listen to their music more privately. The LCD-XC is an open-back headphone, which means that it doesn’t isolate sound as well. In fact, it tends to allow more of the sound to spill into the outside world, producing a more open and spacious soundstage. It’s more akin to what you’d get with traditional loudspeakers. The choice ultimately comes down to whether you have a more private setting that you want to keep more quiet, or whether you have more of an expansive and immersive listening environment where you don’t want to disturb others.Q: What is the Audeze LCD-X Creator Edition?
A: Audeze has launched a special edition of the LCD-X that comes with a custom-designed braided cable and a rugged wooden carrying case. Otherwise, you get the same great sound and comfort as with the regular LCD-X. That special something that sets the Creator Edition apart is its luxurious, bespoke touches, which make it a statement piece for Audeze. You get a custom, limited-edition product that is both luxurious and exclusive. Not only does this demonstrate Audeze’s ongoing commitment to the listener with its discerning tastes, but it’s also a wonderful touch that elevates the product experience around the LCD-X, and enhances its audio wizardry. For the true aficionado, the Audeze LCD-X Creator Edition is a great choice.Q: Is the Audeze LCD-X worth the price?
A: The Audeze LCD-X is an excellent, not to mention expensive, pair of serious high-end headphones. But should you drop several hundred pounds to buy one? The answer is yes, and here’s why. The LCD-X is a treat. A pleasure. A painstaking exploration of the very notion of what a really good headphone might sound like: cool, comfortable, perfectly shaped and solidly built and, well, half the fun of a very good pair of headphones is the fact that you get to wear them.Q: Where can I buy the Audeze LCD-X?
A: The Audeze LCD-X can legally be purchased on the open market via approved re-sellers, including online sites such as Amazon and eBay, and from specialised audiophile stores, making sure that you know the product you are buying comes from a reputable channel and source.Q: What kind of amp do I need for the Audeze LCD-X?
A: The Audeze LCD-X is a high impedance and high sensitivity planar magnetic open-back headphone. It will not play very well with a low powered headphone amplifier – you need an amplifier with ample power-output to drive a high impedance and sensitive headphone. Get a dedicated headphone amplifier and, specifically, get one that can put out a lot of power and pair it with your Audeze LCD 2x, and you’ll be hearing like you’ve never heard before if these are your first planars.
