Selection Guide

The first Audeze LCD-2 headphones were introduced in late 2009 to an astonished headphone world. Manufactured by Alexander Rosson and his team in Southern California, Audeze has ascended meteorically through the headphone firmament to reign supreme as many dedicated audiophiles' reference headphone of choice. The LCD-2 Bamboo comes with real bamboo wood earcups and has a joyful sense of musical engagement and a gorgeous timbre entrancing to listeners gravitating towards round, clear bass buttressing focused vocal midranges and extremely detailed but not overly 'dry' or analytical highs. Although still presenting a similar overall signature sound as the first LCD-2, the newest Audeze LCD-2 Bamboo edition features improved driver transducers with thinner, more responsive diaphragm membranes capable of rendering a wider, more stably '3-dimensional' floating soundstage image. The new transducer engineering also allows low frequencies to stay flat down to 5 Hz (!) with a smoother tonal presence in the mids and very cleanly pronounced uppermost highs. It's a fantastically fun, extremely musical sound and one we recommend every serious headphone lover or deep music freak should get their ears on.

Audeze’s hand-tooled manufacturing process combined with the advanced materials and technology produce extremely accurate and incredible sounding headphones. The Audeze LCD-2 Bamboo uses a proprietary thin-film diaphragm housed between a unique, highly efficient push-pull magnetic structure. The LCD-2 Bamboo earcups are constructed with hand-selected, 100% sustainable Bamboo wood for superior looks and minimal earcup resonance factor. Sustainable quality Bamboo farming practices allow Audeze more consistency in design and manufacture and offer a stellar tone equal to the hard-to-get (and increasingly endangered!) Caribbean Rosewood offered on the LCD-2 as an option. The sloped, precisely angled earpad cushions are made of premium lambskin leather with a special foam density designed to offer just the right amount of firmness for many hours and years of comfortable listening joy. Another great improvement we've noticed with the most recent LCD-2 editions is the improved ergonomics and lighter headband pressure making these a much more comfortable wearing experience for long listening session when compared to the previous LCD-2 ergonomics. Awesome work, Audeze!

This Audeze LCD-2 Bamboo headphones feature the newest upgraded lambskin leather headband / earpads and comes with a hard-sided flight-approved travel case for safekeeping these miraculous cans. The provided headphone cable is a slightly underwhelmingflat-wound 'Y'-cord that extends about 8ft and terminates a full-size 1/4" stereo plug. We highly recommend upgrading to our superb HeadRoom Cardas 'Fat Pipe' headphone cabling for LCD-2. The free 1 year manufacturer's warranty in effect only with your HeadRoom 'authorized Audeze dealer' purchase receipt.

NOTE: LCD-2 Bamboo does NOT include the wooden Audeze storage box (sold separately).

LCD-2
Posted by x on 2013-05-11

Recommend Product: Yes

****

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Breaking Them In
Posted by Mike S. from San Antonio, TX on 2012-11-20

Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Midrange, Bass
Cons: Heavy, I am not used to the sound

I hated these when I first got them because I was using Tesla T-1's before. If you listen to these right after the Teslas they sound dark but I kept coming back to them because the Teslas bump in the high midrange fatigued me ears. It's almost like you have to change your views of what a headphone should sound like if you are used to headphones designed to "sparkle". I have been through many headphones and always thought that highs that "sparkled" made listening fun but there was always a recording that had too much sparkle and hurt my ears. You will not have that problem with the LCD-2s. The highs are there but don't have that high midrange spike that some other phones do. I finally decided to give these a really good listen after putting them away time after time to see what if was that bugged me about them. Well it was the midrange-others have raved about it but there was just too much for me. I cut it back about 2.7db at 1K and it made a big difference for me. Everything sounds balanced now. The bass is very good but does not get so sub-woofer like that it overpowers everything else. (I had that problem with Denons on some recordings) The longer I listen to these and get farther away from the Beyerdynamic sparkle the more I like them- especially for rock because I can crank them up louder than the other phones I have owned. (Probably a bad thing actually- I will have to fight the urge to do it)
These are pretty heavy and it took some experimenting to find the most comfortable way to wear them. I found the strong clamping force was hurting my ears and had to bend the headband out a little to get a more comfortable fit. Now I can keep them on for a couple of hours with no discomfort. The pads are very thick- even more than the discontinued Denons but are ok once you get the clamping force adjusted to your liking.
These do keep the exterior sounds out pretty well but everybody else in the room knows exactly what you are listening to. Wide open like the HD 800's.
I like the soundstage- instruments are pinpoint placed. It is also wide enough for my tastes.
Another thing I really like- great recordings sound awesome but bad recordings are also OK especially stuff that has lots of highs that kill other headphones designed to bring highs out.
My favorite thing about these headphones is the way they do female voices. Absolutely buttery sounding once I got the midrange adjusted to my preference. Alison Krause's "Forget About It" album is really good through these.

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Not at all what I was expecting
Posted by TCKKR from Hawaii on 2012-10-27

Recommend Product: No
Pros: Very sweet mids
Cons: Super heavy and give me headaches

I didn't have any way of testing some LCD-2s before I picked them up, but with a lot of research and based on what other cans I like I figured they'd hit the spot. I was pretty wrong.

I'm sure they're not a bad can, but they're not to my liking. I came from the AKG q701s being my first can, super clear, I love them and their openness. Then HD650s, I'm not the biggest fan, but they have their upsides and I kept them. After that, my Denon AH-D5000s... Never has sub bass been so sweet to my ears. (Now, between the LCD-2 and the Denons I got the DT880s 600ohms, for detailed listening, which they work great for, but it's not really relevant. Also some Grados, the 60s, just to experiment. Imo, Koss KSC75s do a great job with the same signature for 15 dollars.)

Annnnyyywayy, getting side tracked. I thought the openness of the open back LCD-2s with the sweet mids and deep bass that I've heard about would encompass some sort of combination of my 2 favorite cans, the q701 and the Denons. But, even being closed back, the Denon's soundstaging is better and (because of it being closed I'm sure) it can hit some greaatttt sub bass. D5000s are also have great detail. Not in the highs as much as my q701s or DT880s (they take the cake for sure), but they're still great.

I heard the synergy was great between the Lyr (which is what I'm using atm) and the LCD-2s was good too. So, I thought I was in a good place, but I guess it's just not for me. AKG and Denon will forever be my lovers. :)

--Not rating durability, I've had them 10 days.

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Revising the review due to my Lyr having been acting up (I have to send it in) ; ;. Now my views are conflicted about them, but I don't want to return them anymore.

Bass is better than the AH-D5000s, but it can't hit as hard in the lowest parts of the sub-bass. The bass is soft, sweet, liquidy, like it's mids.

The highs are very detailed and I like the transparency. The sound stage though... it's still a bit weird, but I can't put my finger on what's off about it. Not sure if it's good or bad for me yet.

I guess I'll update this again when I get my Lyr back.

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