Welcome to the forums
First recommendation is to check of the LCD 2C’s posts, fairly sure a few people have tried a bunch of stuff with it.
What is your current setup? (amp/dac)
That being said, i dont personally own a LCD 2C but most of Audeze’s line up are pretty power hungry, so i’d focus more an a powerful amp than i would a dac.
Maybe something like the Topping DX3 Pro + could work but im just guessing
My suggestion would be a JDS labs atom stack, schitt magni stack if you’re in the US or maybe one of the topping offerings if you are outside of the US. I do suggest something a bit warmer leaning sounding but your budget would have to go up to around $600 to get something like that.
That’s a great budget for high-fidelity headphones! Here are some options to consider alongside your initial picks:
In Your Range:
im probably gonna either get the shure 1540s or meze 109 pros. considering custom cables, pads, comfort and tonality, and aesthetics, this is what im set on. but before i pull the trig, i think for the about of money im spending, i would be doing my self a disservice if i didn’t look into IEMs. i just discovered these during my search. i thought they are just ear buds.
IEM’s or indeed Earbuds at $200 or < will probably do a lot of stuff better but not everything than a $500 HP…
what about like a 800 $ iem
Kinda the same as HP’s…diminishing returns for your 
maybe ask/start a thread in the IEM section asking what folks would rec for your use case scenario and library preferences, because IEM’s and Flathead buds are another can of worms altogether lol.
i ended up purchasing the THIEAUDIO Hype 4s lets see what happens
There’s some really good things being said about them. I personally like the monarch MK3 but that’s a completely different price category.
yea i looked at those but i didn’t want to spend too much on IEMs. i want to save some money for the 109 pros. i also looked at the Yanyin Canon II and the MOONDROP x Crinacle DUSKs. buy i figured the hype4s will probably have the best build quality. and over all sound that i will like based on reviews. its 400 on the official site, but i got it for 370 on another site with express shipping came out to 400 ships from uk to usa. so i don’t even have to wait for the pre order.
i just got them delivered. out of the box its already louder on my phone, then the bose headphones connected to my dac. and on the dac its way louder. i cant even take the volume all the way up on these. i will need more time to be able to give more details. but first impressions, its seems like its better then what i had before. definitely gonna need a longer cable though
Just be careful with volume, it doesn’t take much to get into damage hearing ranges, specially with low distortion drivers.
been using it for a bit, it sounds great, but i guess comfort is real important for me. maybe im not use to the fit yet but its not that comfortable. i ordered some new tips to try out from symbio. we will see how that goes. but im thinking maybe im just not a iem guy. i mean its not that bad i can listen to it for a while but after i take it out, it feels like my ears got sodomized. i can lay down with it though. something i cant do with HPs. my next is gonna be the meze 109 pros. im expecting that to sound better than these. oh yea and im gonna try it before i buy it. im gonna keep these IEMs but if i tried it before buying it i probably would not buy it just based on the comfort issue. maybe the new tips will be better. cable is hella short too. and i want to buy a cable that is the same quality as stock ( copper silver plate ) its like 50% of the price of the iems. sounds great though. better sound with the foam pads.
I’m a big fan of tip rolling to find comfort. My ears don’t like foams and definitely hurt after using them. Right now I’m using divinius velvet tips on my monarch and used them of a 7 hour flight yesterday. Other tips I suggest are final type, eletch baroque, and alza sendafit xlastic. It’s definitely a journey to find the right tip but when you do it’s fantastic. Oh and definitely find the right size, my right ear takes a large and left takes mediumish.
according to me For hi-fi headphones under $500 to $600, you might consider the Hifiman Ananda Nano or the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro. Both are solid choices with distinctive sound signatures. Compared to $999 Focals, it’s about diminishing returns. Are you upgrading your DAC with XLR connectors? So you can check out the Shits Modi Multibit, JDS Labs Element or the iFi Zen DAC.
