Just got my LCD-2C today and something doesn's sound right...

Hello, I’ got my LCD-2C today and I’ve been listening to them for entire day and they sound harsh with pretty bad imaging and instrument separation, some instruments appear and dissapear because they get lost in the mud and saying they sound very unbalanced is probably the best way to describe it. I use LCD-2C connected to my Fiio E10K with a cheap 6.3 to 3.5 adaptor that doesnt even work that well, I have to rotate it for it to work properly. I’ve tried LCD’s in store side by side to my HD600 and they sounded much cleaner from my memory. Is it possible its a problem with my source or the cheap headphone jack adaptor or LCD2c can have some issue? how do I troubleshoot my setup?

Could be the adapter, I’ve had on bad 6.3 adapter that appeared to completely cancel the mid range, because it leaked between the channels.
Without hearing what you are, it’s hard to say if that’s the cause, but the fact you have to mess with the adapter to get sound implies to me you should be replacing it.

start with the simple stuff, something is wrong, check cables and connectors first.

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It could be distorting or sound harsh cause the fiio e10k’s not so great amp is struggling as combined with the adapter. but I would make sure the cables and adpaters are good first then explore the signal chain

If you have to rotate your adaptor to get it working, you should definetly replace it.
And i guess the E10K might be a little bit weak.

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Hello, I tried my HD600 with a 6.3 adapter into 6.3 to 3.5 adapter ands its very hard to evaluate if there is difference because I cant A/B test the setup without disconnecting and reconnecting everything but it didnt sound like there is something major wrong witht he sound on my HD600, but what I noticed that when i try to plug LCD2c to my phone with the 6.3 adaptor it works very bad and I have to rotate it to find the exact spot where both headphones work.

6.3 Adaptor is fucked for sure, doesn-t work with my phone unless I find the exact spot where both channels play at the same time.

Fiio don’t state it, but I’d guess < 100mW into 70 Ohms, which is below the minimum recommendation of the LCD-2C.

LCD2c sound louder on my E10k than my HD600 so I don-t think its power problem. But highs on LCD2c sound sharper and more sibilant than my HD600 and its very strange.

Everything seems to be connected fine.

Aside from the cable issue, you might really want to upgrade on the amp front to fully take advantage of what the 2 classic can offer imo. Regardless of power, the e10k amp is pretty mediocre, I think you could get a very nice performance bump with both of your headphones with a nicer amp. Having more headroom power wise can really open up the lcd 2 classic in dynamics, a more even frequency response, more impact, better detail retrieval, etc. A good amp will deliver plenty of headroom and also quality power. But def address the cable issue first

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I think I will order Topping L30 and E30 Combo.

That would be solid. I would also look into the asgard 3 as imo that’s a pretty great pairing with both the lcd 2 classic and the hd600 for something a bit more impactful, warmer and smoother. I haven’t heard the l30 yet, but going off what the a90 had to offer, personally I wasn’t a fan of the 600 on there, so I would assume I wouldn’t like the l30 as well with the 600 but I can’t quite say

I dont want to spend too much on anps and shit, headphones were expensive enough. Also what I noticed is that LCD2 dont sound that harsh when plugged into my phone…

You could just use your e10k as your dac and the asgard 3 would end up being cheaper than the e30 + l30

Interesting

Im from EU, schiit is always out of sock here and with covid they have no restock date.

Gotcha, then the e30 + l30 is most likely a solid choice

ok E10K sounds sharper than my motherboard or phone audio for sure, even on louder volumes