Heavily considering these two right now, and I really can’t make up my mind. I’ve never heard either mind you.
A little background: currently running a Fiio M9 and KZ ZS10 Pro and very happy with the sound portable.
At home I have SHP 9500S, 1More Triple Driver Earphones, and Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee. I prefer the Jubilee the most. The current and new headphones will be using the Aune X1s X7s stack as the source, with primarily Tidal and Amazon HD music.
I want detail, but not so much that it’s fatiguing. I want these to sit at home, sip wine, and contemplate life while kind of getting immersed in the music. I don’t care about clinical or intensely resolving necessarily, I want to have fun but also be relaxed if that makes sense.
I also really value bass extension and texture, quality, tightness. I listen to everything from country to dire straits to chris rea to Fleetwood Mac to three days grace.
Long post I know but, any recommendations? LCD 2 Classis are 799 right now and Clear 999 through the end of Sept.
the LCD 2 Classic’s are darker and heavier on the bass while the Clear’s are more even…neutral even. so if you want to experience different sound, I’d go for the LCD 2 Classic, especially if you listen to EDM.
Klipsch HP3 and Aeolous are on my list but in trying to keep the budget in check. I may try the LCD. Based on everyone’s feedback I don’t think I’ll regret it and what I save over the Clears will go toward an eventual set of Fiio FH7s and maybe the new Sony ZX500 DAP
I have the LCD-XC and the Clears and I like both, but only if I EQ the LCD-XCs. I know that the X and XCs are different from the 2 classics, but I have a feeling that the Audeze house sound isn’t my personal cup of tea. The Clears are perfect for me without the need to EQ, and the sale this month is the reason I got them myself. I don’t regret the purchase at all. I also own the Elex and liked them so much I decided to get the Clears as well. The Elex retail for $700 from Drop so they may be a good option for you. The bass on both Focal headphones is really good, although they won’t have the slam of an Audeze. I really like the detail and imaging on both and vocals to me sound much better than my LCD-XCs, although some say the timbre on the Focals can sound sterile or metallic. In any case, I think you will like whichever choice you go with.
True. I bought the XCs kind of early on in this hobby and have always regretted not getting an open back (2c or X), but that wood is so nice to look at that it clouded my judgement at the time. I’ve listened to the 2c’s and X’s a few times and just got to listen to the 4’s this past Saturday for the first time. If money were no option, I would pick up the 4’s just for the insane detail, but that’s pretty unlikely unless I meet a wealthy widow who wants to support my obsessions. One day down the road I can see myself picking up the 2c’s though to replace my lower tier bass cans
I’m pretty clumsy, so I haven’t even considered it to be honest. I don’t regret owning them as much as I regret not doing the research I would do now before making a purchase of $1k+. At the time, my research consisted of seeing X was better than 2 which in turn was better than 3. I assumed the XC would fit that pattern and, like I said, that wood is distractingly pretty. I’ve seen plenty of posts about removing the cups on closed backs, but never saw one specifically with the XC.
If you plan on selling them at one point, I would be careful if you take the cups off (wouldn’t recommend). I haven’t seen an open modded xc before, since I’m guessing people just go for the regular x.
@gregrob Just out of curiosity, have you ever put on a pair of Audezes? The weight may surprise you. I got used to them, but there was a definite acclimation process that some people never get past
