Has anyone here heard both the LSA HP-2 and Focal Elex? I’m currently cross shopping them but there are not a lot of reviews for the LSA to go off of. Aftering seeing reviews such as William Murdock’s they really peaked my interest. Sorry for reviving an older thread but there isn’t a lot of active discussion on these cans.
I’ve owned both the Elex and the Gjallarhorn, which the HP-2 is supposed to be a copy of.
I still own the Gjallarhorn.
They are very different headphones,where the Elex is a headphone with a slight bumps in bass/treble and midrange, I think it’s been referred to as “w” shaped, it’s strength is the overall naturalness of presentation across the frequency range.
The Gjallarhorn is a closed back, with a big stage (for a closed back) and an obviously boosted bass response, and no real premise of neutrality, but it’s real appeal is how dynamic and energetic it sounds.
If your looking for a neutralish jack of all trades, buy the Elex.
If you want something fun, especially on bass heavy material I like the Gjallarhorn a lot.
I’m not sure I could personally live with the Gjallarhorn as my only headphone, but as a change of pace it’s pretty compelling especially for rock/metal.
Where I find it less than compelling is where I care about accurate timbre (Orchestral, some Jazz, intimate instrumental etc.)
I have the HP2-Ultra and I had an Elex. They are both very good but the HP2 are more like a closed back Arya and are pretty much opposite of what the Elex sounds like. I no longer have the Elex because the right driver died and Drop made the return process hellish for me.
I would agree it sounds very different from the elex, but personally I can in no way think of how the horn/hp2 sounds like an arya in any regard
Drop is a hellish place lol
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I have both the Arya and the Hp2 right now and the Hp2 sounds like an Arya with a slighter smaller soundstage to me.
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I also have both the Arya and HP-2 and I see what you mean saying the HP-2 sounds like the Arya with a smaller soundstage but I also think the HP-2 has better overall detail especially with micro details. Before I got the LSA I felt like my AP2000ti was the detail king of all the headphones I’ve had but the HP-2 is a step ahead and they also have good dynamics and that’s one reason I tend to like good dynamic drivers over most planar headphones but the Arya is one that I really like a lot.
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So I’ve had the LSA HP2 LE for only a few days. Slightly over a week under two and I felt like putting a sizable impressions thingie here because this is frankly the most strange sounding headphone I’ve had in multiple ways. Unlike its plain-ish looks it’s got a very funky style to it. First of all I’m a timbre freak, bad tonality is not a huge turn off but it does affect me a bit. And this headphone has the best timbre across the board and phenomenal tonality too. For many headphones something stands out, LCD2pf has hype realistic and beautiful vocals, Focal elegia had very realistic acoustics like acoustic guitars etc, Focal alpha speakers has outstanding piano etc etc. But for the first time I heard the most realistic drums, followed by the most realistic guitars, violins, etc etc. I mean it all just sounds crazy organic to me.
마마무 Mamamoo - I miss you for example has some od the prettiest vocals IMO with and different tones coming from the three vocalists and rapper, this headphone carries the soul and emotions that they carry, and the transition from singer to singer is sooooooooo fucking gooooood.Snare on 레드벨벳 Red Velvet - Psycho is so energetic and fast, I mean everything in the song is just super energetic as you would want and expect from kpop. Seulgi’s voice is somehow more orgasmic than usual.
Two the other stand out feature, the dynamics WOW. I mean it just feels like the closest thing to infinite depth in dynamics I have felt lol. It almost makes my focal speakers sound flat(might be exaggerating a little) but fuuuuuuuck. I truly easily hands down prefer the LSA to my speakers because that type of depth and dynamics is the major reason I love speakers and when something like this can replicate this level of dynamics and depth its a huge plus.
Three, I would say the other stand out thing that I personally noticed, is the staging. It’s the most immersive 360 experience I’ve ever felt. It’s just the closest thing to surrounding you with music so far that I’ve heard, also because it’s got a very strange type of slam I think that adds to it. You HEAR the slam, you HEAR the energy and you see the life in the headphone but it almost dissipates last second where you don’t get the type of punch, slam, aggressive attitude that you might get from a focal. Where I would say you actually get to have it more like an experience. It’s truly the closest thing I’ve ever heard to a musical experience where you are being taken for a ride (cowgirl over missionary any day).
Other things worth mentioning is that even tho it’s a warm sounding headphone and the treble probably dosent extend much the treble it does have is quite fun and almost borderline intense but dosent quite cross that line (talking about u trios). Mids are great even if not crazy smooth like the LCD2pf, bass is amazing in a vanilla way. Speed is crazy tbh it just feels like a super fast and nimble headphone in every way possible. Again outstanding dynamics, you will get the lowest low and the highest high with a level of crazy depth. And the staging is so fucking weird but is something I learned to appreciate days in. It’s just like I don’t know lol. It’s just super immersive and 360. Everything has its own spot in space. It’s a headphone that’s very alive, has energy, soul and tremendous presentation that I adore.
Literally the only thing I can maybe comment negatively about is that the treble can be slightly fatiguing for certain recordings. But that’s also probably because I’m fairly sensetive and I listen to alot of sizzly music like kpop lol. Also I’ve been mostly using it on the ifi diablo which is a more neutral dac/amp and I come from stuff like the frickin liquid platinum, hiby etc haha. Warm on warm in warm. But yeah dude, this thing has been quite the experience 
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I didn’t even know there was an LE - does it cost more than the regular HP2? I’m digging the updated look - is that the only difference?
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Yeah it costs 50 bucks more. They are only creating 50 for now but if it becomes popular enough it might not be so limited edition anymore lol. Basically tho it’s a stand in while they get more of the other wood
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Good stuff and I can definitely say I agree with you on drums and percussion. It is surreal how realistic it sounds. I’ve said it before, but there have been times when listening to the HP-2 Ultra where I was taken back to when I used to drum in a band like I was sitting behind my kit on my stool. So you definitely aren’t exaggerating one bit.
I can also say that they are pretty great for fun gaming headphones. When I played the Resident Evil demo last night, it was very immersive and fun.
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It really did stand out. U had shared that story before with the group but wow to hear it is something else. Also I’ve had tons of gear with phenomenal bass, but never did the thought of the bass sounding particularly “real” come to mind until I heard the LSA. It was immediate. It really does extend well too
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You are not getting the full sound quality out of the LSA Headphones (Or any) if you are using budget amps like Topping/Schitt/JDS Labs. Trust me, been there done that. Don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade because I was in your position too. No elitist nonsense here. I’m surprised Amazon hasn’t banned me for all the return labels I’ve printed off.
Not giving you any placebo audiofoolery either. My cables are $15 from Amazon and sound no different from a Cardas one. I bought the L30 because of Amir’s review. Oops! Silly me. Looking at the glowing measurements and ignoring the elephant in the room, the components inside the tiny case.
These cheaper amps are compressed sounding and lacking in dynamics. It is expected because no company will sell you a product for $150 with $150 components inside. They have marketing, labor, packaging and R&D expenses as well. I ran the Topping L30 and Ray Samuels HR-2 from the Topping E30 and the difference was catastrophic. It was akin to taking cotton balls out of your ears.
Many people here are not experiencing the full sound quality of their headphone because they’re settling for a new shiny consumer product at MSRP. No Youtube reviewer is going to review a hidden headphone amp gem from 2003 because there is no affiliate money from it.
I recommend getting an older used Class A amp that someone paid a lot of money for back in the day but are selling for dirt cheap on an audio mart now.
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Who are you talking to? We’re not running budget gear if we’ve spent almost $1k on the cans.
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Who are you talking to? We’re not running budget gear if we’ve spent almost $1k on the cans.
If you haven’t heard anything better than an Asgard 3 and you don’t consider it to be a budget amp at $199 for your Gjallarhorns, I’m happy for you finding something that is affordable and suits your needs. But there are many people who are looking for better, that’s who I was talking to.
I’ve heard and had better (not since I’ve had the HP-2) but I like the Schiit sound of the Asgard. I am absolutely sure a better amp would make them that much better but I also don’t think its detrimental to the enjoyment of the cans to run then off of it.
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I don’t think anyone here is denying they can sound better with nicer electronics, nor is there anyone saying that any of the 100 buck amps will bring them to full potential (at least from what I read from the posters on this specific thread)
RIP
I mean there are some small amps that pack a big punch, the L30 just happens to be a low quality amp, and yes measurements don’t tell the whole story
Depends on the amp, I would totally agree if you are talking about a L30, but I would disagree if you talk about a monolith liquid spark for example (sure it’s not amazing but it’s got respectable performance for the price), I just wouldn’t make wide generalizations
I bet, that’s a massive step up in performance, although somewhat skimping on the dac there
Many people here won’t experience the full sound quality of their headphone anyways, to get that you have to go way way higher than it makes sense, but that’s only if you want to get everything out of them as possible, this doesn’t mean it’s reasonable to do. Generally most people buying these aren’t really going to be skimping on poor quality source gear. You can get away with running it on more upper entry level or lower midrange gear (like an asgard 3 for example), and it can sound great but of course there can be better, but they are still going to get at least an enjoyable experience out of gear that’s not as high end
Again generalizations, just because something is class a and older doesn’t mean it will be good. A lot of the budget to midrange gear these days has gotten pretty good compared to the past at the same price point, and the higher end gear in the past still holds up today for sure as well. I would just look used regardless of old or new to get a good deal, as used is typically always going to offer you better value than something new.
And that’s what it’s about, it’s always something someone can upgrade later on and further reap the benefits if they want to. Also in the case of @DDT’s setup, he’s also running a bifrost 2 which will further elevate the performance of the asgard 3 to an extent, so I personally wouldn’t consider him skimping on needed electronics to get an actually good experience, sure he can get a nicer amp later on and get more, but he’s well past the threshold of being able to get a good experience on what he has
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I have to say, I’m expecting a pair of HP-2 in this week and after reading this thread very much looking forward to it. Anyone try them with a tube amp? Was enjoying my T1.2’s so much with the new dual mono eufonika i received recently that i was hoping these new
HP-2’s would play with the tubes too. I will try it as a preamp if they don’t sing straight in. Run the line out to a good solid state maybe. I’m kinda new to all this and really enjoying all the great music out there. Listening to Dr Lonnie Smith live from 1970 at club Mozambique in Detroit. So cool. Cheers!
They don’t work well with the lower priced tube amps I tried, the Bass gets way to out of control for my tastes.
Worked fine with the Liquid Platinum, but that’s a hibrid.
Also fine with some more expensive transformer coupled tube amps, since they tend to have MUCH lower output impedance.
They are good, but they can get overly bassy if you aren’t careful. Still a fun listen though.