Audeze LCD-3 Headphones

Product Description

When we started designing the LCD-3 professional reference headphones, the goal was very clear, it must be the best. No compromise when it comes to the quality of sound. It provides the highest level of audio quality, unsurpassed bass extension, exceptional treble and the best mid-range.Innovations Every Day. Audez'e aspires to deliver extraordinary products through research. The LCD-3 is packed with many innovative technologies and new approaches. The all new LOTUS diaphragm that uses a special alloy for conductive traces gives us greater control, lower distortion. Translation - Music that sounds like original studio recordings. Overview Nothing matches the warmth and sheer luxury of natural wood. The Zebra Wood (Zebrano) with its intense color variation that ranges from light to dark complements the LCD-3s and was chosen specifically for its appearance. Very soft lambskin earpads that are gently sloped create a very realistic soundscape. The headphones come with both single ended and balanced cables and a choice of wood or travel carrying cases. Return Policy: You have 30 days to return the LCD-3. All items must be in new condition and the return results in a 15% restocking fee and the customer pays for return shipping charges. Technical Specs - Planar Magnetic Transducers. - Custom designed Zebra wood (zebrano) earcups. - Specially designed lambskin leather earpads. - Left and right transducers have matched sensitivity and frequency response within +/- 0.5dB. - Specially designed self- closing, acoustically transparent magnetic structure with highest grade Neodymium magnets. - Frequency Response: 5Hz - 20KHz, usable high frequency extension 50KHz. - Distortion: less than 1% even at full output. - Impedance: 50Ohms, nominal - Maximum diaphragm excursion: 2.5mm p- p - Efficiency: 93dB/1mW - Maximum output: 133dB, 15W -Transducer active diaphragm area: 6.17 sq. in. - Input cable: Custom cable with mini XLR connectors - Weight: 550g, without cable.

Top Reviews

like listening to Radio and so if you love highs
by KrazyD (3 out of 5 stars)
November 1, 2015

Very Dark..like listening to Radio and so if you love highs,details. These fall short a bit. Also the laid back mid might be an issue for some, you might miss small nuances like breathing or it's not as clear because of it. It's like listening from the end the hall rather than front row. The Best thing about them as you all know is bass & also the texture on some of the instruments. Some instruments esp Bass will feel like real but not everything. Anyways for me the best , it's best feature is that it's good sustain & also that it portrays the room atmostphere of the recording. Like the original Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin song, you can hear the Room Reverb which I never heard before on my speakers. They're also extremely heavy and I get ear pain for some reason if use it for a few hours everyday so I restrict my use to 2-3 days a week. And I've been ok so far. I also own Shure 1840 & the mids are more laid back than the Shures & they also capture the room feel more than the Shures. I think they're great if you're in Eleconica/Dance as some of that stuff is high on trebles and the darkness of these will balance but it's too dark for some of the regular stuff for me. I think I will sell these and probably buy Senns HD800. The Imaging & separation seems pretty average for such expensive headphones. I use Burson Soloist & Micromega Mydac to drive these & purely play flac files.

The three star rating is based on price. If they were 600 or even 800, I would have rated it 5 stars but for 1800 with less than top notch clarity & soundstage, it gets only 3 stars.
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Five Stars
by Zekefs (5 out of 5 stars)
February 6, 2016

very good
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Excelent product amazing company
by GrizzNels (5 out of 5 stars)
September 23, 2015

A little background. I have had a couple issues with my LCD3 set that were quickly remedied my Adeze. Cable issues (which Audeze now has a premium cable that is equivalent to most high end cables), and one of the speakers stopped working 4 months after I got them (which they fixed for me). There customer service is without a doubt the best I have ever experienced with any producer. Kim and Mark at Audeze have treated me with the utmost respect, and have been very helpful in directing me in the care and storage of my headphones. I recommend anyone looking for the best quality personal audio equipment to look no further than Audeze.

First if you buy these headphones you must have a headphone stand to keep them from damaging the cord.

Sound Quality. I am just a novice when it comes to sound quality, so take this from an average listener. I have never heard a crisper, open, full sound than I have heard. I listen to all my music with these. I love the open back design which makes the sound feel like you are in a stadium. I can also hear conversations around me, if I want to, by tuning down the volume. I do this when I just want background music.

Comfort. They are a large over the ear headphone. I only use over the ear headphones and these are my favorite. They don't push on my ears, so they never get soar after extended listening. Also, due to the open back my ears never get hot (as long as it's nice in the room). They do have a little weight to them, but with the large headband and comfy ear pads it never bothers me.
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Audeze LCD-3 made in 5/16
by Arthur M. Wells (5 out of 5 stars)
July 13, 2016

My LCD-3 model was made in 5/16. If you have a top source (mine is the Eastsound E5 Platinum Reference Edition CD player) and top headphone amp (mine is the hybrid tube and Mosfet, Bada, and PH12), good pure silver cables, you won't find more realistic sound (than perhaps with the LCD-4). Anyone disappointed with the LCD-3 have something wrong in their component/signal chain that hey are blaming on the LCD-3
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Great strengths and some weaknesses.
by Amazon Customer (4 out of 5 stars)
February 23, 2013

Overall I must say I really like this headphone. It has a very natural and free from sibilance rendition of the human voice, the midrange otherwise is sweet, dark, and liquid. Very smooth midrange. Small groups of instruments or individual instruments are portrayed with great detail and warmth. This includes genres such as rock, folk, electronica, jazz, and small scale classical groups. Dynamics, bass response and clarity, and the ability to convey power are extremely impressive. However, with orchestral music involving large groups of instruments playing simultaneously, or with large choral groups, these headphones lose some of their focus. They tend to sound a bit less clear when the music has many simultaneous performers. It's as if the drivers focus better when only a few things going on at once for some inexplicable reason. But no headphone can perfectly reproduce all types of music. Every headphone has strengths and weaknesses, and this is the spirit in which this review is written.

So this headphone, with small scale ensembles, including very powerful rock/electronic and also jazz or small classical groups or individual classical performers, does incredibly well assuming a good recording. A very "yummy" and detailed midrange. It is not quite as agile with large orchestral and choral music. However, it may be the best headphone in the world for rock and jazz music. Amazing power and bass, and such a sweet dark flavor to the music! An extremely pleasant listening experience overall, I must say.

PRODUCT UPDATE:

Well, I just sold my LCD 3-C's which I've had for a couple of years to get a new fazored LCD-3. One thing that surprised me were the sound differences I've heard compared with what folks have reported. My new fazored LCD-3's are to me MORE powerful in the bass, not less. They are more articulate and detailed in the mids and highs. Much improved with large orchestral and choral recordings. The sound is still very dark and dynamic. They have lost the yummy sweetness of the old LCD-3C and replaced it with a character of incredible power topped with delicacy and speed. Kind of like, if it were a person, I would say like Mike Tyson if he were an incredibly talented ballet dancer!

Very nice, very different, but not what I was expecting!
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The best headphones to date
by IXO 🎧 (4 out of 5 stars)
August 3, 2015

These are simply the best sounding headphones I have ever owned (and I've owned and sold a lot of them). They are sublimely smooth, yet detailed without the least bit of harshness at all in the highs. You can really notice this in the vocals which when compared to other headphones, which sound a lot smoother and less thin or grainy. These have a very good bass presence although they are not bass head headphones. I would actually before a bit more bass as I'm a bit of a bass head myself although I've been able to get these to sound how I like them by adding a bit of bass boost via my eq settings. The mids are very smooth and tube-like while the treble is very articulate yet imparts no sense of graininess or harshness whatsoever.

The design of these is very cool with the wood earcup surrounds and leather ear pads and head band.

My one complaint is that these are quite heavy so wearing them for long periods of time can tend to get a bit uncomfortable. That said, you should probably give your ears a rest periodically anyways so that is a reminder to take them off every once in a while during long listening sessions.

Note- I have the slightly older non "fazor" version of these, which is 50 Ohms-works well with my headphone amps.
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One of my best purchase
by Rohit Harshvardhan (5 out of 5 stars)
December 23, 2014

Let me begin by stating that I have not had a high end headphone before.

I have had these for about three months now and all I can say is that they have changed my music listening habit. They have opened me to a lot of new music which I had overlooked before. From Jazz and Blues to female vocals and even house music.

The sound is so smooth and detailed. It is a pleasure listening to classic too especially cello which I have discovered I like the most.

Yes it is expensive but if its affordable to you I would not hesitate recommending it. Also do realize that beyond a point what constitute a good sound is subjective. So I would recommend trying it out before you buy it.

Now for some listening time.....

Update:

I have had this headphone for over a year now and my 5 star stands. Its amazing how much new music I have discovered. Recently I have rediscovered Herbie Hancock.
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Incredibly beautiful, improvement over LCD-2, but not Best-In-Class
by Craig Olson (4 out of 5 stars)
January 21, 2014

I will disclaim that I've only heard these a half-dozen times, but each listening session was from a real audiophile's audiophile rig. First time I heard this was from a setup using a reel-to-reel source; definitely not an iPod or Macbook.

In many ways they appear very similar to the LCD-2s, but you definitely notice that they're a slightly different beast. LCD-2s are reveled by most 'newer' audiophiles for having a great balance of lows, mids, and highs and perform well across many different amps. Many, more traditional, audiophiles seem to be more skeptic of Audez'e headphones, especially given that they have come out with many different updates/revisions to the LCD-2 line. I understand that a lot of this stems from them being a newer company so in some ways it's impressive that they have come this far this fast. That said, I have experience first hand, a decent amount of variation in sound from the same model, same revision, using the same equipment.

Back to the LCD-3. Given that I was pretty fond of the LCD-2s, I thought the $1,000 added cost of the LCD-3s would further refine the sound stage, produce more accurate bass, and really make the mids and highs more dynamic. Unfortunately, my experience was not close to that and I came away feeling pretty left down. Each time I've had a listening session I've come to the same conclusion that they're pretty good, but only marginally better than the LCD-2s, and in my opinion, not better than either the HE-6 or HD800s. I will caveat that by saying that if you really enjoy the dimension of the LCD-2s, you'll probably like the LCD-3s as well. They're beautifully designed cans, and it is evident that Audez'e put a lot of time and effort into making them more than just a minor step up from the LCD-2s, but I can't help but wonder that all the extra revisions, type of wood, and other options that Audez'e offered with the LCD-2 created the high price tag for the LCD-3s.

If money isn't an object, then by all means pick these up, try them out, and see if you like them. If you're on a budget, and are potentially thinking about upgrading other parts of your stack as well, I would definitely go for the LCD-2, HE-6 (hard to drive), or HD800 (my all-around favorite). The T1 would also be worth considering although, I think it comes a little behind the LCD-2, but many people feel otherwise. For those who can afford it, it's definitely worth having in your collection just because it has that 'wow' factor, but I'd rather buy a nice Stax setup for that kind of investment.
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Spectacular. The closest to that "front row seats experience" to my ears
by Dylan Robinson (5 out of 5 stars)
July 10, 2013

Alright so I have finally achieved a huge milestone in being an audio enthusiast. Getting these gorgeous pair of polished wooden Audeze LCD-3 monitors was the milestone, and one that you can never go back from.

I once remember having a pair of bose on ear headphones (1st gen) and thinking they had some of the best bass I had ever heard of. LOL. After now 10 years, I have come in touch with the best planar-magnetic headphone in the world. It is truly an out of this world experience, when the source, amp/dac, and cabling is right. Treble just sparkles with its warm live appearance. Mids take the word "liquid" to the next level, and bass is punchy, tight, and some of the most controlled sounding bass I have ever heard. Vocals sound as if you in are in a front row seat. The sound signature of these amazing monitors: Live. And Audeze nailed it with their new driver. I personally have heard the STAX 009 and 007 MKII, they are better in detail, but are much more less fun that the Audeze LCD-3. The lack of bass that an electron membrane produces will forever fall short of a planar-magnetic driver in my honest and humble opinion. Unless concentration on clarity is the focus, grab yourself a pair of LCD-3s and stop the looking. These are built to last, built for class, and built for the best of the best. Construction is rock rock solid. Beautiful polished wood and the most comfortable lambskin leather ear-pads man has ever felt.

All in all, Audeze has just taken Sennheiser's previous standard, and taken it to the next level. Fantastic job, and kudos to all the staff! Cali Love!
----------------------------UPDATE 9/15/13----------------------------

These things give me chills. I don't know how long they have been burning in but they just keep getting better. The most comfortable work of craftsmanship ever! I have redone my interconnects from crappy copper to solid 5n silver. These things went from concert to imax level, just like that. Each instrument has its own area on the planar magnetic driver, and they are crystal clear, and natural. There is now no way the stax 007 can be better. I also have a custom 5n silver cable made for the lcd3, and I cannot tell you how much I love listening to music again. Please, do yourself a favor, sell the stock cable ASAP. It lacks so much when comparing a solid silver cord to a ropey copper cord. Audiophiles, silver does wonders, and it is NOT that much more expensive.........
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The absolute best!
by brent (5 out of 5 stars)
June 15, 2015

I absolutely love these headphones. It is really like hearing a concert on your head. The sound is full and all around you. The price is only $2k, so I don't know why these are aging $4k.

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