Audeze LCD-5 Review

Audeze LCD-5

Price, Box & Accessories

 

A flagship headphone comes with a flagship price tag and in case of the LCD-5 that means $4,500 USD. We lately have seen a couple of new flagships around the $4K mark (think Elite, Stealth, etc), so the LCD-5 is just north of that. And then there are headphones like the Susvara ($6K) and HE-R10P ($5,499) and a few others that even take it a step further.

I remember the LCD-2 price back in 2010 was a highly discussed topic but over the years manufacturers have steadily been increasing their prices. And as long as we – headphone lovers and professionals – keep accepting and paying these prices, I don’t see the rally coming to a halt just yet.

 

 

That being said, the LCD-5 is a new headphone with a lot of new developments incorporated in it. When you buy the LCD-5, you get a nice, high end looking package:

– LCD-5 Headphone

– Premium Braided Cable

– Aluminum Travel Case with cutout foam

– A pair of white gloves to handle the headphone

– Certificate of Authenticity

– Warranty Card

It’s a pretty basic but nice package, and it’s all very nicely done.

Audeze LCD-5

Design, Build Quality & Cable

Audeze describes the LCD-5 as an “Elegant Comfortable Design”, think of that what you want.

Personally I really like the design. The new headband and earpads look stunning and together with the smaller size of the cups, they make the LCD-5 look smaller. And it doesn’t only looks smaller, it is and feels smaller as well. And lighter! You do still get the iconic A-labelled Audeze grill, but even that grill is fresh and modern now.

To me it’s a wonderful design of the carbon headband, connectors and the grill. Even the mirror-like material of the drivers on the inside of the cups looks fancy. What I personally like a bit less is the dark brownish color of the plastic ring on the earcups aka the acetate ear cups. I’m still a big fan of Audeze’s rosewood frame on the original LCD-2, and I feel real wood would have upped the fanciness level of the LCD-5 even more. But again, that a personal thing.

“Every part has been re-engineered, using materials such as magnesium, aluminum and acetate which offer light weight and high rigidity. When you put on a pair of LCD-5s, your head and ears are cradled in materials of the finest quality. Supple premium leather and carbon-fiber pull all the elements together into a package of the finest craftsmanship, which we hand-assemble in our California workshop.

Going back to the earpads and the comfort. According to Audeze the new ergonomic design cradles your cranium, and helps naturally place the headphone in the optimal listening position. The pads have less contact surface area than standard designs to reduce fatigue while providing a superior seal for all shapes and sizes. You do feel the earcups are smaller and my ears do slightly touch them, but at the same time the pads are very comfy, even for long listening periods. The side pressure of the cups and head band is reasonably high, but I personally like that. If you have a larger sized head, you will probably need to get used to it or try to soften the LCD-5’s headband side grip.

All-in all a very comfy headphone even at 420g. I’ve been wearing it multiple days for 6h straight, and never felt the need to take it off from a comfort point of view.

Audeze LCD-5

Build-quality-wise I never had any issues with any of my Audeze headphones. After a few weeks of listening to these, everything is still looking perfect. The finishing also looks perfect to me, except for the left pad, which isn’t perfectly aligned/glued to the frame. The right side is perfect.

Cable-wise, Audeze is now shipping the LCD-5 with their “Ultra High Purity Cable”, terminated with a 6.3mm single ended plug. According to Audeze it is specially tuned with directional OCC high-purity copper strands that provide a low capacitance and low resistance path for the signal to travel from your amp to the drivers, maintaining unsurpassed clarity and precision. To be completely honest I have been switching between the Forza Audioworks Noir HPC Mk2, the PlusSound X16 and the stock cable. The latter sound really nice actually and it results in a smoother sounding LCD-5, it’s very musical and I fully recommend using it. On top of that, it’s a longer cable as well and it’s really handy in my office as I can freely move around without getting the LCD-5 yanked off my head.

Fit, Comfort and Isolation

We have already touched these points in the previous chapters but let’s dive in a bit deeper. It’s quite funny how Audeze uses “Blazingly low” for the LCD-5’s weight. A lot of the higher end ortho headphones are in this weight area.

The new Meze Elite weighs about 430g, the Hifiman Sundara 372g, the Kennerton Thror 390g and the Rosson RAD-0 even an impressive 677g. So all-by-all, the LCD-5 is one of the lighter flagship headphones. I really have to say the new Audeze headband design is incredible. The LCD-5 sits tight, but the weight is very evenly distributed across the top of the head and there are no painful pressure points after multiple hours of usage. The pads also are nicely soft and spongy and they hold the ideal position perfectly, without becoming too warm or itchy. Do note these pads are still glued on, Audeze style.

It really is a super comfortable headphone, at least for my shape of head. I do feel my ears touching the side of the pads, but there plenty of room and they don’t touch the driver in any way.

I probably have smaller than normal head and I have used up 2 clicks (bars) on the LCD-5’s headband adjuster. So that means there still is a lot of room to adjust the band. I think even really small heads will manage to get a perfect fit, and that’s not something that can be said of all headphones (I’m looking at you Meze). In case of need you can also lock the cups in place so you don’t accidentally change the earcup position and ruin the fit(/sound).

Isolation-wise the LCD-5 performs as expected. This of course is a fully open headphone and as such a lot of sound, music and noise will leak in and out. I’m usually alone in my listening room and office when using headphones, and I doubt I’ll ever use the LCD-5 on the go, so that’s perfectly acceptable for me. Using it with other people (not using IEMs or headphones) in the room, might result in them hearing your music and complaining about your poor musical choice. But that’s the case for all open headphones.

Audeze LCD-5

Sound

Audeze quote Transparency, Resolution, and Speed:

The LCD-5 sets a new standard for accuracy. Its drivers are engineered with our award-winning Fluxor magnets and updated Fazor waveguides along with our new Patent-pending Parallel Uniforce™ voice coils, which employ varying width parallel traces to keep the impedance low and provide increased voltage headroom by altering the current density within each trace. The uniform force created by this optimization lowers distortion and provides better control over diaphragm movement, resulting in improved sonic resolution.

Audeze quote Clarity & Imaging

We’ve optimized every aspect of the LCD-5’s acoustic chamber to achieve pinpoint imaging and an extremely clean and clear soundstage. The new sculpted earpads and acoustically transparent mesh are designed to minimize reflections and resonance, while the Parallel Uniforce™ voice coil allows increased space between magnets for improved frequency response and a more open soundstage. LCD-5 also features newly designed low-profile Fazor waveguides to further reduce diffractions and interactions with the ear.

 Let’s find out how we experience the LCD-5’s sound, starting on the next page. Click here!

Page 1: Audeze, Planar magnetic Tech, LCD-5 main features

Page 2: LCD-5 Full Feature Overview & Technical Specs

Page 3: Price, Box, Accessories & Design, Build Quality, Cable & Fit, Comfort and Isolation, Sound

Page 4: Sound Intro, Sound General, Sound Classics

Page 5: Sound Comparisons, Amplification synergy, Conclusion

4.4/5 - (115 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

13 Comments

  • Reply November 1, 2021

    MhtLion

    Great review, Lieven! Has anyone tried LCD-5 with Violectric V281? I ‘think’ it will sound nice with it in XLR mode, and I’m VERY inclined to click the purchase button.

    • Reply November 1, 2021

      Lieven

      Thank you. I sold my V281 a few months ago, sorry.

      • Reply November 1, 2021

        MhtLion

        No worries at all. My question was directed to your readers because I knew you don’t have V281 anymore. Since V281 has a rather warm sounding, I’m curious whether it will add the body to LCD-5 or get-in-the-way.

  • Reply December 27, 2021

    Tim

    How could you possibly do comparisons and leave out the Focal Utopias, but include headphones that are definitely lesser than the Utopias, such as the Empyrean, the HE-1000SE, and the LCD-MX4? The Utopias may even still be the best overall, period!

    • Reply December 27, 2021

      Lieven

      I bought and sold the Utopia. I hardly ever sell a headphone but it was impossible for me to enjoy the Utopia. All of the headphones you mention bring a lot more enjoyment

  • Reply February 1, 2022

    Gail

    Great review sincep you guys reviewed thr naim uniti atom HE. Have ypu tried the LCD5 with the naim?can it drive it or it really needs a decent amp? I’m currently using one ans was quite curious on getting an lcd5

    • Reply February 4, 2022

      Lieven

      Sorry, I don’t have the Naim

  • Reply March 17, 2022

    Zuro

    You said here that the LCD-5 lacks of body in vocals because they lack body on the sub-bass response?
    if I wanna some good vocals with body and good timbre that is your recommendation?
    You tried the ZMF headphones line? how they will compare to the LCD-5 on the timbre and voices?

  • Reply April 21, 2022

    Zik

    You mentioned the HUGO – you mean the Hugo 2?
    And out of the box you mean very light on the vocals and the midrange? how much minimum burn in is needed?

    and you think tube amps will be good here?

  • Reply May 14, 2022

    Pablo Guyot

    Burn in :
    100 hs is good ,but 200 hs is much Better

  • Reply March 7, 2024

    Richard Harrigan

    Lieven, what headphone amp would you recommend as part of a home stereo system along with the LCD5?

    The main application would be listening to vinyl from my VPI turntable running through a Parasound JC3+ phono amp and into a Parasound P6 preamp. I’d love to connect a headphone amp directly to the JC3+ that will slightly warm up the sound. I’d be looking for something in the $1.5K range…

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