Audeze LCD2 Classic (LCD2C) Headphones Review

If you’ve been waiting for a more budget-friendly version of the LCD2, then the LCD2C might just fit your needs perfectly.
Pros
  • Overall sound quality
  • Overall comfort
  • Build quality
Cons
  • Upper treble lacks some refinement
  • Rather heavy
  • Lackluster imaging for an open-back
Final Rating
calcRating
Rating Details
Bottom Line
If you’ve been waiting for a more budget-friendly version of the LCD2, then the LCD2C might just fit your needs perfectly.
Table of Contents

Specs

  • Type: Open back, planar-magnetic driver
  • SPL: >130dB
  • Frequency response: 10 – 50kHz
  • THD: 0.1% $ 100dB
  • Impedance: 70-ohms
  • Sensitivity: 101dB/mW

Packaging

lcd2c-box

The packaging for the LCD2C is about as minimal as you get. it’s nothing more than a just a cardboard box stuffed with a foam cutout to keep the LCD2C safe and secure during transportation, but not really something that you could expect to keep as a long-term storage solution for your pricey new investment. 

What’s in the box?

  • Audeze LCD2 Classic
  • Removable cable
  • Certificate of authenticity
  • User guide on USB flashdrive

Accessories

lcd2c-accessories

There really isn’t much more than the bare essentials included with the LCD2C. We get a nice certificate of authenticity which kinda looks like your regular store loyalty card, and also a USB flashdrive which contains the user guide. But other than that, nadda!

Design

lcd2c-design
lcd2c-badge

The design of the LCD2C is synonymous with what you could expect from Audeze, and it shares definite similarities with numerous other open-back headphones that employ planar-magnetic drivers.
The all-black design is quite stealthy, and I think this colour, along with the finish, does help to make the LCD2C look less bulky than what it actually is.
The LCD2C certainly isn’t overly big and bulky, especially by modern standards, but they’re not exactly gonna go unnoticed either.
Of course, the idea behind the LCD2C was to create a headphone like the LCD2 that came before it, but in a much more affordable package. As such, compromises had to be made with respect to the build materials. But I think Audeze did a great job here as the LDCD2C doesn’t feel cheap by any means.
What I found quite interesting is that, even though Audeze used both metal and plastic, by giving both materials the same colour and finish you can’t really tell which parts are plastic. And as a result, the headphones still feel well-made and premium despite not being an all-metal design.

lcd2c-cable

The removable cable is quite nice, and feels rather premium. It’s not super supple, but I wouldn’t call it annoyingly stiff either. I’ve seen numerous other reviews say that the cable is braided, but it’s actually  a pair of twisted cables that are twisted together once more, rather than an actual braid. As it’s terminated in a 1/4″ connection, you’d need an adapter for 3.5mm devices. 

Comfort-wise the LCD2C is pretty good overall, but with slightly more clamping force than what I usually prefer. But for me it’s not the clamping force that gave me a slight sense of discomfort, but rather the pressure change I felt within my ears. I’ve never experienced this with any other open-back headphone, but with the LCD2C I can literally feel a negative pressure within my ears when I put them on. This is usually something reserved for closed-back headphones or IEMs.
In terms of weight, the LCD2C isn’t exactly light. Coming in at just short of 500g, it’s not as heavy as something like the Pioneer SE-505, but still rather substantial nonetheless.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the LCD2C does like a fair amount of power to sound its best – more than a regular set of headphones anyways. The impedance might not be super high, but the driver sensitivity isn’t very high either. It requires about the same amount of juice as the new HD 660 S.

Sound

lcd2c-design-2

The LCD2 received high praises when it was released, and many people still swear by them. Unfortunately, the last time I listened to the LCD2 was quite some time ago, so I don’t think I’m in a position to be able to make a definitive comparison between them and the LCD2C.
But, what I can say is that the LCD2C does offer quite an enjoyable open-back planar sound. Starting form the bass region, you get the typical ruler-flat bass response as we’ve come to expect from quality planar-magnetic headphones. I personally prefer a bit more bass response, perhaps something closer to the Harman target curve, but the LCD2C is very accurate nonetheless.

The midrange, and especially vocals are quite well defined, but do at times come across as having just a little bit of added harshness. It’s not a harsh sound per se, it just lacks that final step in refinement.
I’m not quite sure at what point in the frequency range the LCD2C starts to roll off, but I suspect it to be around 2kHz or so, perhaps a bit sooner. This roll-off comes at the expense of some upper treble details like the shimmering texture of cymbals, and so those tend to sound a bit more splashy than what I would consider to be natural. But overall, I wouldn’t call the midrange, or the treble for that a matter, an inherent weakness for the LCD2C

Imaging, however, tends to not be quite as good as I had hoped or expected. Perhaps it’s due to that treble roll-off that I don’t get quite the same special and directional queues as I do on other open-backs, but it’s still a step ahead of your average closed-back headphones.

Value

Judging the value of the LCD2C is a bit more difficult than what I had hoped for, in particular as I can’t really judge its sonic character against that of the LCD2. But, I don’t imagine that the sound would be a big departure, if at all. And so, the reduction of price from $1000 to $800 should already push the value up a notch or 2.
A more important comparison to make would be how the LCD2C compares to something like the HiFiMAN Sundara. Again, I don’t have the Sundara on hand to do a direct comparison, but form what I remember the Sundara has a brighter character in comparison and extracted details in the upper registers with more accuracy and presence. But overall it seems that they’re pretty similar, and it’ll mostly come down to a person’s taste in colouration, i.e slightly warm or slightly colder. But the Sundara is also, as near as makes no difference, $300 cheaper than the LCD2C.
Overall, I think that what would count in favour of the LCD2C is the build quality, and perhaps the name, as many people are rather brand-loyal to Audeze, and I don’t blame them. They make some pretty nice headphones, and I think if you’ve been waiting for a more budget-friendly version of the LCD2, then the LCD2C might just fit your needs perfectly.