Audeze LCD2

You're not gonna pay for these and neither did I but they're the most fantastic listening experience you'll have all year.

For so long music has been tinny and compressed, what if there were a device that could add humanity and warmth to the sound?

Oh, don't go all technical on me, telling me you can never do better than the original source, all I'm telling you is these headphones are a revelation.

These are not fashion accessories. Not something you parade around in to demonstrate how hip and fashionable you are. Consider them the anti-Beats. Yes, while the Iovine/Dre company is touting their new "Studio" headphones in billboards all over town, Audeze is all about word of mouth. And if you're part of the chain, if you're listening, it's DEAFENING!

Do I expect you to spend a grand? When audio prices have been driven down over decades, when the component system has been replaced by the cheap all-in-one and then the iPod and phone, which many people get for free?

No.

But you should.

Look at this way. You spent multiple thousands back in the seventies, assuming you were alive and kicking back when audio quality last reigned, and the LCD2's are just a fraction of that.

Although you should buy an amp. Which will add a couple of hundred bucks.

But it's worth it!

Do you know what it's like to touch someone? How that feels? That's how these Audezes sound!

Oh, you pronounce that like "odyssey."

And I could explain the technology, but I won't. Needless to say, if you remember the Magneplanar speakers of yore, they're kind of like that. Which is to say they're not traditional. In other words, the spoils go to those who think out of the box.

I heard stuff I've never heard before. Even though I've listened to some of these tracks so many times I can sing them at the same length, a cappella.

Kind of like Dido's "Sand In My Shoes." It's the story of a vacation romance. Coming home and wondering if what was temporary should be permanent.

"On the road where the cars never stop going through the night"

Foreshadowing this line, positively hearable, positively visible, is the traffic! Right outside Dido's window! You really feel like you're in her flat in London. It's like a full screen movie, but it's only for you.

And when you get a device like this, you go back to all your favorites, to hear what you've missed. And it's less about sounds levitating from the detritus than the enriching of the sounds themselves. Suddenly you see the guitars. Sometimes even the fingers.

And then there's Stevie Nicks's "Secret Love." Dave Stewart is famous for thin productions. But listening on the Audezes you wonder if that's an incorrect perception. Because suddenly all the effects separate, instead of a wash of sound, there's suddenly detail. It's like you're sitting with him and the engineer at the board, twisting knobs, you can see them add the effects.

Then there's stuff so ancient you think nothing will be revealed. Kind of like Spirit's "So Little Time To Fly," off 1969's "Clear."

"Do you see the reasons why
There's very little time to fly"

It's the bass! You can hear it. As for Jay Ferguson's vocal...you can see him alone in the studio, singing. You can see the mixer grinning as he adds the final touches. All the elements separate, they're clearly defined. It's like putting on glasses after a lifetime of presbyopia.

And the funny thing is everything gets better in tech, everything comes into focus, but in music we've been going in the wrong direction, Beatle records sound better than the productions of today.

I know, I know, to expect the public to pay for this sound is an impossible dream. Good enough is good enough for most people. Then again, great technology descends from the stratosphere into everyday life. If people focus on it, if there's enough buzz.

I'd like to hear somebody say they bought Beats for the sound, I'd like to say someone purchased them and is raving about what they hear, but the truth is Beats are fashion items, no different from those women driving SUVs who never go offroad and don't even live where it snows. Or the guys leasing hybrids... Huh? They don't pay economic dividends for years! If Jimmy Iovine truly cared about sound he'd have ads with specs, but he doesn't want to take that risk, he'd rather go through the backdoor, and it's a start, but it's so far from the finish line it's a joke.

Then again, there's no cash for these detailed productions. They're expensive. And when you make all your money live do you want to waste all that cash and time perfecting that which no one will ever hear?

But if you get it right today, like in the case of Spirit above, it will last until tomorrow.

I can finally make out lyrics that heretofore have been impossible to decipher.

And I know reading about sound is like talking about pictures, it doesn't capture the essence.

But these Audezes do!

They're huge. With wooden earcups. Which require oiling.

And it's not only acoustic and old stuff, I pulled up Eminem's "Without Me" and all that stuff on the bottom, underneath Marshall, tightens up and becomes defined, it's no longer a wash of sound. And you can hear that Marshall's voice is doubled. And just like they paid Alicia Keys to use a BlackBerry while she was an iPhone addict and continued to use the Apple device I bet my life that if Jimmy and Dre heard these Audezes they'd discard their Beats and never ever listen to them again.

And the problem is too much of this expensive stuff is purchased by tweaks who are more into the gear than the music. They quote specs and tech and your eyes glaze over and you move on. There aren't enough music fanatics exposed to this great stuff and spreading the word. That's what happened with stereo in the sixties and seventies. You heard it and you bought it. Your buddy had a component rig, you wanted one too.

So I'm just making you aware of these Audezes. To let you know what the bleeding edge is about. I kept hearing how great they were, I truly didn't believe it.

And then I heard it.

P.S. There's even a better model, the LCD3, at 2k. It's hard for me to believe there could be anything better than the LCD2, but they're gonna send me a pair so I can find out.

P.P.S. This is not a commercial. These things are really that good.

P.P.P.S. They're so good even MP3s are a revelation!

http://audeze.com/products/headphones/lcd2


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