Closer Examination

The case might have received a downgrade from the LCD-2 before being taken back up with newer batches of the LCD-2 Classic, but the cable remains the same. Audeze is including a fine cable here, one that sells for $149 by itself. This is a single-ended cable that begins with a 1/4" (6.35 mm) stereo TRS plug—you know it is serious business time when most consumer sources will require an adapter. The plug is gold-plated for oxidation resistance and leads to a substantially sized housing through which we see the relatively thick 20 AWG (0.8 mm diameter) OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) copper that should have much higher purity and larger single crystal size (more on this here if you are interested). Four braided strands separate into two each past the in-line splitter and then go on to the output connector housing where we see more sheathing added for protection and to mark the left (black) and right (red) channels. The connectors on the headphones are 4-pin mini-XLR, which is a deliberate choice that has worked well for Audeze in the ~15 years since the LCD-2 was conceptualized. The 4-pin design makes for a reliable and sturdy connector with a locking mechanism that prevents it from working loose, as well as the flexibility to switch to, say, a balanced 4-pin XLR cable rather than the 1/4" TRS plug. Audeze also sells a much more expensive replacement cable that costs nearly as much as the complete LCD-2 Classic package!


Now we get to what you all have come here for! Once again, I should begin with some context for the LCD-2 itself, and how we got here with the LCD-2 Classic. The original LCD-2 from 2008 has had changes over time, in particular with the tuning of the drivers, the ear pads, and the packaging. They have always had a wood composition for the frame. The biggest change, however, is what people like to refer to as the pre-Fazor and post-Fazor periods, which more or less line up with the production during and after 2014. Fazors, and there is a whole page dedicated to them, are effectively patented wave guides that help reduce sound wave interference and scattering. Some like the pre-Fazor sound signature, while others swear by the technology. Since it doesn't have Fazors, you don't have to worry about making this choice with the LCD-2C, though. The other big change is clearly the omission of the rosewood frame currently available with the LCD-2, but also a genuine leather option for the headband and ear pads. The Audeze LCD-2 Classic only comes as a leather-free option, meaning it actually uses so-called egg protein "leather." It does not feel fake at all, and I don't see this as an issue given it is a deliberate choice to hit a lower price point.

So instead of wood, Audeze has used delrin rings that make for a much more stealthy look. Well, at least until you realize the actual drivers and thus also that the size of the headphones is the same. In a purely physical sense, these are the biggest set of headphones I have here. There is a decent decrease in mass going from wood to delrin, but the LCD-2 Classic at ~545 grams is still a heavyweight among headphones. This means the headband and any support structure is critical for the user experience, and we see a two-piece steel band with a supporting faux leather strap underneath. This is not like the implementation we saw with the Philips Fidelio X2HR or X3; there is no spring-load on the support strap stretching to accommodate your head. Instead, the band is wider and already curved with a steel suspension design to go around your head and get support by directly touching the top of your head, as well as side points along the frame and ear pads. You may also want to pull the support strap down and only use the metal band on a headphone stand since there is plenty of flex to do so and you avoid shaping the faux leather strap in an unwanted manner. As with most parts used here, you get replacements or even the leather options from the Audeze store, where we see the leather-free options cost the same as the leather versions.


Ah, the famous Audeze yoke rods return with the LCD-2 Classic. I suppose that is not a surprise in itself since only the newer, even less expensive LCD-1 deviates from this formula by going with the more common pivot yoke approach. The yoke rods are screwed into the delrin rings holding the ear cups and go through a plastic base that holds the head band and strap screwed in. On the outside of this base unit is the Audeze logo, and then we see how the frame comes into play by offering a pivot point with the head band itself. The yoke rods have clear indents in them for the user to change how much play there is on the head band by pushing them in or not as seen above. This then changes the radius of curvature for the head band, which in turn helps accommodate heads of various sizes similar to a metal head band clicking in or out as per usual with most other headphones.


This is the inner surface of the base from above, which more clearly shows the screws in the headband and strap assembly. Stitching quality is exceptional throughout, and a closer look also reveals that the leather-free option resembles the natural option well. From the yokes, we head down to the delrin ring frame with multiple pivot points along the top and sides to hold the two ear cups in place. This allows for a larger degree of freedom along two dimensions than most others, which comes in handy for a good fit considering the size of the ear cups.


There is a lower degree of freedom on the third axis, but you can still rotate things if needed. That said, the ear cups are absolutely massive in order to host the 106 mm transducers for the planar magnetic driver mechanism in each, so your ears will be swimming comfortably inside either way. Notice also the shape of these new ear pads being thicker at the top and tapering towards the bottom. This is again on purpose to allow the ear cups to more naturally sit on the side of your head based on the curved headband, thus alleviating stress at the top that would be more than at the bottom. The ear-pad design also has a significant effect on the final frequency response of the headphones. Except for the name, the face-plate design appears to be unchanged from the LCD-2. It is screwed into the frame using four Phillips head screws in a gunmetal gray color that adds contrast against the black surface, but not to where it is distracting. This is clearly an open-back design with a mesh going through the face plate, although there is the LCD-2 Closed Back that uses a solid plate in addition to a few other tweaks behind it.


As mentioned before, housing and ear cups don't use Fazors, and the ear pads are currently only on a leather-free option on the LCD-2C. This means there is little to gain from doing first-party pad replacements or mods unless you absolutely want to go the leather route for which there is of course an Audeze store link. At this point, I should mention that I am extremely pleased by all the parts undergoing wear-and-tear being available for purchase and easily replaceable with the use of simple tools, and Audeze even providing service guides for these. What we have here are extremely comfortable foam-filled pads that can easily be removed, but I am not going to do so because they are held in placed by glue and tape I would have to replace at a price that is more than some headphones cost. The liner is also quite comfortable, and underneath lies the actual planar magnetic technology used to drive the LCD-2 Classics, which we will discuss more shortly.


One of the things the LCD-2 Classic has taken from the original LCD-2 is the connector housings, which the current LCD-2 productions have had updated to a different design. I like this one more than the other since it is following a similar ID than the other industrial-style construction elements throughout. If you have not seen a 4-pin mini-XLR connector before, you certainly have now. There is a steel locking ring, which the locking collar from the male connector on the cable clips through to ensure there is no confusion on pin orientation and mating. Once done, the connectors click together but still leave a lot of the housing exposed on either end. Just be sure to match the left and right channels with their respective connectors, which the red tape on the right connector will help with.


Once done, you are good to go! Well, provided you have a source with a 1/4" (6.35 mm) plug anyway. With the cable 1.9 m long, you won't have to manage it, and also won't struggle to reach a DAC/amp stack further away before, say, settling into your reclining chair and putting these on. I do not (yet) have a source with a 1/4" connector, so I turned to my Sennheiser adapter (0.3 Ω resistance) instead. The cable is also quite low in impedance, with my Fluke 110 true RMS DMM struggling to pick up more than 0.15 Ω consistently from end to end. Part of this could be the inset pins in the 4-pin mini-XLR connectors, but 0.15 Ω is not out of the realm of possibility, either.