"Euclid proves that [Audeze] are still one of the ‘greats’ of the industry" says Headphone Guru
May 04, 2021
"It was a late spring’s eve in 2011 as I sat in my chair doing research on headphones that I first happened upon the ‘greats’. This idea, so intuitive and entwined, to each hobby or industry and representing the undisputed goliaths. And it was on that fateful day that I arrived on Head-Fi and learned of Audeze and their LCD-2. That was the day that sparked off a revolution that almost to the exact day a decade later, still remains as a starting point to my journey as an audiophile. Over the course of the next few months, I would have to decide on questions of closed back or open back, and on dynamic or planar drivers. A decade later, it appears this question has reappeared for me. "
"It was a late spring’s eve in 2011 as I sat in my chair doing research on headphones that I first happened upon the ‘greats’. This idea, so intuitive and entwined, to each hobby or industry and representing the undisputed goliaths. And it was on that fateful day that I arrived on Head-Fi and learned of Audeze and their LCD-2. That was the day that sparked off a revolution that almost to the exact day a decade later, still remains as a starting point to my journey as an audiophile. Over the course of the next few months, I would have to decide on questions of closed back or open back, and on dynamic or planar drivers. A decade later, it appears this question has reappeared for me. "
"Contrary to what you may think with its all-aluminum housing, the Euclid’s fared well for multi-hour usage and stayed snug within my ears. While this is one of Audeze’s lightest headphones, I initially had concerns that the aluminum housing and its weight would be problematic compared to earphones using mixed material construction to be lighter. But hours later and I found that they stay in well and can last me around 2 hours or so before I get any sort of fatigue (your mileage may vary). "
"The Audeze Euclid features a wide soundstage with effortless neutrality packing fantastic mid to high range clarity. It’s accurate with the tonality and timbre of wind and string instruments and has an upper mid pronunciation giving it a bit of sparkle there. The general signature can be described as light and with a present but fairly minimal bass response. The vocals suit females more due to its flat mid-range clarity with upper mid boost. I found male vocalists to be decent but the Euclid does miss out on reproduction of the lower-vocal range making it less fitting for husky and deeper voices. The duo between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga with the song “Shallow” is a good example of this. The earphone can also be sibilant and have a scratchy upper range at times."
"For one, compared to say an IEM with multiple BA drivers, I found the Euclid to offer a more cohesive sound that flows quite naturally. On the other hand, BA IEMs can sometimes have a stitched-together frequency response paradigm. The light naturalness I remarked above, I think, can be attributed to this. However, on the other end of the spectrum, the usage of a single driver without the crossovers that a BA setup would have, caused the Euclid to not be able to handle ‘every’ scenario thrown at it. Complex modern electronic/metal songs often cause the upper mid-range to dissolve creating a mesh of sound. This scenario was not common but when it did occur, was noticeable. "
"Overall, the sonic performance of the Euclid was ‘excellent’ in what it was tuned for. Wide soundstages, high quality recordings with lots of detailed instruments, and higher octave vocalists. Audeze has achieved phenomenal performance given that they have a ‘real’ full planar magnetic driver within a closed housing. To my knowledge, the other planar magnetic IEM offerings on the market all had to feature an open to semi-open porting to achieve their desired results. Audeze’s engineering and tuning capabilities are thoroughly exemplified through the Euclid"
"The Audeze Euclid is a great first offering from Audeze in the realm of closed-back planar-magnetic IEMs. It features the ability to perform at the level of my full-size open back planars despite being a fraction of the size and is able to accurately replicate a wide soundstage. A decade on, and despite venturing into a completely new field and application. Audeze’s Euclid proves that they are still one of the ‘greats’ of the industry. Packing engineering innovation and the execution to pull it off the Euclid offers the versatility of owning a single product that is small and portable in size, adaptable thanks to its MMCX platform, and closed back for isolation, but with a world-class soundstage. I would like to see Audeze continue to develop this platform to where we may one day get an IEM with more low-frequency range reproduction. But for now, it’s a hell of a start. "
Artists may receive discounted Audeze product in exchange for interviews and opinions. Audeze does not solicit specific outcomes as part of any artist agreement.