"Audeze is professional Made in U.S.A. recording studio equipment, not to be confused with consumer rubbish dragged-in from the Orient. When you consider this, the ultra-low price of the LCD-1 is even more shocking. These are the least expensive headphones Audeze makes; you're taking advantage of everything they've learned through years of innovations and patents in planar magnetic headphones. Other people fall all over themselves paying $4,000 for Audeze's LCD-4. It's like getting a more-durable Ferrari brand-new for just $15,000; these are all designed by the same engineer and made in the same California factory as the LCD-4 — and these LCD-1 fold for travel:"
"Even though I own the exotic $3,500 STAX SR-009 and STAX SR-007 MK2 Omega II headphones which require dedicated high-voltage Class-A solid-state and tube amplifiers to bias and power them, I almost never use them because it's too much bother plugging everything in and the STAX are too delicate to carry around. I treat my STAX like baby birds moving them (the SR-009 come in a wooden box made from 3,000-year-old gyojiiwood, for instance), while these Audeze just pop in my backpack and plug into all my Apple gear and sound about as good with zero effort!."
"The best audiophile headphones are operated on the open-back principle. That makes for a less fatiguing experience and delivers the best sound as it’s not bouncing around inside a closed ear-cup creating strange reverberations. It also means you get broad, expansive soundscapes perfect for open-world gaming."
