Well the LCD3 have been at the CanJam show in Denver and I hear they stole the show!!
Here is one reviewers impression:
Speaking of über-performance, the Audeze LCD-3 is quite possibly the best dynamic headphone ever, to my ears. Whereas the best Sennheiser HD 800 rigs I've heard have--in my opinion, to my ears--trumped even the best I could wring from the likes of the HiFiMAN HE-6, HE-500, and Audeze LCD-2, the new LCD-3 is now my new top dynamic headphone choice. And, frankly, I'm going to see if I can side-by-side it with the Stax SR-009 here, not because I'm expecting it to necessarily beat the SR-009, but because I think this is one headphone that could give it a run. I already know there are some things it does better than the electrostatic headphone I've called my personal choice for best in the world.
Lest you think I've formed this impression in louder-than-ideal meet conditions, I want to make clear that I've absconded with the LCD-3 to my hotel room for two nights in a row, in addition to meet listening. I have now had two nearly sleepless nights with the Audeze LCD-3 balanced out of my favorite full-size-headphone-driving portable rig, consisting of iPod-->Cyper Labs Algorhythm Solo-->Ray Samuels SR-71b, driving the Audeze LCD-3 balanced via a Moon Audio Silver Dragon headphone cable. I missed dinner my first night here (and so had to make a late-night fast food run), and ordered in room service last night--and, again, I've hardly slept. Yes, I've been listening a lot.
I know--the LCD-3 looks like a modified LCD-2. It is not that. It's not just prettier wood and super-soft earpads. It's a whole new driver. The diaphragm is a lot lighter than the LCD-2's. The magnet structure is new. It has a sound that LCD-2 aficionados might call familial, but the performance is no doubt better, in every respect, to my ears. Simply put, you buy the LCD-2 and you get the LCD-2 (an outstanding headphone, by any measure). You buy the LCD-3, you get the LCD-3. I'm a guy who's purchased four LCD-2's (two rev 1's and two rev 2's), so I think I can say this with some amount of credence.
Starting with the bass, the impact and detail is simply otherworldly, and especially where I can't imagine even the SR-009 trumping it. One of Drew Baird's favorite test tracks is "Company" from Patricia Barber's Modern Cool album, and we were both simply floored by the LCD-3's physicality with Michael Arnopol's bass and Mark Walker's drums. No other headphone I can think of can wring this level of tremendous low-end corporeality without bloat--the sense of this wrung not only from energy, but detail. When you sense the finest of textures and timbre down low, combined with this driver's clear ability to convey physical impact...well, that's just standard-setting bass to my ears.
LCD-3 midrange performance is similarly stellar, with hints of bloom, but never unnatural, never exaggerated. And the treble soars, delicate, shimmering, extended. Whereas some thought the LCD-2 (rev 1) treble needed some lift and more presence, I do not expect anyone to level this complaint at the LCD-3. Throughout the audible range, the LCD-3 trumps the LCD-2 (and just about everything else) in terms of sheer detail retrieval, so its timbral accuracy throughout is freaky good. And it does all this in sibilance- and harshness-free Audeze fashion.
Am I buying one? What do you think? I can't imagine I'll be leaving this show without one, even if it takes an act of larceny to make it happen (which is essentially what I've now committed two nights in a row).
