Because I mostly work in recording studios where headphone leakage is forbidden, I've never cared about or have gotten into the (audiophile) world of open-back headphones at all.

Right away, I found the LCD-1 headphones to be lightweight at 250-grams, comfortable on my head while still making a good seal, and perfect for gaming, mixing music, or just relaxing and listening to music.

Most headphones use dynamic drivers with a conical-shaped diaphragm attached to a voice coil that moves back and forth like a piston within a magnetic field. Whereas a planar driver's diaphragm is flat with the voice coil embedded within it. The advantages of a freely moving flat diaphragm over dynamic headphones are: more accuracy in responding to the audio input signal plus an overall thinner design is possible for the drivers/transducers.

Typically headphones with planar magnetic drivers reproduce down to 20Hz; most dynamic headphones start rolling off starting at about 50Hz.

The LCD-1s use N50 Neodymium magnets for their 90-mm transducers and are capable of more than 120dB SPL with a frequency range of 10Hz to 20kHz. Total harmonic distortion is stated as less than 0.1% at 100dB SPL. Their operating impedance is 13.5-ohms and up to 5-watts of audio power handling capability.

My pair of LCD-1 headphones came folded up in a nylon semi-rigid carrying case and I absolutely love the very soft lambskin leather ear pads and headband. Sadly, most of my headphone collection the ear pads and headbands are a synthetic material and falling to pieces due to (I assume) sweaty ears and greasy hair product! I look forward to seeing how these LCD-1s hold up over time in my mix studio!

The LCD-1s uses a single cable that plugs into your headphone amp but is split into two separate unmarked stereo cables each with mini-TRS plugs for both the left and right transducers. Both L/R transducers have stereo TRS input jacks that accept the stereo signal but are wired so that the left transducer (marked "L") and the right (marked "R") get their proper signals--no matter which cables are plugged into either driver. I'm told this clever idea is a feature of all the Audeze headphones. Love it! It's idiot-proof!

For my initial appraisal, I tried four different power amps. I tried two different Aphex Systems personal headphone boxes: the Model 454 and the newer HeadPod 4. I also plugged them into my musicians' cue system that uses a Simon Systems CB-4 Cue Box powered by a P1500 Transnova 85-watt Hafler stereo power amp, and finally I tried them on Benchmark Media's HPA4 Headphone and Line Amp I had here for a Mix Magazine review. All worked fine but the lower powered Aphex models lacked considerable bass while my Hafler-powered Simon CB-4 system had no problem at all. The HPA4 sounded glorious for the LCD-1 in all respects!

Audeze LCD-1 Headphones Carrying Case

I put the LCD-1 to a ("fresh ears") test first thing in the morning at my mix room by quickly comparing the sound quality of what I heard coming from my studio monitors in an acoustically treated control room and, at the same monitoring volume, any differences listening on the LCD-1s. I put up a mix I have been working on in Pro Tools--a song I knew well with full-range sound and good transients.

Using just my CB-4 system I found the level of detail a little better than over my monitors. Stereo width and the scrutiny of detail are immediately hearable as compared to the monitor speakers--and I expect that from headphones. The deep sub bass of particular song was consistent back and forth between the monitors and the LCD-1 headphones. Listening to my mix product on headphones has always been an important part of music mixing for me and the LCD-1s worked well for this check.

I was worried about the 'spill' from the open backs but, unless you have them super loud or not on your head properly, the sound leaking out was minimal depending on how close or far away the nearest microphones that would pick up the leakage were placed. I probably would not give these to a vocalist who sings softly and close to a large diaphragm condenser microphone. That's too bad because they sounded great on a wide variety of music genres and at different volume levels.

So I am factored into my very first pair of open-back, planar driver headphones, and it's an awesome experience! The Audeze LCD-1 headphones sell for $399 MSRP.