Looking for presets that sound good in Audeze LCD-X headphones

bxlgotham

bxlgotham

Inspired
First, this is for practice, noodling, and other creative pursuits during hours at which the amp/FX3 just cannot be effectively appreciated, even with attenuator (in case of amps).

I have been struggling hard to get sounds with presets that sound pleasing at all to play to through these phones. These phones are fantastic, and I can listen to more recordings than I can count through them. However, I admit I have not been any more successful using them even with my JMP-1 than I have with the FX3. I have tried turning on some of the Apollo plugins in real-time in the console, to help push the signal in the right direction (compression and some other simulated pres). But end day I am just not feeling it.

I should add that whenever I set any aspect of the block to get some fat gain-y tone, the phones start fizzing as if its clipping. I don't think it's the phones, since I can listen to very loud signal music into them without any issue and I don't hear the problem in my Adam A7x.

Anyone have any favorite presets for headphones of similar quality/characteristics? I realize it's not really the intended use, so I don't blame the Axe.

UPDATE: It's definitely the Apollo X4 at fault. I plugged the phones directly into the AXE and problem is gone and things sounds great. I had the FX3 going into X4 via optical cable. Something I must be doing wrong on how it's getting decoded?
 
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Glad to see the Update, cos I was surprised you were having problems with the Audeze. I have the LCD 2 with Fazors and they are the endgame for me. Just wish they didn't have those dual mini XLR connectors. I have to clip the cable to my guitar strap to keep them out of the way.
 
The Axe-FX III's headphone amp has a very high output impedance (35 Ohms or so). From my quick search it appears that your LCD-X headphones have an impedance of 22 Ohms. This means that low frequency damping factor will be very poor. If you get any weird sounding clipping in the low frequency range then I suggest you try an external headphone amplifier with an output impedance of less than 2 Ohms.
 
OrganicZed said:
The Axe-FX III's headphone amp has a very high output impedance (35 Ohms or so). From my quick search it appears that your LCD-X headphones have an impedance of 22 Ohms. This means that low frequency damping factor will be very poor. If you get any weird sounding clipping in the low frequency range then I suggest you try an external headphone amplifier with an output impedance of less than 2 Ohms.
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Any headphone amplifier you recommend? I know nothing about them. Thanks for this, would never have even guessed that.
 
bxlgotham said:
Any headphone amplifier you recommend? I know nothing about them. Thanks for this, would never have even guessed that.
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If it sounds good then you probably don’t need anything extra. If you want to get an amplifier anyway to see if it makes a difference I like the ones made by Schiit Audio. They are a good value and have solid specifications. I use the Magnius model because it has XLR inputs and allows a pass through to my studio monitors as well.
 
Small world… I actually bought a the LCD-X a while back and ran into it distorting weirdly if I turned it up beyond a moderate volume. Totally due to impedance as Zed mentioned. I ended up returning them and buying the LCD-2s, which have high enough impedance. In hindsight, buying an amp would have been a better idea.

I ended up buying an amp anyways for another set of headphones and I actually have the Schiit Magnius that Zed mentioned. It’s performed great for me, wasn’t too expensive, and also has XLR inputs.
 
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OrganicZed said:
The Axe-FX III's headphone amp has a very high output impedance (35 Ohms or so). From my quick search it appears that your LCD-X headphones have an impedance of 22 Ohms. This means that low frequency damping factor will be very poor. If you get any weird sounding clipping in the low frequency range then I suggest you try an external headphone amplifier with an output impedance of less than 2 Ohms.
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Actually, these are a little different because they have planar magnetic drivers. The impedance affecting damping is for dynamic drivers (normal headphones). Planar magnetic don’t need to have impedance X times higher than the source like dynamics do. They do, however, need to not be lower impedance than the source or they are unable to produce enough volume. I think technically it is the headphone amp distorting because the load does not have enough impedance, but I don’t fully understand it.
 
giantslayer said:
Small world… I actually bought a the LCD-X a while back and ran into it distorting weirdly if I turned it up beyond a moderate volume. Totally due to impedance as Zed mentioned. I ended up returning them and buying the LCD-2s, which have high enough impedance. In hindsight, buying an amp would have been a better idea.

I ended up buying an amp anyways for another set of headphones and I actually have the Schiit Magnius that Zed mentioned. It’s performed great for me, wasn’t too expensive, and also has XLR inputs.
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Ah so the Schiit Magnius with the LCD-X should take the result to where I want it eh? I'll give it a go, thanks.
 
bxlgotham said:
Ah so the Schiit Magnius with the LCD-X should take the result to where I want it eh? I'll give it a go, thanks.
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Yes. The impedance is low enough on the Schiit so it should work fine. I remember the LCD-X sounding really good, just couldn’t get enough volume plugging it into the axe fx headphone amp.
 
Back to this issue. I never got the headphone amps and have been running the Axe via SPDIF into X2, and using headphone jack of the X2. The issue is fizzy sounding highs, when playing strings hard, or the higher strings open even. I have it set to 48khz in the UA. Should I have the cab sim block off? It sounds worse I I do.

UPDATE: Interestingly turning the power amp OFF 95% solves this fizz in the highs. Hmmm..
 
It will not adress the fizz/high end you mention but adding a little bit of UAD Ocean Way in Console makes headphones/electric guitar dilemma much more tolerable for my ears.

And for the highend you can give a shot to multiband comp block…with the cost of some added latency , though you have way less latency with SPDIF(1 less stage of A/D conversion) , and headphones….so should not be a problem.

You can set it so that it grabs that fizz/high end only when its there and leaves your tone alone when you play softer or lower registers.
 
bxlgotham said:
Would the Mackie HM-400 also work for my Audeze LCD-X as well as the suggested headphone amp above?
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This will rock your world the singxer for the money

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363958502294?hash=item54bd9e0396:g:QXoAAOSwAGNinXJg&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAwIDe/SQgD3qBPPpunLYLgs59pLQ0WOXqLkFztW3mM6xvcBnjGRui9tp3x79boVQXqZX5WXaE5Zlguz0iDjYbLxFRTbL9I8o9PllexhAR1eZOg4eLcPTCPiLUXSb0cOqiPlBHhbpyfa9uV1YtikwuQ4bslFPonoZ10MR48QpwrE9YJmx1zWtHHomYpc23Kn/iBFrvWJxOcCbmekjHmUgA6CwzkIbJWln6m2hXtSMMHtDYtpUHSo9I9QCR2MSdIINVOg==|tkp:Bk9SR_y6s93rYA

Check out video reviews on ZReviews on youtube - both reviewed and both are still his main go to amps - lately he has added the Topping A90 Discrete to the top of his list and hes reviewed a ton of amps

I also have this a Xduoo MT604 paired with the Singxer - the Xduoo MT604 is great also I use it to warm up the sound more warmth or digital depending on which one is turned up more

Didn't add video links due to bad language he uses
 
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