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[Editor's Note: Through a long and tedious process it was found that the Focal Utopia and Audeze LCD-4 reviewed here at InnerFidelity in numerous articles were found to be not representative of currently manufactured product. This article is therefore not entirely indicative of our current impressions of this product. To get a complete understanding of our evaluation the reader should start with this summary article and work back through the articles leading up to our current understanding.]

For me, the story of the Audeze…

Sound Quality
A lot of good technology in these cans, but sound quality is where the rubber hits the road. Let's see how the LCD-4 faired in listening tests.

Bass - Most open headphone have troubles getting good bass extension; many sealed headphones get good extension, but few do so without some lack of coherent clarity. The LCD-4 pretty much nails it in the bass. Tight, clean, flat, and extended. Of course, I tend to like a little (3dB or so) bass elevation below 120Hz, but no open headphone that I know of can even draw a flat line below 100Hz, much less have a bit of boost…

I need to say this right at the top so it doesn't get missed: If you're an audio pro, you need to give these headphones a listen. It's incredibly rare to find a sealed headphone that is so on-target tonally and relatively open sounding. This will be the headphone I take to trade shows to tryout amps and upstream gear in a noisy environment. A truly awesome tool.

Now that I've spoiled the suspense I'll start from the beginning.

Mr. Speakers Ether C ($1499 and up with cable options)
The Mr. Speakers Ether C is a…

Sound Quality
The Mr. Speakers Ether C is hands-down the best sealed full-size headphone I've ever heard...easily. It sounds much more like an open headphone—there's no congestion; little unevenness; and it throws a decent image. Tonal neutrality is very good, only slightly lean sounding. Vocals are uncannily organic.

Before I tell you the modest ways in which this headphone misses the mark, I need to talk about my subjective experience with the Ether C. I have two sets of music I listen to for evaluative listening: One is a set of about 25 short (10-25 second) snippets I use…

Raw frequency response plots show a bass response that's fairly flat for a sealed headphone. Some wiggles in the bass due to pad bounce are quite normal in a sealed can. While I did hear the bass as being a tad soft, bass is quite well behaved and well extended. The Harman target response would want the bass to be elevated 3-5 dB below 150Hz, and I did hear these cans as a little bass-light.

Raw response above 300Hz shows an ever-increasing response to the peak at 3.5kHz; this is near ideal according…

Editor's note: After my review of the LCD-4, Audeze emailed me concerning discrepancies between my measurements and theirs. Numerous fairly technical emails were exchanged, I sent a number of Excel spreadsheets of my measurements for their use in comparisons, and there certainly does seem to be a discrepancy between measurements.

The folks at Audeze asked if they could write an article about these measurement observations and their response to my LCD-4 review. I said, "Of course, I've got plenty to learn on this subject." This article is Audeze's response.

How much do…

Audeze SINE ($449, $499 w/Lightning cable)
On-Ear sealed headphones are in a bit of a "bastard child" headphone category. They exist mainly for the convenience of small size for portable use, and no self-respecting headphone enthusiast thinks this is a category that promises great sound. Well...the Audeze SINE might just change all that. This is a really cool headphone.

My first thought upon opening the box was, "Man, this is a sexy little headphone! It's like a sports car for your head." This should come as no surprise since…

Sound Quality - Stock Cable
I always find it a treat to hear a headphone like I've never heard before. The Audeze SINE certainly fits that description. In my experience, on-ear headphone usually don't deliver a very good sense of coherence across the audio spectrum. Sometimes the bass is distorted and disconnected from the mid-range; sometimes the treble goes missing or sounds papery; sometimes the mid-range is too…

Raw frequency response plots show movement of the headphone on the head has little affect on response other than in the very low bass indicating a well designed on-ear pad. Raw response is near flat from 30Hz to 1kHz with very little in the way of fluctuation—this is an unusually even response for a headphone of this type.

Harman target response would have a 3dB boost in the bass below 150Hz and a gently rising response from 400Hz to 1kHz. In comparison the SINE is a little low in bass response and…

HiFiMAN Edition X ($1799)
HiFiMAN touts this headphone as great for direct play from portable devices—and I'll agree, it does play very well directly from a tablet or phone. Pretty nice not to have the burden and expense of having to carry around a portable amp, but at $1800 it doesn't really seem like a more affordable solution. And then, it's an open headphone while most portable cans are sealed to get rid of environmental noise. So...this is a flagship headphone for use with portable devices indoors? I'm not sure what to…