Audeze LCD-1 Headphones Review

The Audeze LCD-1 are a sleek and modern-looking pair of over-ear reference headphones. They're quite small and stylish compared to most open-back reference headphones and are composed of dense matte-black plastic with leather ear cups and headband padding. Their ear cups swivel so the headphones lay flat, or you can also fold them in for transport.

These headphones are lightweight and quite comfortable. They clamp fairly well, but don't feel too tight on the head, and should be comfortable enough for long listening sessions. While their ear cups are smaller than many other audiophile-oriented headphones, they should fit around most ears without any problems.

These headphones don't have any controls.

The Audeze LCD-1 are decently breathable thanks to their open-back design. The grills on the rear of the ear cups allow for decent airflow, but their over-ear design won't be as breathable as in-ears.

While the Audeze LCD-1 aren't the most portable, they're still less bulky than most open-back reference headphones. The ear cups fold in to allow them to fit into their included hard case, making them easy to stow in a bag or purse.

The Audeze LCD-1 come with a hard case for transporting them that feels well-made and should provide good protection against light drops and minor water exposure.

The build quality of these headphones is very good. Despite their lightweight build, they feel quite sturdy and their dense plastic and metal construction should be able to withstand some small accidental bumps or drops. Their weakest point is where each ear cups swivel, but even that still feels quite solid.

The Audeze LCD-1 are decently stable on the head, and only move slightly around the ears when you shake your head. While they're unlikely to fall off during light movement, they may not be the best for more strenuous workouts. Overall, however, these headphones are designed for use around the house, where their stability shouldn't be an issue.

• Audeze LCD-1 headphones
• 7-foot Audio cable.
• 1/8" to 1/4" adapter
• Case
• Manuals

The Audeze LCD-1 have a fairly well-balanced sound profile. While unfortunately their low-bass is recessed, this is common with open-back headphones. On the bright side, the accuracy of the mid and treble ranges are excellent, with only some minor dips in mid-treble, though they shouldn't be audible to most.

The frequency response consistency of the Audeze LCD-1 is excellent. This means that you should experience the same sound reproduction every time that you use the headphones, and different people will experience the sound the same way as well.

The bass accuracy of the Audeze LCD-1 is great. Like most open-back headphones, they're lacking in low-bass but are very accurate for the rest of the ranges. While our unit had a slight mismatch in the bass range, it's in a low enough range that it likely wouldn't be noticeable during regular listening sessions. It's also worth noting that L/R imaging is specific to individual units, so your unit may not have this same issue.

The mid-range accuracy of these headphones is great. They follow the neutral target curve almost perfectly and are only slightly overemphasized in the low-mid range, though this likely won't be enough to make an audible difference to most people.

The treble accuracy of the Audeze LCD-1 is great with most of their peaks and dips in high enough frequencies that likely won't be too audible to most people. However, their mid-treble range is recessed for most of the range, which may make some leads and vocals sound slightly dull and lacking in brightness.

The peaks and dips performance of the Audeze LCD-1 is very good. Most of the peaks and dips are in higher frequency ranges, which shouldn't be audible to most people. Unfortunately, most of the mid-treble range is recessed, which may make leads and vocals lack in brightness.

The stereo imaging of these headphones is excellent. The GD graph is below the audibility threshold for almost the entire frequency range, except for in low-bass where our unit had a slight L/R driver mismatch. However, this mismatch was in a low enough range where it's likely to be less noticeable to most people. It's also worth noting that these measurements are valid for our unit only and yours may perform differently.

These headphones have decent soundstage performance. The PRTF graph shows a good amount of pinna interaction so the soundstage will sound quite large. Unfortunately, the PRTF distance is quite low, which means that although these are open-back headphones and may feel more spacious sounding than closed-back headphones, their soundstage won't be perceived to be located outside of the listener's head to create a speaker-like experience.

The weighted harmonic distortion of the Audeze LCD-1 is good. It's within good limits throughout the entire range, and while the treble frequencies are a bit higher, this shouldn't be audible to most people, and audio should still sound clear and pure. There's also no big jump under heavier loads, which is good.

Like all open-back headphones, the Audeze LCD-1 have bad noise isolation by design. They're open on the back so they let in all outside sounds, and you'll be able to hear everything around you unless you turn the volume of your music up. This is great if you want to be able to stay aware of your surroundings, or want an open listening experience.

The leakage performance of these headphones is bad, but this is by design. Their open-back design means that audio leaks right out, and people close to you will likely hear what you're listening to, even at moderate volumes.

These headphones don't have a microphone.

These headphones don't have a microphone.

The Audeze LCD-1 are passive, wired-only headphones that don't require a battery.

These headphones don't have a dedicated companion app.

The Audeze LCD-1 are wired-only headphones that can't be used with Bluetooth.

The wired connection of these headphones means they don’t have latency issues. This means you won’t have any delay between audio and the image from when watching video content or gaming.

These headphones are wired-only.

The Audeze LCD-1 come with a 7-foot cable that plugs into each ear cup, and ends in a standard 1/8" plug. The cable itself is braided and feels well made.

These headphones can be plugged into the controller of a PS4, but due to their lack of a microphone, will be audio-only. They can also be plugged into a computer, but again will be audio-only.

These headphones can be plugged into the controller of an Xbox One, but due to their lack of a microphone, will be audio-only.

These headphones don't have a dock.