Audeze LCD-1 vs HIFIMAN Sundara Headphone Review and Comparison!

[@autoexec5367]

I really love this comparison. Already have the Sundara and the LCD-1 keeps haunting me from time to time.

[@cooloutac]

they are terrible and more money. not just bad soundstage, but also bad imaging. hifiman is pretty kickass in all categories.

[@autoexec5367]

@@cooloutac end up getting the 660S and with a balanced cable + THX 789 I couldn't be more happier

[@cooloutac]

@@autoexec5367 wow nice. I heard the 660s doesn't have a great soundstage. But it is the best imaging for over ear you can get.

[@autoexec5367]

@@cooloutac the realism is insane. good thing that soundstage isn't one of my top priorities but imaging is. :)

[@Barncore]

Really appreciate the level of detail. Thanks

[@BurningBushPedagogy]

Thank God a serious review, without unnecessary jokes and talks that dont even relate, this was pefect, even mention what we might need them for, no review even cares to guess what we want them for, I want for mixing and mastering, But now if you can compare or tell me which is better in my case HD600 or LCD 1, OF COURSE I subscribed to a chanel who means business

[@rigsrm]

hey that was actually a REALLY REALLY good review. adding you to my list of headphone reviewers. thank you!

[@MattBorchert]

I don't really review headphones anymore, but appreciate the feedback! :)

[@Rock2005Star]

Very informative comparison vid! Love the Fleetwood Mac song choice as well. 👌 I'll prob go with the LCD-1s. Seems like they have more of what I'm looking for since I listen to rock mostly.

[@ChrisKeyman]

Hello! Did you get them? How do they sound ?

[@bmt_techno]

Great video !

[@Hyouriku]

Thank you for this great comparison. I am currently seeking for my large soundstage (as I am really happy with my closed ATH-MSR7 SE) so I will probably gonna get the Sundara's. But since you really recommended a good DAC and Amplifier, I will probably have to look after some good but rather budget ones. Can you please maybe recommend a good combination of these with a budget of around 150€?

[@jimawhitaker]

Have you tried USB audio player pro and the morphit plugin. It can make headphone you listening to sound like another headphone... I like the Sundara morphed to the Sennheiser HD800S... sounds great.

[@MattBorchert]

I have not, but it sounds like it's just EQ'ing the headphones. You can definitely dramatically alter the sound via EQ, although some headphones take EQ much better than others.

[@aco2518]

All these failures are quite interesting. Never had a problem with my Sundara. After many months it looks pretty much new. Not to mention I've dropped it twice on tile flooring lol. Still works great!

[@MattBorchert]

Nice! I was told HifiMan fixed the driver issues on these.

[@Akirilus]

The issues are probably not with the driver on Sundara, they are likely with the connections or cables inside the drivers, I mean really the driver can't fail it's very straightforward tech here. I actually recommend their he400se, they're rly good, bass is actually really good on them and they are quite well built. KZbinr Matt, frankly... it doesn't look like you took care of your Sundaras, but I may be wrong. Hifiman is cheap, it is literally the cheapest build in the world for any of their products. I bet they struggle with money despite this because think about warranties, they probably get a huge amount of returned products. I think both audeze and hifiman suck as companies, they are both greedy, but audeze is probably better overall for normal consumers, not audiophiles or whatever.

[@badgermcbadger1968]

hifiman has really good sound quality for the price though. the sundara has almost no competition in the 350$ market besides the hd660s which is definitely not for everyone

[@1905milosz]

Will the sundara headphones be a good option for astell Kern sr15 or i need something stronger to drive them?

[@giovandyfernando6459]

Which Dekoni pad you r using for the Sundara?

[@MattBorchert]

Hybrid Elites - amzn.to/3n6FcVY

[@giovandyfernando6459]

@@MattBorchert 👌

[@ArjitMehra]

Great comparison! One thing I don't see many people talk about is about how do these perform while watching movies? I currently own Dali Spektor 1's with a Sonodyne Sub(absolutely love it), but since they're a bit too good, I keep getting complaints regarding the sound, and would like to switch over to a headphone setup. I love the thumping bass, so which would be the better pick?

[@MattBorchert]

Both have solid base, but the base on the Sundaras will likely be much larger and more expansive. Example, sound like it's coming being heard in a much larger room. The LCD-1s will still have strong bass, but that bass will likely feel a little bit more confined. I'd describe the Sundaras as being more theatrical, and the LCD-1s as being more analytical. Down to your preference between the two.

[@tomdavis6371]

Buy the Sundara. I have owned both but currently own just the Sundara because the LCD-1 is a cheaply built and crappy sounding headphone. I love Audeze overall, I own the EL-8 and LCD-2 but these cans cost a bunch more than the Sundara. The Sundara aren't going to break and the Dekoni pads will make this an ever better pair of headphones.

[@OptLab]

I listened to both for a short time. I thought the LCD1 sounded funky. The Sundara sounded natural, and imo was impressed by the overall range it delivers

[@teemuvesala9575]

Never buy Hifiman ever again. Horrible quality... You have to be stupid to buy them. Even 30 dollar cheap gaming headsets have better build quality than most Hifiman 400+ dollar headphones its SAD.

[@ivayloivanov3744]

Don't know about HIFIMan, but LCD-1 looks cheaply built compared for example with DT1990 or DT990. And the leather pads for LCD-1 cost 80$ . I am talking purely about build quality.

[@teemuvesala9575]

@@ivayloivanov3744 Never buy these boutique brand trash. Stick with Beyerdynamic or Sennheiser imo. Beyerdynamic just released DT 700 Pro X and DT 900 Pro X and they seem sturdy build too. Honestly also Sennheiser HD 650 which I have is very well built despite its mostly plastic. People have 10 year old HD 650s and they still work and haven't broken. So apparently even plastic can be good if you use high quality plastic and design the construction well.

[@ivayloivanov3744]

@@teemuvesala9575 Just found about some guy on gearspace forums who bought Audeze LCD-1 and they literally broke after one week while putting them off his head.

[@HansWurst-eg8xm]

Fantastic review! Focus is on the right spots, at least for me. I think I'll go for the audezes and try to get rid of the squeeking with some graphite. Works well as a lubricant and doesn't react chemically with the plastic... as far as I know.

[@ChrisKeyman]

Hello! Did you get them? How do they sound ?

[@HansWurst-eg8xm]

@@ChrisKeyman sorry,I didn't. I found my old sine again, which I thought I had lost (long Story). I pimped them with overear cups and am quite happy with the sound, especially voices, violins, acoustic guitars sound very natural on them in my ears. I don't like the heavy weight and the earcups are too flimsy - not really portable. Also the cable was broken and it's really difficult to find affordable ones that fit - original isn't good, but 40€ something. Now I use it with the apple cable, connected to USB C via Anker adapter, which I am very happy with. So I'll keep mine for a while and maybe go later for something lighter.

[@JefferyQuinoa]

seeing the driver issue horror stories on reddit drew me away from Sundaras

[@electroelysium2281]

The revised version (2020) has fixed all those problems.

[@JefferyQuinoa]

@@electroelysium2281 should have told me last week I got the hd6xx

[@electroelysium2281]

@@JefferyQuinoa The Sundara is a big step up from the 6XX in terms of technicality and detail retrieval. It's really a better headphone overall. But the 6XX has the Sennheiser sound signature that I love and crave, so I find myself going back to it reeally often, even if I have significantly better and more expensive headphones. So long story short : You did a good purchase nonetheless.

[@JefferyQuinoa]

@@electroelysium2281 It’s good to dip my toes in the water before I splurge over 1k over this “hobby”

[@electroelysium2281]

@@JefferyQuinoa Yeah, at one moment I thought the same thing you're saying RN... But after all the headphones, DACs, AMPs, etc I bought, my NUMBER 1 ADVICE to anybody would be to get "endgame material" right away and stop there haha... 'cause this is a rabbit hole...

[@cooloutac]

according to hifiman they use different glue now.

[@MrKeech666]

Nice comparison, but WTF happened to the Sundara? It looks like they took a spill down concrete stairs!!!

[@MattBorchert]

I got sent a new pair and they immediately look like that too. The paint on them just doesn't seem to hold up well.

[@jamestorres5582]

Sundara is all the way down to 300 bones . Smoking deal

[@Akirilus]

Dekoni is a scam dude. You can buy a freaking sheepskin jacket for the cost of 1-2 of the pads they sell, it's ridiculously overpriced.

[@PantsaBear]

You literally cannot by a sheepskin jacket for around $40 unless the jacket is barely using sheepskin or is fake, but sure man go off and get the random Amazon budget pads for half the price. They make be just as good, they may not be, but at least theres plenty of data online, not from Dekoni, showing frequency responses with Dekoni pads with specific headphones. Can't say that for most other brands

[@Akirilus]

Dude any difference is less than 1 db even in their own charts. You cannot and will not ever hear it. And even if you did, dude... without a frame of constant comparison, it doesn't matter. But if you feel better by spending 100 $ on that, go ahead.

[@PantsaBear]

@@Akirilus Okay there's the misunderstanding: I am not buying dekoni pads at $100 lol. I've seen them for that price, but more often than not they're $40 to $50 and stay at similar prices. I agree the sound difference might not be as immense between Dekoni and some other decent brand, but I do think having pads that feels like stock pads is valuable to some people including myself for comfort and longevity (idk about $100 valuable to an already niche market of audiophiles, but yeah, that was my confusion on your comparison). Dekoni pads for the Sundara by me are around that price

[@Akirilus]

@@PantsaBear So I bought some pads off ali express, these ones: ''Pcs Replacement Ear Pads Ear Cushions Earpads for Hifiman HE300 HE500 HE560 560i HE400 HE400i HE400s HE 350 Series Headphones'' They also sell sheepskin if you wish, the regular ones however, are dirt cheap and imo, better than the originals. Sure there are some small measurement differences between them, it in fact doesn't matter however at this price I bought 5 pairs for 30 $. I mean 5 pairs for 30 $ dude... I got pads for days. Sound wise they are identical to stock, I've started to stick them onto other headsets since they make anything sound more spacious. My point is, that there are dirt cheap options and we should not pay such exorbitant sums for earpads, earpads should be cheap, the prices are just inflated artificially by manufacturers.

[@PantsaBear]

@@Akirilus Its not really "artificially", its the demand of those pads since theres so much info out on them, and a known commodity is better than an unknown to most ppl for pads sitting on people's skin all day lol. But I see your point, when I get in my pair of Sundara's and if I need a set of pads, I'll give there a look and look for some decent ones there. Thanks for the recommendation, much appreciated