I didn’t understand them at first and I’m not exactly sure if there’s any burn-in involved or maybe it’s my system that gets constantly updated, but in a few months…I could finally grasp their inner beauty and understand the message behind the LCD-5. People complained about lacking technicalities and high comfort levels before and it seems that both issues were addressed with a single headphone. I remember the shock when LCD-5 was revealed, looking with one eye if their price doubled as it happened before. Their asking price seems to be much lower to what I was expecting and I think it’s fully justified given their excellent subjective and objective performance.

The release of the Audeze LCD-5 was full of surprises. Audeze introduced a brand new design, and more importantly – a completely new sound philosophy, which shocked their most loyal customers. However, with the LCD-5, Audeze introduced a never-seen-before quality when it comes to their headphones. The current flagship is an extremely well-performing headphone that sits among the best headphones in the world. Excellent build quality meets the sound that is simply screaming High-End. And don’t even get me started on its godlike treble response.

With the LCD-5, Audeze threw out the bathwater but managed to retain the baby. Unafraid to build upon prior successes, and to make significant changes to address the tastes of a maturing TOTL market, the LCD-5 are a very notable deviation in the range of Audeze products. Smaller? Check. Lighter? Check. A new sound? Check.

At the end of the day, I would buy the Audeze LCD-5 because I think it represents the best design from the brand since the launch of the original LCD-2 in 2008 and that places it in some very elite company.

It’s clear that Audeze not only took the time to listen to the praise that the LCD-4 garnered, but also to understand the criticism that it received. With its elegant, comfortable design, great tonal balance, and exceptional technical performance I think that the LCD-5 is a wonderful successor to the LCD-4 and one that serves as a standard for the kind of experience a flagship headphone should entail. At its retail price of $4,500 the LCD-5 is without a doubt a headphone that is prohibitively expensive, but if you’re looking for a truly outstanding listening experience and you can afford it, it’s tough not recommending it.

This headphone is definitely worthwhile, especially if you’re a fan of Audeze and you’ve been waiting for one with a smaller-sized earcup. The attention to detail brought out by its various characteristics proves it to be one of the few audiophile headphones that others in its class should seek to attain. Even with its strong competition, the LCD 5 showcases its abilities in a way that makes it stand out both to fans of Audeze as well as newcomers. There’s a lot to love here, and all of it provides you with a memorable experience that only a headphone of this kind can deliver.

It for sure is one of Audeze’s most neutral and precisely tuned headphones, but they have managed to do it in the most exciting and musical way. What I also like about the new Audeze LCD-5, is that it isn’t just for studios and professionals, but it is musically strong enough and very engaging to please the most discerning audiophile at home.

While the Audeze LCD-5s are more forward in the upper midrange to lower treble region than I might prefer, they’re very flat and even in frequency response, extremely transparent and resolving, and their speed rivals TOTL electrostatic headphones. Their staging isn’t overly exaggerated or gigantic for a headphone, but the imaging is very precise. The reverb reproduction especially vertically is class leading if not in scale, but precision. Over time, I understood them far more but still wasn’t entirely satisfied with their tuning. Out of the box the frequency response was odd for a flagship headphone at $4,500 USD.

The Audeze LCD-5 has a striking design and a stellar build quality worthy of the title "flagship." Using Audeze's refinements to the planar magnetic concept it realizes impressive specifications, sounds amazing, and weighs considerably less that its predecessors. It's comfortable, and there's little to complain about besides the outrageous price.