Audeze Lcd-xc Creator Edition | Closed-back Planar Magnetic Headphones

The Audeze LCD-XC - Music Creator Special are a pair of high-performance closed-back planar magnetic headphones and are designed for professional tracking, mixing, mastering, and reference level personal Hi-Fi listening when connected to a low powered external headphone amplifier or portable device. The Music Creator Special offers the same high-quality LCD-XC headphones at a more affordable price, but does not include the professional travel case. The headphones are sensitive enough to be driven by portable music players such as iPods, iPhones, and other Smartphones. Their closed-back design helps block out external ambient noise making the headphones suitable for public listening such as when commuting on the train or working in an office environment.

Instead of utilizing traditional dynamic cone drivers, the headphones implement a neodymium magnetic planar transducer design to deliver a frequency response of 10 Hz to 50 kHz with a THD of less than 1%, an impedance of 20 Ohms, an efficiency of 100 dB per 1 mW, and a total output SPL of over 130 dB when driven by 15 watts.

Magnetic planar technology differs from traditional dynamic cone designs by suspending a thin lightweight diaphragm within a parallel magnetic plane comprised of an array of magnets. The diaphragm is much lighter when compared to a traditional dynamic cone and has a printed circuit spread across a thin-film substrate on the surface of the diaphragm as opposed to a cone attached to a voice coil. When the audio signal from the amplifier reaches the circuit, it magnetizes the diaphragm within the field and produces sound.

The benefits of a magnetic planar design include faster transient response due to the lighter diaphragm, a wide frequency with low distortion, better heat dissipation, fewer moving parts for greater durability without the kind of sonic degradation that cones are susceptible to, and better amplifier compatibility because the circuit functions as an almost entirely restive load.

The magnetic structure creates a uniform magnetic field across the diaphragm without the need for additional ferromagnetic material traditionally found in other planar headphones to remove magnetic interference, reduce harmonic distortion, and lower overall weight. The headphones also feature Audeze's patent-pending Fazor elements that guide and manage the flow of sound through the earcups for a more enveloping sound stage and improved frequency extension.

The headphone earcups are made of Bubinga wood with black lambskin leather earpads. The Audeze LCD-XC are handmade in the USA and ship with a 1/4" to 4-pin mini-XLR cable and a 1/4" to 1/8" stereo adapter.