Open invitation

The LCD-1 is a slightly curious product. Technically these headphones offer the planar-magnetic performance for which Audeze has found success with reviewers and listeners around the world. And price-wise they do so at a more affordable level than the company’s previous ‘statement’ planar-magnetics have done.

And perhaps in keeping with the lower price and so wider use Audeze has added convenience features, making the LCD-1 “a compact and travel-friendly package” — the headphones fold up, they come with a sturdy carry-case, they are relatively light and certainly comfortable. Their impedance and sensitivity are a nominal 16 ohms and a quoted 99dB/1mW respectively, which are mobile-friendly specifications.

But these are open-backed headphones, and Audeze’s own website says “the LCD-1 is engineered for fatigue-free listening sessions both at home and in the studio”. They’re not wireless, there’s