Company History

Audeze is led by its founders, CEO Sankar Thiagasamundram and CTO Dr. Dragoslav Colich, who founded the company in 2008 out of a garage in southern California. They began a quest to bring NASA technology to their high-resolution audio products. Combining their unique vision and technical knowledge, they have produced some of the world's most technically advanced and uniquely accurate headphone products, hold 9 U.S. patents, and are still counting. Every planar magnetic and electrostatic driver is built in their Orange County, California, factory, ensuring the highest product quality and standards.

Features & Technology

We recently reviewed the extremely popular Audeze Maxwell gaming headphones, which offer a host of great features, but most importantly, they have incredibly accurate and detailed sound and are completely wireless! For many gamers, we can confidently say that the Maxwells will be more than enough and give you a huge leg up against your competition. However, if you’re a competitive gamer or just need the best of the best, the Audeze LCD-GX’s are Audeze’s reference-level wired headphones that, instead of including all the different features, focus more on the sound quality and immersion to be sure you hear every footstep, movement, and detail in your game.

Timing Is Critical

One of the things that serious gamers have to contend with is latency. Latency or input lag is essentially the time it takes for your TV, gaming monitor, or headphones to display the image or play the sound after it’s been sent from the source. And when it comes to gaming, especially fast-action first-person shooter games, having less latency, even down to a few milliseconds, can make the difference between winning and losing.

Wireless devices have a latency of anywhere between 15-300 milliseconds. The latency constantly changes depending on the distance from your computer or gaming console, electrical interference, and Bluetooth software limitations between devices. On the other hand, wired devices are directly connected to your PC or console and offer a latency between 5-10 milliseconds. This is why pro and serious-level gamers often choose wired headphones and controllers. For this reason alone, the LCD-GX’s will be a better choice than the Maxwells or any wireless headphones when it comes to having the lowest latency and potentially hearing a sound before your competition if they are wearing headphones with higher latency. So, for the ultimate setup, you’d want to have a gaming monitor with low latency, wired headphones, and a wired controller.

Detail & Dynamics

Many headphones are wired, so what makes these stand out? The drivers are the most essential part of a great headphone, and Audeze knows this more than anyone. With the LCD-GX, Audeze pulled out all the stops and designed a 103mm planar magnetic driver based on the LCD series drivers. This driver uses Audeze's patented Fluxor Neodymium magnet array.

Audeze uses smaller magnets arranged so that the magnetic flux is directed to drive the diaphragm. This contrasts with most planar magnetic drivers, which use larger magnets. Due to their north/south nature, half of their magnetic energy is wasted away from the diaphragm, as shown in Fig. 8 above. The Audeze Fluxor magnet system creates a magnetic field that directs all of its flux toward the diaphragm, shown in Fig. 9. This gives the Audeze LCD-GX the ability to be driven to satisfying levels with less power. While Audeze recommends a good amplifier to get the best from the LCD-GX, its 100dB/1mW sensitivity and 20-ohm impedance means it can be driven to good volume levels with the internal amplifier in your PC. To get better performance from the LCD-GX, Audeze recommends a good amplifier with at least 100mW and 250mW or more if the ultimate performance is to be attained.

The LCD-GX also has a 103mm Uniforce Diaphragm that is much larger than other drivers used in gaming headphones. But this large driver has a trick up its sleeve. It is lighter than the air around it! You get the advantage of having a large driver that can easily show dynamic contrasts and allow a frequency response from 10Hz-50kHz! This is important in gaming as the dynamic contrasts allow you to hear loud and soft sounds with much more clarity and detail. The benefit to this level of performance is being able to more accurately tell how close an opponent is to you by the intensity of their sounds. This is a huge deal for serious gamers. Another benefit to the Uniforce diaphragm's light weight is its resolution abilities. This ultra-thin, ultra-light diaphragm can resolve the smallest of details with the utmost clarity. This gives gamers an edge in hearing the smallest of details in games. This resolution ability and the wide and deep soundstage that only an open-back headphone like the LCD-GX can present will make the sounds in games much more true to life and realistic. Hearing more is knowing more and the LCD-GX is built to offer maximum resolution to squeeze out every detail and give you a leg up against your opponent.

Comfort

A headphone can sound incredible, but if it’s not comfortable for long gaming sessions, nothing else really matters. Luckily, Audeze went the extra mile with the LCD-GX to offer all-day comfort.

One area that has plagued planar magnetic headphones is weight. The magnets in these headphones add up and make them heavy. Audeze handcrafts the LCD-GX with a magnesium frame in its California factory. This allows Audeze to shave significant weight off the headphones, making them 454 grams, significantly lighter than many planar headphones on the market. The open-cell foam earpads are very plush and soft and are large enough to fit most everyone's ears inside without putting too much pressure on them or the rest of your head. You can tell they also put a lot of thought into the suspension headband which makes them sit comfortably on your head and provide good clamping force without being fatiguing over several hours.

However, we think it’s worth pointing out here that these headphones are not a small form factor. One of our reviewers has a smaller head, so they’re extremely comfortable, and their ears can breathe inside without hitting the inside of the earcup and the headstrap doesn’t bother them at all. But the downside to that is the clamping force is a bit weak for them, so when they look straight down, they slide off their head a bit. This is something that the Maxwells didn’t do, as they seemed to clamp on any size head and stay put no matter what. If you have a larger head, this likely won’t be as big of a problem for you, but we could see the head strap potentially stretching too far and your head coming in contact with a metal piece on the top. Either way, there is no denying that LCD-GX headphones are larger than a lot of others on the market today, especially wireless options. But when you get into this realm and price point of headphones, where they will most likely stay at your gaming desk, the larger form factor really isn’t a big deal.

Microphone

Let’s move on to discuss microphones. We’d guess that many people using these headphones may be streaming or chatting with teammates using an external microphone on their streaming PC. If you want the very best microphone audio, a condenser microphone connected to an interface using XLR cables and then connected to a PC will be the absolute best option. But if you’re not using a streaming PC or just want to simplify things, the LCD-GX includes a detachable cable with a built-in directional, noise-attenuating boom microphone. The cable has a mute button, and the microphone boom piece is flexible to allow you to adjust it to the position you prefer. And to us, it is one of the best headphone boom microphones we’ve used or heard. The noise canceling feature on the Maxwells will work better if you need to cancel out background sounds in your room, but if you have a quiet room, the LCD-GX microphone is really impressive for what it is.

Compatibility

Audeze knows that the LCD-GX will be used in various scenarios and must be compatible. They included a boom mic cable for when users need the boom microphone and a standard cable for when the microphone is not required. The boom mic cable is terminated with the standard ⅛” TRRS 4-conductor cable, which can be used on virtually any PC, MAC, tablet, or phone. They also included a dual ⅛” splitter cable for separate headphone and microphone cables. This gives users options for any situation in which they want to use their LCD-GX. And just like their other high-end LCD headphones, you get a high-quality travel case that is very protective, so you can bring these with you on the go and not worry about them getting damaged in this case.

Here is a complete list of the included cables and accessories:

• Audeze LCD-GX Headphone
• Standard LCD travel case
• 8ft long cable with Microphone (1/8" TRRS connector)
• Braided LCD cable without Microphone (1/4” TRS connector)
• Audio adaptor - OMTP to CTIA (Reverses the mic and ground connection)
• Splitter (1/8" TRRS to dual 1/8” TRS connectors for audio and microphone)

Performance

Unboxing the LCD-GX showed us how serious Audeze is about its high-end products. The headphones were well packaged and left us feeling like we were using a high-end premium product. The travel case was a nice touch for gamers who travel to different events, and the adapters and cables proved valuable in various scenarios where these headphones could be used.

We tested these headphones for a while, and since they’ve been out for a few years now, we’ve used them multiple times before this review and compared them to other gaming headphones as they’ve rolled out. But we want to cut to the chase here. Are they worth $900 even today? In our opinion, yes, they are. However, they are not for everyone.

As we mentioned, the Audeze Maxwells are incredible gaming headphones, and some of the JBL gaming headphones are also making waves in the industry. But, if you game competitively and want every advantage possible, the LCD-GX should be at the top of your list to consider. The open-back design gives them a naturally wide soundstage, and the driver technology just gives you every detail from your game to allow you to hear the smallest sound effects. Plus, being wired may be annoying compared to wireless, but it certainly is a must-have when you are at the highest levels of gaming. And at the end of the day, the headphones must be comfortable on your head, which, for us, they were undoubtedly well-balanced and comfortable for so many people on our team.

If you have a local Audeze dealer or are near an Audio Advice showroom, you should try out these headphones in person. Experts at any of our world-class showrooms can help you decide which pair of headphones is best for you. You can also call or chat with our team to discuss the best option.

In our most recent testing of the LCD-GX, we played several games, including Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and Fortnite. We were surprised at how fast the Uniforce Diaphragm in the LCD-GX allowed us to hear all of the details in these fast-action games. We also appreciated the great soundstage and imaging ability, which helped us locate targets and quickly tell where things were happening in the game.

Evenven on very long sessions, these headphones remained comfortable, stayed in position with a great fit, and never became fatiguing sounding or grating. Audeze’s engineers did a great job of building a headphone that could showcase all of the details and dynamics in our favorite games, all while being comfortable doing it. A linear response is one of the traits that the LCD-GX possesses and that most gaming headphones can suffer from. Many gaming headphones on the market are tuned to bump up the bass and treble to make them sound exciting. The LCD-GX takes a different approach; the response stays linear from the bass up through the midrange. Then, it takes a warmer, more intelligible approach to the treble. This balanced approach will showcase better overall detail throughout the frequency response since nothing is boosted and could hide detail in other frequencies. We think this is an excellent move from Audeze and should give gamers an edge.

Being music lovers, we couldn’t help but try the LCD-GX for music since we think many users will use these headphones in multiple roles. We chose the excellent Questyle CMA 400i DAC to power the LCD-GX, thinking it was a great match power and price-wise. Playing Finks's new album “Beauty In Your Wake,” we immediately noticed this headphone's clarity and dynamics. The bass was tight and detailed, with the overall linear response that planar magnetics are known for. The midrange was very even-keeled and allowed all of the detail to float in without any glare or fatiguing hot spots. The treble was detailed but smooth, keeping the emotion of the music intact and allowing for all-day listening. For a headphone that is marketed to gamers, their music performance was commendable.

Overall Recommendation

We enjoyed our time with the Audeze LCD-GX. It is a very well-built headphone built to last years. The comfort is on point, with the kind of all-day wearability that gamers need for their long sessions. We appreciate that Audeze tuned these headphones for a more linear response than many gaming headphones on the market. This will give users a more even-keeled, accurate, and detailed response, making longer sessions more enjoyable. We know that many users will also opt to use these headphones for their music listening, and the good news is that their tuning works great for music. If you are in the market for a gaming headphone with accuracy and comfort, please email, call, or chat with our experts here at Audio Advice to see if the Audeze LCD-GX will work for you.

If you have further questions, contact our experts via chat, phone, or email. Or simply visit one of our world-class showrooms to experience speakers, projectors, TVs, and everything in between for yourself before you make a purchase!

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