Audeze makes beloved headphones simpler and cheaper with new LCD2 Classic model

Audeze, by virtue of its alphabetical priority and consistently high-quality sound, is one of the first boutique headphone brands you learn about as you begin your journey down the audiophile rabbit hole. One of the California company’s best-loved models is 2009’s LCD-2, a flagship pair of headphones that has been succeeded by the LCD-3 and LCD-4 in recent times, but has never been superseded. To this day, a lot of dedicated headphone enthusiasts consider the LCD-2 Audeze’s best pair thanks to its warm, lush sound. Conscious of that enduring popularity, Audeze has never stopped selling the LCD-2, and it is now in fact updating the design and lowering the price with a more accessible LCD2 Classic variant.

The LCD2 Classic is a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the LCD-2, at $799, however Audeze’s putting on an even lower price of $599 just for the holidays. For that money, you lose out on the fancy wood veneer on the ear cups and the “handcrafted in the USA” label of the LCD-2, but you do retain the sound signature and specs of the original. The biggest design change would appear to be the new suspension headband, which should hopefully do a better job of distributing the weight of Audeze’s hefty planar magnetic headphones. The LCD2 Classic are up for preorder now, from Audeze’s website, with deliveries expected from the middle of December.