When it comes to this headphone I would have to say they are very comparable to the original Audeze LCD-2. And I would have to say they are quite a treat for my ears. I have been through many headphones and many planar style headphones from the lower end to the higher end. I would have to say when it comes to the sound they are a very very good all around headphone. Very good bass extension for an open-back headphone. Definitely not a super bass headphone due to it being open-back. But if you like very clean, punchy, and articulate bass these are very good for that type of listening. The highs themselves are slight recessed I modded mine a little bit and took the foam out of the back side of the ear cups and it heightened the highs a little. The mids are clear but not too forward, and the soundstage of these is just enough to make you feel like your in the room. I would have to say the build is a little questionable and wish they were built more like the M560's, but I can't complain too much for the price. You can tell they put the money in the planar tech and not so much the build itself. So I would be very careful with these cans due to the build quality. I would give the build quality of the frame and materials given at the price about a 6/10. I would recommend these to anyone that want that nice planar sound. Just be careful with them and you will love them! Happy buying!

Great headphones. No complaints.

Very happy with these for the holiday pricing I got them at. I bought these and the HifiMan HE-560v3 that were also on sale for a little bit more. After breaking in the Hifiman set they sounded great, I thought. I bought these and they took no break in period to sound great off the bat. They are much more sensitive and you can get by without a headphone amp. The Hifiman's def needed the amp. Better bass, punchier, and not as harsh as the Hifiman. They have a great soundstage. If you're a bass head, these planar headphones are probably not for you. These articulate bass very cleanly but are not "bass heavy." I guess I'm a bass head and sometimes crave a bit more out of them, granted I have not tried any EQ'ing yet. Great buy for the money. Very solid build quality. Comes with a huge carrying case if you decide to travel with these, but they aren't really meant to be mobile.

These are my third set of headphones at a similar price and although all three were really good, these are my favorites. I took off one star because the connector on the cable kept falling out (didn't snap in) until I risked repairing it myself- using a very small screw driver to widen the connector spot inside the opening. That worked, but risky if it broke something and the warranty was invalidated. I love the smooth but detailed sound through the entire range. Fits well and could listen for long periods without fatigue. Thanks!

These cans are really impressive! I owned HE4XX and these cans are on another level! Overall a great purchase and I’m Glad I pulled the trigger

Very nice headphones. Love the tight and detailed sound of Planar Magnetic drivers. Also love the look of these headphones. The mix of wood and metal makes them stand out compared to other headphones around the price range. I personally find the ear pads to be very comfortable, however the headband could use some work. There's definitely a noticable weight right at the top of the headband when you first put them on but in my experience I don't notice it as much once they've been on my head for a few minutes. The cable that came with it was of decent quality, but I needed something a little longer so I bought one on Amazon.

Very nice fit and good quality sound

Really like the sound of these cans. Not much of a sound guru myself, but they’re great from what I can tell

I found the headphones to be quite comfortable and they sound great.I also particularly like the design where the cord is separate and it plugs into a standard receptacle on the bottom of the headphones. In the case of these headphones, a 3.5 mm stereo plug splits into two 2.5 mm mono plugs--one for each side. The cable is well constructed (and a 3.5 mm to 1/4" converter is included), but I'm not sure a replacement would be easy to find if necessary.You can definitely hear more room noise with these headphones than you would with headphones with a closed back. That's either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on whether you want to be interrupted by outside noises or not. The open-back design does not negate the point of wearing headphones if you're trying not to disturb others in the room. But others in the room will know what song you're listening to.Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the headphones.

This was the strangest set of headphones I've ever owned (I ended up returning them after just over a week of using them). The wood rings wanted to crack just by looking at them the wrong way. The headband and hinges creaked any time you moved them, and quite literally felt as though they would just crumble or fall apart in your hands. The cable was of extremely poor quality, and the right angle adapter was a bit perplexing as well. The 2.5mm connections to the headphones themselves were extremely tight and required a terrifying amount of pressure to snap them into place or remove them. The headband adjustment system stripped paint whenever you adjusted the fit of the headphones. This actually felt more like an early stage prototype rather than a complete product. There is just no way that a competent manufacturer would allow QA issues like this onto the market, unless it was rushed out the door or the designers just didn't care enough. Something was definitely amiss here, at any rate.

All those issues aside (and then some), the sound quality is what stood out to me the most here. These things sound great -- or, at least my pair did for the most part. But at around day 3, I started noticing my ears would begin to fatigue after around 30 minutes and I was getting headaches. After A/B'ing through some other headphones I own, I realized that these headphones were producing harsh resonances or reflections whenever a really exciting part of a track would play. Female vocals, loud guitar parts, ringing snare drums -- anything with a lot of energy out front in a mix created a lot of resonant harshness to the sound. A good number of owners have claimed there are issues with a 5K resonance, harsh tones, shouty mids, etc. as well, so at least I wasn't alone in that regard. The fact that some headphones sound fine while others are terrible also speaks volumes about the QA over at Monoprice.

Then there are the insane amount of mods that users are coming up with in forums to essentially fix nearly every aspect of these headphones. From fuzzor/fazor mods around the drivers, to replacing the foam with folded paper towel, to 3D-printed grills and aftermarket pads to get rid of the harsh resonances inside the earcups.

I'm sorry, but Monoprice should not have to rely on its customers to try and fix these for them. It's unacceptable to charge people $400 for an incomplete product. The amount of money some people have put into these on top of their already hefty price tag trying to fix them is pretty incredible.

Unless you're looking for a project or an experience of learning how to repair and modify headphones, I'd avoid these like the plague. I struggled to find the value in this sort of investment of time and money, and ultimately ended up returning these. It truly is a damn shame that Monoprice couldn't have been bothered to invest more time engineering these properly, because they were certainly onto something great here, but fell far short of the finish line.