I would put them against the MM-500, which is the headphone I’d recommend in that comparison. The LCD-5 is an entirely different beast. While I would recommend a mastering engineer look at the 5s, the LCD-X and MM-500 are both great mixing headphones that happen to also work as casual listening/personal audio headphones.
I love the LCD-X and it has been a workhorse for me. But the MM-500 addresses most of the issues I had with that set and see it as more of a natural upgrade to the X.
It’s not hype, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. For instance, I vehemently dislike the 800s, and yet I still recognize the appeal.
For what it sets out to do, it does extremely well.
I’ve purchased and tried to live with it twice, and failed both times. If Sennheiser was giving out free headphones, I’d pick up another 600, over the more expensive 800s.
So yes, it’s really that good. Do I like it? No, not at all. Should you buy it? Probably not. It’s for a specific segment of the market and you might not be in that demographic. I’d argue most aren’t.
Agreed; you'd need to upgrade to an Abyss Dianna or DCA Expanse before considering jumping back on Tinder.
I got into the hobby before the internet was a thing and we only had recommendations from friends and colleagues. For me this was fellow musicians and audio engineers. My regret is not breaking out of my lane and moving to more colored headphones earlier on. I was stuck in neutrality for close to a decade and only using headphones that I could also justify using in the studio.
The irony is, even as someone that’s tracked, and mixed a lot of music over the years, I prefer a much more colored, V-shaped tuning for music enjoyment/personal listening. So while I love the LCD-X, MM-500, Sennheiser HD600 and DT1990s, I rarely listen to them when I’m not working in a daw. For that, I prefer stuff like the FatFreq IEMs, or the Focal Radiance, Apos Caspian, HarmonicDyne Zeus Elites, etc.