A few weeks later, I was unpacking the LCD-3’s and was literally stunned with what I found. First, the fit and finish of these headphones is the finest and best I have ever seen. The supremely fine lambskin leather used for the earpad and headband would be more in line with a fancy Ferragamo leather coat, not your typical headphone. Next, the LCD-3’s speakers are housed in finely crafted Zebra wood, exuding confidence in these headphones like none other that I am aware of. Sennheiser’s HD 800’s, not to mention my AKG 701’s, by comparison appear almost flimsy and less durable all at once. Also included is an 8 foot cable, terminated on one end with a ubiquitous ¼’ headphone jack and split pair of mini-XLR connectors that attach to each earpiece.

So what do these sound like? Well, with one word: impressive. No, make that most impressive. Over the years I have heard many cans, from the AKG 1000’s, to various Stax models, alas, none, and I do mean that quite literally, have sounded like these. First, let’s start with my biggest headphone pet peeve: treble, or, exacerbated treble as is mostly the case. The LCD-3 managed to produce the finest, dare I say best treble response of any pair of headphones I ever owned or heard.

Listening to finely produced and crisply recorded electronica, like Yello, Kraftwerk, or even the likes of Tracy Thorn or James Blake, I was in awe of the sheer resolving power the 3’s produced. Never bright, never shrill, no, they played music with a natural amount of high frequency extension that was simply right sounding. Contrast that to the same tracks producing an overly bright and processed treble response via the AKG 701’s and you’ll quickly see where my preference lies. Harshness? No way. There is absolutely no sense of any sort of glare or harshness and what was once a fundamentally flawed listening experience with other headphones turned to real music with the LCD-3.

Bass response is also terrific, producing tight, well defined and supremely articulated low frequencies which seem proper in balance and as a whole begging you to play them louder and louder. Unlike cans that produce an unrealistic, overwhelming amount of bass (Dr. Dre, Ultrasone and others come to mind), the LCD-3’s quality is one of real-world bass presentation and output. Attack is lightning quick no matter the source. Be it the subterranean undertones of the American Beauty soundtrack, or the visceral impact of Stravinsky’s The Firebird, the LCD-3 produces bass that is supremely controlled and tightly defined. Sustain and decay flow from one to the next with pinpoint precision, never detracting with unnecessary bloat or swagger. Simply put, what’s there is there, nothing more, nothing less.