The Audeze LCD-5S has finally arrived, intended to be a full replacement for the LCD-5 as the company’s flagship open-back planar. However, I can't help but feel like this headphone feels more like Audeze is trying to reconcile two competing identities: the leaner, more "neutral" direction they pursued with the LCD-5, and the thicker, more relaxed voicing that long-time fans still associate with the brand.

I heard the LCD-5S briefly at CanJam, and after living with it for a longer stretch, my opinion hasn't really changed—this is still a compromised headphone that neither totally fixes the issues the LCD-5 had, nor truly recaptures the essence of their beloved older designs like the LCD-4.

However, I can't deny it’s an interesting headphone. Not a perfect one. But interesting in ways I didn’t expect. So let's dive in.

Build, Design & Comfort

The LCD-5S is clearly part of the same lineage as the LCD-5, with only a few visual (and one acoustic) updates. The copper grille and yokes give it just a touch more personality, without drifting into ostentatious territory. It kind of reminds me of the difference between the Sennheiser HD 660S2 and the original HD 660S; the later entry just adds a bit of welcome flair.

One big change is the new “slam rings” tucked behind the pads. They create a controlled leak path so pressure doesn’t build inside the cup when you move your head or adjust the headphone. Anyone who’s ever heard that momentary crinkle from an over-sealed planar driver will understand why Audeze would want to solve that. As a concept, it’s smart, but the effect it has on the acoustics of the headphone are meaningful (as we'll get into).

Unfortunately this does mean pad swaps are about to get even more complicated. The pads appear mounted to the ring, and it seems the ring itself is what mounts to the chassis with adhesive. I would be shocked if this meant anything other than pad replacement going from a being user task to a "send it in for service" task. It’s not the end of the world, but it does make ownership just a little less flexible than older Audeze models.

LCD-5S's weight creeps up a bit compared to the LCD-5, by about 50g or so. The comfort is overall better than I expected, though still a bit heavy and slidey. The head strap is thankfully the perforated version that came with the LCD-5, which distributes pressure much more evenly than the solid strap on the MM-500. Clamp force is still on the firm side, so big-headed listeners may feel similarly vice-gripped if they felt that way about LCD-5 or MM-500, but for my smaller head there aren't any clamp issues.

The pads themselves are a middle ground between the sharp, sculpted edges of the LCD-5 pads and the softer, more traditional geometry of Audeze’s earlier designs. It still isn’t what I’d call a “big” ear pad, but it’s no longer poking the side of your head the way the LCD-5 did.

If I were to rank Audeze’s recent full-size planars for comfort, the LCD-5S would probably sit at the top. Again, it's not featherweight and it could still feel more secure, but it's totally serviceable for long sessions.

Accessories

Audeze ships LCD-5S in a hardbody travel "suitcase". It’s large, protective, and a little dramatic—very “flagship.” Inside you get the usual gloves that came with LCD-4 and LCD-5, which are more of a ceremonial touch than a practical one, but they do make the unboxing feel special.

The included balanced cable is light, fairly pliable, and not especially tangle-prone. It’s not the last word in refinement—it's a bit plasticky and rough—but it doesn’t get in the way. Some cables feel like stubborn, cantankerous surgical tubing; this one isn't that bad, and it is pretty easy to ignore once you’re wearing the headphone... which is really all I ask of an included cable.

Nothing surprising here, but nothing missing either.

Sound

Due to Audeze's release of 5128 measurements on release day, the LCD-5S has already picked up a reputation for being Audeze’s return to the more “classic Audeze” house sound.

However... I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. There are familiar elements here, but the end result is its own thing, not quite recapturing the older sound in earnest.

Bass

Older Audeze models were known for a thick, weighty bass that stayed firm into the lower mids, giving instruments a sense of physicality and chesty impact that few open-backs could replicate. The LCD-5S doesn’t do this, so for those who want the more "classic" Audeze bass presentation: look elsewhere.

Instead of that chesty, full bass character, the LCD-5S leans more heavily into sub-bass. There’s more rumble than punch, more low-end extension than fullness of body.

This can sound compelling with certain genres. Electronic tracks benefit from that deep, pressurized-feeling sub-bass foundation. But because the mid-bass sits comparatively lower, the sense of thrust—the feeling that the music has weight behind it—doesn’t hit as hard as the LCD-4 or older LCD-2 variants.

Midrange

This is where the LCD-5S takes its biggest departure from prior designs… and also where it stumbles the hardest.

Audeze has lifted the region around 1 kHz to a level that’s immediately obvious if your music has any real instruments. “Forward” is a good word for it, but so is insistent. It insists upon voices, guitars, snare drums—anything with energy in that band—jumping ahead of the rest of the mix in a way that’s hard to ignore.

It's emphasized enough that you find yourself having trouble setting the volume: I often found myself setting the volume to get enough vocal intelligibility, realizing all of the bass and percussion was too quiet, turning the headphone up to get more bass presence, only to have the extremely colored midrange surge forward and take over. It creates a weird dynamic where the headphone’s volume feels like a moving target and the tone is never really satisfying regardless of volume.

That said, with electronic music, this bump can actually add a fun, slightly buzzy texture to certain synthesized sounds like bass, synth/pads, and vocal samples. But with acoustic instruments or natural vocals, it introduces a nasal, boxy quality that distracts from everything else. I wouldn’t call it unlistenable, but it shapes the entire character of the headphone—and not in a way I enjoy.

Treble

The treble is where the LCD-5S surprised me most.

Audeze is known for favoring of a more relaxed top end compared to other planar manufacturers... except in the air where they're often quite forward, for me. LCD-5S, by contrast, never strays into upper treble sibilance or airy sharpness. In fact, this is one of Audeze's most unified treble presentations, firmly asserting itself as a slightly dark—but coherently so—headphone.

It's not a bright headphone, and it doesn’t attempt the kind of overt “sparkle” that many planar flagships chase, and frankly I think it's all the better for it. It’s more expressive and nuanced up top in a way that actually sounds expensive to me.

While the treble may not redeem the midrange issues, it does give the LCD-5S a sense of complexity and refinement that the LCD-5—and honestly most of Audeze's designs—don't really have.

Subjective Stuff

Detail retrieval and resolving ability are so dependent on if the midrange and treble works or if the esoteric colorations bring forward what listeners expect when it comes to "detail" or "resolution". Because LCD-5S has such a colored midrange and such a livable treble response, its arguable that it has the upsides of novel coloration—committing throaty, fiery texture to bass instruments due to the midrange bump, but committing very little masking due to the treble control.

That said, LCD-5S does feel a bit sluggish and smeared due to its sub-bass emphasis and how it plays with the overall relaxed treble. While the midrange bump can add an interesting sense of texturing, it also pull focus toward the center image more aggressively than would be natural and this closeness makes the elements set at a distance due to the lower treble relaxation sound even more distant.

Importantly, because the tuning de-emphasizes the low midrange/upper bass regions so much, I don't feel LCD-5S is a particularly dynamic headphone... which is a shame. 

While I think this is actually a decently balanced option when it comes to balancing novelty/esoterica with listenability—certainly more balanced than things like the Susvara—the tonal balance unfortunately directs it in a very specific direction that I can't really say works for me most of the time.

Conclusion

LCD-5S has left me with mixed feelings. Some parts of it I genuinely like: the improved comfort, the thoughtful design tweaks, and the more smooth/refined treble. It's clear there was thought put into many parts of this headphone.

But the 1-1.5 kHz midrange push is a flaw that borders on critical. It near-entirely shapes the listening experience in a way that often overshadowed the things I could tell I would've enjoyed more were it not for this coloration. 

In short: I don’t think the LCD-5S is a “return to classic Audeze.” It’s a whole new experiment—one that will resonate strongly with some listeners, but seems likely to miss the mark for many others.

Not every flagship needs to be a universal people-pleaser, if anything they're usually the riskier releases in a brand's catalog. But if Audeze’s goal was to create a bridge between old and new, the LCD-5S unfortunately comes across more like two partially built bridges that don’t quite meet in the middle.

That said, the treble in particular is what I'd say is actually a big step forward for Audeze. It is solid enough up there that I still found myself able to enjoy this headphone here and there, since treble smoothness is overwhelmingly important to my enjoyment. While it's not good enough to save it in its entirety—the midrange really does just kind of ruin many things—LCD-5S is what I'd call a "good" headphone, one that deserves to exist. 

I just hope their next one takes this treble response and pairs it with a more normal midrange, because I can't help but feel like this release is a "stepping stone" to something better anyway (hence not being called LCD-6). If that something better combines the comfort and treble refinements here with a more normal midrange, it could end up being one of the best headphones ever.

Sound Score: 5.6/10

Overall Score: 5.2/10