Thank you for clarifying...

If you can get past the LCD-2's dark tilt, the LCD-2 is really in another class of headphone compared to the HE-400i. As it should for the price differential.

purr1n, what kind of LCD-2s are you talking about? Do you mean LCD-2 rev2 or LCD-2F... Or some cherry-picked ones that measure well (there were and maybe still are some inconsistencies among different pairs, following your and others' impressions from the past)?

I think its the LCD 2.2 non-fazored.

Do you think (or purr1n) that the fazored one is worse in some aspects? I have a lot of experience with rev1 and rev2 LCD-2s but no nothing about the fazored one except the opinion that it should make the headphone a bit cleaner...

I'm talking for myself here. I had the pre-fazored LCD 2.2 and the 3. I have the fazored LCD-XC. I preferred the non-fazored HPs simply because I liked the SQ especially the LCD 2.2. Loved the bass, the mid range and didn't worry about soundstage (I have the 800 for that). With the fazor, I feel that some of the Audez'e signature sound has been sacrificed, especially the low end.

Heck I miss my LCD 2.2 !

Yeah, I quite miss them as well (owned LCD-2 rev2 myself in the past)... I am trying the HE-500 with jerg pads and Paradox Slant... But from my current experience with a slightly modified LCD-2 rev1, I have a feeling I would like LCD-2 rev2 a lot =/

On a mission to find the most neutral-sounding affordable orthodynamic headphone... What I know is that I always liked HE-500's frequency response. And that LCD-2 rev1 with removed grills and felt discs with ADZ-6 cable (on a ES9018 Compass2) sounded close-to-neutral to my ears. But they were too fuzzy-sounding...

Slight 3-4k emphasis will result in shrill vocals. The treble peak at 8-9k could result in sibilance with the ess's? Rather than a broad bump, it's a fairly sharp peak. Because of this, certain tracks which happen to contain a lot of energy in that specific area will hit it -  "spot lite" treble is a good way to think of it.

Maybe Focus-A pads would be the solution?

PREDICTION: This will be a funky one which there will be varying opinions - largely dictated by recordings used.

Slight 3-4k emphasis will result in shrill vocals. The treble peak at 8-9k could result in sibilance with the ess's? Rather than a broad bump, it's a fairly sharp peak. Because of this, certain tracks which happen to contain a lot of energy in that specific area will hit it -  "spot lite" treble is a good way to think of it.

Maybe Focus-A pads would be the solution?

PREDICTION: This will be a funky one which there will be varying opinions - largely dictated by recordings used.

If I end up buying these headphones, then I'll definitely give the Focus-A pads a try. 

The shrillness I've noticed is not a big enough problem to be a deal-breaker by any means.  I remember the HE-500s giving me the same problem at times.  I've also only got about 24 hrs. in on these headphones, so we'll see if they sound the same after a few more days. 

My current plan is to listen to these for about a week straight, and then switch to my DT880/Valhalla pairing and see how I feel.  And, honestly, if I found a good deal on used pair of 500s, that would tempt me as well.  So far, I slightly prefer the 500s sound, but the weight/comfort factor of the 400i is hard to overcome.

And yes, I think your prediction will be spot on.