LCD-GX vs LCD-MX4: which needs more amplifier?

The Audeze LCD-GX is 20Ω at 100.0 dB/mW; the Audeze LCD-MX4 is 20Ω at 105.0 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The LCD-GX needs 5.0 dB more than the LCD-MX4 to reach the same loudness — 1.0 mW against 0.32 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationLCD-GXLCD-MX4
Impedance20 Ω20 Ω
Sensitivity100.0 dB/mW105.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)117.0 dB/V122.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB1.0 mW0.32 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.14 V80 mV
Current for 100 dB7.1 mA4.0 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.50 Ω2.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

Where the two part company

Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.

2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the LCD-GX but cross it with the LCD-MX4 (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).

280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The LCD-GX is more demanding than 44% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the LCD-MX4 than 25%.

dB SPLLCD-GX powerLCD-GX voltageLCD-MX4 powerLCD-MX4 voltage
800.01 mW14 mV3.2 µW8 mV
850.03 mW25 mV0.01 mW14 mV
900.10 mW45 mV0.03 mW25 mV
950.32 mW80 mV0.10 mW45 mV
1001.0 mW0.14 V0.32 mW80 mV
1053.2 mW0.25 V1.0 mW0.14 V

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, LCD-GXHeadroom, LCD-MX4Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2012.7 dB17.7 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2923.5 dB28.5 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5920.4 dB25.4 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 67 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both.

The cheapest of the 67 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 12.7 dB of headroom on the LCD-GX and 17.7 dB on the LCD-MX4, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.50 Ω for both, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 18 dB and 13 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Try any other source.

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

ModelAs printedToleranceStandard
LCD-GX10Hz - 50kHznot printednot printed
LCD-MX410Hz - 50kHznot printednot printed

Audeze prints the same thing for both the LCD-GX and the LCD-MX4: 10Hz - 50kHz.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, so the matching numbers say little.

Not a measurement; maker by maker.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Audeze LCD-GX and Audeze LCD-MX4. Every figure on this page comes from what Audeze published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.

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