A Respected Hi-Fi Company’s New Audiophile Headphones Are Refreshingly Affordable

The affordable planar magnetic headphones borrow technology from the brand’s $6,000 cans.

Audeze LCD-S20 planar-magnetic headphones

By Tucker Bowe

Published April 10, 2025

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Updated April 10, 2025

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Audeze has been on a mission to make planar magnetic headphones more affordable for nearly two decades.

The category can achieve a very high fidelity over the entire frequency range with very little distortion. But hi-fi comes at a cost, and planar magnetic headphones tend to be very expensive.

While Audeze definitely does make some expensive cans (its flagship open-back LCD-5s cost $4,500), it sells several models for less than $1,000.

Its newest planar magnetic headphones cost just half that amount.

The brand’s most affordable LCDs

The Audeze LCD-S20 is the company’s newest planar magnetic headphones with a closed-back design. They pack 90mm drivers with a low impedance of 18 ohms — something planar magnetic headphones are known for — so they are easy to drive and can be used with most interphases, laptops and smartphones.

At $499, Audeze is touting them as the most affordable planar magnetic headphones in the brand’s LCD series.

According to the brand, the LCD-S20 “brings the carefully-tuned precision of Audeze’s best-known studio headphones to an affordable closed-back model for the first time.”

(It should be noted that these technically aren’t Audeze’s most affordable LCD headphones. It released the LCD-1, a pair of open-back planar magnetic headphones priced at $399, in 2019, but the brand doesn’t sell them anymore.)

SLAM on the bass

The other unique thing about the LCD-S20 is that they are Audeze’s first planar magnetic headphones to feature its patent-pending SLAM (Symmetric Linear Acoustic Modulator) technology for improved bass.

According to the brand, this SLAM technology allows the LSC-S20 to deliver dynamic bass with “a lifelike punch that stays clean even at high volumes.”

Audeze first integrated this SLAM technology in its flagship electrostatic headphones, the CRBN2, which cost $5,995.

Additionally, the Audeze LCD-S20 comes with a detachable 8-foot headphone cable with a 6.33m plug. There’s a 3.5mm adapter, too, so you can connect the headphones directly to your laptop or smartphone.