There have been a lot of posts reporting LCD3 headphone failures, both Classic and Fazor. We have all wondered if the failures are as numerous as they seem to be, or if they are actually quite rare and just getting a lot of bad press. Here's our chance to find out.

^ good idea

I've had 2 left driver failures and a bad cable, but marked myself as only 2 because this thread is regarding the headphones themselves, not accessories.  *sigh*  I LOVE the sound of these, but am giving serious thoughts to selling my repaired versions and moving to HD800s instead.  No, really, I LOVE the sound.  I just don't like being without my headphones for 6 weeks every 6 months.

Interesting idea.  Twice for a failed driver that was replaced.  The third time they switched the whole set.  Fingers crossed from here on out.

Interesting idea, but will be very hard to get past selection bias in this format/approach. Cheers

mscott58 said:

Interesting idea, but will be very hard to get past selection bias in this format/approach. Cheers

Click to expand...

+1.  Also of note, there is no way to correlate time of ownership + listening hours with amount of repairs, which would be much more interesting.  This is a step in the right direction, though.

2nd rma in about 9 months time. Both times the right driver just stopped working.

Had mine serviced for the 2nd time. Bought mine late 2013.

None so far,  Where's the wood?
 
Knock on wood....(2015 pair)

Thank you for making this thread.

mscott58 said:

Interesting idea, but will be very hard to get past selection bias in this format/approach. Cheers

Click to expand...

Not sure if the poll will be biased towards fewer or greater RMAs, but the more responses we get, the more accurate the poll will be. Too bad the format does not allow for a survey-type approach which could provide more interesting results.
 
For myself, my LCD3s have been returned twice for failed drivers. Each time Audeze performed their usual excellent repair, I was sans-LCD3 for 3-4 weeks.

It will be biased towards people with more replacements - people love to complain on the internet!

bigfatpaulie said:

  It will be biased towards people with more replacements - people love to complain on the internet!

Click to expand...

You're not wrong.  Also, more people looking for help, tech support, or to see if this is common will be drawn to the thread.  Happy folks are enjoying their LCD3s, not reading about them!
 
As of right now, the poll is at 34 votes:  8 single, 9 double, and 2 triple or more replacements.  By my count, that's 32 RMAs minimum out of 34 votes.  Not a good ratio, no matter how you slice it or who is regularly on the forum and voting.
 
This is costly for both Audeze and users.  I paid $1500 for my pair on a great deal.  I was without them for a month in December and now that's going to happen again.  2 months of 13 is 15% of time without the headphones.  That's approx $230 of wasted money for me if you go by cost amortized over time of ownership.  $230 buys you a pair of HD600s without much effort, once considered to be Summit-Fi level cans and still some of the world's best.  Again, not a good ratio.
 
A luxury product like Audeze's LCDs line is NOT about having a good ratio.  No one buys a Ferrari for the cost/benefit ratio.  They buy those cars for the experience.  If Ferraris were out of commission 15% of the time, the company would go bankrupt, because it's a crap experience.  Audeze is selling us an experience.  Right on Audeze's LCD-3 page, it says, "At the pinnacle of our LCD Collection, the LCD-3 delivers the highest resolution music experience of all our headphones."  Experience.  That's what they sell.  But, for many of us, it's not what is being delivered.  So, we see no good price/performance ratio (because we bought top of the line, we know what we're getting into) and we get a poor experience.
 
I hope someone from the company is reading this forum and sees that we aren't boycotting and we aren't just complaining.  In my RMA conversation, I intend to point them to this thread.  We have valid problems with a world class product and we want what was sold to us.  I LOVE my LCD3s, when they work.  I want them to keep working and keep the experience I paid for.  

I'm not sure what directing them to this thread would achieve or what is hoped to be gained.  I'm not saying do or don't, I'm just unclear to what end.
 
Everything you've said is true, however, it is a numbers game.  There are potentially thousands of LCD3's out there and the ones that fail may be a very low number.  Admittedly, the LCD3's have a reputation and that isn't for nothing.
 
Every time I have had an issue with mine - aside the first first interaction - was excellent.  They paid for back and forth shipping and handled everything quickly.  Audeze is a young growing company.  It is really hard to keep everything in line during a time like that.  My point is that yes, 3's fail, but Audeze isn't hiding from the problem and willing to spend the money to fix it.  They aren't running, they aren't denying.  
 
"This is the key point: When things go wrong, a business has a tremendous opportunity to improve customer loyalty just by quickly and generously setting things right."
 
Audeze is doing that and in my eyes, that's all I can ask at this point.  And that does make for an excellent experience.  
 
QC is a helluva an animal.  More so when you are dealing with fiddly small audio drivers.  Something has to be changed with their front end process and I am confident that they are pursuing that fix, however, right now what's done is done.  I personally still really like Audeze and I will continue to support them.  I wish them nothing but success.

LCD-3 sent for RMA with wood crack problem, no driver failure whatsoever.