lan647 said:

It's funny how in 2009/2010 when it was released, everyone talked about the awesome HD 800 and its extreme price. Now, 5 years later, it's considered a "best value" product, even though the price has actually gone up a little bit...!

In 5 years, maybe the LCD-4 will be the go-to headphone for best value

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I hope not. 
 
On a different note, are there any LCD-4s in the wild? Or all we've got are some CanJam impressions?

lan647 said:

It's funny how in 2009/2010 when it was released, everyone talked about the awesome HD 800 and its extreme price. Now, 5 years later, it's considered a "best value" product, even though the price has actually gone up a little bit...!

In 5 years, maybe the LCD-4 will be the go-to headphone for best value

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It might.  We can talk about and speculate on a market that's just maturing or expanding and how long that trend will continue.  At some point the prices will peak, and I tend to think we're getting close to what the market will bear for a flagship headphone price.
 
....I could be totally wrong though. seems like plenty of companies are daring to push that limit.  The Stax 009 didn't seem to have any problem selling and that trumps this price tag (or did at one point).  Hard to fathom that Audeze can double the price of their flagship with each release though.

"Only an idiot will buy this phone. IMO, of course."
How dare you, I am an idiot but won't buy them due to fiscal and parental considerations....

paradoxper said:

  Yea, I get the tubes. Had a recent discussion pertaining to how NOS stock ain't goin' nowhere. Fact remains, Audez'e is just one example of notorious QC issues.
LCD-2's it was the wood cracking, LCD-3 there were driver inconsistencies and they've flat out battled driver failures from the getgo. Now, they've the gall for a $4k offering.
 
But as said, and to your point, people with more money than sense. Some of us have both.

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 And were very lucky and should count out blessings that our digging paid off. I agree with you mostly on the lcd-4, just too expensive. However if someone wants to part with $4k to listen to it at home I'm not going to knock them. Takes all kinds. 
 
Now $4ok with the Orpheus 2 and yeah you are encroaching on the TT and speaker sweet spot and I will probably get crabby.

obsidyen said:

  After reading the recent posts, I agree with you guys... In many ways HD800 is still unsurpassed by these "boutique" companies. Companies like Audeze make few headphones and sell them at outrageous prices. I mean EL-8 is just a terrible headphone and people have paid $700 for it. They find people to market their products for them (like that Mercer guy who said EL-8 was amazing, but it turned out to be awful) I feel sorry for these people. I also feel sorry for those who'll buy LCD-4. You might be rich but you don't have to be dumb, come on.

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A couple of things for you, sweetie pie:
 
1. I find gold plated Ferraris ridiculous, but if a rich saudi wants to drive that around the UAE because it genuinely makes him happy, who am I (or you) to judge?
 
2. Never say you feel say sorry for someone when you don't mean it, and when you are using it as the highest form of an insult you can muster. It's unoriginal and will never cut as deep as you would hope for.
 
3. You don't have to be rich to buy something for 4 thousand dollars.
 
At that amount nearly every working class person could be the victim of such a purchase IF they chose to be. Instead of something like a car, education for their children, house improvements etc etc
 
4. The Mercer guy comment is bang on the money, and I'm not being sarcastic. I can't stand the guy and his bias. The EL8 is an abomination IMO.

potkettleblack said:

 
A couple of things for you, sweetie pie:
 
1. I find gold plated Ferraris ridiculous, but if a rich saudi wants to drive that around the UAE because it genuinely makes him happy, who am I (or you) to judge?
 
2. Never say you feel say sorry for someone when you don't mean it, and when you are using it as the highest form of an insult you can muster. It's unoriginal and will never cut as deep as you would hope for.
 
3. You don't have to be rich to buy something for 4 thousand dollars.
 
At that amount nearly every working class person could be the victim of such a purchase IF they chose to be. Instead of something like a car, education for their children, house improvements etc etc
 
4. The Mercer guy comment is bang on the money, and I'm not being sarcastic. I can't stand the guy and his bias. The EL8 is an abomination IMO.

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I agree with Mercer on the EL8 (both versions) and I can't wait to hear what he has to say about the LCD-4 because from what I read in his cam jam impressions it wasn't good.

velvetx said:

   
I agree with Mercer on the EL8 (both versions) and I can't wait to hear what he has to say about the LCD-4 because from what I read in his cam jam impressions it wasn't good.

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Can you provide a link to his impressions. If he says they are not good...

This thread should be shut down and a new one started.  The amount of price complaining and absurd visions of never ending price stability is painful to read.  Now we've descended to name calling anyone who decides to buy and LCD4 - this is a hobby and not, by a long shot, the most expensive one out there.  The ability of someone to choose to invest their money as they see fit shouldn't be mocked, particularly as some of the people doing the mocking own or want to own other high end headphones at, near, or above the price of the LCD4. 
 
What's being missed is that we have been rather lucky in head-fi to escape the enormous prices seen in almost all other forms of home audio reproduction for headphones to date.  Speakers, turntables, amps, and dacs have all passed the 6 figure threshold.  The inevitable changes to the headphone market as popularity increased is happening - so be it.  Capitalism and consumerism was inevitable.  My inability to own the TOTL speakers from the manufacturer I like doesn't lessen my enjoyment of their middle of the line offerings that I own.  Somehow, this seems to revolve around the simple reality that not everyone wants or can spend the funds necessary to buy the current flagship.  Are those who feel that way protesting Ford because they are about to release the $200,000k GT?
 
It's not as if the headphone manufacturers have stopped making lower cost options leaving flagships as the only alternative.  No one is forcing the consumer to spend $4k on headphones.  And the only reason that the prices are escalating is that we as a community are buying the more expensive products.  If we weren't buying them, there would be no point in the manufacturers releasing them.

Forgive me for saying but we are a tad off topic. Value verse perceived value aside. So your getting one, when's is it coming, what's the burn in time, when will you post impressions. Can I send my soul via PayPal to borrow it..

mwilson said:

  Have any of you referring to those of us who bought one as idiots actually critically evaluated the LCD-4? 

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I'm looking at Audez'es track record regarding their products. Value is subjective, etc etc but any skepticism directed toward the LCD-4 and $4k isn't unwarranted.
I can careless how good the LCD-4 may sound if it's bound to suffer a driver failure. And I think the trend of the industry is detrimental. That's just me, though.

potkettleblack said:

 
Can you provide a link to his impressions. If he says they are not good...

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http://www.head-fi.org/t/782818/2015-canjam-rmaf-impressions-thread-october-2-4-2015/90#post_11969883

sensui123 said:

.
For the record, I've always enjoyed all my Audeze phones and my LCD-3 just went in for a driver failure....but I see it as a kind of blessing in disguise.  Resets the warranty just in time.

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Also for the record, the wood cups are only warrantied for initial purchase. When they crack a second time, even if it's less than 9 months or a year of them being replaced, Audeze will try to charge $250 to have them fixed. I was fortunate enough to plead for them to be replaced with me paying for shipping. Audeze said there is no warranty a second time, which of course will happen since their wood has issues.

They even had the audacity to suggest it was somehow related to how the headphones were being stored or handled. I wasn't even using the LCD's because the HD-650's resolve my music much better than the 3F's. Anyway, I paid the shipping and they replaced the wood cups for free. Next time is $250. I wouldn't touch another Audeze product; the EL-8's were just terrible. I'd recommend the 2's over the 3's myself, but recommend a lot of headphones over any Audeze planars. Huge variances between headphones for FR's, cracking wood, failing drivers... I doubt the 4's will be better, but I'll see.

I guess I've been lucky.  I owned both LCD 2 and still have the LCD-3 (though selling to trim the fat on my headphone inventory) as well as the LCD-X and LCD-Xc....I've never seen cracked wood or anything of the sort through these years on my units.  That driver failure on the LCD-3 was the first thing I've encountered from them and all they did was take down the serial # and issued a RMA to have it fixed.  Not to discount your issues as you're not alone but I personally have some sort of feeling that the wood cracking problems could very well have much to do with varying climates/conditions throughout the world....we just don't have a lot of varying weather here in California and mine is always sitting in a temperature controlled theater room so perhaps that's why I've never seen any issues.  I did personally choose the 3 over the 2 though for the detail retrieval on the 3's as well as having sweeter mids.
 
Recent news from Audeze's camp suggests they had a problem with film suppliers hence the driver failures....so supposedly that's being sorted out.....hopefully for the sakes of the LCD-4 owners things are settled.  Maybe that's why they moved to the custom hand built made to order model for this unit to ensure better quality (wishful thinking)?  Time will tell.....but I await more impressions as we continue to see if it's worth the $$.  I'm not discounting it simply due to cost since I actually liked lcd-2 and lcd-3.

I've merged both threads. Please avoid having a go at people for any reason. 
 
Quote:

bfreedma said:

  What's being missed is that we have been rather lucky in head-fi to escape the enormous prices seen in almost all other forms of home audio reproduction for headphones to date.  

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Even if it is there, it is easy to avoid: Just don't pay attention to the crazily priced stuff. Plenty of companies (eg: Magnaplanar, Schiit Audio, various small direct-sale speaker companies, and too many others to mention) have avoided going down that route. 
 
If I were to speculate what drives (ha!) the production of these boutique headphones (remember the LCD-4s are BTO) it is simply that there are people out there for whom the money isn't a problem and ask of these companies "Please sell me the best possible headphones you can make." The rest of us can simply ignore these flagships, just as I'm going to complete ignore the new Orpheus. 
 
Hopefully I can audition them in Tokyo later this month, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'd want to audition them on my own system preferably, with the addition of an Yggy (for better resolution over my Hugo) and then maybe at a meet with the guys who have 009 rigs. I tend to take large meet impressions with something of a grain of salt otherwise, and doubly so impressions of any kind that don't mention the music being listened to, as that makes all the difference IME.

currawong said:

Even if it is there, it is easy to avoid: Just don't pay attention to the crazily priced stuff. Plenty of companies (eg: Magnaplanar, Schiit Audio, various small direct-sale speaker companies, and too many others to mention) have avoided going down that route. 

If I were to speculate what drives (ha!) the production of these boutique headphones (remember the LCD-4s are BTO) it is simply that there are people out there for whom the money isn't a problem and ask of these companies "Please sell me the best possible headphones you can make." The rest of us can simply ignore these flagships, just as I'm going to complete ignore the new Orpheus. 

Hopefully I can audition them in Tokyo later this month, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'd want to audition them on my own system preferably, with the addition of an Yggy (for better resolution over my Hugo) and then maybe at a meet with the guys who have 009 rigs. I tend to take large meet impressions with something of a grain of salt otherwise, and doubly so impressions of any kind that don't mention the music being listened to, as that makes all the difference IME.

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Agreed. Was more referring to the relative affordability of flagship headphones to date as compared to flagship products in other branches of audio reproduction. With the increased popularity and visibility of the headphone market, the high end prices are rising.