[MrBenvolent]

  It might also be worth checking whether in case of a driver failure, would the local dealer in NZ be able to replace the drivers themselves (with a new pair of matched drivers Audeze supplies in advance).
The dealer here in Israel does it and it saves having to mail the headphones to Audeze and back - almost makes the failure a non-issue.

Good advice - will check that as well.

 

[zilch0md]

Yes those are great points of mscott58's. Absolutely correct. I'm a statistician and we simply have no idea from this poll of the number of people who haven't had problems with their LCD phones. As well, I suspect a 30% failure rate would have long ago put Audeze out of business

I can't think how they could sustain either their business or their status as a viable headphone manufacturer at that rate!
 

 
It's true that we cannot trust this poll - it's not a random sampling of the population, potentially attracting more losers than winners, but on the flip side, as has just been mentioned above, people who were having no problems when they voted, or had experienced only one or two failures, cannot change their vote later. What percentage of the lucky 43% (currently) who voted as having no failures, have since had failures? We have no way of knowing.
 
I'm pretty confident, however, that we can trust the many individuals who have shared their stories of anguish, right here in this thread, of having had more than one failure, some of them more than five failures, before throwing in the towel and getting off the LCD-3 roulette wheel. Ask them if they care about the inaccuracy of this poll. The mere fact that the poll was written to include the option "Three times or more" tells us a lot about this headphone's reliability.
 
We don't need accurate stats regarding LCD-3 failures to know that no other threads contain the miserable stories that have been told in this thread - not even for other headphones manufactured by Audeze. They are producing many trouble-free products that sustain their business, despite the LCD-3 problem - not to mention the patience, tenacity, and loyalty of LCD-3 owners who so love the LCD-3 sound, they are willing to endure the pain (to a point).

 

[Argo Duck]

^ that's very true about being unable to change the poll. I tried earlier in this thread to use the differentials between 1, 2 and 3 failures to derive a failure rate. The model didn't work. I suspect time-related factors., e.g. the problem is worse at some times than others.

I trust the "many individuals [with] stories of anguish" too

I didn't mean to suggest people should care about the accuracy/inaccuracy of this poll and apologize unreservedly to anyone who took that meaning. It was unintended.

MrBenvolent I'll PM you as soon as I find the documentation.

 

[VoodooSamurai]

has Audeze got their quality control together for the LCD4? every LCD3s I had failed. 

 

[VoodooSamurai]

   
It's true that we cannot trust this poll - it's not a random sampling of the population, potentially attracting more losers than winners, but on the flip side, as has just been mentioned above, people who were having no problems when they voted, or had experienced only one or two failures, cannot change their vote later. What percentage of the lucky 43% (currently) who voted as having no failures, have since had failures? We have no way of knowing.
 
I'm pretty confident, however, that we can trust the many individuals who have shared their stories of anguish, right here in this thread, of having had more than one failure, some of them more than five failures, before throwing in the towel and getting off the LCD-3 roulette wheel. Ask them if they care about the inaccuracy of this poll. The mere fact that the poll was written to include the option "Three times or more" tells us a lot about this headphone's reliability.
 
We don't need accurate stats regarding LCD-3 failures to know that no other threads contain the miserable stories that have been told in this thread - not even for other headphones manufactured by Audeze. They are producing many trouble-free products that sustain their business, despite the LCD-3 problem - not to mention the patience, tenacity, and loyalty of LCD-3 owners who so love the LCD-3 sound, they are willing to endure the pain (to a point).

tbh how they avoided a class action is a miracle. No one wanted to sue over headphones I guess. 

 

[Gamergtx260]

  has Audeze got their quality control together for the LCD4? every LCD3s I had failed. 

Only time can tell.. 

 

[matthewhypolite]

  has Audeze got their quality control together for the LCD4? every LCD3s I had failed. 

 
Was considering an LCD4 and the first 2 owned on the forum failed. At that point i closed the lcd4 thread and never looked at it again. P.S. every LCD3 i have had has also failed (5)

 

[djlethal]

 
Was considering an LCD4 and the first 2 owned on the forum failed. At that point i closed the lcd4 thread and never looked at it again. P.S. every LCD3 i have had has also failed (5)

 


Re: LCD-4
Those were the 100 ohm version. They indeed had a higher risk of failure, thus Audeze shortly released the 200 ohm version, from which point I haven't read any more claims or statements of driver failures.
Only the 200 ohm version is in production now and anyone with the previous version gets a free upgrade.

 

[Gamergtx260]

 

   
Was considering an LCD4 and the first 2 owned on the forum failed. At that point i closed the lcd4 thread and never looked at it again. P.S. every LCD3 i have had has also failed (5)

 


Re: LCD-4
Those were the 100 ohm version. They indeed had a higher risk of failure, thus Audeze shortly released the 200 ohm version, from which point I haven't read any more claims or statements of driver failures.
Only the 200 ohm version is in production now and anyone with the previous version gets a free upgrade.

 
Agree too. LCD 4s I had were the 200 ohm version too. Was pretty solid but returned them after my LCD 3 failed. 
But all I can say is that Audeze is improving on their quality control and their customer support is amazing and the LCD 4s sound great, so go for it.

 

[matthewhypolite]

 

   
Was considering an LCD4 and the first 2 owned on the forum failed. At that point i closed the lcd4 thread and never looked at it again. P.S. every LCD3 i have had has also failed (5)

 


Re: LCD-4
Those were the 100 ohm version. They indeed had a higher risk of failure, thus Audeze shortly released the 200 ohm version, from which point I haven't read any more claims or statements of driver failures.
Only the 200 ohm version is in production now and anyone with the previous version gets a free upgrade.

 
Free upgrade is nice. but is stuff like this has me really weary to trust audeze again, if you're in the US its not that big of a deal, but dealign wiht international customs for every headphone exchange is a real pain, and costs $ I spent almost as much exchanging my LCD3 as i paid for it originally....

 

[djlethal]

 
Free upgrade is nice. but is stuff like this has me really weary to trust audeze again, if you're in the US its not that big of a deal, but dealign wiht international customs for every headphone exchange is a real pain, and costs $ I spent almost as much exchanging my LCD3 as i paid for it originally....

 

Granted, that's the reason I never bought an LCD-3.
However, I'm pretty confident that issue has been resolved with the LCD-4, which is why I've bought one.

On the bright side, unlike other companies (Hifiman), Audeze's driver technology trickles down to lower models, so I expect the LCD-3's reliability to only increase in time (if it hasn't already).

 

[matthewhypolite]

 

   
Free upgrade is nice. but is stuff like this has me really weary to trust audeze again, if you're in the US its not that big of a deal, but dealign wiht international customs for every headphone exchange is a real pain, and costs $ I spent almost as much exchanging my LCD3 as i paid for it originally....

 

Granted, that's the reason I never bought an LCD-3.
However, I'm pretty confident that issue has been resolved with the LCD-4, which is why I've bought one.

On the bright side, unlike other companies (Hifiman), Audeze's driver technology trickles down to lower models, so I expect the LCD-3's reliability to only increase in time (if it hasn't already).

Noted. What other flagship cans you own?

 

[djlethal]

No other flagships. I've listened to most of them during the past year or so (except for the Abyss and the Ethers) and the only other system I'd consider buying as a complement would be a top-tier electrostatic one. That's not in my near future plans, however

 

[matthewhypolite]

No other flagships. I've listened to most of them during the past year or so (except for the Abyss and the Ethers) and the only other system I'd consider buying as a complement would be a top-tier electrostatic one. That's not in my near future plans, however

Got ya, how do you like lcd4 vs HEK and Utopia?

 

[vert]

  has Audeze got their quality control together for the LCD4? every LCD3s I had failed. 

 
It appears there may be inherent limitations/flaws in the LCD-3 design that cannot be overcome.
 

Re: LCD-4
Those were the 100 ohm version. They indeed had a higher risk of failure, thus Audeze shortly released the 200 ohm version, from which point I haven't read any more claims or statements of driver failures.
Only the 200 ohm version is in production now and anyone with the previous version gets a free upgrade.

 
It sounds like the original LCD-4 was a beta product.