[SomeGuyDude]

Understandable. And I've not had any failure yet. But, my livelyhood is grinding to a halt, and $500.00 Mericun is virtually wheelbarrow in Canuk money. It conserns me that I may be stuck with unfixable HPs, with the price of repair skyrocketing. Audeze may have their troubles, I've got mine. Just the way it is.

I get that, but sometimes crap is just crap, it's not because someone is trying to put the screws to you.

$2000 isn't cheap to put down for anything, but that means if something breaks it's also not going to be cheap to fix, especially when you're talking about literally the primary component of it. If a headphone band breaks or an earpad shreds, sure, but the driver itself literally is the headphone. It's like buying a big fancy HDTV and being surprised that replacing the screen is expensive.

Again, I'm in the same boat. If I had these things and I got a $500 quote for a repair, I'd just sell them for $500 and let someone else take care of that. Particularly because I don't want to feel like periodic repairs are just a "way of life" situation with what is arguably the most boutique brand in headphones.

 

[Cactus108]

Do you have a DAC to run it with right now?

Impressions plz

Nope! I'm Dac-less. Truly painful to have the Sangaku just sit on my desk as a paperweight till I get the gumby.

The Dac I had before was a modi 2 non uber. Sold that thing and didn't miss it for a second. It wasn't much of an upgrade compared to my phone to be honest.

-- I'm quite negatively biased against that thing though. Running off usb power caused a lot of issues with my other usb devices.

 

[CCXR594]

fair enough, things have to be bought in certain orders sometimes

 

[Sweetmeat]

http://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/2ukqm3/psa_audeze_owners_past_present_and_future_beware/

This thread references a Head-Fi thread that started when Audeze quoted an LCD3 owner $800 to fix his out-of-warranty driver failure. That thread was closely monitored by Audeze and eventually caused them to modify their policy concerning warranty details and out-of-warranty cost. I don't know if Audeze will be responding to this thread, but it is worth repeating here, Audeze's response to the previous thread:

Given recent feedback here on Head-Fi Audeze has decided to modify the warranty policy for replacement drivers.

•Drivers are warranted everywhere in the world for 3 years. (If you plug them into a wall socket, go scuba diving with them or go mad scientist on them, they won’t be covered!)
•We’ll evaluate the drivers and proceed on a case-by-case basis.
•If replaced under warranty (or paid for out of warranty) the new drivers will then be warranted for a further 3 years globally.
•When we replace drivers, either in or out of warranty, we install the latest models with all enhancements included such as Fazor elements.
•If you live outside the USA and you purchased Audeze headphones from one of our local dealers/distributors you can send them to your country’s authorized Audeze distributor for service.
•If you purchased your headphones directly from Audeze you can obtain warranty service from Audeze USA but not your local dealer/distributor.
•The prices for driver replacements have been revised.
•The LCD-3 is $375, the LCD-X/XC is $325, and the LCD-2 is now $250

It's worth pointing out that one of the reasons for the greater cost of driver replacement is that Audeze replaces both drivers even if only one is defective. We do that so both are matched for best performance. We don’t know of any other manufacturer that goes to these lengths to be certain you have the best product possible.

If you have difficulty obtaining the full 3-year warranty coverage outside the USA contact Support@Audeze.com and we'll make sure you're covered.

We appreciate your feedback, it helps us to keep building our world-class products.
Audeze

The quoted prices didn't last long because soon afterwards, guys were paying upwards of $500 to get their LCD3 drivers replaced, I don't know how much they are now. Stupid me, I thought if I purchased LCDXC my troubles would be over, boy was I wrong. At least all my driver failures have occurred under warranty, if they asked me to pay $800 I would probably just put that towards a nice pair of Stax. But like an idiot I have continued to buy Audeze products, thinking maybe it's like rear tires on my 600 HP GTO. I know I'm going to replace them every season because that thing eats a set every 5000 miles. But we all know that's BS, headphones are not modified cars.

 

[Globox]

That's odd, I had my LCD-X drivers updated in march. It was done by my "local" dealer as it was way to expensive to send it overseas but, back in the day, Audeze told me it was $250 to update the drivers. They also told me it was a special deal : "offering a half-price deal to owners of 2015 headphones". So it was $500 to do the upgrade in march/april 2017

 

[Globox]

I just recieved my LCD-4 headband and put it on my X. It looks goooooood ! I am wondering if the headphones will feel lighter as I hope !

Well, my back hurts again with the LCD-4 headband... So not a good deal so far...

 

[Cactus108]

That's odd, I had my LCD-X drivers updated in march. It was done by my "local" dealer as it was way to expensive to send it overseas but, back in the day, Audeze told me it was $250 to update the drivers. They also told me it was a special deal : "offering a half-price deal to owners of 2015 headphones". So it was $500 to do the upgrade in march/april 2017

Hopefully the 2015 deal applies still, mine were manufactured then!

 

[sahmen]

Okay, this is quite disturbing... I have been using my LCD-X a lot lately, and all these stories of driver failures and expensive repair costs are beginning to make me paranoid, although my unit has not given me any signs of crapping out on me... Are there any known causes of these failures or forms of abuse that one could avoid in order to prolong their life-span, or are we basically dealing with a kind of "luck-of-the-draw" lottery? Also what is the approximate failure rate of these cans, if that is calculable? I have become very fond of the LCD-X lately, not simply because I really like the way it sounds as it is, but also because Roon now has Audeze headphone presets (including a preset for the LCD-x) which enhance the performance of the cans even more, so it would be a great pity if I have to shelf it out of sheer paranoia and go back to using other cans that are less prone to suffer such driver failures... Maybe I should just bite the bullet and sell it when the drivers are still working? That seems to be the smartest thing to do, but I feel quite reluctant to just let it go now given how much I enjoy it... But how long can one go on like this? How does one continue to enjoy a pair of cans if one is on a constant paranoid watch for a driver failure? Oh well, we shall see... For the moment, this is starting to feel really weird...

 

[Globox]

Also what is the approximate failure rate of these cans, if that is calculable?

When I had my drivers upgraded, I asked the seller about the warranty as I was not the first owner and it was out of warranty anyways. The seller told me, he would repear them as long as I have them as they never got back for failure...

 

[drwlf]

@sahmen It's been attributed to the technology of the drivers being so "high tech", Audeze has been reportedly working on the issues with the revisions. Looking at the history, particularly the LCD-X should have had the lowest amount of driver failures of the LCD models, albeit it's not a scientific fact.
@SomeGuyDude were your drivers 2016 ones?

 

[ajreynol]

yea...the horror stories keep giving me cold feet. I gotta be honest. I use my headphones like 8-10 hours a day, every day, and I'd want to be able to continue that with my next pair. My aging D7000s have about 15,000 hours of trouble-free listening under them, and counting. My cables are frayed, my headband is tattered, but the music is as good as the day I bought it and I don't have to worry if they're going to work when I put them on in the morning. I'd really hate to buy into Audeze and not be able to expect them to be working well 5-10 years from now, but I really liked how they sounded during my last demo. Just....not ready for $1500+ headphones that I have to worry about.

My internal debate between a pair of Audeze's and a pair of ZMFs continues. I don't know if ZMF is any more or less reliable over time, but I know for damn sure that they don't have a thread about how many failures and repairs owners have had.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

If it helps, I checked my authenticity card and mine were manufactured in June of 2014, they were also a floor model, so they've been kicking around for over three years.

 

[CarlosUnchained]

If it helps, I checked my authenticity card and mine were manufactured in June of 2014, they were also a floor model, so they've been kicking around for over three years.

Yes, it gives some perspective.
Mine is from 16th of January this year.

 

[FirstError]

Okay, this is quite disturbing... I have been using my LCD-X a lot lately, and all these stories of driver failures and expensive repair costs are beginning to make me paranoid, although my unit has not given me any signs of crapping out on me... Are there any known causes of these failures or forms of abuse that one could avoid in order to prolong their life-span, or are we basically dealing with a kind of "luck-of-the-draw" lottery? Also what is the approximate failure rate of these cans, if that is calculable? I have become very fond of the LCD-X lately, not simply because I really like the way it sounds as it is, but also because Roon now has Audeze headphone presets (including a preset for the LCD-x) which enhance the performance of the cans even more, so it would be a great pity if I have to shelf it out of sheer paranoia and go back to using other cans that are less prone to suffer such driver failures... Maybe I should just bite the bullet and sell it when the drivers are still working? That seems to be the smartest thing to do, but I feel quite reluctant to just let it go now given how much I enjoy it... But how long can one go on like this? How does one continue to enjoy a pair of cans if one is on a constant paranoid watch for a driver failure? Oh well, we shall see... For the moment, this is starting to feel really weird...

Mine died randomly, and with little to no warning. I had been hearing driver crackle a few weeks before the right driver crapped out on me, but I'm not sure if that's indicative of a problem or if it's just natural. Either way, it was very sudden (my head was perfectly still when they died too and the volume was very low). I'm in the same camp as you in that the LCD-X sound magical, but unfortunately Audeze keeps jacking up the price and the failure rate of the new models remains to be seen (though supposedly it has been improved recently, who knows?).

My advice is to really evaluate how attached you are to them, and if they broke would you get them fixed? Once you get into that situation you're gonna have to make a choice anyway, so if the answer is no then you should save some money now and sell them. I knew from the week that I got them that they would be sticking around with me for a pretty long time (in spirit anyway), but then again I might be just a little bit of a fanboy. Right up until they broke I was finding new ways to appreciate them too, so that played a part as to why I decided to get them repaired.

Also, it helps to know what year your model is, mine was March 2014 and it held up for 3 years from when it was purchased (I bought them used this January, and they got around 2-3 hours a day of headtime on average). I know that 2016 and after are supposed to be more reliable, and that 2015 models get a discount driver repair ($250).

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Yes, it gives some perspective.
Mine is from 16th of January this year.

TBH if I get it repaired I'm curious if the new ones will sound significantly different.