[potkettleblack]

I expected to be asked this. My local dealer, I hope.
 
I sent them back because of a scratch - so it was my fault and my responsibility to send them - but there have been people on here that have had to send them back at their own expense.
 
Audeze even offered to send mine back for free as I live in the UK the second part the process was going to prove difficult.
 
Like I said Audeze were very good with me. If these driver fails weren't happening I'd already have the 3f and I would be kissing it. French style.

 

[Jedarius]

Unfortunate that my first post had to be on this thread...
 
My right side driver failed within 3 months from date of purchase.  It took me almost 1.5 month from submitting a support ticket, to getting my LCD-3 back with replaced driver(s).  As others have said, calling in will get you a quicker response than using their online ticketing support.
 
Another 4 months down the road, the right side driver failed again.  This is the second time the right side driver has failed within the span of 7-8 months.
 
Judging from the poll results, this does not seem like a minor issue.  Has Audeze offered any official response to this?

 

[Exidrion]

Yeah, if mine fail I'm gonna try and sell them and get an Ether or something. So pathetic. I don't believe they've made an official statement.

 

[Sweetmeat]

  Unfortunate that my first post had to be on this thread...
 
My right side driver failed within 3 months from date of purchase.  It took me almost 1.5 month from submitting a support ticket, to getting my LCD-3 back with replaced driver(s).  As others have said, calling in will get you a quicker response than using their online ticketing support.
 
Another 4 months down the road, the right side driver failed again.  This is the second time the right side driver has failed within the span of 7-8 months.
 
Judging from the poll results, this does not seem like a minor issue.  Has Audeze offered any official response to this?

Welcome to the forum, we are here for you. May I ask if you are living in a hot climate? Some of the repeat victims are from Down Under or the tropics. Also, did you pay for shipping to California USA? Some of the more persuasive fellows (not me) were able to convince Audeze to pay.

 

[Jedarius]

 
Welcome to the forum, we are here for you. May I ask if you are living in a hot climate? Some of the repeat victims are from Down Under or the tropics. Also, did you pay for shipping to California USA? Some of the more persuasive fellows (not me) were able to convince Audeze to pay.

 
Thanks for this, helps a bit with the disappointment.
 
I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada...the climate is pretty mild all year round (not too cold or hot) and the humidity is average. 
 
I did pay for shipping to California USA, came to around ~$30; was about the same amount that I paid last time as well.  How did you guys manage to get free shipping?  I wasn't offered, but I guess I also did not push for it.
 
The first time it happened I did not think anything of it, but after this second occurrence, I am worried that they may break down again in the future.  I am seriously considering selling my pair after they are fixed.  I really love the sound of the LCD-3; it's a shame that something like this, all but killed my trust in the Audeze brand.

 

[Sweetmeat]

   
Thanks for this, helps a bit with the disappointment.
 
I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada...the climate is pretty mild all year round (not too cold or hot) and the humidity is average. 
 
I did pay for shipping to California USA, came to around ~$30; was about the same amount that I paid last time as well.  How did you guys manage to get free shipping?  I wasn't offered, but I guess I also did not push for it.
 
The first time it happened I did not think anything of it, but after this second occurrence, I am worried that they may break down again in the future.  I am seriously considering selling my pair after they are fixed.  I really love the sound of the LCD-3; it's a shame that something like this, all but killed my trust in the Audeze brand.

You're not the first Canuck to show up on this thread so I guess my theory (that humidity is a factor in the driver failures) is disproven. The guys that got free shipping usually asked for it but not always. I also considered selling my LCD-3 but I don't have any trader reputation here so no one wants to buy my stuff (I tried). So I guess I'm stuck with them until they finally transform into a $2000 paperweight. If I could I would trade them for another Audeze summit-fi headphone (LCD-XC or LCD-X). I am told they sound almost as good (some say the LCD-X is better). These do not have the same rate of driver failure as the LCD-3.

 

[Jedarius]

So as I am reading through the thread here, I wonder if the issues are the LCD-3's drivers?
 
I wonder if during the RMA, if they are replacing the drivers anyways, we can request for the LCD-X drivers instead?  If the LCD-X's really do have the lower failure rates. 

 

[Sweetmeat]

  So as I am reading through the thread here, I wonder if the issues are the LCD-3's drivers?
 
I wonder if during the RMA, if they are replacing the drivers anyways, we can request for the LCD-X drivers instead?  If the LCD-X's really do have the lower failure rates. 

We can safely state the LCD-3 driver is more prone to failure than the other Audeze models. Don't know if an LCD-X driver will fit in an LCD-3 frame, but they probably won't do that because those would be counterfeit LCD-3s. More likely they would do a LCD-3 to LCD-X swap. At least one guy who suffered numerous driver failures got the swap. But he was sworn to secrecy which implies the swap is not commonly available.

 

[Soulrave]

So this just happened, I bought my LCD3f last May 21, 2015 and exactly 14 days after my left driver just flat out died on me. 
 
So I went back to our local dealer and requested for a replacement / repair and had to wait until June 21, 2015 to get a new unit with a diff serial number. 
 
Sadly just right now, the left driver of my LCD3f just died out again I can't even believe this. I really love the sound of the LCD 3, this is my "perfect" headphone but I don't want to deal with these kinds of recurring problems again... Sorry for ranting.

 

[Jedarius]

  So this just happened, I bought my LCD3f last May 21, 2015 and exactly 14 days after my left driver just flat out died on me. 
 
So I went back to our local dealer and requested for a replacement / repair and had to wait until June 21, 2015 to get a new unit with a diff serial number. 
 
Sadly just right now, the left driver of my LCD3f just died out again I can't even believe this. I really love the sound of the LCD 3, this is my "perfect" headphone but I don't want to deal with these kinds of recurring problems again... Sorry for ranting.

 
It has been frustrating for me as well.  I'm sure many others share our experiences; you are not alone.
 
I have already called attention to this thread when I conversed with Audeze's customer rep.  After some constructive back and forth; I am told that this has been sent to technicians/management.  Whether or not we get any real responses to this is uncertain.
 
When you send your pair down for repair make sure you call attention to this thread, as well as any other sources of discussions (Reddit?) on these LCD-3 driver failures.  Hopefully with enough noise we can get some traction on this issue.
 
 

 

[theblueprint]

  So this just happened, I bought my LCD3f last May 21, 2015 and exactly 14 days after my left driver just flat out died on me. 
 
So I went back to our local dealer and requested for a replacement / repair and had to wait until June 21, 2015 to get a new unit with a diff serial number. 
 
Sadly just right now, the left driver of my LCD3f just died out again I can't even believe this. I really love the sound of the LCD 3, this is my "perfect" headphone but I don't want to deal with these kinds of recurring problems again... Sorry for ranting.

 
Don't worry, this thread was made for people to rant!
 
I love my LCD2.2 (w/o fazor) and the LCD3's pretty much are my ideal headphone. However, after reading about the [growing] failure rate of these headphones, I cannot possibly own a pair and sleep soundly at night. It's a real pity, seeing how good they really are (especially seeing how people have put up with multiple returns). I really wish Audeze releases a statement about this and figures out a way to ensure this stops happening in the future.

 

[matthewhypolite]

I above all else understands the pain you guys are all experiencing, I'm the dude with about 5 failures. Bought LCD3 at launch back in 2011.
 
After the last failure, I've decided to move on and revisit the Audeze brand when they've hopefully got a handle on these issues.
 
LCD3 is the best headphones I've heard and I love their sound. I hope to own a can from them again some day, LCD Z maybe.
 
Until then, my Abyss AB-1266 should be arriving within the week. It's the only upgrade that made sense after getting used to LCD3 sound.
 
Really hope Audeze figures out what's going on with these failures.

 

[zilch0md]

  So this just happened, I bought my LCD3f last May 21, 2015 and exactly 14 days after my left driver just flat out died on me. 
 
So I went back to our local dealer and requested for a replacement / repair and had to wait until June 21, 2015 to get a new unit with a diff serial number. 
 
Sadly just right now, the left driver of my LCD3f just died out again I can't even believe this. I really love the sound of the LCD 3, this is my "perfect" headphone but I don't want to deal with these kinds of recurring problems again... Sorry for ranting.

 
That's not a rant - that's just a telling of the truth. Thanks for sharing.  
 

  I above all else understands the pain you guys are all experiencing, I'm the dude with about 5 failures. Bought LCD3 at launch back in 2011.
 
After the last failure, I've decided to move on and revisit the Audeze brand when they've hopefully got a handle on these issues.
 
LCD3 is the best headphones I've heard and I love their sound. I hope to own a can from them again some day, LCD Z maybe.
 
Until then, my Abyss AB-1266 should be arriving within the week. It's the only upgrade that made sense after getting used to LCD3 sound.
 
Really hope Audeze figures out what's going on with these failures.

 
Duke40 is another LCD-3 customer who had 5 driver failures, as well as two other issues that invoked a warranty response - a loose connector that came back on a driver replacement job, and a bad cable. He, too, has exited the LCD-3 merry-go-round.

 

[nixir]

Add me to the list of concerned customers. I am another huge fan of the Audeze house sound and eager to upgrade to the LCD-3, in fact I had bought a pair of the phones and had to return it 2 days later due to cosmetic issues with the wooden cups. Since then I have been following various threads both here and on reddit and the reliability reputation is the only thing preventing me from putting down the order for new pair.

 

[Soulrave]

Update: I received my repaired unit a few days ago and took it back home. Now I am getting so paranoid in using them because I have this notion that it might just die again on me anytime. I just keep them inside the case and once a while I use them just to see if they are still working. 
 
Yesterday I decided to just sell my unit and won't be looking at any audeze products anytime soon. I just can't stomach the fact that I paid a large amount for a pair of headphones that I expect to last me at least a decade and it already died on me twice within 4 months. Repairs took me 3-4 weeks worth of wait and when my unit came back it was like left out in the open in the warehouse! It was dirty and I can see some scuffs on the headband hinges. I can see a moderate amount of dirty of the foam on each earcups too. I treat my gear with utmost care and I really like them looking super mint and this is a really big deal for me.
 
Another reason is I have sent 3 emails to audeze regarding my issues and not a single reply! Way to go aftersales =/