[johnwmclean]

Of course agreed.
 
On the other hand if you’re bought expensive high end gear be prepared for maintenance costs after the warranty is over.
Otherwise look at less costly options, simple.
 

 

[puresilence]

You can always pay with amex and that will extend your warranty an extra year...

 

[purrin]

Quote:

So  I m just about ready to pull the trigger on Audeze's LCD-2 headphones but I m really scared by the 1 year warranty.  Right now I m a collage student working part time at staples so its taken me forever and a day to save up this kind of money and I really want these headphones to last. 
 
Dose any one know if Audeze has out of warranty repair like sennheiser?  They charged me $65 to repair my HD 650s when they broke just 2 months after warranty ended but that was MUCH better then $350 for a new pair.
 
I don't know if I could part with that much money knowing if they broke a year and day latter I would be out 1 grand.   Dose any one have any experience with Audeze do they offer an extended warranty or some sort of out of warranty repair?

Even if they do offer out of warranty repair, the question is how long they be around? It also depends upon how long you plan to own the headphones too.
 
Not to poopoo Audeze at all, but they are a small company. On the boards here, it appears that they've taken great care of their existing customers. They have even modified their product to be more reliable: "Revision 2 transducer has the same mechanical construction as original transducer, but uses newly developed, thinner and more reliable diaphragm material..." But be aware small companies making audiophile gear tend to come and go. That being said, I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. At less than a $1000, the LCD-2 is a steal and in the same tier as other headphones in the $1500 range.
 

 

[khaos974]

Even if they do offer out of warranty repair, the question is how long they be around? It also depends upon how long you plan to own the headphones too.
 
Not to poopoo Audeze at all, but they are a small company. On the boards here, it appears that they've taken great care of their existing customers. They have even modified their product to be more reliable: "Revision 2 transducer has the same mechanical construction as original transducer, but uses newly developed, thinner and more reliable diaphragm material..." But be aware small companies making audiophile gear tend to come and go. That being said, I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. At less than a $1000, the LCD-2 is a steal and in the same tier as other headphones in the $1500 range.
 

You got that wrong, they had a reliable original driver, let's call it rev1, somewhere along the way, they had a batch that wasn't reliable, no explanation provided. My guess is that the subcontractor tha t produced had a machine developing or something analogous, maybe the said company judged the return on investment of buying a new machine too low. Thus Audez'e could no longer get reliable rev 1 drivers, hence their pushing ahead the rev2 driver, which would be made by a different machine or subcontractor.

Note that this is pure speculation, but it happens often enough for small companies to be considered.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quote:

Even if they do offer out of warranty repair, the question is how long they be around? It also depends upon how long you plan to own the headphones too.
 
Not to poopoo Audeze at all, but they are a small company. On the boards here, it appears that they've taken great care of their existing customers. They have even modified their product to be more reliable: "Revision 2 transducer has the same mechanical construction as original transducer, but uses newly developed, thinner and more reliable diaphragm material..." But be aware small companies making audiophile gear tend to come and go. That being said, I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. At less than a $1000, the LCD-2 is a steal and in the same tier as other headphones in the $1500 range.
 

One could worry about spare parts also from big companies, since they have a tendency to stop producing spare parts after the end of their production run. For 20 or 30 year old headphones from big companies such as Fostex, Yamaha or Pioneer, it is often impossible to find spare parts, unless one is very lucky. (I mention these manufacturers, since I have actually tried to obtain various spare parts for their older headphones)
 

 

[purrin]

Quote:

 You got that wrong, they had a reliable original driver, let's call it rev1, somewhere along the way, they had a batch that wasn't reliable, no explanation provided...

 
LOL, it's no longer reliable (or at least consistently reliable) when you suddenly get a bad batch.
 
Anyways, my point was they were pro-active and did something about it rather than sit on their ass and wait for something bad to possibly happen again.

 

[purrin]

Quote:

. For 20 or 30 year old headphones from big companies such as Fostex, Yamaha or Pioneer, it is often impossible to find spare parts, unless one is very lucky. (I mention these manufacturers, since I have actually tried to obtain various spare parts for their older headphones)
 

 
After 20 years, I would consider that end-of-life (from a manufacturer POV) for a product. I would think the OP is more concerned about the medium term from three to ten years.

 

[khaos974]

 
LOL, it's no longer reliable (or at least consistently reliable) when you suddenly get a bad batch.
 
Anyways, my point was they were pro-active and did something about it rather than sit on their ass and wait for something bad to possibly happen again.

I guess you could say that the design of the driver is reliable but they could make it meet the specs anymore.

 

[Super MANSKITO]

 
Quote:

Of course agreed.
 
On the other hand if you’re bought expensive high end gear be prepared for maintenance costs after the warranty is over.
Otherwise look at less costly options, simple.
 

 
I m sorry, i can't agree with that statement.  High end gear should not only be better preforming but also should be over engineered on EVERY level.   Its not simple their charging an absurd amount of money for this product and they only back it with a pathetic one year warranty.   I understand that every thing can break no matter how well engineered, I just wish Audeze would be more clear about what they consider "reasonable".  Saying you will "Stand behind a product" and actually doing so are two very different things. 
 
Don't get me wrong from a relativistic cost stand point, their product's price/preformance ratio blows any speaker or headphone that I know of out of the water, and that is why I want it.  But from an absolute cost prespective the asking price is CRAZY high and I really am worried about getting a future 1 thousand dollar paper weight and a company that might not be so willing to help me after they have already got my money. 
 
In any event I need to sleep on this, I know I want the phones and I don't mind paying the money if its a one time payment, I just wish I could know that this company will take care of me if the headphones break in say the near 1-5 year future.   
 
But thank you guys for your input so far,  I've gotten one good review of their customer service and one average one.  From what you guys are saying and my own experience would you guys say they have slow but honest service?  

 

[khaos974]

Yes currently I would classify their customer service as not the most reactive but essentially good.

I think that the problem they have is that they started as a 2 men company, essentially a very small business with a limited amount of customers. The owners could afford to answer each case individually deal with the customer in person. Now that their business is picking up, they have to change their previous method, they can't deal personally with each customer without delay, yet they are trying to do so.

A good transition from s micro scale to a small scale company can be sometimes difficult to handle: they have to increase production while maintaining service quality. I wish Audez'e the best of luck.

(And yes, that's speculation)

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Honest service is a good description IMHO. To me, they seem rather obsessed with providing great customer service, just like they seem obsessed with making the best headphone they can. Although, there can be communication glitches. That's most likely because they are a very small operation. A bit of patience and sending an extra email can be needed sometimes.
 

 

[ACDOAN]

Quote:

Of course agreed.
 
On the other hand if you’re bought expensive high end gear be prepared for maintenance costs after the warranty is over.
Otherwise look at less costly options, simple.
 

When you own a Hummer why concerning about gas price at the pump !  The only think not quite attractive about the LCD2 is the wood grain around the cups. Come one if they do not want to jack up the MSRP due to more expensive wooden cups, I'd rather have some mate-black durable type of plastic than the old-station-wagon- wood-trim type around the HP cups.

 

[rmilewsk]

"On the other hand if you’re bought expensive high end gear be prepared for maintenance costs after the warranty is over.
Otherwise look at less costly options, simple.""""""""
 
I completely disagree with this statement. High cost items should come with great customer service by default. No one should "expect" crappy goods after the warranty is over for a premium item. It's exactly this type of complacency that let's high end manufacturers off the hook. If we want this changed we all need to be responsible to expect better from our manufacturers.
 
 

 

[BlackbeardBen]

Quote:

When you own a Hummer why concerning about gas price at the pump !  The only think not quite attractive about the LCD2 is the wood grain around the cups. Come one if they do not want to jack up the MSRP due to more expensive wooden cups, I'd rather have some mate-black durable type of plastic than the old-station-wagon- wood-trim type around the HP cups.

And front the huge costs of an injection mold die instead?  I think not...
 
Hifiman is able to subsidize plastic cups by using it across four headphones and likely more in the future - I'm not sure Audeze is big enough to afford the cost of a die and contacting out injection molding (or its own machine) on an unnecessary part at this point.  Perhaps in the future, if a newer model dictates larger-scale production.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quote:

"On the other hand if you’re bought expensive high end gear be prepared for maintenance costs after the warranty is over.
Otherwise look at less costly options, simple.""""""""
 
I completely disagree with this statement. High cost items should come with great customer service by default. No one should "expect" crappy goods after the warranty is over for a premium item. It's exactly this type of complacency that let's high end manufacturers off the hook. If we want this changed we all need to be responsible to expect better from our manufacturers.
 
 

 
Calm down a bit.... the Audeze cans are mostly less then one year old, and so far the within-warranty service has been great. There is no reason right now to believe that the service will be worse after the warranty period is over.