[Larry Ho]

Hmmm... Right on time - a year late, like almost all of their crowd funded/designed projects.

At least we are getting updates that (to me) appear to show actual progress. EP3 / RC1 seems to be just about done with the design stage and ready to be fabbed, built and tested. Finally a full on working standalone DAP prototype. If we are insanely lucky it will not require more than one redesign before entering production.

J.P.

My conservative target for EP3 is: It fits 99% well with our chassis. There are several hardware bugs need jumper wire to fix. DAC portion performing well, touch screen and play control works fine. 
Energy consumption is the No.1 risk factor in my mind. We packed a lot of goodies inside. TI engineer and SOM vendors are supporting us a lot too.

 

[rcoleman1]

 
My conservative target for EP3 is: It fits 99% well with our chassis. There are several hardware bugs need jumper wire to fix. DAC portion performing well, touch screen and play control works fine. 
Energy consumption is the No.1 risk factor in my mind. We packed a lot of goodies inside. TI engineer and SOM vendors are supporting us a lot too.

That's great news Larry. Keep up the good work.

 

[noshortcuts]

Hmmm... Right on time - a year late, like almost all of their crowd funded/designed projects.

At least we are getting updates that (to me) appear to show actual progress. EP3 / RC1 seems to be just about done with the design stage and ready to be fabbed, built and tested. Finally a full on working standalone DAP prototype. If we are insanely lucky it will not require more than one redesign before entering production.

J.P.

True that almost all crowd funded projects deliver later than initial claims/hopes/promises. But that's no excuse for insiders to claim they are nearly ready to start shipping when actually they are VERY far from that possibility. Even without an insider stating they are delivering soon, surveys from many crowd funded projects (including from LHL) usually imply (or state outright) that they are "shipping soon ..... so, verifying address...".

 

[MikeyFresh]

Thankfully, I wasn't a Verb IEM backer.
 
However tonight's update does appear to be a very sincere make-good on that debacle.
 
Good of LHL to want to rectify that situation and correct that big mistake.

 

[nudd]

Thankfully, I wasn't a Verb IEM backer.


 


However tonight's update does appear to be a very sincere make-good on that debacle.


 


Good of LHL to want to rectify that situation and correct that big mistake.

 


I kind of disagree as the shipping is extortionate and there is basically a time limit within which you have to confirm you wish to take advantage of their "apology".

 

[Nightfish]

 

  Thankfully, I wasn't a Verb IEM backer.
   
  However tonight's update does appear to be a very sincere make-good on that debacle.
   
  Good of LHL to want to rectify that situation and correct that big mistake.

 


I kind of disagree as the shipping is extortionate and there is basically a time limit within which you have to confirm you wish to take advantage of their "apology".

Just out of curiosity, what are the details of the offer for the Verb backers? I backed the IEM-X and hope they turn out fine, esp together with the Wave. I wonder how different they sound from non-balanced headphones.

 

[AlterSack]

Well - here is the text of the email,
 
"Dear ....,

Last year LH Labs designed a completely new in-ear headphone that we thought we’d be proud of: an entirely original design with a wonderful sound we wanted you to experience. Unfortunately, we were NOT proud of the units that arrived from the manufacturer: not only did they sound nothing like our original design, we discovered (through you) the manufacturer took our industrial design and sold it to others.

We have definitely not forgotten about the experience and we’ve been working very hard to make it up to you. We know that apologies alone don’t go very far so we’re doing our best to restore your confidence in LH Labs. Over the last year, we’ve completely redesigned both the single ended and balanced IEM, ran through multiple iterations until both the tuning and the measurements were up to our standards, and sourced a trustworthy manufacturer for our new design. There’s a lot that goes into re-launching a product like this, but here are some of the highlights:

·         We worked with Peter Duminy, our LH Labs board advisor with decades of headphone and loudspeaker design experience including background with BBC, B&W and Stax, to design and tweak the acoustic performance

·         We went through multiple driver materials until we landed on 6u titanium

·         We developed an enhanced chamber design to eke out tight, realistic bass from the driver

·         We ran a quiet and extensive beta test with some hand-picked listeners, took their input, and did some final tweaking

We’re now ready to release and have decided to give our in-ear headphone line a new name: Vibrato

As an apology to you, we’d like to send you a pair of Vibrato before it’s sold retail for just the cost of shipping. This is only free to the original backers of the VERB IEM Perk on Indiegogo last year (we’ll verify eligibility against our customer database). To accept our offer and apology, please click on the link below. We anticipate that it will take us five weeks to get every unit shipped out. The link will be open and available until Monday, April 18th.

Above all, having you as our customer is what enables us to create the products we love. We hope that our actions will speak louder than words and you’ll love the Vibrato as much as we do.

Take care,
 

Larry, Gavin & The LH Labs Team

To accept our gift, select the image below based on your current location"
 
Shipping is 15 USD for home shipping and 26 USD for international
 

 

[MikeyFresh]

 

  Thankfully, I wasn't a Verb IEM backer.
   However tonight's update does appear to be a very sincere make-good on that debacle.
   Good of LHL to want to rectify that situation and correct that big mistake.

 

I kind of disagree as the shipping is extortionate and there is basically a time limit within which you have to confirm you wish to take advantage of their "apology".

I hadn't seen all the details on the shipping etc... until they were posted here. Yes the time limit is fairly strict.
 
But I do think it is a sincere offer and one which will cost LHL a fair amount of money to fulfill, so it's not too surprising they don't want to take another big hit on the shipping.
 
It's certainly debatable as to whether any given person would want to "invest" another $15/26 into this fiasco, however I at least applaud LHL for trying to make things right.
 
If backers end up happy with the Vibrato, that would likely help to cleanse LHL's image.

 

[Shawnb]

$26 shipping for a product that cost $39. That sounds about right 

 
Glad I only grabbed a pair of Verb X's cause I'd refuse to pay that and would of rather of taken the loss then pay anything more.
I'm sorry but $26 to ship a pair of IEM's is just a bit much.

 

[mandrake50]

 

  Thankfully, I wasn't a Verb IEM backer.
   
  However tonight's update does appear to be a very sincere make-good on that debacle.
   
  Good of LHL to want to rectify that situation and correct that big mistake.

 


I kind of disagree as the shipping is extortionate and there is basically a time limit within which you have to confirm you wish to take advantage of their "apology".

Pretty much like $15 for the IEM and free shipping... isn't it. If they are half way decent, that is not a bad deal.  With luck, I may actually use these. Quite unlike the two sets of Verb that I have gathering dust. I did not even want to give those away to anyone I cared about.
 
I wonder what the list price will be on these?
 
In any case, I paid them $30 for two pair.  If they sound OK, it is a good deal.

 

[nudd]

 
I hadn't seen all the details on the shipping etc... until they were posted here. Yes the time limit is fairly strict.
 
But I do think it is a sincere offer and one which will cost LHL a fair amount of money to fulfill, so it's not too surprising they don't want to take another big hit on the shipping.
 
It's certainly debatable as to whether any given person would want to "invest" another $15/26 into this fiasco, however I at least applaud LHL for trying to make things right.
 
If backers end up happy with the Vibrato, that would likely help to cleanse LHL's image.

 
They should have basically an open ended period for people to take up the offer after proper reviews have come in. Remember Gavin's posts about how good the original iem sounded and also the nonsense website that doesn't even review audiophile equipment that they kept linking about how great the Verb sounded?
 
At this stage, I am not going to trust some anonymous quote from someone who says it sounded good and another quote which basically says the cable is pretty awesome.
 
If I don't decide to risk another $15, they get to play the "I tried to do the right thing, but nobody took up my offer" card.
 
Seems like the same old trick they pulled with transferable warranties. Put it up as a perk for like 30 minutes for extra money after initially promising it for free and then pull it saying nobody wanted it anyway. It gives them a plausible excuse to not give away something.
 
By the way, did anybody else look at the Vibrato announcement and thought "hey, this is written in proper English, must be some dodgy request for more $$$ from LHL"?

 

[Lookin4Treble]

   
They should have basically an open ended period for people to take up the offer after proper reviews have come in. Remember Gavin's posts about how good the original iem sounded and also the nonsense website that doesn't even review audiophile equipment that they kept linking about how great the Verb sounded?

 
Oh yeah, that was an incredible display of intellectual dishonesty!  I don't remember Gavin so much as Casey making a considerable effort to convince the world how "awesome" those Verbs sounded.  That is, BEFORE the real customer feedback started coming in.  After that came a period of feedback denial.  After that, lame attempts at damage control (admitting without admitting).  All under the supervision of Gavin so he shares responsibility for that debacle.   

 

[musicheaven]

My point about the apology email is to make it right for your customers and specially since it's a low cost item compared to the other perks offered, it should have been free delivery for any backers who receive the substandard Verb. I believe by asking for a 15$ domestic and 26$ international, it's still getting out of this mess easy. We've paid more than our share of this substandard earphones. I am very reluctant to claim victory with the Vibrato not having heard it once and reviews are just that reviews, they are not my ears listening to it. As far as earphones are concerned, that's not LH Labs expertise so my faith in this product is not that great. Besides what do you expect to get for a product worth less than 100$?

 

[maczh2002]

Hang on, if the design of the verb iems were sound and it was the manufacturers fault, why didn't they just go to a trustworthy manufacturer with the same designs?

 

[vrapan]

Hang on, if the design of the verb iems were sound and it was the manufacturers fault, why didn't they just go to a trustworthy manufacturer with the same designs?

Don't take anything LHL posts seriously and you will regain your sanity my attitude for quite some time now.