New Audeze LCD3

[Audeze]

Potkettleblack, The unit is a brand new unit. The unit was manufactured very recently (oct). The wood ring color is not a good indicator of date of manufacture. It just depends on the lot of wood and how it is cut.  The blond zebrano units are a bit rare, but we have usually one or two every week. According to our logs, these rings were manufactured at the oxnard facility at the end of september.  We have not sent wood kits in some time after the finishing technique was changed. 
 
The earpads are made of molded foam and depending on how the pressure is put on them when holding, will compress differently.  If you put them upside down on a desk, without pressure, they should be of similar size. The white block you see, seems to be PSA, but it is hard to tell.  We  test the connectors with the cables that are being shipped and it should be removable easily. 
 
on the difference with graphs, will post a separate reply.

 

[kapanak]

  So, Audeze, you say you're gonna replace my 3f with a 4, and perform the biggest PR stunt the audiophile world has ever seen?
 
I feel you.

 

  Potkettleblack, The unit is a brand new unit. The unit was manufactured very recently (oct). The wood ring color is not a good indicator of date of manufacture. It just depends on the lot of wood and how it is cut.  The blond zebrano units are a bit rare, but we have usually one or two every week. According to our logs, these rings were manufactured at the oxnard facility at the end of september.  We have not sent wood kits in some time after the finishing technique was changed. 
 
The earpads are made of molded foam and depending on how the pressure is put on them when holding, will compress differently.  If you put them upside down on a desk, without pressure, they should be of similar size. The white block you see, seems to be PSA, but it is hard to tell.  We  test the connectors with the cables that are being shipped and it should be removable easily. 
 
on the difference with graphs, will post a separate reply.

 
Given the above reply, @potkettleblack, return this promptly to your dealer, get your money back, and move on

 

[NzAudezey]

Anyone have any idea what B-Stock is? My headphones broke for the 3rd time in 12 months so I asked for a replacement pair which Audeze has graciously agreed to but one from "B-Stock" which im guessing is ones returned with in 30 days or repaired or something? Just waiting for them to arrive at NZ supplier

 

[wuwhere]

  Anyone have any idea what B-Stock is? My headphones broke for the 3rd time in 12 months so I asked for a replacement pair which Audeze has graciously agreed to but one from "B-Stock" which im guessing is ones returned with in 30 days or repaired or something? Just waiting for them to arrive at NZ supplier

 
Why not ask them what the condition of the replacement and what is the warranty. B-stock has a very broad meaning like slightly used, reconditioned, cosmetic flaw.

 

[NzAudezey]

   
Why not ask them what the condition of the replacement and what is the warranty. B-stock has a very broad meaning like slightly used, reconditioned, cosmetic flaw.

Tried that, my dealer hasn't heard of this before and I haven't had a reply from Audeze on my service request since September so still waiting...
 
Based on Audezes warranty Page
 
"This warranty covers all manufacturing defects in material or workmanship for a period of 3 years from the date of original purchase. Audeze will (1) replace or repair the product at no charge or (2) exchange the product with a product that is new."
 
the replacement product has to be new?

 

[bfreedma]

Potkettleblack, The unit is a brand new unit. The unit was manufactured very recently (oct). The wood ring color is not a good indicator of date of manufacture. It just depends on the lot of wood and how it is cut.  The blond zebrano units are a bit rare, but we have usually one or two every week. According to our logs, these rings were manufactured at the oxnard facility at the end of september.  We have not sent wood kits in some time after the finishing technique was changed. 
 
The earpads are made of molded foam and depending on how the pressure is put on them when holding, will compress differently.  If you put them upside down on a desk, without pressure, they should be of similar size. The white block you see, seems to be PSA, but it is hard to tell.  We  test the connectors with the cables that are being shipped and it should be removable easily. 
 
on the difference with graphs, will post a separate reply.

So much for my theory that the lighter wood was an indicator of older units.

If that is adhesive in the picture and not a tear, that's a pretty poor installation.

 

[Audeze]

>>If that is adhesive in the picture and not a tear, that's a pretty poor installation.
Agreed. Visual inspection before packaging easily spots these. so we are wondering how this passed. We are not sure what it is yet. 

 

[wuwhere]

 
Tried that, my dealer hasn't heard of this before and I haven't had a reply from Audeze on my service request since September so still waiting...
 
Based on Audezes warranty Page
 
"This warranty covers all manufacturing defects in material or workmanship for a period of 3 years from the date of original purchase. Audeze will (1) replace or repair the product at no charge or (2) exchange the product with a product that is new."
 
the replacement product has to be new?

 
That warranty does not say replaced with a "B-stock".

 

[NzAudezey]

   
That warranty does not say replaced with a "B-stock".

 Which is why I asked in this thread if anyone had heard of B-stock since I cant find mention of it anywhere and am hesitant to receive another pair of faulty headphones.

 

[Audeze]

@NzAudezey We have shipped the unit to you already and it is on its way. The reason this was offered as a special case was because, we did not have any units for a few weeks and you wanted it quickly. The unit comes with full warranty and we termed it bstock because it has a very small blemish in the wood ring that is barely visibile. Otherwise the unit is new.If you want to wait for a few more weeks, we can definitely replace it with a new unit.

 

[NzAudezey]

@NzAudezey
 We have shipped the unit to you already and it is on its way. The reason this was offered as a special case was because, we did not have any units for a few weeks and you wanted it quickly. The unit comes with full warranty and we termed it bstock because it has a very small blemish in the wood ring that is barely visibile. Otherwise the unit is new.If you want to wait for a few more weeks, we can definitely replace it with a new unit.

Any chance to pay the difference and upgrade to LCD4? =D

Thanks for getting back to me really appreciate it, I am happy with a small blemish and can't wait to get them back! My ears have sorely missed that Audeze house sound.

 

[NoxNoctum]

  Problem is, it could be signs of imminent driver failure, or a symptom of issues with their cheap cable/connector. However, the forum's beaten these things half to death. Hopefully, you purchased directly from them, and can send it in for driver replacement if it comes down to it- but then you'll need to keep your fingers crossed that you get them sounding the same when the come back. "No two Audeze phones sound the same" is the general consensus. I've owned LCD-2s and LCD-3Cs, and utterly love them, so wishing you all the best.

Well now you've got me worried. It seems odd though that the LCD 2 *and* 3 would both start acting up at more or less the same time though...
 
I should note that I only hear it on my speaker amp, not my Lyr or EF-6. Also -- I can hear the noises even if I turn my DAC off... not sure what that signifies? I don't have any level of understanding techwise behind this stuff (yet 

)
 
 
@Audeze I see you're active in the thread -- please feel free to jump in here if you have any idea what could be going on.

 

[Audeze]

Here is a bit more explanation about the graphs and measurement artifacts. Above 2kHz it is very difficult to measure headphones with dummy heads.
 
When transducers are measured, typically an IEC-standard baffle is used, where we see very tight and consistent response. Audeze’s transdcuers are matched in pairs using IEC Baffle.
Judging headphones’ performances above 2kHz just by using graphs is quite difficult. The dummy heads that are used can also be very different. There are several different models, and each comes with several sets of ears (small/med/big, male/female, etc). On top of all these variations, the microphone placement is also quite different. Some have the microphone near the entrance of the ear canal, some have it near the ear drum. If you measure one with a blocked ear canal then you don’t see the ear canal resonances, which are very important. We use 4 different types of testing rigs to measure headphones during manufacturing.
 
The ones we publish use a Neumann KU100. In this model, the microphone in the test rig picks up sound at the entrance of the ear and the positioning of the headphone makes a big difference in measurements above 2kHz. Slight changes in position results in significant changes in the measurements. When testing, we usually take 5 different position measurements and average it (Similar to what Tyll at Innerfidelity does). When using other rigs (eg - IEC baffle), this is not necessary and one measurement is sufficient. 
 
Here is a measurement of a non-audeze headphone taken from innerfidelity.
 

 
Here is the same audeze headphone measured with slightly different positions

 
 
Conclusion:
When measuring headphones on dummy heads, graphs will have measurement artifacts. This is true for not just Audeze headphones, but most other headphones as well. These are measurement artifacts, so you shouldn’t read too much into them and/or treat them literally. If you measure the same unit 5 times in an IEC baffle, the lines will be virtually indistinguishable.

 

[mlxx]

  2821228

 
Interesting that the serial number now starts with 282 instead of 271.
Usually it changes when Audeze have made some serious modification like adding the Fazors.
Hmm.. maybe it's just due to the different would finish or maybe they added the Fluxor magnets

.

 

[potkettleblack]

Potkettleblack, The unit is a brand new unit. The unit was manufactured very recently (oct). The wood ring color is not a good indicator of date of manufacture. It just depends on the lot of wood and how it is cut.  The blond zebrano units are a bit rare, but we have usually one or two every week. According to our logs, these rings were manufactured at the oxnard facility at the end of september.  We have not sent wood kits in some time after the finishing technique was changed. 

The earpads are made of molded foam and depending on how the pressure is put on them when holding, will compress differently.  If you put them upside down on a desk, without pressure, they should be of similar size. The white block you see, seems to be PSA, but it is hard to tell.  We  test the connectors with the cables that are being shipped and it should be removable easily. 

on the difference with graphs, will post a separate reply.

It's a tear not adhesive. I thought the pictures were clear enough. So apologies if not.

The connector still won't come out. I have seen a case like this on a demo unit on my dealers as well, where they had to leave it.

I didn't say the wood conditioner was in there.

I thought the picture was clear enough on the pads being different. There was a thread posted earlier this week where somebody had experienced the same thing.

There seems to be a lot of goal post moving here, and though by no means are you yourself responsible, a message with a different tone instead of just trying argue your case would have been better received.

I will be returning these. And will possibly get another unit in the future. But not for now.