Looks like the QC is getting better.....
Yes, it is getting much better: I have also received my RMA'd pair recently and I can attest that the QC is not the only thing that has improved!
There is no comparison between this repaired pair and the initially veiled one, even with the mod. Before repair, the bass wasn't tight enough and was bleeding on the mids: it was obvious listening to the verses of "Smoke on the Water" there was something wrong.
I suppose they changed the drivers as I don't think it could be corrected with just changing the damping material. It was evident the unveiled pair was technically much better just with this simple test.
But the FR was not great the first 24h: very dark, as if the sound had some trouble to emerge. Now, the bass has tightened and the highs are not recessed anymore. Technically, this pair is very close to the HD800 IMOHO, with better treble on cymbals and snare drums, and the best bass I've heard with headphones. I believe Rythmdevils should like them
, and, who knows, Luis might even find them decent!
As I felt they were still a little on the dark side with my modest setup (damn you Luis: now that I have listened to the Paradox I want my cans as neutral as possible!
), I tried the old 1 sheet "Kimwippes" mod. Though, as Purrin already stated, this pair doesn't need it to sound great, I still feel it adds a tiny bit of air and the sound is slightly more neutral without losing speed.
Inside the box, Audeze added a pair of replacement pads: I don't know weather it was added to Purrin's package too or to compensate the fact that I had to ship them myself ($200 via Fedex, ouch !).
I still feel Audeze wasn't totally cool in this snafu: I understand they were probably NOT aware of the problem in the begining but many customers, myself included, complained that something was wrong and they did nothing to globally correct the issue. I had to write to customer support after 3 unanswered mails to Alex before, I was offered RMA! They have yet to admit to any large scale problem and customers have to individually take the risk to return their pair: had Marv not reported his fixed pair was great, I might not have tried to return my veiled pair...
I hope in time everyone will get their pair fixed but I'm sure many early adopter like Purrin and myself had a lemon and some might keep them if Audeze doesn't communicate on this problem.
Now, I wonder: was Googeli's pair veiled ?
