Audeze Robbed: $250,000 in Headphones Stolen

Not cool:

https://twitter.com/Audeze/status/571759882409512960?cn=cmVjb3NfbmV0d29ya19kaWdlc3RfYWN0aXZl

Their website has more info on the front page right now.

https://www.audeze.com

 

Glad to see this info has already been posted - I was about to do it after reading the story. Hope everybody keeps their eyes and ears open. If you learn of a really good deal on these..........

This stuff makes me

 

A "glass half full" perspective:

The demand for audiophile headphones is high enough to attract this kind of audacious crime. Proof that the future of Hi-Fi is headphones?

 

Two different high end audio shops in San Francisco have been robbed in the past week or two, with thieves driving a truck through the front and getting away with $30K or so worth of gear in each hit. Seems they're either dumb enough to not realize how hard that stuff is going to be to fence or they're smart enough to have a connection in Moscow lined up.

 

Just in case you are too lazy to look at their web site, this is the notice.

Quite a disaster for a small company

 

And who said Beats are #1?

 

Audio Vision SF was the other, here is the article in Stereophile:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/devastating-audio-rip-offs-california

 

Hey, thanks for the how to commit a robbery tips, Audeze.

Thiagasamudram explains that the break-in took place over a several hour period in the early morning hours. Although Audeze's headquarters are in a low-crime area, and the building is equipped with a good security system and surveillance cameras, the ski-masked and gloved thieves managed to avoid detection. Clearly professionals, they cut a hole low in Audeze's steel security door, and crawled in and around the building without raising themselves high enough to trigger motion sensors that would have set off the alarm. (Most motion detectors do not begin to operate until 2' above the floor, so as to avoid triggering by roaming pets.). The thieves also used boxes to hide their movement and avoid detection.

 

That is a strange story. I can't imagine crawling around or two hours and not raising mysel up more than 2 feet. Unless they knew exactly where the motion detectors were located. Hmmm

 

The fact that they knew the kind of motion detectors deployed is interesting. Beyond an educated guess, two types of people have this information. Somebody who has been in the facility (shipper, employee, visitor) or the company hired to sell/install the cameras.

 

Or the gear.

 

Sounds like an inside job based on the detailed explanation above, why take that kind of risk for headphones unless they had exact details of how to circumvent the security.

 

As long as Audeze is insured, they'll be fine (aside from being suddenly backed up with orders that they do not have existing stock to fill).

 

saw this video over at Head-Fi

 

Things like these are terrible for our industry! It is tough enough for any small company trying to produce quality equipment without taking a blow like this! We love the guys over at Audeze and hope they are able to catch the people who did this!

 

I saw on sfgate that "an electronics store on California Street" got robbed, I didn't realize it was AudioVision, that's too bad. There have been a lot of burglaries in San Francisco lately, and many have been middle of the day hot prowls my neighborhood and in the neighborhood next to mine

I hope Audeze can pull through and recover, they seem like they have good products from what I've read.

 

They aren't insured against theft?

 

Maybe they are. Are they insured against loss of sales revenue is the real question. Turning inventory to AR then to cash is critical in every business but especially for a small business where pockets may not be deep enough to re-order raw material, re-make the product, re-sell it and pay the current bills all at the same time. Audeze had an expectation that the current inventory was going to be turned into cash in xx days. Now it's xx days +. Timing is everything.

I'd assume Audeze's pockets are deeper then the story is letting on to though.

 

Precisely my thought... could be an opportunity to get their product into a whole new market. (Anyway $250k is 5 units, right )

 

They make fantastic headphones. I am very happy with my LCD2F. And while this loss may hurt, if this closes Audeze's doors then they were very mismanaged.

 

Wow, that's wild! It reminds me of the heist at Pappy Van Winkle in Kentucky where thousands of dollars worth of top-tier bourbon was stolen without a trace.

 

As both products give you a headache?

 

I find Pappy to be quite smooth, actually.

 

I'm still baffled that hi-end audio products have been targeted for theft. We are talking about such a tiny niche product that those involved are going to be caught eventually. There simply can't be enough crooked buyers to take in the supply.

 

It's possible that whoever did this monitors sites like this one. I think we need an in forum investigation.