Light Harmonic (LH Labs). Scam? USD$6 million not delivered since 2014

[buonassi]

not sure if this has been covered, so apologies if so.  If not, it's good info to know:

 

They've been accused of IP infringement by one of the most prolific IEM manufacturers in our hobby, Campfire Audio.

 

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/the-one-where-campfire-and-lh-labs-clear-the-air-a-bit.5566/#post-181495

 

Then, after all of this went down with the 'asteria' IEM in 2017, they release the 'stella' in 2018.  It too appears to be a blatant rip off of the campfire audio design.

 

This company really is as low as they come.  I follow the high end IEM market and have watched prices climb into the $3k range over the past few years.  So it's clear people are willing to part ways with pretty large sums of money for personal audio nowadays and it seems LH have latched onto that exploit as well. 

 

I believe they're also listed poorly on the BBB - if that still means anything these days. 

[buonassi]

On 1/11/2019 at 2:26 AM, LHCommSquad said:

Ken Ball essentially retracted his statement. All members of the public and all members of the press have access to this document which outlines the entire accusation and response, including pictures: 

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HrwXXAj6hpvtB9jpXDtTQOh70XboSzrNlYJ6j1qtjQs/edit?usp=sharing

 

Nothing in this document even comes close to suggesting Ken Ball retracted his statement(s).  It appears that at some point the google doc may have had other screen shots in it; and perhaps they contain the proof you're espousing.  But there are none in this document link besides this sole screen shot from Ken.  It refers more to his latest IEM, the solaris, and only briefly mentions 'letting go of the past'.  That is supposed to be Ken Ball essentially retracting a statement?

 

 

[buonassi]

okay... well that's a stretch @LHCommSquad and a far cry from a retraction.  Is this a common PR tactic?  Assert, then point to 'proof' and hope people won't actually look at it?

 

I mean nothing personal against you, but it just seems like you're making an overly rigorous attempt to fix something that can't be fixed without anything other than sheer honesty and humility.

[buonassi]

here's a good one....   LH is developing another IEM.  This time the allure is its 21 balanced armature transducers - and it's 6K price tag

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread-new-bgvp-dmg-initial-impressions-pg2507.586909/page-2758#post-14731766

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/flinkenicks-17-flagship-iem-shootout-thread-and-general-high-end-portable-audio-discussion.826876/page-918#post-14721521

 

"The Oscar XXI" - as if "Stella" wasn't a big enough slap in the face to all the folks who got ripped in the previous LH crowdfunding Ponzi.  

 

You can't perform this racket nowadays.  Maybe in the 90s before the internet was commonplace.  I really can't wrap my brain around this.  Does not compute.  The sheer will and determination of Larry Ho is puzzling.  

[buonassi]

 

Geek Wave Chassis Design

Geek Wave has the future proof SOM digital structure, with optional dual mono DAC engine and Femto clocks. It's definitely one of the kind. It took us a lot of reversions to find a sleep and nice chassis to fit its internal guts. 

 

 

^^^^ taken from the IGG page - that's miraculously still hosted. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/geek-wave-a-no-compromise-portable-music-player#/

 

You can really tell that 20 new employees were hard at work with the ad copy.  Just check out that rich wording and awesome spelling.  One thing's for sure, you can't accuse them of lying.  Turns out this Geek Wave really was 'one of a kind'. 🤭

[buonassi]

2 hours ago, Cecil said:

I think if Larry has any regard at all for his credibility he really does need to come out of hiding. His hiding only reinforces doubt about his reported intentions to eventually 'do the right thing'. 

 

Agreed.  I consider this the climax of the entire movie.  Will he do the right thing here?  Or will he double down and seal his fate?  I really believe that if he does not take action now, any ventures related to (even peripherally) Larry Ho will fail because of consumer sentiment.  It will reach overseas and cross language barriers - oh yes it will.  The only way to save his career as a public audio hardware designer is to do this IMO:

 

1. apologize - first and foremost - and do it with humility
2. explain what went wrong - without lofting the blame onto someone else
3. explain where the money went - even if the funds were used inconsistently with the IGG contractual terms
4. explain what he will do to fix it - even if he can't do anything, then he should say that and not make any promises he can't keep

Honesty is his only way out of it.  If he does this, I believe the rest of the market (who didn't get screwed already) would still purchase his future products.  But, they'd stay away from crowdfunding  .  The forums would slowly stop talking about it and he'd have a chance....a good chance at making it in this biz.  And he may even pick up a few proponents if his character and integrity come out intact.  

 

He can't run and he can't hide if he wants to stay in the industry.  He may be a great engineer, but his inability/unwillingness to confront this is difficult for me to understand.  I simply don't get this guy's lack of self-preservation.  It's almost like he's nailing his coffin shut from the inside.  If that makes sense?

[buonassi]

While legal matters aren't allowed, general sentiments about LHL abound and it's well understood that 'buyer beware'.

 

It's sort of a shame, because I feel headfi should be in support of the community of enthusiasts (consumers) above all other stakeholders.  They have a banned list of manufacturers, and we're not even allowed to discuss those products, let alone link to them.  Why they haven't placed LH on this list is baffling.