Ossic raised over $3m through crowdfunding to build Hedphones and shut down before delivering

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I know I saw people on reddit that got in on this and were pretty pissed. Talks of a class-action and the like. I’m not sure how far you can get by suing a company that has declared bankruptcy though.

Kickstarter / Indie Go Gos are pretty risky, especially when you get into technology.

But the Mobius looks pretty great. I think if Audeze can deliver on even 80% of the promises they’ve made with the tech and sound on the Mobius people will be pretty happy with it. And I trust Audeze to deliver the product.

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Yeah, it’s funny, I was in for $219 and saw my last update around February. Last week I thought “why haven’t the OSSICs showed up yet?” I’ve sponsored other kickstarter projects, and one, The Meater is amazing but that’s it for me, no point in jumping in early when I can get the product when it goes public.

The Mobius seems like a lot of headphone for the money, I may have to give them a shot…

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EDIT: I’m kicking myself for not noticing the OP date, I thought this was recent. Whoops. My points still stand, though, and I’m leaving them up for others’ amusement :))

Crowdfunding poses inherent risks. Sure, if the person behind the project up and leaves with the money without making an effort to deliver on their promises then litigation should be pursued immediately, but if they acted in good faith and ended up bankrupt regardless, tough tamales, that’s what crowdfunding is.

I get the feeling that, despite the spotty history Kickstarters and the like have had these last few years since the business model gained traction and public awareness, people don’t fully understand the implications of their donating money towards a project and that their receiving products as a reward for their support isn’t the same as just purchasing something off a store shelf (or Amazon page). I think people should only put money that they can afford to blow off into crowdfunded projects, because it is at its root no more than speculation. I have every sympathy for the backers who’d lost hundreds of dollars investing in this, but talk of a class action suit on reddit honestly just makes me cringe a bit; unless they have good reason to believe that the entity they backed didn’t do everything within their abilities to see this through, then they’ve got nothing.

I’ll use my backing out of the Verum One at the last minute. It’s not that I don’t trust Garuspik, I think he’s an excellent person and the measurements + subjectives of the Ones have me very excited to get a pair eventually, but I’d really rather just wait until he has a process fully set in place; I’d happily pay more than backers did for the same product because he well deserves it for the amount of effort he’s putting into that project.

Here’s something else, a role playing game that’s been in development for absolute ages. The dev still seems to be pushing updates out, but this is well behind their original projected release date. Such is the way these matters go: https://store.steampowered.com/app/672430/Koe/

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I love kickstarting/indiegogo campaigns… it appeals to my on the cutting edge…but I do get bloody every once in awhile by said edge…OSSIC was probably the worst cut I’ve taken. But like you said… it all comes down to understanding that you are supporting a potential product not buying something readily available. I’m typing this on my Hexgears X-1 cool little indiegogo mechanical keyboard…it has some quirks (mettallic echos coming from the keys, no customization etc) but all in all a great lil travel mech keyboard. Also these types of things really depend on your “betting/throw away/disposable income” don’t go funding something with your kids piggy bank or the rent money lol.

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Ack, sorry to hear about that. But yeah, I can see how this’d appeal to someone who wants the picometer-thick bleeding edge of technology. It does come with a great deal of risk, as evidenced by many anecdotes online and among screaming friends, but as you’ve said there are instances when the payoff is sweet.

Definitely don’t use the kids’ piggybank money. College funds, on the other hand… hmm.

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I am also on the Verum kickstarter…another thing I like about this type of thing, is having unique gear that isn’t readily available elsewhere. I think of it almost like Tech art lol

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