Oculus Rift CV1 audio failure $0 repair kit

Peter Reginald · Feb 19, 2019

Hi RD!

Did you know that Palmer Luckey, inventor of Oculus Rift has offered to send a repair kit to fix a known design flaw that could result in audio problems for many owners of the CV1?

This repair kit labeled as the RR1 is yours for $0.00!

## The blog article

http://palmerluckey.com/fix-your-oculus-rift-audio-failure-for-0-00-with-the-rr1-repair-kit/

## Reddit post by Palmer Luckey

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/arv6fs/the_oculus_rift_cv1_has_a_design_flaw_that/

Mascot · Feb 19, 2019

Funnily enough my CV1 is currently winging its way back to Oculus for replacement due to the failure of RHS audio.

Peter Reginald · Feb 20, 2019

Mascot said:
CV1 is currently winging its way back to Oculus

Well what do you know... I didn't think they would honor the CV1.

Mascot · Feb 20, 2019

Peter Reginald said:
Well what do you know... I didn't think they would honor the CV1.

Why not? It's their main product.

Peter Reginald · Feb 20, 2019

Mascot said:
Why not? It's their main product.

You're right, in my mind I was holding the belief that for owners of the CV1 who have experienced this issue their product could be out of warranty.

Even Luckey said in his article, "Even so, the first step for any user with this problem should be to contact Oculus Customer Support and see what they can do. In some cases, you might just need to clean some contacts, tighten the connection between your headphones and straps, or fix your PC’s sound settings. If you are unsuccessful in resolving your problem, please forward your ticket and a mailing address to RiftRepairOne@gmail.com, and I will send you an RR1 repair kit free of charge so you can get back in the Metaverse as quickly as possible. Oculus Customer Support, feel free to direct customers who are out of warranty to my kit."

Mascot · Feb 20, 2019

Mine was out of warranty but they still offered to replace it.
They're maybe conscious of a class action if they don't resolve what they admit is a design fault.

Antracing · Feb 20, 2019

Mine recently failed so have filed with Oculus, hopefully they will sort it out although its out of warranty.

Ceolmor · Feb 20, 2019

I'm on my third CV1, the previous 2 having suffered the RHD audio fault. Both were replaced no problems under warranty by Amazon UK.

Mascot · Feb 22, 2019

Whoah, that was quick, my replacement Rift is already on the way. I only posted it back to Holland three days ago. Good service!

Peter Reginald · Feb 22, 2019

Mascot said:
Whoah, that was quick, my replacement Rift is already on the way. I only posted it back to Holland three days ago. Good service!

That's actually quite remarkable.

Jason Schofield · Apr 18, 2019

I'm supposed to send mine back. It's only 6 months old. Left audio went, then both sides. I emailed Luckey for the repair kit but haven't heard anything. They want me to send my head set back but I use it everyday for racing. Could take weeks to get another one. I don't know what to do. Just using my other headphones at the moment.

asteroulis · Apr 18, 2019

Jason Schofield said:
I'm supposed to send mine back. It's only 6 months old. Left audio went, then both sides. I emailed Luckey for the repair kit but haven't heard anything. They want me to send my head set back but I use it everyday for racing. Could take weeks to get another one. I don't know what to do. Just using my other headphones at the moment.

The common problem is with just the RIGHT ear having lost contact to the ground wire. Having lost both ears is probably not fixable with Luckey's kit , because it just connects the ground from the Left to the Right ear and you gain back sound.
So if you clearly want to use the Rift's earphones (which doesn't guarantee that you won't face the problem again in the future) you should get a replacement. I would get a used Rift to use while the first is repaired/replaced and then resell it with a small loss of money in between.
Rift's headphones are easy to use , and you keep contact to your surroundings. It's more practical if playing other VR games. But for racing it's fine to use external headphones .

Your choise of course.

Paul Glover · Apr 18, 2019

Jason Schofield said:
I'm supposed to send mine back. It's only 6 months old. Left audio went, then both sides. I emailed Luckey for the repair kit but haven't heard anything. They want me to send my head set back but I use it everyday for racing. Could take weeks to get another one. I don't know what to do. Just using my other headphones at the moment.

The service is brilliant, turn around for me in the UK was less than a week. Same as you, I use mine all the time so waited a week before I sent it, should have just done it straight away.

Jason Schofield · May 8, 2019

It only took 12 days and I got a replacement. I tried to race on a couple of different screens but it was a no go. I just can't go back to single screen, there's just no comparison to VR. So spoiled..haha!! So glad to have my rift back!

Jason Schofield · May 8, 2019

BTW.. I never heard anything back from Luckey. No reply no repair kit. Why would he post that and not respond? Maybe the demand was too overwhelming for him? Either way I would've at least expected a reply of some sort. Oh well. Got my replacement rift and all is well.

Mascot · May 8, 2019

Jason Schofield said:
BTW.. I never heard anything back from Luckey. No reply no repair kit. Why would he post that and not respond? Maybe the demand was too overwhelming for him? Either way I would've at least expected a reply of some sort. Oh well. Got my replacement rift and all is well.

Yep, I didn't hear back either.

Mascot · Jun 24, 2019

Mascot said:
Whoah, that was quick, my replacement Rift is already on the way. I only posted it back to Holland three days ago. Good service!

...aaaaaaaaaaaaand the replacement is now borked with exactly the same dead LHS audio. What a fundamentally flawed design.
Four months it lasted.
Four months.

RCHeliguy · Jun 24, 2019

I just got the LHS failure and ran the wire myself. So far so good, but I feel less good about giving it to my daughter when my Index arrives

I assume the non-ground wire is next.

Mascot · Jan 19, 2020

Did anyone, anywhere, ever get Palmer's free repair kit or was it just a vaporware publicity stunt?
The audio in my Rift has failed for the THIRD time due to the inherent headphone wiring design flaw and Oculus are taking weeks deciding whether they will repair or replace it (despite claiming - wrongly - that they had already sent me a shipping label for RTM, then seemingly withdrawing the offer).
As this is a known and proven design flaw with the CV1 that renders the product not really fit for purpose, what redress have other users had? I wouldn't be surprised if there was a class action filed against Oculus in the US because of this. Similar filings have happened for less.
Very frustrating.

Ceolmor · Jan 19, 2020

From where did you buy it?

I bought from Amazon UK. I had 2 audio failures on my CV1. I never dealt with Oculus, only Amazon. On the first occasion they replaced it and on the second they gave me a full refund (and I bought it again cheaper).