I was recently in a store where they carry the Audeze LCD3 headphone and
the BHK pre. I use LCD3 at home and have the DMP+DSj. But I was interested
in the headphone output on the BHK. When I went that day, the manufacturer
distributor was also at the store. When I asked to try out the combo, both the
distributor and salesperson claimed it’s a waste of time as ALL manufacturer
just put a little op-amp as the HP output. I didn’t say anything as I know its not
the case with the BHK. Grudgingly they let me try it, and it was very very good.
I had about 5 minutes of audition before the Sales came into the room with
2 other customers and hushed me out by turning up the speaker system loud.
I thought that was quite rude.
Outside of the room the Distributor suggested that I should buy a pair of $1500
HP cables instead. Shouldn’t they know the product before they sell them. I headed
straight to the car.
I run into this situation all the time when shopping for major purchases other than audio. Where I know more about the product I’m shopping for than the sales person. For the most part though, most of the sales personnel in the audio stores here in Denver are very knowledgeable about the products they sell. Well except for some of the personnel selling high end audio products in Best Buy.
At a time when Brick and Mortar are only attracting their exiting customer base n scaring off new customers because they at the time may not have the funds necessary. This kind of attitude is why B & M are going out of business. I understand the tire kicker mentality (listen at the store/screw 'em and pay less online - not good MoJo). BUt what about the real enthusiasts that want to listen to what they are missing, thus inspiring to save up for what they heard and come back to the store in 6 to 12 months and make the sale at the store and not online.
I live in Scottsdale, AZ and NO ONE carries PS Audio Stellar. Some have the PS Audio/BHK stuff, and again, its but appointment only. So screw them, I’m doing my business online…Thank You Very Much.
Which brings me to my next point :
When I pulled the trigger on my Stellar Stack (SGCD/2x m700’s), I bought them thru HiDef Lifestyles up in Harrisburg, PA. Who actually have an SGCD/S300 at their store for people to listen too…no appointment necessary…no experience required (OK…I paraphrased Richie Haven/YES).
So I bought the Stack from them, waited a month for delivery (i’m special Eh !), and I was in Audio Heaven. Funny that a day after I pulled the Trigger, PS Audio started promoting the Stack with $700 off the SGCD plus anything worth trading in. Instead of screwing HiDef and renegging on the deal, they gave me $300 off of any future purchases online through them.
So I’ll never do business with the Boutique retailers here in AZ, but luckily I’m now involved with our Arizona Audio/Video Club where those of with our without the funds/means of what we can or can’t afford are all treated equal. No “high noses” here. We are having a “DAC-IT-OUT” fest, where one of our Members has manufacturers lend us their online wares to try out and for fun we do our own comparisons in a friendly and fun environment just like our June Speakerfest which was a huge success !
Funny how the internet is WRT to online sales…but its still buyer beware !
I have had a house in AZ since summer, 2011. We avoid Scottsdale… that is where the rich people live. Everything there is more expensive and we don’t have the money to hang there. Seriously though, never been to an audio retailer in AZ. Looked at a few on line and thought Uncle Kevvy is closer when I visit LA every 6 weeks and he is one of the biggest distributors of PS Audio gear…
Ha Ha…so true. But we’re in a one up/one/down typical Southwest apartment complex in Old Town (South Scottsdale) where the rents and real estate have shot up astronomically since we moved here 4 years ago from Canada for work.
Yeah - been there… way too crowded for us… That area is just exploded over the last 5 years… We go there to service the RR and some furniture shopping at Copenhagen store… a few rounds of golf and when my wife forces me…
@rajugsw - I manage 25 engineers from home and go into Woodland Hills every 6 weeks. We love AZ, wife threatened divorce if we didn’t leave CA. Me, I loved cycling in Malibu area… I loved Southern CA… happy wife, happy life…
That’ awesome. I was doing a lot of WiFi work for Health Care in SoCal and Central Cal in 2017/2018. While there are so many beautiful areas to live in California, both my Wife & I prefer Arizona. To quote her, “too many Mexicans in California and I don’t like Earthquakes”.
She’s born & brought up in Mexico City and fortunately was nowhere near the epicenter of the “Big One” in 1985.
I run a Digital Technologies team. High speed digital and FPGA/SoC/ASIC design and R&D. Inertial navigation, advanced PNT, advanced sensor development. Will be in Minnesota this week talking to a vendor about developing a few ASICS from FPGAs…
That is very cool. Years ago in the early to mid 2000’s, I worked with a New Jersey company that built FEC chips/Aggregator Chips with FPGA technology. I’m more of a hardware person and have all the respect for software folks who do what I don’t really like (programming). Yeah, I know…there’s a lot more to it than that.
We are a mix team, mostly hardware. We are releasing (3) CCA (Circuit Card Assemblies) this year. Each board 25 layers, 2500 components both sides, 8in X 6in footprint, passive embedded. High speed SEDES, DDR4, Giga bit Ethernet, Zynq 7000 Ultrascaler+. Then I have a sensor team developing HW for inertial nav advanced… we are predominantly HW and FPGA coding. We also FPGA V&V w/ DO254 process for FAA… if our stuff fails, people die… different looking at a helicopter display in combat and it starts blinking while engaging enemy… versus a blinking P20 display as you sit back with a beer and puzzled look… perspective is so important… serious/hobby…
Our manufacturing is done in SLC at a big facility next to the airport…
My Wife’s words…not mine…and she’s a Latina to the core…Kinda like us Canucks. Albertan’s don’t like us folk from Ontario…or so it’s been my experience. Not so much a Cultural thing because my Wife has Mexican friends here in Scottsdale.
Rush recorded a song once many many Albums ago called Territories. I thinks it speaks on the same subject (damn the inner groove distortion on Marathon & Mystic Rhythms).
Rush is from Ontario!
I have no idea why Ontarians are hated by the rest of Canada.
Anyway, Toronto just gave Canada a NBA Championship, I hope
they can ease up the hate a little.