I’ll preface this by saying every single person that I’ve ever talked to at PS Audio has been nothing but extremely nice, but sometimes actions speak louder than words.
Around January 2020, I purchased a complete “Stellar stack”, i.e… P3, GCD, M700 monoblocks… the whole shebang. The system sounded fantastic, until it didn’t. In late December, the channels became imbalanced. I was able to troubleshoot the issue down to the GCD. The volume in the right channel was much quieter than the left.
My service story goes like this:
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After a couple days of calling, I was able to get ahold of the service department - an RMA was issued. A week later I received my unit back. It worked for about an hour, but it didn’t last. The sound became imbalanced again. This time, the left channel was much quieter than the right channel.
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After a couple days of calling, I was able to get ahold of the service department again - another RMA was issued. A week later I received my unit back. This time the channels are “balanced”, but something is off. Normally, I could get to 70+ SPL w/ the volume on level 14. Now I have to turn it up to at least level 20 get an equivalent SPL. To me, the soundstage sounds like it has collapsed and it just doesn’t have that “wall of sound” that I won me over.
This gets me up-to-date… convinced the sound difference was in my head, I decided to use the unit for a couple of weeks. But now my wife also started remarking on the sound quality and I’m convinced that something is definitely off. In order to confirm my suspicions I decided to order another GCD, so I could do an A/B comparison. I’d also like to be able to use my system in case I need to send my product back for service again.
I placed the order for the new GCD about 12 business days ago and, unfortunately, it still hasn’t shipped. I reached out to the service department and explained the issue. As always, they were extremely courteous and said they would find out the status of my order and send me a follow-up email. It’s been 24 hours since that conversation and I haven’t had any more communication.
While it’s not “BHK money”, I put forth a healthy amount to have my dream stereo. I fully understand the limited capacity with which most companies have been forced to work under w/ COVID, but I also have a system at home that’s usable, but sounds subpar to me. Now, I also have $1,700 invested in an order that’s currently in limbo.
In the end, this is just a stereo (not the end of world), but I do feel a little disrespected. I’m not sure where to go from here…