Buyer Beware


This is my first post on Audiogon Forum but I have been a audiophile for almost fifty years. I like to buy and sell used equipment because it gives a chance to try a much wider range of products. Recently I wanted to try different USB cables and in that process I purchased two products from Mad Scientist Audio. One was their Black Magic and the other was the Ultra version. Both were purchased used from different sellers. I own two systems and decided to keep both. In both systems I use a AMR DP-777SE dac. In the system using the standard Black Magic USB the system was not using the built in volume control. About 2 month after purchasing the cable I tried using the internal volume control in the dac and it only worked at full volume. Thinking the dac was faulty I sent it back to TMR (great company) for evaluation. They tested it for 2 weeks in every configuration possible and determined it was working as it should. When i got the unit back (after a cost of approx. $200) I determined that the problem was the Black Magic USB cable. I contacted Bob at Mad Scientist Audio by email multiple times and he replied that his cable is incompatible with 1 in 50 produces and mine must be the 1. I then tried it in two other systems and also had the same results. Either the volume control didn't work or  I would get cracking noises. after many emails back and forth Bob would not exchange the cable for a working one and only offered to sell me a Ultra cable at a discount. I don't know what his profit margin or warranty policy is but I have never experienced this especially with a cable manufacture, I offered to send it back to him so that he could access the problem but in the end his last email read "Therefore I don't think it's worth you wasting anymore money trying to fix or exchange your cable." Very disappointing. The cable is now in the trash. I know that this is a small boutique manufacture but with the controversy regarding cable costs and  if expensive cable are necessary I thought that buy telling my story maybe it would alleviate this situation with this company. 

sdorfman58

Showing 2 responses by ned1000

Thank you for your post ! it highlights again ( if we needed any more confirmation)  that high priced cables are snake oil we have more evidence here 
the USB they sell , the cables are $300 to 1199  new 
i watched carefully the YT videos by Audioholics  Gene a real audio engineer who tests empiricly and has been honest for 40 years!  
he exposed the fraud of cables like audio quest quite convincingly ! 
yet some flat eathers STILL persist in insisting  THEY can hear things that cannot  be measured . a fool and his $ is soon parted !  
NO and when you do double blind audio testing w/ someone else switching the cables you will quickly be exposed as fool who was parted fr his $ but people will spend the $ anyway so sometimes i wish i could sleep at night making expensive junk that does not really work. it is pretty cheap to do so too! HUGE profit margin! even if i used some good parts NO WAY would the price justify it 
There would STILL be people who insisted it was better , happy customers !
I would not have to prove a thing ! 
Gee ! you sure can't get away w/ that w/ Exotic cars! or car parts  Ferrari could never sell cars that did not work ! 
car magazines , and YT reviewers TEST cars, parts  and report the TRUTH they are believed .  how why is it some of you audiophiles ignore and deny truth , facts scientific proof and you believe lies ? some of you educated , intelligent advanced degreed professionals ! in your field of expertise you would NEVER assert things worked if they didn't . your research would be discredited your funding vanish . your personal professional reputation in tatters ! your peers would disown you ! 
I'd like a new Ferrari ! Cables are a license to print $ unethically 

Audioholics, Gene  IS an expert in high end cables he is a audio engineer !  and has explained "the importance of cable geometry.  Also educate yourself about cable dielectrics -why the material that cover the metal matters sonically in high-end audio.  " he has covered all that ! watch his videos and then post a response !  He explains how they work ( and don’t ) and has tested them using valid tests and testing protocols produced MANY great YT videos ! 
i looked at your source you suggested " Iconoclast white papers " and CLEARLY it is just an advertisement for a seller of  high priced cables so he is hardly unbiased ! he just justifies his prices and presents no graphs , charts measurements , tests at least in a manner understandable to anyone other than an audio engineer ! 
he should do you tube videos explaining and demonstrating .
Gene , Audioholics does .& He does NOT sell cables .  so does Danny ( explain the relevant information ) @ GR research but he sells DIY speaker cable kits all you would ever need for less than $100 pair ! They work .