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.
If the designer says their USB has issues with certain products, that should be made clear to anyone interested in their products. As to your situation. I think you are screwed because you did not buy it new. Some manufacturers are very good in servicing second owner issues (Oppo was great), but it is not a requirement. |
As far as the dac volume control not working with USB . As soon as I substituted another USB cable it worked perfectly. That’s how I knew it wasn’t the dac, the problem was the cable. I know I am screwed I just wanted to alert anyone thinking of buying from this company. Although many manufactures state a warranty, many in my experience chose to give very good customer service rather than upset a customer regardless of new or used. |
@sdorfman58 you may check if your purchase is compliant with USB standard / pass certification / etc here: https://www.usb.org/compliance
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