Caveat Emptor

@artemus_5

i am sorry you had that bad experience with the ultrasonic cleaner... but just so i am clear, you bought those cleaners, and had the negative experiences ( folks with bad english and all) with apos?  sorry if i missed it if you posted this clearly earlier ...

my point about the ’broad brush’ is that if your experiences were in fact not with apos, and you are assigning these negative traits and factors to apos and this thread (given the op’s beef with apos) just because they sell chi-fi gear... doesn't seem fair to me

not that i am invested in any way in protecting apos - i just bought a topping mqa dac from them last year, tried it, then returned it, and that is all i ever had to do with them.... but the person i dealt with to handle the return authorization was an american dude, and return shipping was to oakland ca... so i think, in this particular case at least, the folks at apos and the chi fi brands that sell through them to usa customers are in fact trying to improve on the kind of situations you allude to - to be sure, there are pitfalls to buying straight from a china vendor in say, shenzhen, then the awkwardness of returning it or needing support when the product arrives

another separate, interesting, positive example is alvin chee at vinshine, based in singapore of all places, selling denafrips dacs, and supporting customers in the usa excellently (see the other live thread on denafrips, with plenty of happy, appreciative customers) - his responsiveness as a retailer is well documented by many and the product is good - alvin has also set up two usa service centers in the usa to support that brand...

@artemus_5

Anyone remember why Grant Fidelity quit selling Psvane tubes? They reported that the Chinese company wanted to dictate policy to them, the seller. does this happen at Apos?

They have a lot of convoluted policies which seem contradictory to me. 45 day return with all sorts of stipulations. Any way you slice it, Chinese policy has its fingerprints all over this including only email communication when a telephone call could take care of the problem much quicker and easier.

with all due respect, this is speculation on your part, and painting with a very broad brush

i have had no problems with apos, bought, item delivered, returned within return period, full refund in 2021, their 20% restocking may not have been in effect since then, but even so, within 15 days it does not apply... of course my good experience does not mean apos is perfect, hasn't changed for the worse in the meantime, and others haven’t had a bad time, but my data point is just that, a real data point

other points to note - iirc when i have gone to apos’ website during business hours there is a chat function, you get a live person

i dealt with a person at apos when i returned my dac by the name of john soriano (john.soriano@apos.audio) - maybe this is really a chinese guy named chang who doesn’t speak english, using a fake email name... 😂

just so folks are clear, and not conflating chi-fi and so on, with all the negativity that is often associated with it...

apos is a california based stocking retailer, in berkeley/oakland specifically

they retail many of the chi-fi made brands/dacs, headphone amps, power supplies,  etc etc -- along with headphones, cables made elsewhere, including in the usa and europe

but this retailer is american, serves the usa market, and deals with returns, info requests, warranty issues etc for all products it sells, china sourced or otherwise

apos has done right by me in the past

straight up guys, took back dac with no questions asked, prompt communication and refund