Fee for home audition

Find another dealer.  There are lots of other options out there.  Before I bought an integrated from Linear Tube Audio, I tested all three of their integrated amps in my house, with no charge or deposit.  Same with a Naim Uniti Atom, HiFi Rose 150b, Merason DAC1, Backert Labs Rhumba Extreme, Ideon Iyazi, NAD M33, Technics SU-R1000, and Matrix Audio M2--which represent four different dealers and none of whom charged for an in-house audition.  When all else fails you can pay for the unit with an online vendor and take advantage of their 30 or 60-day return period.  Audio Advice and Crutchfield are two who do it with no hassle returns.

Dump Mr. 5%.

Thank you @badgerdms, that is exactly what I did.

An hour is a very short period of time to even get an idea of what it can or can't do? I purchased and hooked up a streamer almost a month ago and I'm still finding new features. A fee to audition is ridiculous in my opinion, sounds more like a rental shop than a retailer? I rent large power tools by the hour that I only need infrequently, not audio gear that I use frequently.

5% of purchase price is what the folks over at The Cable Co charge and will apply the rental fee towards any future cable purchase. Quite a good deal all in all.

On the other side of the fair pricing spectrum is Todd the Vinyl Junkie who charges an obscenely high $1000 charge for a two week rental of either an Esoteric NX05 or Weiss 502.

Thanks for the heads up on Todd the Vinyl Junkie! 

“5% of purchase price is what the folks over at The Cable Co charge and will apply the rental fee towards any future cable purchase. Quite a good deal all in all.”

Not in my opinion, 5% retention means now you’re obligated to make a purchase from Cable Co. This is not the same thing as no obligation trial or audition which many dealers offers to their customers. I won’t conduct any transaction with a dealer who charges a fee for in-house audition. I will gladly pay shipping charges if we don’t end up doing business together.