Genuine Kondo???

Charles, thank you :-)

A bit of additional input about the person in Germany offering the Kondo Gakuon:  A Google search of the person's user id leads to the following statement for an identical user id at US Audio Mart, UK Audio Mart, and Canuck Audio Mart:

Warning

Banned User. This account cannot be accessed because the account has been banned and no longer public.

The reason for the ban was listed as: Suspected of fraudulent activity.

Regards,
-- Al
 

Thank you for your observations. I am suspicious about the advert for the amp even if reassures me I can visit him and has sent me photos of the crates. There's no way I'd transfer any money without seeing them and getting them checked over. 

Tempted by the DAV but a bit overpriced IMHO. 

Al, 
The FBI could sure use your investigative acumen these days 😊
Charles 

P.S: Internet searches of the name and the address appearing in the ad I linked to in my post above, and on some more common variations of the name, suggest a strong possibility of that ad being fraudulent as well.  As does the indication of Audio Research under "Brand."

Regards,
-- Al

Regarding the first ad, a quick search using Google Images reveals that some of the same photos appearing in that ad also appeared in this undated ad placed by a seller in California.  

I have perceived over the years that scammers commonly use photos in their ads that have been copied from ads that were previously placed elsewhere, by others.  Which can often be ascertained via a Google Images search.

Personally, I would be more concerned about the possibility of getting nothing in return for your money than the possibility of getting a counterfeit.

I haven't looked into the second ad you listed.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al
 

MANY scams for Magico ,Kondo etc coming out of Germany never buy overseas unless you like gambling with your money.

We used to sell Kondo and the KSL-DAC used to sell NEW for around $12,500 USD. Yes it had a retail of 30K but the mark-up was so high we could sell them at less than 50% off list. 

A quick search brought up this thread:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/audio-note-kondo

I would say that first ad looks a tad dicey to me you can't really see the amps closeup in the pics. The second ad looks much better and is also on this site:
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-kondo-audio-note-japan-ksl-dac-euro-price-2016-10-01...
The seller has good feedback just not a lot of it, so proceed with caution. And as regards pricing, Kondo gear is super expensive so if you're looking at it you should be prepared to pay for it.  Good luck!