Fee for home audition

Look elsewhere. 

Seems like you should be able to get enough in store with a streamer. I get "in home" for speakers and some other pieces that may be affected by room acoustics. That being said; charging you a fee, even for an "in home demo? Ridiculous. Dealers I've dealt with over the years have more class than that.

It seems like I have to look at other dealers for a home demo. I would have tried in store demo but the Grimm mu1 is very much tuned to digital coaxial output. The dealer only carries DACs with USB.

After all the responses in this thread, I am going to reach out to other dealers. Hopefully I will get a home audition. Thank you for all advise.

Screw him.

A quick google check and I see several dealers that give a no questions asked 30 day return policy on that unit.  You pay return shipping.  

Move on.

I understand the risk for both sellers and buyers, but anybody who charges ridiculous restocking fees should be avoided. 5% or 10% might not seem like much for small ticket items, but if you’re buying a $10K item, that is a lot of money for pleasure of opening a box. For those asking 20%, I have some choice expletives reserved for them.

The kicker is that many retailers will turn around and sell your return as a new product (depending on the condition) versus selling it a discount as an open box item.

That said, relationships are important. Build a good faith long term relationship with a dealer and the both buyer and seller will be rewarded. You will usually have a person and phone number to call. It's usually not an internet based relationship.