I think part of it is also the industry cannibalizing itself. Development is break neck, the need to turn over models to stay relevant and that in and of itself costs money from a sales model perspective. If you’re stuck with an old model in stock, you’re taking a loss.
1 Like
It’s probably a lot of things. The rise of internet sales and direct sales to consumers (why bother going to a brick and mortar store when you can just buy something online), the general misinformation about high end (which is what smaller dealers primarily can only survive on these days), the misinformation about dealers in general (a lot of popular places online like to represent dealers as the bad guy these days), the current state of reviews and influences pushing people to high volume crap rather than smaller volume good stuff, etc
There’s just too many reasons lol
In terms of running a physical location there’s a lot of cost to that. Owning or renting a storefront in a populous area is really expensive in the current market, buying inventory to have on hand is really expensive since they are higher end pieces, paying actual knowledgeable people to be in that shop is expensive, shipping the larger and more fragile and expensive items is a huge expense, insurance I bet is pricey, and all the other traditional things that come with owning a business. I’d also assume when dealing with sizable sale prices for higher end systems taxes also might hit them pretty hard too. From what I know there’s also a lot that goes into actually carrying a brand/line of products, and there’s some potentially really restrictive things that can come along with that in terms of deals with mfg for what they can and can’t do. Sure they might be paying like average 50-70% of retail (although can be higher and lower depending on the product at hand of course) which seems like a large margin, but you factor everything in it ends up being really not much profit for them in the end
Not really surprised to see remaining dealers operate more out of their home or buy a warehouse for this stuff and mainly do deals online, cuts out a lot of the costs that aren’t feasible anymore, even then though.
Don’t know, not in the industry so can’t really speak, but I can talk of the troubles I’ve heard people mention over time lol. But I’m just glad there are still some left, but I don’t know how much longer the more traditional dealer will be prominent, some of the most knowledgeable and experienced people I’ve met in this hobby were dealers, irritating to see them slowly close shop one by one. I’ve always considered getting into the industry and being a dealer, but it just doesn’t seem feasible at this point regardless of how much I might like doing it, wish that wasn’t the case lol
5 Likes
Yup. Talking to TSAV their massive headphone demo section is mostly written off as an adertizing cost cause its doesnt make sense to keep dping it any other way
1 Like
So… I just realized I am not/cannot use AISO at work…
I currently use an SU-2 KTE and must connect to my main computer over USB and I cannot install any drivers. Are there any DDCs that will do my system justice without AISO drivers? TBH I wrote off a bit of my systems “greyness” currently as the yggy vs sagra but I had the exact same sound when using the Su-2 over WASAPI on the sagra at home so now im second guessing myself.
TSAV might be the model for how audio dealers can survive. I visited back in January when I was in LA on vacation, and after talking to the owner, and the sales lead, Wayne, I got the impression the bulk of their earnings came from custom home theater installations and that the headfi room is there for fun, particularly because they like to chat to people.
Wayne showed me one of their premium home theater demo rooms, way more than I could ever afford, and told me he’d just installed it twice for one of his customers who owned the top 2 floors of a skyscraper, and presumably didn’t want to have to use the stairs when he felt like watching a movie (that last point is my assumption, Wayne would never be unprofessional enough to say that about one of his clients).
2 Likes
Yup. This is what I was told quite directly. Loose money on the headphone demo space but it brings in customers for their whole home audio stuff. Jason said sometimes its the parrents of whoever came in for cans and sometimes its just them a few years later when they have a home, but the headphone side is purely as “get them in the door” and not a direct “lets make some money off this”
Rofl. Yah. this is unsurprising. We in the heaphone hobby tend to forget just how nuts a lot of home theater guys go in my experience. Same as how JDM guys forget that there are people who own multiples of their favorite million dollar car just so they have one at every house…
But yah, I own a small construction company as a side hustle and the big money is always in complete packages and selling a “vision” rather than an “item”. People will happily pay you a healthy profit for “a place to spend time with their friends and family that has a good view” but those same people will be a lot more hesitant to buy “a deck” at the same prices. If you want to succeed in something like this you need to build a model where you sell a vision and obfuscate your own costs. Its the only way to not get beat up so much it isnt worth doing
1 Like
Did I miss anything with Schiit? All their devices with multibit modules have moved to B-stock, no more multibit option on A-stock. Are they reserving the multibit stock maybe for the DAC’s until they are ready with their next gen?
edit: I found the answer on the site
Q: What happened to the True Multibit DAC card option?
A: We’re constrained on the Analog Devices ADSP parts, so we’re afraid those are on hold for a while. Hopefully they’ll be back at the end of 2022.
4 Likes
Like @NickMimi I’ve found most dealers to be pretty straightforward. A simple “what’s your best price on XX?” Has yielded the largest results for me- 20% off my last big purchase. Also perhaps “XX dealer is offering me $YY, can you beat it?” But usually that last question will be accompanied with a pretty small discount (like free shipping). All other haggling I’ve attempted has yielded much smaller or no results.
If I was better at this could I squeeze a few more dollars? Maybe. But I don’t think there’s any magic to this. Dealers know their business better than I ever will.
5 Likes
Hi all,
Are there any “affordable” tube amps worth it for the AB1266 TC? Say under 5k?
1 Like
Pathos inpol ears and pautlauf hpa-100 are ones to look into off the top of my head. You can also just sneak in rught about 5k on a used wa33 standard if you take your time looking for one. Allnic HPA 5000XL may also be worth a look into
2 Likes
I paid 5K for my WA33, shipping pushed it over 5K.
Honestly though I preferred the 1266 on the OG Cavali Liquid Gold, and I’d probably stick with SS for the 1266 unless you have a reason not to.
I think the reason I prefer SS, is tube amps, even dry ones like the WA33 tend to emphasize midrange response, and I find it’s rubbing the “worst” part of the 1266 in your face.
Having said that 1266 is certainly good on the WA33, It’s mostly how I use mine, and some people seem to love that signature.
3 Likes
You know, i couldnt quite put why i hated 1266 on wa33 so mych but i think this may be it. The mids on 1266 was offensive to me in a way that made the cans unenjoyable. Super stupid warm/lush amps helped them slightly but not enough while wa33 just made me kind of unconfortable with them. I didnt try the OG LAu but i could 100% see its smoothness (while still having great impact) would be a super desirable quality for 1266.
This is just a currious question on my part: What DDC options exist once you step past the entry level?
So I know a fair bit about mid-high tier streamers/servers (say 2k+) but literally the only even vaguely higher end DDC that I know of (as in USB in and AES/I2S/etc out) is the Berkeley alpha USB and the MSB Pro USB module (though not even sure that counts since its ecosystem specific). I cant even think of a single server that allows for USB control instead of network. What else is even out there in the 2-5k range?
Edit: i just realized that the totaldac digital probabaly counts here as iirc it has usb in. The innuous pheonix and sms USB probabaky do to? But i also kinda feel like DDCs and usb reclockera are different categories. Idk
Antipodes K50 or a Grim Audio MU1 and Ineos are ones that come to mind. I know Lumin and Aurelic Aries G2.1 streamers can act as a DDC out but they’re more considered streamers than servers but you can still plug a music library directly.
Yeah they can all do a similar job in taking a USB signal in, cleaning it and sending it out via AES/Coax etc. But they are different things and you have to figure out if your primary goal is to clean the signal, host a music library or stream music. Or all of the above.
Bitb of these require a network connection
EDIT: neither lumin nor aries have USB input
This i didnt know. I wonder if i can control their streaming over a USB input. Ill have to look into that.
Tbh almost every high end streamer ive looked at doesnt have USB input and can only accept data/control via the network
True. The Weiss 502 does accept a digital stream via USB but to control the data/interface you need the network.
Im looking for something specificaly to use with usb input
My guess is including a USB host controller and associated software is just too burdensome when they expect customers to use the network connection.
1 Like
You basically have 4 common options barring uncommon on hassle options when it comes to getting an improved digital signal:
USB reclockers/cleaners/regen that take in USB and put out USB
Streamers/Servers that take in a network connection and/or USB drives and put out either USB or spdif type
DDC which take USB in and put out spdif type
Digital transports which take in a disc or other digital physical medium (like tape potentially) and put out typically spdif type
So with this being said, if you want to control your dac through usb, you are going to want to pick a USB reclocker and/or DDC. I don’t see why a streamer/server would give you a USB input for control or sending data though (outside of connecting drives) because it defeats the entire purpose of a streamer/server
Unless I’m totally not understanding what you are looking for
For higher end ddc options: totaldac d1-digital-mk2, denafrips gaia + nice clock, mutec mc3+ and nice clock, dcs and chord make ddc more specific to them but nothing stopping you from using them, the aforementioned berkeley, and there are others but can’t think of the names off the top of my head.
I have seen some higher end cd transports also include USB inputs to be used as ddc, but they are incredibly hit or miss and typically sound better playing discs anyways
5 Likes