It's unfortunate that it's come to me feeling like I have to make this post on Head-Fi to try and gain some sort of resolution to the problems I'm now having dealing with Ken Law and Storm Digital. As most of you may know I was one of the first owners of the D02 here on Head-Fi and I believe I was the first to talk with him directly via MSN Messenger. Like most there were some minor delays in the arrival of the DAC, it didn't make it for the mini-meet we had here as it was supposed to but did arrive the week after. The mini-meet was held a week later than originally intended so in reality the DAC was actually approximately a few weeks overdue but I was told there had been a problem with the top plates manufacture which had to be redone and I chalked up any other delays to growing pains of a new company.
Unfortunately when I finally did get the DAC it arrived with cosmetic damage to some of the edges and the feet. In addition one of the feet won't even stay on and one of the posts that holds the battery in place won't stay screwed in either. The battery post problem didn't show itself until I took the lid off which had been keeping pressure on it holding it in place so at least it wasn't floating around inside the DAC during shipping. After some listening it became apparent that there were sonic problems as well. While the DAC sounds very good there is a low level noise, similar to what you might here with some tube amps, that is there all the time. In addition to this noise the DAC has exhibited short bursts of loud distortion and one time after turning it on all I heard was constant loud distortion with music faintly heard in the background. Turning it on and off a couple times rectified this more severe problem but the low level distortion and short bursts of louder distortion exhibit themselves to this day.
It was apparent that the damage was caused by the DAC not having enough packing material, there was a foam piece and some bubble wrap around the DAC but this only half filled the box which meant as the box was being bounced around during shipping the DAC would have been flying around inside the box. I had originally thought Canada Customs didn't repack the box properly when they opened it (it had tape on the box saying it had been opened by customs) but I later found out that other early adopters of the D02 had had their DAC's shipped in a similar fashion. I immediately got after Ken about this and from what I've been told he is now using proper foam inserts when shipping so this doesn't happen anymore. The problem is I was left with a DAC that while usable, isn't functioning properly and has cosmetic damage caused by improper shipping packaging.
In order to rectify the situation Ken almost immediately said he would ship me a new DAC from the next batch he was working one and when I got it I would ship the damaged one back via slower surface shipping to save on costs. I had intended on writing a review to post on Head-Fi and some other audio forums I frequent but I didn't feel comfortable posting any detailed impressions until I got a new, properly functioning DAC to be sure I was hearing the DAC to it's fullest potential. I made Ken aware of this to explain my lack of posting regarding listening impressions. He and I continued to talk frequently and he let me in on some of the details of the new D02A very early on and when I expressed some interest in this design he offered to ship me one of these as a replacement instead of the regular D02 I had originally recieved. I agreed to this although I had a few reservations because even though this design should be better, at the time he was considering switching DAC chips so I wondered if I was opening a can of worms because the sound might change not to my liking.
This all occured shortly before the time that aksolanki posted his thread regarding Ken not shipping parts he had bought from Ken for over a year which brought out some other people who were concerned about Ken's shipping practices and promises. I was originally a bit mystified because my experiences with Ken had been for the most part positive and he always seemed to be responsive online. This thread did make me rethink the decision to go with the D02A though mainly because of the possible wait (the distortion problems were getting worse and I was worried about ending up with a DAC that wasn't working at all) and also the possible design/sonic changes. I told Ken of my concerns and that I would prefer to just go with a regular D02 like I already had so I could get it sooner and get my planned review posted sooner as well which I thought might be incentive for him to get it out ASAP but I also understood that I would be at the back of the line and wouldn't get the new DAC until the outstanding orders he already had were shipped. My understanding was this would be a couple of weeks but of course there were delays with various excuses.
At about this point I found out I was getting laid off from my job and with my wife already on maternity leave our income would be taking a serious hit so I decided to downgrade my setup so I could put some money aside in case of an emergency. I was originally going to get the DAC and then try to sell it but with it's size and weight the shipping costs would be exhorbitant so I ended up talking over the situation with Ken and he agreed that instead of shipping the DAC to me I would sell it and he would ship it to a new owner. During this conversation he told me I could tell potential buyers it would ship within a week to a week and a half. I found a buyer almost immediately but it's now been over a month since the sale (and months since the DAC was supposed to have shipped initially) and various wild excuses (mostly heard third party because I don't have internet access at home and only limited means to get online otherwise) and the buyer still hasn't recieved a DAC. On Tuesday of this week I managed to talk to Ken on MSN and he told me that he was getting a friend to ship the DAC that day and would have a tracking number to me in 48 hours. I asked him to either PM the number to me or send it to my email as soon as he gets it because I don't know how many times I've been told the DAC is going to be shipping only to have it delayed. The 48 hours is now up without a peep from Ken regarding a tracking number or even an excuse. I'm really frustrated with this situation, the buyer has already threatened to back out of the deal and I don't blame him one bit (luckily I've been holding his money in limbo until I'm sure everything goes through with the sale) but if he does back out then I'm pretty much screwed as far as selling the DAC goes because who else will buy the DAC when it has to be shipped from Ken and one buyer has already backed out because he hasn't shipped? If he doesn't ship the DAC at all then I'm left with a DAC that doesn't work properly and has cosmetic damage because Ken didn't package it properly for shipping which means if I can sell it at all I'll have to take a severe loss on it. I'm not sure where to turn, it seems like aksolanki got almost immediate results by posting here so I thought I'd give it a shot myself, at the very least my story could serve as a warning to others.
Unfortunately when I finally did get the DAC it arrived with cosmetic damage to some of the edges and the feet. In addition one of the feet won't even stay on and one of the posts that holds the battery in place won't stay screwed in either. The battery post problem didn't show itself until I took the lid off which had been keeping pressure on it holding it in place so at least it wasn't floating around inside the DAC during shipping. After some listening it became apparent that there were sonic problems as well. While the DAC sounds very good there is a low level noise, similar to what you might here with some tube amps, that is there all the time. In addition to this noise the DAC has exhibited short bursts of loud distortion and one time after turning it on all I heard was constant loud distortion with music faintly heard in the background. Turning it on and off a couple times rectified this more severe problem but the low level distortion and short bursts of louder distortion exhibit themselves to this day.
It was apparent that the damage was caused by the DAC not having enough packing material, there was a foam piece and some bubble wrap around the DAC but this only half filled the box which meant as the box was being bounced around during shipping the DAC would have been flying around inside the box. I had originally thought Canada Customs didn't repack the box properly when they opened it (it had tape on the box saying it had been opened by customs) but I later found out that other early adopters of the D02 had had their DAC's shipped in a similar fashion. I immediately got after Ken about this and from what I've been told he is now using proper foam inserts when shipping so this doesn't happen anymore. The problem is I was left with a DAC that while usable, isn't functioning properly and has cosmetic damage caused by improper shipping packaging.
In order to rectify the situation Ken almost immediately said he would ship me a new DAC from the next batch he was working one and when I got it I would ship the damaged one back via slower surface shipping to save on costs. I had intended on writing a review to post on Head-Fi and some other audio forums I frequent but I didn't feel comfortable posting any detailed impressions until I got a new, properly functioning DAC to be sure I was hearing the DAC to it's fullest potential. I made Ken aware of this to explain my lack of posting regarding listening impressions. He and I continued to talk frequently and he let me in on some of the details of the new D02A very early on and when I expressed some interest in this design he offered to ship me one of these as a replacement instead of the regular D02 I had originally recieved. I agreed to this although I had a few reservations because even though this design should be better, at the time he was considering switching DAC chips so I wondered if I was opening a can of worms because the sound might change not to my liking.
This all occured shortly before the time that aksolanki posted his thread regarding Ken not shipping parts he had bought from Ken for over a year which brought out some other people who were concerned about Ken's shipping practices and promises. I was originally a bit mystified because my experiences with Ken had been for the most part positive and he always seemed to be responsive online. This thread did make me rethink the decision to go with the D02A though mainly because of the possible wait (the distortion problems were getting worse and I was worried about ending up with a DAC that wasn't working at all) and also the possible design/sonic changes. I told Ken of my concerns and that I would prefer to just go with a regular D02 like I already had so I could get it sooner and get my planned review posted sooner as well which I thought might be incentive for him to get it out ASAP but I also understood that I would be at the back of the line and wouldn't get the new DAC until the outstanding orders he already had were shipped. My understanding was this would be a couple of weeks but of course there were delays with various excuses.
At about this point I found out I was getting laid off from my job and with my wife already on maternity leave our income would be taking a serious hit so I decided to downgrade my setup so I could put some money aside in case of an emergency. I was originally going to get the DAC and then try to sell it but with it's size and weight the shipping costs would be exhorbitant so I ended up talking over the situation with Ken and he agreed that instead of shipping the DAC to me I would sell it and he would ship it to a new owner. During this conversation he told me I could tell potential buyers it would ship within a week to a week and a half. I found a buyer almost immediately but it's now been over a month since the sale (and months since the DAC was supposed to have shipped initially) and various wild excuses (mostly heard third party because I don't have internet access at home and only limited means to get online otherwise) and the buyer still hasn't recieved a DAC. On Tuesday of this week I managed to talk to Ken on MSN and he told me that he was getting a friend to ship the DAC that day and would have a tracking number to me in 48 hours. I asked him to either PM the number to me or send it to my email as soon as he gets it because I don't know how many times I've been told the DAC is going to be shipping only to have it delayed. The 48 hours is now up without a peep from Ken regarding a tracking number or even an excuse. I'm really frustrated with this situation, the buyer has already threatened to back out of the deal and I don't blame him one bit (luckily I've been holding his money in limbo until I'm sure everything goes through with the sale) but if he does back out then I'm pretty much screwed as far as selling the DAC goes because who else will buy the DAC when it has to be shipped from Ken and one buyer has already backed out because he hasn't shipped? If he doesn't ship the DAC at all then I'm left with a DAC that doesn't work properly and has cosmetic damage because Ken didn't package it properly for shipping which means if I can sell it at all I'll have to take a severe loss on it. I'm not sure where to turn, it seems like aksolanki got almost immediate results by posting here so I thought I'd give it a shot myself, at the very least my story could serve as a warning to others.
