Bit of a beef with ALO  

I went back and forth about posting this and even discussed it with a fellow Head-Fi'er who felt I should.

What set me off was purchasing their iMod Female Mini Dock for the 5+ gen iMod. This is a physically tiny piece of hardware yet I was given no choice but to pay $15 for shipping. This to me is a bit exorbitant. I have no problems paying a company handling fees but having to pay more than $10 (this would be $4.60 via Priority Mail) for handling on such a tiny piece doesn't sit right with me. I do realize that ALO is a small operation but I think they need to revisit their shipping calculations.

My other issue is what I found when repairing one of their iPod docking connectors for a fellow Head-Fi'er. The problem with this particular piece was a broken solid silver wire that I ended up replacing. To do so I had to take apart and desolder both at the 1/8" plug end and at the dock end. The workmanship that I found left a lot to be desired. The soldering was very sloppy and at the plug end one of the wires was bent at a rather acute angle. Of course sloppy soldering doesn't necessarily affect the ultimate performance of a product but I was pretty surprised considering the premium ALO charges. Perhaps what I saw was an exception and most of their product is professionally assembled. But looking at some of their own pics posted on their site, I find myself not impressed with their craftsmanship. With the kind of prices ALO charges, I expect quality work through and through.

I realize that ALO has a good reputation here and I am not trying to derail business. My purpose here is to inform people of a couple of specific experiences. Again, I understand the sloppy workmanship I discovered could be an exception. I certainly hope it is. But in regards to ALO's shipping calculations, I would hope they would revisit them. And if any of you were wondering, yes, it is verified that they shipped my mini dock via USPS Priority Mail.

There's no IC cable - just a dock for the 5+ gen iMod with a 1/8" jack. Costs $85 (which I have issues with as well but is not part of this discussion.) According to the Paypal shipping notification he did insure it. Total would be $6.65. That is everything I can tell by the Paypal USPS shipping notice.

I just expect hand soldering done by a professional to be neat. I've taken apart Headphile and Stefan AudioArt cables and the work on them have been pristine.

I didn't comment further about the break because I can't speak to the history of use.

If you reread my original post, I was not calling out the issue that the dock was broken. I was only commenting on the workmanship I found.

Sherwood put it best. This is only meant to be an open dialog so we can all stay informed. I would most certainly welcome Ken's responses and if he has a perfectly reasonable explanation then even better. I whole heartedly applaud our sponsors but that doesn't mean they are above constructive criticism.

I kind of expected this reaction from some because I know how well regarded Ken is around here.

The only thing I will respond as to your post is in regards to the broken silver wire. Please do not try to turn this into me knocking against Ken's customer service. Reread my original post. I said nothing about ALO fixing or not fixing the dock. The point was the workmanship I found.

As to your other points, I tried to take care in not overblowing (hmm... don't think that's a word ) my statement. But that will come down to a matter of perspective and usually lends to a fruitless argument.