[Sinocelt]

Quote:

I mean, I can understand a warranty that's, "If you mistreat it, it's your fault and not ours"

I think that's the idea. They just don't want to be held responsible for the CIEM if it has been damaged by the user, accidentally or willingly (by a customer who just wants a free new faceplate or shell color). If Heir Audio sent defective stuff and didn't want to take responsibility, I don't see them staying in business for long. I agree this warranty could benefit from some clarifications, but since you've already ordered your CIEM, I'll simply tell you not to worry. I've exchanged a lot of emails with Dr John Moulton, before he got swamped, and he loves his craft; his goal is to keep doing what he loves on the long run, not to make a quick buck and ruin his own name, in addition to that of his company.

 

[Staal]

Ah, that's kinda weird, I hadn't even read that. Not very reassuring.

 

[Poimandres]

as sinocelt stated i do not think that you will have any issues with heir.  while i love the sound quality of the 4a i have been having issues with the fit, mind you this is not an heir issue but an issue with the impressions that the audiologist took.  the wizard has been very helpful through the whole issue and not only offered to fix or reshell them through heir but has also secured an alternative method for those of us here in the states to have our minor fit issues fixed here instead of having them shipped all the back to heir.  i havent talked to john since seeing the questions about the warranty here but again i am certain that john is here for the long haul and will stand behind his product.

 

[Poimandres]

sorry about all of the lowercase letters for some reason in this forum the dolphin browser on my galaxy refuses to type in uppercase at all 

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

as sinocelt stated i do not think that you will have any issues with heir.  while i love the sound quality of the 4a i have been having issues with the fit, mind you this is not an heir issue but an issue with the impressions that the audiologist took.  the wizard has been very helpful through the whole issue and not only offered to fix or reshell them through heir but has also secured an alternative method for those of us here in the states to have our minor fit issues fixed here instead of having them shipped all the back to heir.  i havent talked to john since seeing the questions about the warranty here but again i am certain that john is here for the long haul and will stand behind his product.

Sorry to hear you've had fit issues. I've actually been worried about my own, since the molds looked kind of odd (maybe it's just my ears, heh), but I got them done at the same place as Sinocelt, and I don't think he had any problems with the fit. Getting a refit would definitely be a pain, however. Is that why you hadn't really posted any impressions?
 
Yet, I too second that John shouldn't be the type that doesn't take due responsibility for any build-related issues for his monitors. He's been absolutely helpful and I can't imagine him being iffy about a warranty, unless it really is due to our own fault.
 

 

[klyzon]

Quote:

as sinocelt stated i do not think that you will have any issues with heir.  while i love the sound quality of the 4a i have been having issues with the fit, mind you this is not an heir issue but an issue with the impressions that the audiologist took.  the wizard has been very helpful through the whole issue and not only offered to fix or reshell them through heir but has also secured an alternative method for those of us here in the states to have our minor fit issues fixed here instead of having them shipped all the back to heir.  i havent talked to john since seeing the questions about the warranty here but again i am certain that john is here for the long haul and will stand behind his product.

whats wrong with the fit? if you don't mind me asking
 

 

[Poimandres]

as i stated earlier the issue was with the original impressions that were taken.  i was not sure what to expect since it was my first time getting impressions and when the impressions were complete i let the audiologist know that i had better isolation in the left ear than the right and asked for another impression on the left however she did not feel that it was necessary.  when john received the impressions he let.me know that there was quality issues with them alot of pitting and the like and that he would have to sculp the left ear.  the left ear actually seals better than the right another testament to johns abilities.  the right ear breaks seal very easily and it is very difficult for me to obtain an air tight seal for very long at all, however it seals slightly better than what i remember the impressions sealing.  i cannot state the importance of finding an audiologist that has experience with ciems enough, and one that will accept feedback from you instead of dismisssing it.  if you feel that there are issues with your impressions i would recommend not leaving until the audioligist listens to your concerns and addresses the issue.  i have since made another appointment with an audiologist that was trained by sensaphonics and is local to my area.

 

[project86]

Quote:

as i stated earlier the issue was with the original impressions that were taken.  i was not sure what to expect since it was my first time getting impressions and when the impressions were complete i let the audiologist know that i had better isolation in the left ear than the right and asked for another impression on the left however she did not feel that it was necessary.  when john received the impressions he let.me know that there was quality issues with them alot of pitting and the like and that he would have to sculp the left ear.  the left ear actually seals better than the right another testament to johns abilities.  the right ear breaks seal very easily and it is very difficult for me to obtain an air tight seal for very long at all, however it seals slightly better than what i remember the impressions sealing.  i cannot state the importance of finding an audiologist that has experience with ciems enough, and one that will accept feedback from you instead of dismisssing it.  if you feel that there are issues with your impressions i would recommend not leaving until the audioligist listens to your concerns and addresses the issue.  i have since made another appointment with an audiologist that was trained by sensaphonics and is local to my area.

Agreed. 
 
Audiologists have tons of training and education, and I doubt you'll run across one who is totally incompetent. But that doesn't mean they have the first clue when it comes to molds for custom IEMs. And like doctors in general, you'll get a wide range of variation in terms of customer service. It's worth taking the time, or even driving/paying more, to find a good one with experience in this area. 
 

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

My appointment is in a couple of hours. Rather excited, oddly.
 
I actually heard from the Wizard and he told me not to worry about the warranty. As Sinocelt said, as far as he is concerned it's a case of if it's their fault they'll fix it but if you've done something to damage it, intended or otherwise, then it's your fault and they don't have to fix it for free. The example he used was if someone over-amps them, which is a fair point.
 
But yeah, feel much better now and once again really looking forward to my first set of CIEMs! Once I have them my next purchase is likely to be a DACport, unless I can find something else that's more perfect, which I doubt.

 

[Staal]

Any thoughts on DACport alternatives? The form factor annoys me as I'm looking for a box rather than some odd tube taking up a weird amount of space on my desk. God I'm picky. Would prefer a non-amped suggestion by the way. 

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

 
But yeah, feel much better now and once again really looking forward to my first set of CIEMs! Once I have them my next purchase is likely to be a DACport, unless I can find something else that's more perfect, which I doubt.

You sure the DACPort is the best option for IEMs? As I can recall, they have an output impedance of 10 ohms, which is really high for low impedance headphones like customs. I don't know what model you ordered, but the two most popular models here, the 4.A and the 8.A have impedance values of 25 and 35 ohms, respectively, which gives you extremely low damping factors. With the kind of multi-armature setups these customs have, who knows what kind of wild phase shifts in the impedance curves we'll have? I recall someone having had to send his DACPort into CEntrance for modifications to take the output impedance down to 1 ohm in order to better match his JH16.
 
I'm currently in the hunt for something with <1 ohm output impedance, and have almost narrowed it down to the new HRT HeadStreamer. It measures well, as good or better than the MS2, has a 0.1 output impedance, and does asynchronous 96k over USB. I think the DACPort measures a bit better with the noise floor and THD, but I wouldn't risk it over the possibility of significant FR changes due to low DF.
 
There's also the Calyx Coffee, but it's an unknown quantity, and also the Audioengine D1, which is very pretty, but is probably a little iffy with a 5 10 ohm output impedance.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

I'm going 4.A, thanks for the heads up about the DACPort. I'm still on the lookout but there were certain other boxes that it ticked.
 
For example, if at all possible I'd like it to be USB powered as I plan on taking it back and forth to work every day. I was looking at HRT early on when I was considering the D7000 from Denon rather than a set of CIEMs. There are others I'm looking at, but the $400 is kind of where I'd like to find myself if at all possible.
 
I'd love to hear other people's experience with the 4.A and portable rigs.
 
By the way, I forgot to mention the person I went with in San Fran was Kathy Peck. She charged me $50 plus cost of shipping through FedEx, which was discounted as she's a business sending to a business (yay, FedEx!). She did a great job and ran me through how I'll put my IEMs in and take them out.
 
Now I play the waiting game.

 

[tomscy2000]

Well, like in-ears, higher price doesn't always equate to better quality. I have a ~$500 DAC/amp, and I'm looking to 'downgrade' of sorts, because it's not suitable for my IEMs. The iBasso D7 is a good choice too.
 
If its the $400 range, you're probably looking at the Calyx Coffee, or something like an RSA Predator.
 
Quote:

I'm going 4.A, thanks for the heads up about the DACPort. I'm still on the lookout but there were certain other boxes that it ticked. For example, if at all possible I'd like it to be USB powered as I plan on taking it back and forth to work every day. I was looking at HRT early on when I was considering the D7000 from Denon rather than a set of CIEMs. There are others I'm looking at, but the $400 is kind of where I'd like to find myself if at all possible.

 

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

When I say $400, I don't mean I need it to be that price, I mean I'm willing to spend that much. If someone can make a recommendation for a nice rig that will due for less I'm all for it.

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

When I say $400, I don't mean I need it to be that price, I mean I'm willing to spend that much. If someone can make a recommendation for a nice rig that will due for less I'm all for it.

You can check out the UHA-6 and other products, too. They have pretty good measurements and have rollable opamps. But they don't do 24/96 over USB.