[MJ1764]

One more question for everybody:
 
I know about UM's impeccable molding and the reports of great sound from their earphones but my hesitation is in dealing with a company half-way around the world/different language. I've read about at least one person who had problems with missing impressions and miscommunication. For those who have dealt with UM, how was the experience. Also, has anyone dealt with their new US dealer/shop at www.custom-iem.com? Is this UM's direct retailer in the US or a third party?
 
Thanks again for any help anyone can provide.
 
All the best,
 
Michael

 

[MaxwellDemon]

One thing to note is that they take awhile. At least a week slower than most major custom companies in the US. Secondly, while UM is generally very helpful in all scenarios (if something wrong happened, they are usually very willing to own up to it), the Chinese custom borders are a mess right now. They are taxing everything foreign heavily unless it is claimed to be of low value. This is unfortunately out of UM's control.
 
About www.custom-iem.com, they have a Head-Fi representative here. From what I know, they are UM's retailer in the US. If you are worried about the language boundaries, Stephen (I think that's his name), the guy that manages www.custom-iem.com, will be able to help you out with that.

 

[QuantumXL]

Stephen Guo is very nice. He was very easy to talk to and usually answers his E-mails very promptly during the night times (10-12pm est is when i get my e-mail replies. However, this is arbitrary since he may check it at different times) With Stephen there are no language boundaries and he is very helpful and would answer the dumbest question you can think of. Let me tell you he'll answer anything lol. I've asked some dumb ones (Sorry Stephen) But they are very nice. Technically Stephen is more of a representative of Unique Melody and eliminiates the problem of the language barrier. It was hard for many english speaking individuals to communicate with UM without a problem. You still have to ship it off to China to get it remolded even if you speak to Stephen. Stephen is there to help you with your choices you make with UM and how to go about it. Recommended!

 

[MJ1764]

MaxwellDemon and QuantumXL,
 
Thanks so much for your replies and helpful advice. I e-mailed stephen and he got back to me right away (really awesome customer service, there). Still on the fence (especially because of the possible customs issues involved - not sure how to circumvent those and not sure if I would want to try only to hear, "Sorry, your earphones were somehow lost in transit and there's nothing we can do." Probably wouldn't happen but my innate, overly-cautious side is warning me to be careful).
 
Anyway, thanks again and mind if I ask you two a question: did you pick your username's because they sound cool or are you physicists? I mean no offense. I am asking only because I've seen the word "quantum" cavalierly tossed about in pop culture but rarely have seen anything from thermodynamics (i.e. Maxwell's Demon). I'm a physics grad student and have noticed an interesting correlation between physics, math, music, and audioholicism (for lack of a better word).

 

[MaxwellDemon]

Well, UM is really careful with the "earphones are lost in transit" bit, that I can assure you... though... well, that just reminded me of that poor guy in UK that's still chasing his insurance fee. Hopefully Stephen will help out on that IF it did happen to you.
 
And about my name... unfortunately, I am a psychologist. While I do have a good idea of what the theory of Maxwell's Demon consists of (thanks to my physics friends in uni), my name, while intended to be Maxwell's Demon at first, did not originated from there. It actually just came from another source of a very unfortunate man called Maxwell and his terrible demonic luck. It just so happened that years ago a physicist decided to name a theory that too.

 

[Vitor Teixeira]

Well, the past month was not a good time to send my JH to UM, almost a month since i've sent them and still haven´t the confirmation that the phones arrived because of the Spring Festival holiday..
Stephen usually is very prompt at responding emails, but this last week he must have too many work to do and haven't replied yet.
I just hope that the package reaches it's destiny.
 
 
 
 

 

[dcpoor]

chinese new year, they probably have a week or two off.