[Zachik]

I must say this time the review was positive but there were other times he lied through his teeth.

That is a pretty strong accusation! Do you have example / proof of that?!
I do not know Joshua Valour personally, not affiliated with him, but did enjoy watching some of his reviews...

 

[D3athbySp0rk]

For return shipping of defective product, I feel at least for first 15-30 days there should be free shipping for consumer to return defective gear for repair.

We're at the start of a company, As he continues to produce these headphones, and more individuals hear about them, invest in them. That'll generate more sales, in which he has to invest in more supplies to build. Eventually leading to hiring more staff. I feel it's safe to assume a lot of the profit from the headphones goes right back into his developing company. He may not be able to simply offer such at this time.

 

[abm0]

Yeah, that's quite unwarranted - I don't think he has the technical knowledge to be intentionally lying to anyone. Joshua Valour is one of the most amateurish audio tech reviewers I've seen (but he's good at video editing, so that gets him viewers). However, this is beside the point - he clearly knows enough to recognize a driver defect and also an abnormally high defect ratio, so in that he's not wrong. It remains just a question of how much each buyer wants to support an independent handmade product and what usual quality/reliability expectations they're willing to relax for it.

 

[kumar402]

We're at the start of a company, As he continues to produce these headphones, and more individuals hear about them, invest in them. That'll generate more sales, in which he has to invest in more supplies to build. Eventually leading to hiring more staff. I feel it's safe to assume a lot of the profit from the headphones goes right back into his developing company. He may not be able to simply offer such at this time.

Hmmm...ya makes sense.
I have heard good things only about this headphone and it’s unfortunate that reviewer got hold of defective piece.

 

[kumar402]

That is a pretty strong accusation! Do you have example / proof of that?!
I do not know Joshua Valour personally, not affiliated with him, but did enjoy watching some of his reviews...

Ya I agree. I think he is fair in his assessment. At least he does it to the best of his abilities.
It’s just unfortunate that he got hold of defective peice.

 

[GirgleMirt]

Does Audeze and Hifiman pay for shipping to return warranty units for repairs?
both companies had their fair share of quality issues with drivers dying...

Can't speak for those 2, but I had issues with my Hifiman 400i and the online store I purchased it from (https://www.electronicsforless.ca/) simply replaced them under warranty, no shipping fees, both ways. It's also common policies for amazon and others. This was a few weeks after receiving them though. Longer term, you're typically dealing directly with the manufacturer and that I don't know... Also had issues with Schiit products though, and they covered the shipping back if I recall correctly.

And anywhere you can read about how their imbalance issue was fixed hastily after returning the product to @Garuspik.

Did Verum pay for any of the shipping though? Having to pay for both way shipping for the other side the world to get your defective product repaired must really suck... :\ I guess 'free' pads are a nice touch, but if you've paid 40-80$ or whatever in shipping to get your defective headphones fixed, they're not really free after all, probably cost less than the return shipping costs. A warranty in this day and age is just a given, even required by law. Without it, just selling defective products without at least free repairs would be akin to fraud and there would surely be severe, legal or otherwise, repercussions.

 

[D3athbySp0rk]

Did Verum pay for any of the shipping though? Having to pay for both way shipping for the other side the world to get your defective product repaired must really suck...

Sure, It may feel like sand getting kicked in your face while you're down. There's a lot of hype behind these headphones, with a fair bit a patience required till you're to receive a pre-ordered set. I can tell you it'll upset me a little if my pair arrives defective or shortly after. But I've tailored my expectations accordingly so. I've pre-ordered a product from a brand new company. There's going to issues here and there. He also doesn't have the capacity of such companies to offer free shipping. I just recently posted this: #693 regarding my thoughts on why warranty repairs come at a shipping cost, in case you missed it.

If you're wondering why "free" pads over covering the cost of shipping, It's more likely that he's bought these in mass, and at a discount because of such. where as if an individual was to buy the same pads It'd set them back further. My understanding is the cost for shipping is for most is roughly $30 (the few that have posted the price that i've seen), and the pads themselves are priced slightly more, if you were to order a set yourself.

And there's many companies that don't offer free shipping with repairs. He's not violating any laws that I know of, as the repairs themselves come as of no cost, as long as it's under the warranty. Even big-name companies don't always offer this. Not too long ago I had to send in my motherboard that was well within warranty that was defective. I had to pay $48 for shipping, due to coverage of the price of the shipment, and weight. The brand was Asus. Fairly big company. Oh, And their support was a nightmare, hours wasted of the phone as they challenged my knowledge if the motherboard was defective. Granted, It's not a totally fair comparison. But what's come to my mind. I don't have any experience with returns with any headphone companies.

 

[cskippy]

This is a response from @Garuspik regarding channel imbalance and shipping cost.

Hello. Yes, sometimes there problem with channel imbalance. These was a problem in first batches but during at least 200 units shipped and received I didn't heard any complaints. It's a very strange situation with Joshua Valours 2 Verum's. First of all I don't understand why customers didn't contact me, but sent faulty units to a reviewer?
Anyway, I assume full responsibility and fix all faulty units.
I don't pay for shipping to Ukraine and sure I pay for return shipping. As an "excuse me" I offer as a gift angled leather earpads of really good quality that usually costs much more then return shipping.
Why I don't pay for return shipping? Main reason I don't want to argue each time with customers how much it really costs. I know that cheapest way to send headphones back by USPS Air Mail costs 24$
So from my point of view situation looks like: 1) You receive good working headhpones in MAJORITY of cases OR 2) you receive good working headphones with a delay after repair and bought earpads for ~half of market price.

p.s. I'm constantly working on qaulity control and believe it or not I'm more the community member then a "factory" and run away with your money isn't my plan. I hope I've already prooved that.

 

[franz12]

This is a response from @Garuspik regarding channel imbalance and shipping cost.

It's a smart move. Agree with him.

 

[GirgleMirt]

This is a response from @Garuspik regarding channel imbalance and shipping cost.

Thanks for sharing! Seems very fair to me, with free return shipping the free pads are an even nicer gesture. Really can't ask for more, as then the pads cover the shipping charges to send them back.

 

[Zachik]

A different way to look at the "free" warranty shipping by other vendors:
They do their math and decide the headphones should be sold at price X. Then, they do a worst case scenario and figure:
10% would need service within warranty period, average round-trip shipping cost would be (as example) $50, so let's add $10 to the price of EACH unit we sell, and we're easily covered!

@Garuspik did not do it. His price is below what would be reasonable (IMHO) to charge for the Verums, so the unlucky few who need to pay $25-30 shipping back - still their total cost is less than $400 which is still a very good price!

 

[abm0]

Oops, I just typed "log" into WolframAlpha thinking it would use the 10-base logarithm, but it takes that as the natural logarithm - I should've used "lg".

So with corrections:
R_Drv = connector_contact + 0.9 (signal wire) + connector_contact (plugs at both ends, remember?) + 8
R_CM = connector_contact + 0.9 (GND_wire) + connector_contact + amp_out
20*lg( 0.1+0.9+0.1+1 / (2.1+9.1) ) = -14.5 dB!

With my resistive solution you'd have to go
GND_wire = 0.5
signal_wire = 530 ohms!!!
Before you could reach
20*lg( 1.7 / 539.9 ) = -50 dB.

Now I really really want to believe 20-30 dB of separation is enough, because I've already ordered these and it seems no sane cable on this planet will fix their crosstalk. ) If there was ever a pair of headphones that looked like it seriously needed a balanced amp and cable, this is it.

 

[CoFire]

Can't speak for those 2, but I had issues with my Hifiman 400i and the online store I purchased it from (https://www.electronicsforless.ca/) simply replaced them under warranty, no shipping fees, both ways. It's also common policies for amazon and others. This was a few weeks after receiving them though. Longer term, you're typically dealing directly with the manufacturer and that I don't know... Also had issues with Schiit products though, and they covered the shipping back if I recall correctly.


Did Verum pay for any of the shipping though? Having to pay for both way shipping for the other side the world to get your defective product repaired must really suck... :\ I guess 'free' pads are a nice touch, but if you've paid 40-80$ or whatever in shipping to get your defective headphones fixed, they're not really free after all, probably cost less than the return shipping costs. A warranty in this day and age is just a given, even required by law. Without it, just selling defective products without at least free repairs would be akin to fraud and there would surely be severe, legal or otherwise, repercussions.

Just to add some legitamite experience to this conversation, I bought some HEX V2's directly from Hifiman for roughly 3x the cost of Verum Ones not counting the shipping I was responsible for on brand new headphones to ship to my residence. About 6 months into ownership, all of a sudden, the right side dropped in volume at least 5 dB. The headphones were well within their warranty yet I was responsible for shipping from the US to China for repair and Hifiman covered shipping back to the states.

No ear pads or even an explanation of repairs were included in the returned repaired headphones from Hifiman. Repairs took about 2 months.

Take this as a data point and under consideration when evaluating Verum One support. At the headphone cost (which includes shipping) and even with warranty shipping not included, if you dig the sound, they are an excellent value. Admittedly, I have not yet heard Verum Ones but hope it will be possible soon (a disclaimer of sorts).

Just saying, even bigger companies don't have the shipping convenience/perks of Amazon.

On a side note, FedEx and UPS wanted about $150 to ship the headphones to China, USPS came through at about $30 including insurance (you can imagine my relief since I checked with FedEx and UPS first). FedEx and UPS advised against USPS for international shipment but fortunately, all proceeded without issue and the tracking number was updated with location check in as the package was signed for along its route.

 

[tuby sound]

Have not received mine yet, ordered back in October but don't mind waiting for a good product
I would, however, be very angry and disappointed if I receive a product that did not work from the get go
Using a product for a couple of months and then get a problem is not the same thing... If a product has a defect within a month of usage, the end user shouldn't have to pay for anything to get it repaired

Don't get me wrong, I want to support people that create their own company... I started one myself
Eager to try my first planar, did my research and am more than ready to enjoy it... Man it's been almost 8 months since I ordered it lol

Kelvin

 

[hop ham]

A few weeks ago I got my Verums with one channel way way louder than the other. I contacted Garuspik and he offered free leather pads so I decided not to ask about return shipping. Went to USPS and paid about $25 to ship back. Waited about 3-4 weeks and got it back yesterday. Only did a quick test but so far sounds like it's fixed.

I'm not thrilled about all this, but Garuspik always replied quickly, remembered the free leather pads (have to use the magnetic rings from stock pads), and so far it seems the driver issue is fixed.