[hidehide]

  Just pull the trigger for the NOS 11 ! Hope it will be a good pairing with my Sennheiser HE800S

So you will be having a NOS 11 + NFB-27H? 

 

[bimmer100]

Still waiting to get it back?

I think it's sitting on the desk of a Chinese customs official right now. He maybe found he would get better use out of it than me. It's seriously been stuck in customs since late May. Total b.s.

And I called Chinese customs and they like to put me on hold till I hang up. It's quite frustrating actually. I seriously don't ever expect to see my m11 again. So at this point I am looking for a replacement. The value i was instructed to declare it as was only 250 dollars, so the insurance on it also was 250 dollars. And the shipping is 256usd. So I'll get back 250 of the 256dollars I spent to send it there. It would of been more fun to toss it off a building and watch it explode into little bits. I have little confidence in Chinese customs as you can see. Audio-gd has attempted to contact them and no luck. So it is what it is. Yet another tragic experience with international shipping. I just had a Paul Hynes sr3 get "lost" in the mail for over 2months and it finally arrived In pieces. And still have never got reimbursed for that loss. I can't get any reply from the seller for several weeks and I believe Royal Mail is giving the one finger solute on the situation. That's another 800usd down he toilet.
Not having a good experience with post services.
Also I ordered some lme49610ts for a project and found out they were all fake counterfeit ic's... Dealing with that seller now, and reported them to Texas Instruments anti counterfeit team. Joy oh joy, how I will miss my m11. That was the greatest amp/DAC I've heard. And I've spent a lot of time with all sorts of fancy exotic amps and dacs. To me anyhow, it's a fine piece of gear. damn sad I just wanted to get some mods done to it. I haven't even counted the loss on the parts I shipped with it. Like the silvergard s wire, eizz xlr panel connectors and eizz rca's... And those were all declared too with reasonable amounts.

Honestly I wish j declared it at the value it was worth. But was instructed not to do so, as audio-gd would have to pay for the taxes on it they said. Total crap. It's in for service. I can't stand greedy customs. They almost are guaranteed to flag my crap and keep it. I have lost count of how much stuff has been delayed or "lost". I order a lot of international products and sadly some of it never arrives. Partially why I hate selling my stuff on Headfi to international buyers. There is always a risk that customs will decide they want to hold on to the product or magically have it disappear and get "lost".

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I've spent a lot on long distance phone calls to China. I got through to customs and they give me another number to call. Then same deal. They are playing a game I believe. Laugh at the American and piss him off. It worked.

Meh. I am done buying international products.

My own DAC/amp build will be my replacement. Well... It's for my wife, but likely will be a better setup anyhow. Dual 28bit DAC - true balanced setup. Dam1021's,
Less than 1uV psu's with quad parallel lt3042's. Diyinhk 768khz xu216 , custom oled display and interface , custom chassis, and "the wire" SE SE and bal bal amps. Plenty of power on really good measurements. Should be an ultra neutral sounding setup with very very low distortion.

If I get any update with customs I'll be sure to post. But I really don't think I will. Last time this happened, the package was in customs 1month and then the packaged disappeared with an excuse that it was lost. No reimbursement, nothing. No explanation. Apparently that's what insurance is for.

So if you plan to ship your gear back for repairs or upgrades. Consider the risk of insuring it for less than 300 dollars. That was the instructions for return shipping. I should of known better. My fault.

 

[ph58]

  So you will be having a NOS 11 + NFB-27H? 

No i will comparing the 2 . One will stay !, will let you know .

 

[somestranger26]

I think it's sitting on the desk of a Chinese customs official right now. He maybe found he would get better use out of it than me. It's seriously been stuck in customs since late May. Total b.s.

Honestly I wish j declared it at the value it was worth. But was instructed not to do so, as audio-gd would have to pay for the taxes on it they said. Total crap. It's in for service. I can't stand greedy customs. They almost are guaranteed to flag my crap and keep it. I have lost count of how much stuff has been delayed or "lost". I order a lot of international products and sadly some of it never arrives. Partially why I hate selling my stuff on Headfi to international buyers. There is always a risk that customs will decide they want to hold on to the product or magically have it disappear and get "lost".

 
That really sucks. I had a similar problem a few months ago. I ordered an M9 to go with my Ref-10 (planned to upgrade to Yggy later) but changed my mind and decided to get an M11 instead. The M9 went into a black hole and I'm sure that the Chinese customs stole it. I am going to deduct it on my taxes as a "Theft Loss" since I didn't bother insuring it (declared value of $400 - the tax deduction is worth the same).

 

[ph58]

Frankly , if i return a parcel for reparation , i will declare the whole value ! Remind that China is not a safe country nor any other country ! These are things that can happen anywhere in the world !

 

[bimmer100]

That really sucks. I had a similar problem a few months ago. I ordered an M9 to go with my Ref-10 (planned to upgrade to Yggy later) but changed my mind and decided to get an M11 instead. The M9 went into a black hole and I'm sure that the Chinese customs stole it. I am going to deduct it on my taxes as a "Theft Loss" since I didn't bother insuring it (declared value of $400 - the tax deduction is worth the same).

You are definitely not the first person I've heard with a story like this. Too bad Chinese customs can't be trusted. Sad part is that some of the additional parts I included will be tough to replace. With all the expensive wire I included, and connectors. Overall about 3+k is lost unless a miracle happens and honesty becomes a new trait with Chinese customs. What gets me the most is their avoidance to talk about what is going on with the package. Maybe it's the new official stereo for their employees while they loot other packages. So they have a m9 and m11 sitting on their desks. Just think of all the nice headphones they have too :/
Lol. Whatever. Declaring this on my taxes will be a smidge returned. But better than nothing I suppose. I wonder if Kingwa will help me out with ordering a new one. I just need to source another lot of wire and connectors and ship them out, just makes me sick thinking about it.

 

[bimmer100]

Frankly , if i return a parcel for reparation , i will declare the whole value ! Remind that China is not a safe country nor any other country ! These are things that can happen anywhere in the world !

I agree with this. Although the instructions from grace at audio-gd where very specific and she said to NOT declare over 300. Let me copy the email here...
"
Dear Tim,
Please declare the Master-11 value less than USD300 and declare "PC Headphone Amplifier”, don't mark "audio-gd" on the shipping bill,that can let us receive the pack soon.
Graace
"
And this
"Dear Tim,
Your can send back the unit. Please print the Chinese address and glue on the pack outside.
Don’t shipping by DHL and TNT.
Please pack it with original box or well protect box for avoid the damage during shipping.The damage during shipping will charge the repair cost.
May i know what models for you want to send back to us.

Our address:
No.15 ,XiangJing Road ,National Zoology Industrial Park, Danzao ,NanHai Distric, Foshan City, Guangdong Province China.
Name : Zhong Qiu Xian
TEL:0086 13727340188

Grace
"

I did exactly what they told me, and clearly it didn't help get the package to them. They had another email I'm looking for that said it costs them money or fees if I declare over 300. So I'd rather pay those fees than lose my gear. Duh.
Lesson learned. Hope everyone can learn from my mistake.

 

[ph58]

I agree with this. Although the instructions from grace at audio-gd where very specific and she said to NOT declare over 300. Let me copy the email here...
"
Dear Tim,
Please declare the Master-11 value less than USD300 and declare "PC Headphone Amplifier”, don't mark "audio-gd" on the shipping bill,that can let us receive the pack soon.
Graace
"
And this
"Dear Tim,
Your can send back the unit. Please print the Chinese address and glue on the pack outside.
Don’t shipping by DHL and TNT.
Please pack it with original box or well protect box for avoid the damage during shipping.The damage during shipping will charge the repair cost.
May i know what models for you want to send back to us.

Our address:
No.15 ,XiangJing Road ,National Zoology Industrial Park, Danzao ,NanHai Distric, Foshan City, Guangdong Province China.
Name : Zhong Qiu Xian
TEL:0086 13727340188

Grace
"

I did exactly what they told me, and clearly it didn't help get the package to them. They had another email I'm looking for that said it costs them money or fees if I declare over 300. So I'd rather pay those fees than lose my gear. Duh.
Lesson learned. Hope everyone can learn from my mistake.

Never do what they say , i have one time return a Hifiman 801 for reparation , that is exactly what they told me to do ( declare low value ) i'm doing the opposite way declaring the exact price i've pay + 3 copys of the value bill . I don't trust Chinese custom , not at all ! One other reason that is the package is too big to past trough their Custom !

 

[bimmer100]

Never do what they say , i have one time return a Hifiman 801 for reparation , that is exactly what they told me to do ( declare low value ) i'm doing the opposite way declaring the exact price i've pay + 3 copys of the value bill . I don't trust Chinese custom , not at all ! One other reason that is the package is too big to past trough their Custom !

Like I just said.... I hope everyone can learn from my mistake. Never again will I do such a thing. I am furious at audio-gd and should of known better and gone with my gut feeling. I have sent audio-gd "grace and Kingwa" some emails and hope they are able to help me out. At least see if they can get through to customs. But honestly I don't expect much. Doesn't matter that I've dropped over 6k on gear with them. I realize I'm just another customer out of the thousands they get every year. Chinese customs is dishonest and clearly are suspect to theft. So is life.

 

[rigo]

Like I just said.... I hope everyone can learn from my mistake. Never again will I do such a thing. I am furious at audio-gd and should of known better and gone with my gut feeling. I have sent audio-gd "grace and Kingwa" some emails and hope they are able to help me out. At least see if they can get through to customs. But honestly I don't expect much. Doesn't matter that I've dropped over 6k on gear with them. I realize I'm just another customer out of the thousands they get every year. Chinese customs is dishonest and clearly are suspect to theft. So is life.

Sorry to hear. I was actually thinking of doing something similar in the future (if I don't sell it) after reading what you were doing. Not likely now.

 

[pervysage]

Yikes, definitely not shipping to Audio-gd if I decide to upgrade the M11 to NOS.

Any place in North America that does it?

 

[Jhya]

Yikes, definitely not shipping to Audio-gd if I decide to upgrade the M11 to NOS.

Any place in North America that does it?

I emailed Kingwa directly to send me the DIY kit. He emailed me back with the directions and asked me to confirm that I can do the mod.
The mod is very simple, just remove the MCK resistor and connect the TCXO clock from the kit to the MCK. The total cost including shipping is $49.30.
After you do the hardware mod, you will need a USB Blaster (I got from from ebay for $4.33) to update the firmware. The instruction is also included by Kingwa.

 

[pervysage]

I emailed Kingwa directly to send me the DIY kit. He emailed me back with the directions and asked me to confirm that I can do the mod.
The mod is very simple, just remove the MCK resistor and connect the TCXO clock from the kit to the MCK. The total cost including shipping is $49.30.
After you do the hardware mod, you will need a USB Blaster (I got from from ebay for $4.33) to update the firmware. The instruction is also included by Kingwa.

So there would be some soldering involved?

Also, is the mod easily reversible if I find that I prefer the sound of stock M11?

 

[Jhya]

So there would be some soldering involved?

Also, is the mod easily reversible if I find that I prefer the sound of stock M11?

Yea, you need to solder. But it's the easiest kind of soldering, just connect wire to a few points. Will not involve surface mount or anything complicated.
 
I think someone on NOS 7 Impressions thread mentioned that the mod is totally reversible. Just remove the TCXO clock, solder back the resistor to MCK. Then flash back M11 firmware. Make sure you backup your M11 firmware before you flash the NOS11 that Kingwa sent you.

 

[Khragon]

  Yea, you need to solder. But it's the easiest kind of soldering, just connect wire to a few points. Will not involve surface mount or anything complicated.
 
I think someone on NOS 7 Impressions thread mentioned that the mod is totally reversible. Just remove the TCXO clock, solder back the resistor to MCK. Then flash back M11 firmware. Make sure you backup your M11 firmware before you flash the NOS11 that Kingwa sent you.

I'm looking toward for this mod, I heard it's fairly cheap as well, like $150 or $200.