[mudguardiain]

To verify whether you are having an amplifier circuit problem or a vacuum tube problem, you need to check the filament voltage of the right channel power tube, on top of recording the voltage level during operation, you need to find out if there are any spikes or dips at extenuated circumstances.

This is why I try not to go into details of hardware repair or support service with users on PM or public forums because in most cases, the solution is out of reach to the users or even local dealers. I know nothing regarding the technical resources of your local dealer, therefore I can't comment on what they have done in the past or what they are going to do in the future with your amplifier, but in my humble opinion, sending the amplifier back to our office and let our Engineer examine the amplifier is a viable means.

I noticed you have quoted "Melco replaced a failed hard drive in less than two weeks including shipping, Burson sent me replacement Op Amps in under a week" as a reference point when you express your discontent with the turnaround time during repair. To be honest, while I feel your pain because of the amplifier failure, and have gone beyond my scope of work to contact related support staff to assist, I must say these are unfair and unmeaningful comparisons. Sending components to enable user replacement is very different from shipping a hefty amplifier back and forth, especially in countries where you need to go through customs service. If I send you a set of resistors and capacitors that can rewire the filament voltage power supply, will that solve your problem? No, it wouldn't, it will only create more problems and more complaints. The fact is, the warranty service probably takes longer than 3 months to ship the amplifier back to China by sea and then ship it back to you via the dealer.

The biggest chuck of MTBR (Mean Time Between Repair) is not the responsiveness of Cayin, the logistic arrangement (both in terms of time and cost) is the biggest share of the grief. Yes, we are not doing our best when we put efficiency over user satisfaction and rely on our dealer to lower the warranty/repair cost and to keep our product at a competitive price, but can we compare the MTBR of an Italian sports car (niche market product) against MTBR of consumer electronics or 3C products that are a lot more competence in the supply chain (because they own multiple warehouse and support center worldwide)

Thank you for your message, I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately whilst I understand why the repair times can be longer due to the logistics it’s not something that ultimately will work for me in the long term. I don’t have spare amplifiers & to be potentially with out for months is a problem. I should have considered this before buying.

 

[mudguardiain]

Thank you for your message, I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately whilst I understand why the repair times can be longer due to the logistics it’s not something that ultimately will work for me in the long term. I don’t have spare amplifiers & to be potentially with out for months is a problem. I should have considered this before buying.

Thank you for your message, I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately whilst I understand why the repair times can be longer due to the logistics it’s not something that ultimately will work for me in the long term. I don’t have spare amplifiers & to be potentially with out for months is a problem. I should have considered this before buying.

The amp is being collected by my dealer today, will hopefully be able to pinpoint the source of the problem, will let you know what the outcome is

 

[betula]

Thank you for your message, I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately whilst I understand why the repair times can be longer due to the logistics it’s not something that ultimately will work for me in the long term. I don’t have spare amplifiers & to be potentially with out for months is a problem. I should have considered this before buying.

Unfortunately neither the dealer, nor the manufacturer will be touched too profoundly that this is your only amp. That's just how the world is. From me and from other members though you get full empathy as it sucks not being able to listen to music. If your dealer doesn't give you a replacement and the repair takes long, perhaps you could consider buying a cheaper temporary amp that carries you through this period and sell it with minimal loss once the Cayin is back with you.

 

[DrDen]

Unfortunately neither the dealer, nor the manufacturer will be touched too profoundly that this is your only amp. That's just how the world is. From me and from other members though you get full empathy as it sucks not being able to listen to music. If your dealer doesn't give you a replacement and the repair takes long, perhaps you could consider buying a cheaper temporary amp that carries you through this period and sell it with minimal loss once the Cayin is back with you.

Also anyone might be far more convincing when dealing with retailer after getting help here.

 

[mudguardiain]

Unfortunately neither the dealer, nor the manufacturer will be touched too profoundly that this is your only amp. That's just how the world is. From me and from other members though you get full empathy as it sucks not being able to listen to music. If your dealer doesn't give you a replacement and the repair takes long, perhaps you could consider buying a cheaper temporary amp that carries you through this period and sell it with minimal loss once the Cayin is back with you.

The amp has just been picked up by the courier to go back to the dealer, hopefully will get some progress on it soon. I really like the Cayin but probably not the best choice for someone with a one amp setup, I will put it up for sale once I get it working fully, started to look at my other options, hopefully find something I like as much.

 

[betula]

The amp has just been picked up by the courier to go back to the dealer, hopefully will get some progress on it soon. I really like the Cayin but probably not the best choice for someone with a one amp setup, I will put it up for sale once I get it working fully, started to look at my other options, hopefully find something I like as much.

If you like the amp and it is fixed, you might as well keep it, but I understand if you want to sell it out of disappointment. That said, most of us never had an issue with the 3A. Mine has been running flawlessly for almost 1.5 years with different NOS tubes.

 

[DrDen]

The amp has just been picked up by the courier to go back to the dealer, hopefully will get some progress on it soon. I really like the Cayin but probably not the best choice for someone with a one amp setup, I will put it up for sale once I get it working fully, started to look at my other options, hopefully find something I like as much.

Just bad luck. crap happens.
Selling it you will definitely make someone happy, so you’re welcome!

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,
I see it like the other members here.
Let me say that demo units are always a bad choice.
Because they are literally forced by the test listeners.
The switches are turned with little feeling, the potentiometer is also turned and other such things.
It should be much more this lesson where you should take with you.
Of course you can sell the amplifier and get a new one, that's your choice.
On the other hand, if it is repaired, it is almost like new.

Apart from that, when you buy online you always have a residual risk of the parcels being raped by the postal companies.
So even there you never have 100% unless you pick it up yourself in the shop.

Have courage and hold your ground.
The fact that the retailer has already collected the parcel is a good sign.
Most of the work is done now and you have to wait even if the situation is crappy.
There are of course alternatives to bridge this like small headphone amplifiers, an Ifi Hip Dac or something like that can also bridge the time.

@Andykong
Question for you, I thought there was a general distributor in Germany.
I would say that they also repair there or am I wrong?
If not, it would be a pity for the consumer that he actually has to wait a very long time for his repaired unit.
It seems to me to be more the case that the units to be repaired are shipped from there to China than repaired.
A repair usually does not take long, depending on what it is, it is a maximum of one day's work for trained personnel.
Can you tell me if I'm wrong?

 

[DrDen]

Hello,
I see it like the other members here.
Let me say that demo units are always a bad choice.
Because they are literally forced by the test listeners.
The switches are turned with little feeling, the potentiometer is also turned and other such things.
It should be much more this lesson where you should take with you.
Of course you can sell the amplifier and get a new one, that's your choice.
On the other hand, if it is repaired, it is almost like new.

Apart from that, when you buy online you always have a residual risk of the parcels being raped by the postal companies.
So even there you never have 100% unless you pick it up yourself in the shop.

Have courage and hold your ground.
The fact that the retailer has already collected the parcel is a good sign.
Most of the work is done now and you have to wait even if the situation is crappy.
There are of course alternatives to bridge this like small headphone amplifiers, an Ifi Hip Dac or something like that can also bridge the time.

@Andykong
Question for you, I thought there was a general distributor in Germany.
I would say that they also repair there or am I wrong?
If not, it would be a pity for the consumer that he actually has to wait a very long time for his repaired unit.
It seems to me to be more the case that the units to be repaired are shipped from there to China than repaired.
A repair usually does not take long, depending on what it is, it is a maximum of one day's work for trained personnel.
Can you tell me if I'm wrong?

Very interesting! I live in Siberia and have Cayin service center in my home city. I suppose the labour costs much higher in Germany, that’s the reason.

 

[DrDen]

I think we shouldn’t ask Andykong for more than he can do.

 

[betula]

I think we shouldn’t ask Andykong for more than he can do.

Different company reps have different authority what they can and can't do. I think that's where the confusion came from. Andy has nicely clarified it already.

 

[Andykong]

Hello,
I see it like the other members here.
Let me say that demo units are always a bad choice.
Because they are literally forced by the test listeners.
The switches are turned with little feeling, the potentiometer is also turned and other such things.
It should be much more this lesson where you should take with you.
Of course you can sell the amplifier and get a new one, that's your choice.
On the other hand, if it is repaired, it is almost like new.

Apart from that, when you buy online you always have a residual risk of the parcels being raped by the postal companies.
So even there you never have 100% unless you pick it up yourself in the shop.

Have courage and hold your ground.
The fact that the retailer has already collected the parcel is a good sign.
Most of the work is done now and you have to wait even if the situation is crappy.
There are of course alternatives to bridge this like small headphone amplifiers, an Ifi Hip Dac or something like that can also bridge the time.

@Andykong
Question for you, I thought there was a general distributor in Germany.
I would say that they also repair there or am I wrong?
If not, it would be a pity for the consumer that he actually has to wait a very long time for his repaired unit.
It seems to me to be more the case that the units to be repaired are shipped from there to China than repaired.
A repair usually does not take long, depending on what it is, it is a maximum of one day's work for trained personnel.
Can you tell me if I'm wrong?

I honestly don't know, I met our Germain dealer back in 2019 Munich High End, and at that time, the German dealer had a local repair service lined up and we had a brief discussion with his service provider to iron out some communication problems. COVID has changed my role with Cayin and I didn't travel to shows and events for Cayin after Jan 2020. and I lost contact with the dealers ever since. In fact I don't even travel to Zhuhai headquarters regularly like pre-COVID, so my role is now limited to online product support, anything.

If you are interested in finding out more about the service and support arrangement, please drop an email to service@cayini.cn. I have advice users to contact their dealer whenever they need warranty or repair service, instead of @ me on HeadFi forum, I'll become the bottleneck of the system.

 

[DrDen]

I honestly don't know, I met our Germain dealer back in 2019 Munich High End, and at that time, the German dealer had a local repair service lined up and we had a brief discussion with his service provider to iron out some communication problems. COVID has changed my role with Cayin and I didn't travel to shows and events for Cayin after Jan 2020. and I lost contact with the dealers ever since. In fact I don't even travel to Zhuhai headquarters regularly like pre-COVID, so my role is now limited to online product support, anything.

If you are interested in finding out more about the service and support arrangement, please drop an email to service@cayini.cn. I have advice users to contact their dealer whenever they need warranty or repair service, instead of @ me on HeadFi forum, I'll become the bottleneck of the system.

I do understand your situation. Anyway it’s helpful for anyone to ask for advice on forum first, because most of questions aren’t that hard to answer. That’s what forums exist for.

 

[mudguardiain]

Different company reps have different authority what they can and can't do. I think that's where the confusion came from. Andy has nicely clarified it already.

I am not clear what facility my dealer has for repair, hopefully any work can be done in the UK, save on shipping times. I will know more in the course of time.

 

[Andykong]

I do understand your situation. At least it’s helpful for anyone to ask for advice on forum first, because most of questions aren’t that hard to answer. That’s what forums exist for.

Nope, the dealer should always be the first contact point when user run into trouble. Even when the user manage to solve the problem later, they should aware of the issue and the hardship that there customer are dealing with, that's part of their duty.

IMHO, after you post your problem or question on the form, please copy and paste the message to your dealer and get them involved ASAP.