[Tagging
@Andykong again, since he will need to carry this forward.]
The remedy I would like to see (and that I don’t think Cayin will go for):
Cayin* guarantees a 100% (full MSRP**), no questions asked, refund,
at any time, between now and a proper fix being established
and the fully functioning, repaired unit being
back in the owners’ hands.
This is to protect users that decide to wait for a fix, in good faith, without knowing how long that is going to take, or what it is going to entail, and then learning that it will take longer or be more involved than they are then willing to deal with.
Further, Cayin extends the warranty (including all shipping, labor and parts costs) for
this particular issue to “lifetime”
and makes it transferrable to subsequent owners. ALL repaired units should be supplied with a repair certificate, indicating the associated unit’s serial number.
This is to protect the resale value and secondary owners who may be unaware of the issue.
Finally, once a fix is
confirmed, and
available, users can send their units in, at
their convenience, for repair with the above terms still in place, at any point in the unit's lifetime (will need to be defined; maybe a 5 year limit).
This is to protect those users who may choose to wait until just before they elect to resell the unit, as they don’t have the issue/or it doesn’t occur with their IEMs, headphones or cables and thus don’t need to be inconvenienced in their usage, nor penalized later on.
---
The above doesn't ask for compensation or consideration in anything other than a swift, complete repair and the option not to deal with further hassle or inconvenience at whatever point the customer decides "enough is enough".
It lets users that want to/aren't (immediately) affected, continue to enjoy their units, while protecting the value/performance of the unit later on.
For example, I decide to wait out the repair. It then turns out that with all the shipping, fixing and testing, the unit will be out of my hands for 6 weeks. I don't want to deal with that, and am not happy with the unit as-is for the long term, so I can opt out, at that point, without penalty and still receive a 100% refund.
I think this is reasonable in light of:
It is currently not being possible to predict what headphones/cables will be affected by these issues, nor even if it will be the same for every unit, due to the nature of tolerances etc. Therefore, it should be assumed that
anycurrent unit could exhibit this issue in the future with a new IEM or headphone (or cable) pairing.
For example, I’m an EE Odin user and everything seems fine with my unit. A year later, I buy the IE600 … and those result in the hiss problem emerging and are unlistenable. Now I know I have a faulty unit, and no chance of a refund from my dealer (entirely reasonably).
---
For me:
Right now, I have the option to return my 2nd N30LE for a refund.
This is the safe choice.
It also means I’m giving up on the N30LE, which is by far the best DAP or transportable unit I’ve heard (and I’ve heard all that I’m aware of). Due to its limited-edition nature, I doubt I’d be able to get another with a warranty/refund option and/or confirmed repair.
I'd prefer NOT to give up the N30LE, and I can muddle through with other IEMs and/or IEMatch for a modest period, and assuming a quick turnaround on repairs (a couple of weeks, once available), but there is a very limited degree to which I am willing to roll the dice on this one.
I have to decide very quickly as do, I'm sure, others. So a prompt response, or an alternate proposal would be greatly appreciated.
---
*It's up to Cayin how they work this out with their dealers, but I don't think the dealers should be penalized.
**I don't care what the dealer margin is, just that the end-customer is made whole.
(yeah one should never write this in this hobby but still, it's the best times these days)
