[TWerk]

Then you'd sell it without that option.... that's up to you. It's not something that would likely happen, just a possibility.
 
I wouldn't mind helping my buyer out in the unlikely chance something goes wrong, if I could.
 
I mean, it's probably fairly rare that people use that initial manufacturer warranty, anyways.
 
I buy virtually all of my headphones used, no warranty. You just have to be careful with Audeze, they seem to have more issues.

 

[TSAVJason]

You said it yourself! It's not "my way". It's what you said in bold.

Ok I'll say it. Your way is to try to cheat it. I wasn't going to go there. I never ask anyone to break rules or attempt to break rules. These things can have unfortunate consequences. "Your way" Twerk, not mine.
.
You have a need to shoot the messenger. I have a responsibility to put the information out there so they know it exists and let people decide for themselves. My bet is there are lots of highly intelligent headfi'ers here that are completely capable of making decisions for themselves. FYI, there are, from what I'm told, very few that want to sell there Elear out of the many that have been received and enjoyed by their new owners. There are some that love the upgrade path, they just feel the Utopia is that good, they have to have them. Focal simply created a nice clean upgrade path to those that wanted to upgrade to the Utopia. They sure aren't throwing you on the ground forcing anyone to to make any choice. The bi-product is high quality Cerified Pre-Owned Elears at a lower price. It helps people get into them for less money with a factory warranty. Call me crazy but it sounds damn friendly to me. Of course you have the choice not to agree and you have the choice of "your way" I'm sure you're sharp enough to make your life choices as you see fit.

 

[arnaud]

Arnaud? Nice to hear from you. Are you referring to the Grande Utopia Focal flagship? If your referring to either there is no upgrade path because they are the top in their individual categories. If you're talking about the Grande Utopia Speakers that warranty and it's transferability is determined by the distributor in each market. It's like a US buyer buying a SR009 from PriceJapan No warranty at all unless you send it back to the original seller. The Grande Utopia here in the states is sold through a distributor. The Utopia headphone is sold through FocalNA.

It was about the Utopia headphones. It's a bit a of let down (for the one buying used that is) to have non-transferrable warranty on a 4kUSD product (Stax is the same and I don't think they're a good example to follow in that regards).
 
Nothing that you or focal should care about but it's probably something a few head-fiers would like to have...
 
arnaud

 

[TSAVJason]

It was about the Utopia headphones. It's a bit a of let down (for the one buying used that is) to have non-transferrable warranty on a 4kUSD product (Stax is the same and I don't think they're a good example to follow in that regards).

Nothing that you or focal should care about but it's probably something a few head-fiers would like to have...

arnaud

Thank you Arnaud, well said. As a dealer and fellow enthusiast I admit I agree. Many HIGHEND audio companies don't have transferable warranties. It really isn't that uncommon. It's not just STAX & Focal beliieve me. It's probably not so important to you but there is a reason this is common. It's a valid point too. They don't want to be responsible for misrepresenting it's condition to the second or third or 4th.... that causes out of warranty failure. This causes a blemish on the manufacturer when it could have been mistreated by the first owner. No manufacturer warrants an abused product. It's a perspective some companies take.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Thank you Arnaud, well said. As a dealer and fellow enthusiast I admit I agree. Many HIGHEND audio companies don't have transferable warranties. It really isn't that uncommon. It's not just STAX & Focal beliieve me. It's probably not so important to you but there is a reason this is common. It's a valid point too. They don't want to be responsible for misrepresenting it's condition to the second or third or 4th.... that causes out of warranty failure. This causes a blemish on the manufacturer when it could have been mistreated by the first owner. No manufacturer warrants an abused product. It's a perspective some companies take.

 
 
I think this also goes for Schiit Audio?

 

[TWerk]

Quote:

Ok I'll say it. Your way is to try to cheat it. I wasn't going to go there. I never ask anyone to break rules or attempt to break rules. These things can have unfortunate consequences. "Your way" Twerk, not mine.
.

 
"My way" is not breaking any rules whatsoever. If I buy the headphone new, I get the manufacturer warranty on it. I bought it with a manufacturer warranty and that is my warranty. That warranty is mine to use until it expires. If I want to use it because the headphone develops a problem within the warranty period, that it my right to do so. If I allow someone to send it back to me so I can use MY warranty that was issued to me, that is my right as the owner of that warranty.
 
What your way is, is buying an Elear from someone for cheap and reselling it for more to make a profit. Basically just a middleman for profit. Also making profit again by selling an additional Utopia headphone. Nice try trying to twist it to me being Mr. bad guy here.
 
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see "your way" is to cash out and just make more money.

 

[Toolman]

I believe the warranty policy is set by Focal, either in French HQ or Focal NA, not by Source AV. Correct me if I'm wrong here?

Trade in = $850
New retail = $999
*Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are not that much profit in it from the trade in program, if any

 

[Allanmarcus]

Other than the Koss ESP-950, which high end (heck, even mid-fi) headphones have transferable warranties? 
 
Heck, even the Koss 950 warranty isn't transferable. Koss just doesn't care and will fix it.

 

[TWerk]

  Other than the Koss ESP-950, which high end (heck, even mid-fi) headphones have transferable warranties? 
 
Heck, even the Koss 950 warranty isn't transferable. Koss just doesn't care and will fix it.

 
I'm not sure cause high end headphones are typically made well so as to not need to use the warranty. I had to use an Audeze warranty before, and that was transferable.
 
But yeah, the warranty thing isn't really that big a deal to begin with. I buy used headphones all the time without warranty as do many of us here.

 

[wuwhere]

   
I'm not sure cause high end headphones are typically made well so as to not need to use the warranty. I had to use an Audeze warranty before, and that was transferable.
 
But yeah, the warranty thing isn't really that big a deal to begin with. I buy used headphones all the time without warranty as do many of us here.

 
Stax develops channel imbalance, could be a design/manufacturing defect. That's the purpose of warranty, to cover design or manufacturing defects. No product is perfect regardless of price.

 

[TWerk]

I believe the warranty policy is set by Focal, either in French HQ or Focal NA, not by Source AV. Correct me if I'm wrong here?

Trade in = $850
New retail = $999
*Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are not that much profit in it from the trade in program, if any

 
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see you're ignoring the more important half of the equation.
 
They make whatever profit over the 850 that they can sell for the Elear, PLUS they get a UTOPIA SALE ON TOP which is where the real profit lies.
 
The Utopia sale is surely worth more than that ELEAR profit. Of course they offer the deal, if someone takes them up they sell yet another $4,000 Utopia.
 
We can be certain the Utopia sale generates for them more profit margin than an Elear sale at 4x the cost.
 
It's not as "damn friendly" a move as Source AV might make it seem.

 

[TSAVJason]

I believe the warranty policy is set by Focal, either in French HQ or Focal NA, not by Source AV. Correct me if I'm wrong here?

Trade in = $850
New retail = $999
*Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are not that much profit in it from the trade in program, if any

Take that a step further, tech time for a full certification test, new fresh pads, re-boxing, cleaning and disinfecting. Whether Twerk likes it or not it's a fair deal if you want to trade up from the Elear to the Utopia. Both ends of the transaction get a good experience. Hahahaha and the dealer gets as rich as Donald Trump in about a month. Hahaha sorry! It's been a silly topic and argument. I do think it would be cool if there was a re-certification program for the Utopia for a 2nd or beyond owner. I think I'll bring that up with them tomorrow see if they'll look at that option. FocalNA & Focal France have been pretty cool about the customer experience. Arnaud made a good point today. Thank you again Arnaud and thank you Toolman for taking the understanding to a better place.

 

[TWerk]

That's not the case. There was an Elear listed a few days ago for 900+ and sold super fast, like a few hours fast. The truth is, Jason has no stock currently to offer at his "supposed price" right now.
 
The value of my used Elear on has not dropped to $700. Only when he has steady supply to sell at this price, will the value of a used Elear change. And if he's selling them like hotcakes at that price, I'll wager he will increase it.
 
If this is the case, I'd advise people to hold off buying new Elears and just wait for a used one with the same warranty and brand new pads for 150 dollars less. That sounds like a good deal to me.
 
Quit buying the new ones and wait for Jason to get his trade ins.
 
In the end, market demand and supply will determine what my used Elear is worth, just like it does for every product on the market. If you never have any supply available of a product because it's being sold at a too low price, buyers will have to look elsewhere.

 

[TWerk]

I appreciate that aspect and possible loss. Although the program is only for Elear to Utopia upgrades. I doubt there will be that many of them so his resale shouldn't tank too much at all. I admit I don't appreciate Twerk making this personal about policies and programs I have little or nothing to do with.

 
Hey - me and you agree on something! Sweet!

 

[Currawong]

Guys, single and only formal warning: This is a forum for discussing products and topics associated with them, not discussing people. Anything along the lines of a personal attack (eg: "You ...") from here on will result in a permanent thread lockout for the poster.