[wpiaz]

  Another thing, unsatisfaction is not the only reason for returning a product.......when you have a $1500+ headphone, some of your buyers may just want to listen to them for assessment reasons and never planned on keeping them........some may be perfectly happy with the sound but may not be able to spare $1500 so they return them because they were planning on a refund from the very beginning. Others may return them after their wives find out how much they cost; we hear about that happening all the time on Head Fi. 
 
So customer satisfaction is not the end-all reason for a return and as I said before, there are plenty of testimonials in this thread of customer satisfaction/disatisfaction. 

 
The consumer electronics industry suffers a relative high rate of returns. "On Process" published a white paper on this subject and from their research they state:
 
"Of all returns, a staggering 68 percent are labeled as no trouble found (NTF). Another 27 percent are associated with buyer’s remorse, which can occur for reasons similar to NTF, such as sub-par
customer education or improper expectation-setting at the time of the sale. When adding these figures together, 95 percent of consumer electronics product returns are initially attributed to something other than defects."
 
I wonder if Mr Speaker stats fall within these numbers.

 

[wpiaz]

  That's an intrusive question about proprietary information that no private company shares.

Actually, this data is readily available for the retail industry. There is an annual report that is published by the National Retail Federation. Returns as a percent of total sales for the retail industry in 2013 was 8.6% and in 2014 the number increased to 8.89%. If Mr. Speakers is well below that number than it can be used a marketing sales tool. If higher...well you right you should keep that number unpublished.
 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjrhO3xpJbLAhWLFx4KHVRQClAQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theretailequation.com%2FRetailers%2Fimages%2Fpublic%2Fpdfs%2Findustry_reports%2Fir_2012_nrf_retail_returns_survey.pdf&usg=AFQjCNG-Xh_FwFyCg2jl04go2ytRcGLBkQ&sig2=ENUgIwsOGGjZn79GOdP0Lw&bvm=bv.115339255,d.dmo

 

[inthere]

  Actually, this data is readily available for the retail industry. There is an annual report that is published by the National Retail Federation. Returns as a percent of total sales for the retail industry in 2013 was 8.6% and in 2014 the number increased to 8.89%. If Mr. Speakers is well below that number than it can be used a marketing sales tool. If higher...well you right you should keep that number unpublished.
 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjrhO3xpJbLAhWLFx4KHVRQClAQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theretailequation.com%2FRetailers%2Fimages%2Fpublic%2Fpdfs%2Findustry_reports%2Fir_2012_nrf_retail_returns_survey.pdf&usg=AFQjCNG-Xh_FwFyCg2jl04go2ytRcGLBkQ&sig2=ENUgIwsOGGjZn79GOdP0Lw&bvm=bv.115339255,d.dmo

 
Right, and not a single company was named in that survey........

 

[enthusiast]

HI just received my Ether C. Sound out of the box - very detailed, huge soundstage, very neutral, exactly as advertised. Now I want to tune the sound darker. From my understanding I just use one white felt. I also have dark/black pads in my box - is this the 1.1. version - or do I have to order the 1.1?

 

[sbradley02]

Happened to look up the ETHER C in Products on Head-Fi. There was only one review, which left the ETHER C way down in > 300 in ranking on the site. I added a review and it improved ranking by over 100.
 
If you like your ETHER C, consider writing a review. It helps sell the product.

 

[mrspeakers]

We have had a return rate of < 0.5%, it's pretty consistent across ALL our models, and has been so for the last 1.5+ years.  When we started it was 3%, which freaked me out at the time.  Not acceptable.  

 

[x RELIC x]

HI just received my Ether C. Sound out of the box - very detailed, huge soundstage, very neutral, exactly as advertised. Now I want to tune the sound darker. From my understanding I just use one white felt. I also have dark/black pads in my box - is this the 1.1. version - or do I have to order the 1.1?

The white and black pads included are the tuning pads. Black pads attenuate treble less than white pads. You can use any combination you like to get the right amount of treble attenuation for your preference.

The 1.1 is a foam, not felt, that sits under the ear pad at the driver side.

You can see it in this pic posted earlier:




If you look at your box you should find information stating if it's 1.0 (no foam) or 1.1 (magic foam). Mine says lot-01, A1. Or you can remove the ear pad to see if there is foam and one white felt pad there or two white felt pads.

 

[enthusiast]

The white and black pads included are the tuning pads. Black pads attenuate treble less than white pads. You can use any combination you like to get the right amount of treble attenuation for your preference.

The 1.1 is a foam, not felt, that sits under the ear pad at the driver side.

You can see it in this pic posted earlier:


If you look at your box you should find information stating if it's 1.0 (no foam) or 1.1 (magic foam). Mine says lot-01, A1. Or you can remove the ear pad to see if there is foam and one white felt pad there or two white felt pads.

Thanks for this. Mine says Lot01-A1 as well, No. 412.
 
From what I read 2-3 pages back of this thread, one white should attenuate treble the most. Would you agree - or what gives the Most "Basshead"-style configuration?

 

[bytor33]

You don't even have to remove the ear pads to tell, if it's the 1.0 you can see the white felt through the ear pad mesh if you hold it up to some light.

By the way, I have an extra set of the 1.1 foam if anyone is interested. I was sent two sets by accident so if someone is short on funds I can send them out for free, just PM me.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Thanks for this. Mine says Lot01-A1 as well, No. 412.

From what I read 2-3 pages back of this thread, one white should attenuate treble the most. Would you agree - or what gives the Most "Basshead"-style configuration?

One white felt in the pads. Case closed.

 

[enthusiast]

Yep, sorry for being such a dummy here. I am just so excited in having received this "made by head-fi" headphone. I now noticed that the felts go on top of the earpad and the 1.1. upgrade underneath. Got confuse d from only watching the 1.1 upgrade video. Will play around with all configs now. The headphone is really transparent to the music, burned in 3 hours already and I can say these are up to the detail of the TH-900. The dynamic is even better. I am really putting these through hard tests, lots of complicated fast music, from Abbado plays Bruckner on Grammophone (FLAC) to Acid Rock (FLAC) is all I say..
 
Small suggestion for upgrading the documentation inside the ether box. Its not possible to read the youtube adress last 2 letters V1I VIi llI, really hard to tell the differnece between capital "i" and small "l". Maybe somehow add an explanation which is which, I did find the video by going to the mrspeaker youtube channel.

 

[x RELIC x]

Give the ETHER C 150 hours of burn in for the bass. It really does improve with Dan's v-planar drivers. I was a complete sceptic until I heard it myself.

 

[wpiaz]

We have had a return rate of < 0.5%, it's pretty consistent across ALL our models, and has been so for the last 1.5+ years.  When we started it was 3%, which freaked me out at the time.  Not acceptable.  

This is an excellent return rate that speaks to the company's quality products. I wonder why I could not get a straight answer sooner.

 

[enthusiast]

Give the ETHER C 150 hours of burn in for the bass. It really does improve with Dan's v-planar drivers. I was a complete sceptic until I heard it myself.

What Volume Level is good for a burn in, normal listening levels I suppose? As it stands now I am happy with the Ether Cs even with the neutral bass, since resolution and dimensionality is awesome. Changed the white pas to the 2 black ones, lost too much of detail with the white one.
 
I like the organic sound of the planars vs Dynamic Headphones so far. There is no going back now I suppose. Or maybe its all immagination, who knows. ;D

 

[mrspeakers]

This is an excellent return rate that speaks to the company's quality products. I wonder why I could not get a straight answer sooner.

Seriously?  Good grief.  I didn't know I was on a "response-o-meter" to answer all questions within 5 minutes.  Suggest you check response time on this question with other vendors before complaining.