CK Moustache
100+ Head-Fier
Story time:
Sennheiser IE 800
With the release of the HD 800 and IE 800, Sennheiser decided to restrict the distribution to higher-end and local resellers, stores and distributors instead of Amazon and the other typical big online stores that carried and sold their other products such as the HD 600 or Amperior.
At that time, I decided to add the IE 800 to my collection - the ceramic shells seemed unique enough, and the fun v-shaped sound signature should be good enough for specific listening scenarios, and I assumed that their technical capabilities should be good enough for dynamic driver in-ears. Back then, they were also the only European/American company's single dynamic driver IEMs that cost more than 500 EUR, with only very few exotics (regarding single DD IEMs) from Asian manufacturers costing even more, and all of them only available on their respective domestic market.
Anyway, so I checked Sennheiser's official list of distributors, stores and retailers that carry the IE 800, and e-mailed a bunch of them. Since they were obviously not Amazon and as it is not uncommon for physical audio stores to provide some discount, I decided to kindly ask for what their best offer for new, unopened, A-stock IE 800 were and that I intended to buy them. Some didn't even bother to reply which was fine, but the replies from some of the smaller retailers were quite shocking: they basically told me to stop wasting their time and to stop harassing them, since I, in their view, weren't able to afford the IE 800 anyway. Wow! Okay, that was definitely not what I expected.
Only one guy (out of the small retailers) who is well-known in the scene for his openness and friendliness replied and gave me a really good offer (and with a bit of talking back and forth, even told me that he could also offer the HD 800 (new A-stock) at a really good price, but unfortunately I had already purchased them at full retail price not too long ago so had to decline). In the end one of the bigger online retailers replied with an even better offer that I ultimately accepted (they even included a rather expensive issue of an audio print magazine for free and without me asking for it, which is a nice additional touch).
Afterwards I used the money that I saved in this deal to buy one of the last available sets of the Etymotic ER-4S from Amazon at a really good price, and after finally getting them to insert at the correct depth thanks to a modification of the largest triple-flange tips, they became the IEMs that I love the most and that come the closest to my perception perception of lifeless flat neutral, to the point that they sort of made my Ultimate Ears Reference Monitors (as well as most of my other IEMs) that I had bought somewhat earlier rather redundant except for the rare occasions where the UERMs' technical advantage could be needed.
Sort of the same story when I purchased my Campfire Audio Andromeda: at that time, there was only one distributor. I e-mailed him and asked whether some discount were available (and also offered to officially refrain from any warranty claims after checking the IEMs upon arrival since it was already clear to me from the beginning that I wouldn't use them much since their design and colour were the main reasons why I bought them) since I could also purchase the IEMs from Campfire Audio directly (with additional import taxes and customs fees, they would've still been a good bit less expensive, but ultimately I didn't want to risk any shipping damage given that they are definitely more on the boutique IEM manufacturer side of things), and the reply that I got was quite harsh as well and subliminally conveyed that he didn't want me as a customer. I still bought the IEMs from him, and you know what? When I received the e-mail invoice, he tried to force me into paying using bank wire transfer instead of PayPal since the PayPal fees, according to him, were extraordinarily high (I would have considered paying using bank wire transfer if he offered to provide at least some small sort of discount (e.g. 50% of the PayPal fees), which he didn't, so I ended up paying using PayPal (also because I didn't have any trust in this unfriendly person anymore and just wanted to be on the safe side in case he shipped me defective or B-stock IEMs)).
Well, now I know that I should rather avoid the smaller audio retailers/distributors and stick to the bigger ones, if there are any that carry the products that I am after. It's not about the discount but the way that I am treated and whether I am respected as a customer or not.
And right now I'm sitting here, using my Moondrop Starfield for recreational music listening. Thankfully there was no need to communicate with any retailer/distributor prior to my purchase since I purchased them through Amazon.
Sennheiser IE 800
With the release of the HD 800 and IE 800, Sennheiser decided to restrict the distribution to higher-end and local resellers, stores and distributors instead of Amazon and the other typical big online stores that carried and sold their other products such as the HD 600 or Amperior.
At that time, I decided to add the IE 800 to my collection - the ceramic shells seemed unique enough, and the fun v-shaped sound signature should be good enough for specific listening scenarios, and I assumed that their technical capabilities should be good enough for dynamic driver in-ears. Back then, they were also the only European/American company's single dynamic driver IEMs that cost more than 500 EUR, with only very few exotics (regarding single DD IEMs) from Asian manufacturers costing even more, and all of them only available on their respective domestic market.
Anyway, so I checked Sennheiser's official list of distributors, stores and retailers that carry the IE 800, and e-mailed a bunch of them. Since they were obviously not Amazon and as it is not uncommon for physical audio stores to provide some discount, I decided to kindly ask for what their best offer for new, unopened, A-stock IE 800 were and that I intended to buy them. Some didn't even bother to reply which was fine, but the replies from some of the smaller retailers were quite shocking: they basically told me to stop wasting their time and to stop harassing them, since I, in their view, weren't able to afford the IE 800 anyway. Wow! Okay, that was definitely not what I expected.
Only one guy (out of the small retailers) who is well-known in the scene for his openness and friendliness replied and gave me a really good offer (and with a bit of talking back and forth, even told me that he could also offer the HD 800 (new A-stock) at a really good price, but unfortunately I had already purchased them at full retail price not too long ago so had to decline). In the end one of the bigger online retailers replied with an even better offer that I ultimately accepted (they even included a rather expensive issue of an audio print magazine for free and without me asking for it, which is a nice additional touch).
Afterwards I used the money that I saved in this deal to buy one of the last available sets of the Etymotic ER-4S from Amazon at a really good price, and after finally getting them to insert at the correct depth thanks to a modification of the largest triple-flange tips, they became the IEMs that I love the most and that come the closest to my perception perception of lifeless flat neutral, to the point that they sort of made my Ultimate Ears Reference Monitors (as well as most of my other IEMs) that I had bought somewhat earlier rather redundant except for the rare occasions where the UERMs' technical advantage could be needed.
Sort of the same story when I purchased my Campfire Audio Andromeda: at that time, there was only one distributor. I e-mailed him and asked whether some discount were available (and also offered to officially refrain from any warranty claims after checking the IEMs upon arrival since it was already clear to me from the beginning that I wouldn't use them much since their design and colour were the main reasons why I bought them) since I could also purchase the IEMs from Campfire Audio directly (with additional import taxes and customs fees, they would've still been a good bit less expensive, but ultimately I didn't want to risk any shipping damage given that they are definitely more on the boutique IEM manufacturer side of things), and the reply that I got was quite harsh as well and subliminally conveyed that he didn't want me as a customer. I still bought the IEMs from him, and you know what? When I received the e-mail invoice, he tried to force me into paying using bank wire transfer instead of PayPal since the PayPal fees, according to him, were extraordinarily high (I would have considered paying using bank wire transfer if he offered to provide at least some small sort of discount (e.g. 50% of the PayPal fees), which he didn't, so I ended up paying using PayPal (also because I didn't have any trust in this unfriendly person anymore and just wanted to be on the safe side in case he shipped me defective or B-stock IEMs)).
Well, now I know that I should rather avoid the smaller audio retailers/distributors and stick to the bigger ones, if there are any that carry the products that I am after. It's not about the discount but the way that I am treated and whether I am respected as a customer or not.
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Hope someday I could audition the beast.
