A week ago I actually ordered the Icarus iii when I saw a special coupon for a good discount. One of the main reasons I decided to bite was the 2.5mm balanced cable which was to be included in addition to the 3.5mm unbalanced. When I saw folks here commenting that they had received phones without the balanced cables and that the website had been changed, I checked the Icarus iii order page and saw that it too had been changed. I was very sure I had see the description showing the two cables included and, in fact, just found a cached copy of that page showing this. When I wrote to enquire what was up I got a terse answer of "It was specified the customer would have to make an order for the balanced cable." from "Jake"
This is my reply. I am sorry if some people think this is just a minor issue, and maybe the deal is still overall very good, but for ME, with a new Onkyo dp-x1a that I like to use balanced, those 2.5mm INCLUDED cables are a big deal. Sounds like the same for a few other folks here. Maybe Trinity have a good rep overall here, my only order from them in the past was for Pono balanced cables and they were fine, but I really don't like this way of doing business. I hope that someone there can make this right. Changing the specs of an item between when it is ordered and when it is shipped just does not seem kosher to me.
my first email of enquiry:
I recently ordered the Icarus iii from you with a special discount code. One of the big selling points to me was that it was clearly described as coming with both 3.5mm unbalanced and 2.5mm balanced cables. I mean to use these in balanced mode with my onkyo dp-x1a.
Now I am reading on the head-fi forums that people are getting their earphones WITHOUT the promised balanced cable and checked and saw that the descriptions on the website have been changed AFTER THE FACT.
What is up with this? If I must separately buy another cable or have an adapter made, that is an extra expense I really do not care to make. I do not understand also when you are actually shipping these, either. I was looking forward to trying these interesting earphones, but if you cannot honor your DESCRIPTION AT THE TIME OF THE ORDER to include both balanced and unbalanced cables, I would prefer a refund. I think you will find that other audiophiles are also perturbed by this move and it is not giving you good PR, for sure.
Please advise what you plan to do about this.
Thanks,
to which the response was:
It was specified the customer would have to make an order for the balanced cable.
Regards
JAKE
my response to Jake:
Hello Jake,
I do not know where this was specified.
here is the cached copy of the product order page from a few days ago when I made the order.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8nkI-gfIj8oJ:https://www.trinityaudioengineering.com/products/copy-of-icarus-iii+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=it
I say again, please either say you will honor this description, as it was when I made the order, or refund my payment.
Either way, I will be checking in at head-fi about this.
I thought your company had a good rep re the audiophile community, but changing the specs of a product after an order is made and then blaming the customer, as you seem to try and do by saying "It was specified that the customer would have to make an order for the balanced cable." is not a way to build that reputation.
wow!
I hope you can do better than that.
regards,