I invited Marv as I thought he lived in OC and was relatively close but if a couple of you are interested in coming here to do testing using your systems and sit down with us as we test with ours, or failing that to just have a friendly mini-meet, the door is open and you'd be welcome (with notice and planning, obviously).

If you visit you can check out our test systems, test and compare results to your own and your own headphones, or just listen. I'll give a partial tour of the plant (sorry, we do have stuff that'll be off limits) and provide food.  Of course anyone who wants to listen can come to CanJam in just a few weeks; we've got 3 tables and will have a lot of stations so you can take your time. 

Peace, and if there's interest in coming to our shop to do testing let me know. 

P.S. Sorry, no roadshows.

hello,

this will be mean spirited.

for whatever reason this vendor is refusing to allow his product to be measured and auditioned independently by this community.

his replies are self-serving at the very least. (provide food? all i want is a skating chimpanzee and dancing girls on the side and i will drive down from the Great Northwet  [if i can avoid the smokies i can get 20 mpg (on premium)].)

the facts seem to be this:

1. there is a loaner pair of Alpha Primes making the rounds on Changstar.

2. they sound like 

3. they measure like 

4. they have been sent back for "repair" and still sound/measure like 

5. a proposal to allow members of this community to audition and measure the current loaner, a "correct" pair provided by the vendor and a community sourced pair is not acceptable to the vendor. instead it is proposed that any member with a measurement rig make the trek to the vendor's facility to accomplish the same thing that could be done without the time and expense required to come to the Master.

(as an aside, the loaner program here is transparent in stating that shipping to the next Pyrate on the list is the responsibility of the one just before. i would hazard a guess that packing, shipping and insuring 3 pairs of cans would be much less than dismantling, transporting and setting up a measurement rig would be.)

again, that is NOT what i would call "open, fair and transparent testing."

Hats off to Dan for handling these rowdy pirates better than expected. +1 for you

yes, this is true, if you feel that essentially refusing to engage this community's concerns and ignoring their experience and expertise is a win.

very sorry for the vitriol. i feel that Mr Speakers is not being transparent, open, or fair and it makes me sad. was really hoping for a pair of planers that don't cost an arm and a leg, but after this exchange anything from San Diego is out of the question.

Darin Fong Audio

hello,

if i am ever able to afford KOSS ESP-950's your cable is my next purchase. 

I can understand a faulty set of cans. AFAIK I think Fostex might have some QC issues themselves in their stock T50RPs, and this might make things a bit more complicated as it may be up to Dan to cherry pick and even match drivers before assembly and perhaps even perform individual tunning. I don't know if he does that with his TOTL cans, but could be, and it might not be cheap.

I'm perfectly OK with owning up to the problem and offering repairs and/or replacement. That's the ideal.

I also do not dislike the Alpha Dogs in general. I heard them before and did not feel they were bad at all. I might have a preference for the Mad Dogs but this is what I said before about these cans:
"I felt these had pretty good bass and mids. Some felt these were a tad bright, but I feel they were pretty good in that regard. Perhaps there was a bit of lack of air, but consider these are closed cans. Pretty clean CSDs even in the location of the right driver null."

I can understand Dan's apprehension in circulating this particular set. In fact, I did not take them with me, but there was a measurement request by the owner. It may or may not shed some light as to what the problem might be. Then, it's up to the owner to circulate it. It may very well be that this particular set has some FR issue or perhaps distortion is higher than average. If it measures poorly then fine, it is not a representative sample anyway and Dan already owned up to the problem.

What will not fly very well however is this "quality of measurements" or "undiscerning ears" deal to discredit dissenting views that has come up recently.

hello,

this will be mean spirited.

for whatever reason this vendor is refusing to allow his product to be measured and auditioned independently by this community.

his replies are self-serving at the very least. (provide food? all i want is a skating chimpanzee and dancing girls on the side and i will drive down from the Great Northwet  [if i can avoid the smokies i can get 20 mpg (on premium)].)

the facts seem to be this:

1. there is a loaner pair of Alpha Primes making the rounds on Changstar.

2. they sound like 

3. they measure like 

4. they have been sent back for "repair" and still sound/measure like 

5. a proposal to allow members of this community to audition and measure the current loaner, a "correct" pair provided by the vendor and a community sourced pair is not acceptable to the vendor. instead it is proposed that any member with a measurement rig make the trek to the vendor's facility to accomplish the same thing that could be done without the time and expense required to come to the Master.

(as an aside, the loaner program here is transparent in stating that shipping to the next Pyrate on the list is the responsibility of the one just before. i would hazard a guess that packing, shipping and insuring 3 pairs of cans would be much less than dismantling, transporting and setting up a measurement rig would be.)

again, that is NOT what i would call "open, fair and transparent testing."

yes, this is true, if you feel that essentially refusing to engage this community's concerns and ignoring their experience and expertise is a win.

very sorry for the vitriol. i feel that Mr Speakers is not being transparent, open, or fair and it makes me sad. was really hoping for a pair of planers that don't cost an arm and a leg, but after this exchange anything from San Diego is out of the question.

I don't get your post. I don't see how Dan is preventing anyone from measuring or auditioning his cans (nor how he could possibly do so even if he wanted to). He is just not agreeing to facilitate auditions in the way certain people here would want him to, which is his right. It seems to me that Dan's principal obligation is to his customers, and not to us as a "community", and in that regard he sounds like he is making every effort to fix the problem set of AP in question. (If ultimately there is not a technical issue that needs to be fixed by Dan, but the can is just not to the liking of that owner and other Changstar members then time will tell and so be it.)  If Dan wants to facilitate further auditions of other samples on Changstar's terms or his terms or not at all then that is all his right and there is no obligation or failing in his part. Of course, people here and elsewhere will write what they will write based on the samples they have and Dan will have to just live with that too. But the implication that he is somehow failing the community or not being transparent seems false to me. The fact that he is communicating at all on this board is a positive IMO and the fact that he doesn't want to facilitate loaner tours is an irrelevant point to me -- some manufacturers will, but many will not.