Top CD player wanted

[Marco]

Make it squeal!
Or have I taken it too far now?

Marco.

[Lawrence001]

Hmm. Let's get back on track.

Adrian - are you still in the market for a cd player?

[Macca]

Make it squeal!
Or have I taken it too far now?

Marco.

You have to ask?

[farflungstar]

I have booked the Opus in for collection by UPS on Monday.

The seller has given me his tel number and apologised for being so stressed out. I'm thankful for that.

Though I want this whole episode to be over I am a little worried that folk on here might think I'm a difficult buyer - so I have copied the two messages from PayPal that gave rise to my 'dickhead' comment.

Please note that the high voltage valve equipment he refers to was me connecting the player into the arc ref 75 inputs as recommended by the maker and using the players inbuilt volume control. To suggest that I don't know how to connect a cd player was ridiculous.

31/01/2018 17:50 GMT+01:00 - Buyer: The item was described as 100% working without any issues, but immediately upon connection to my amplifier ( Audio Research) it was obvious it had a channel imbalance and was not 100% functional. There is*no way of correcting this and after speaking to the manufacturer (I have emails) they have said it sounds like a failing DAC chip, which means it would need ot be shipped back to the USA for repair. I also spoke with the Importers (Redline) who said it should*be returned to the seller immediately. It was sent in a wooden crate and suffered no visible damage in transit.

31/01/2018 21:11 GMT+01:00 - PayPal: Seller escalated this dispute to a Claim.

31/01/2018 21:11 GMT+01:00 - Seller: Paypal, thank you. I would rather this go to PayPal to meditate as I do not wish to communicate with this buyer anymore, as they are being unreasonable. This sale has been causing me a great deal of upset and a lot*of stress because of this buyer. This is not a case of item as not described, as I can assure you this item was 100% working without any issues and paypal are more than welcome to contact me in this regard. As much as I dont want to see anyone unhappy with*a purchase I cant be held responsible for any damage that they have caused. I have tried communicating with this buyer but they seem to be clueless as to using equipment of this type and I can provide evidence of this (which is accessible online to read).*I am a trustworthy seller but it seems in this instance I am becoming a victim of someone who obviously has no clue about the goods they have purchased, and I believe has even possibly done some serious damage to it. They are now demanding for a refund onsomething that they have been playing with, which they are now claiming is faulty. This is a very sensitive piece of electronic audio equipment and I have evidence of this person discussing on forums how they have been plugging various high voltage valve equipmentdirectly into it, and I do not know how they have been doing it or if they have been doing it appropriately, and what damaging effect it might have had . I can assure you that this piece of equipment was fully tested and 100% working as it should, fully functional*when it left me, it was an immaculate example. I would never try to sell anyone faulty equipment as in good working order. I have even captured screen shots of this person (which I can provide) discussing on a audio enthusiast forum how he has been connecting*it in various ways but he seems pretty inexperienced to this type of equipment, and there is a great possibility here that he has shorted something out. He has even stipulated in his discussions to others that it was


He ran out of words..

If he hadn't escalated to a claim, and worked with me on the problem this whole mess could have been different. It might be as simple as knocked IC chip that needs reseating or a buggered solder joint - but no way would I have dared investigate after what he had written.

Anyway - it will be back with him next week.

[farflungstar]

Hmm. Let's get back on track.

Adrian - are you still in the market for a cd player?

This whole episode has messed with my head. I'm £400 down on shipping wth the Brier/Opus - that's a lot of albums. I've also got a nice little collection of CDs that I've wanted for years and haven't been played sitting gathering dust. Yes I'm still in the market but priority is the ability to fix it should anything go wrong, that cuts out a lot of contenders.

Had the seller had a different approach and had the Opus been easily repairable I would happily have got it fixed - afterall the price was a bargain - but as Redline said, if it's the motherboard then it's a brick, period.

Tom has recommended AN gear and I've emailed Peter wth some questions.

ARC gets very good reviews and their technical support engineers are only a 2 hour car drive away. I just don't like the style though it matches the ref 75. Im even thinking of trying a new pre - one of the ref ARC's.

I adore the looks of the Luxman D-38u but servicing in Spain isn't so easy.

There are lots of vintage players I like - but they are not easily serviced.

The other contender is Lector, their latest MK3 which has great reviews - I just need to check servicing.

I've learnt some lessons.

Watch this space.

[Lawrence001]

Totally understandable in the circumstances, I wish you better luck in the search for this and any other components, and I'm sorry my recommendation worked out so badly.

[Audio Al]

This whole episode has messed with my head. I'm £400 down on shipping wth the Brier/Opus - that's a lot of albums. I've also got a nice little collection of CDs that I've wanted for years and haven't been played sitting gathering dust. Yes I'm still in the market but priority is the ability to fix it should anything go wrong, that cuts out a lot of contenders.

Had the seller had a different approach and had the Opus been easily repairable I would happily have got it fixed - afterall the price was a bargain - but as Redline said, if it's the motherboard then it's a brick, period.

Tom has recommended AN gear and I've emailed Peter wth some questions.

ARC gets very good reviews and their technical support engineers are only a 2 hour car drive away. I just don't like the style though it matches the ref 75. Im even thinking of trying a new pre - one of the ref ARC's.

I adore the looks of the Luxman D-38u but servicing in Spain isn't so easy.

There are lots of vintage players I like - but they are not easily serviced.

The other contender is Lector, their latest MK3 which has great reviews - I just need to check servicing.

I've learnt some lessons.

Watch this space.

This one any good for you ?
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/t.../#post-3319700

[montesquieu]

The ARC CD players are absolutely stellar, the only down side being that the affordable ones like the CD3 and Reference 7 don't have digital inputs, so if at any point you wanted to get into file-based replay / streaming you'd need a completely separate receiver/DAC arrangement.

I have pondered both of these players and there are some bargains around as people drift towards streaming solutions. I imagine they'd make pretty good transports too should you get into streaming and need a separate DAC with multiple inputs.

[farflungstar]

Totally understandable in the circumstances, I wish you better luck in the search for this and any other components, and I'm sorry my recommendation worked out so badly.

No need to apologise. You weren't to know.

Adey

[puddlesplasher]

I have an Exposure MCX top loading CD player. It's in A1 condition and sounds great. This was/is their top CD player. This one doesn't have the outrigger feet so it can sit on a regular shelf. I don't know if it is of any interest to you but thought I would throw it in there.