Massdrop: Search Your Feelings

I would bet on there being more runs. They already have over $100,000 in revenue to seed this project. This is like a kickstarter except you aren't getting a discount for funding production, removing their risk and suffering the opportunity cost of putting up your money and waiting for 7 months. Future batches will most likely take much less time to be delivered.

If you like to gamble, put that money on bitcoin and you might be able to buy a car with it in 7 months.

 

I actually have quite a bit of money in crypto and while this month has had a huge run, 2500% in 7 months isn't likely.

 

Its still way safer then Kickstarter...

 

People can be criticized for anything anywhere. I'm not getting into this drop, and I don't feel like I'm missing out regardless of the platitudes rained on this amp.

 

Massdrop benn selling chi-fi little dot amps for a few years now. Haven’t heard about any problems there. Don’t wanna buy fine, move on. Let’s get back to the regular scheduled program.

 

I opted not to get this amp mostly because @Hands tried it with the AFO and said it wasn't that great. There are other amps that will do nearly equally as well with planar and dynamic driver based hps.

 

I got an answer back from cee_tee about repairs. MD will simply swap the unit for a new one. They are holding some units in reserve for this. If all the held back units are gone, you get a refund. Cee_tee said the unit and the tubes will need to be sent in on a warranty swap, so make sure keep the packing materials and original tubes.

 

I've never had an issue with Massdrop either. Slow shipping seems to be the norm, but I've always received what I paid for. Unlike crowdfunding, if you don't get what was promised, you can get your money back.

 

Has MD ever not delivered goods? I mean, across all MD communities? I've never heard of one instance where an entire production run/buy of something went fubar on MassDrop.

I can think of roughly a dozen of mid-fi/hi-fi companies fawking customers out of decently big money repeatedly before finally failing financially/legally over the last 20 years I've been paying attention to this stuff.

Not completely defending MD, but FFS, think back 15 years ago and the landscape of direct-to-consumer audio shit was a minefield.

 

It really is a simple argument to invalidate. With Massdrop you receive a bill of sale for goods!

In Kinckstarter, Indiegogo or whatever you are making an investment in a project, and are offered a gift of thanks...

 

That would involve offering a solution, not just pointing out fault...

 

One point: If MassDrop can pull off production of amps like the NBM/EC ZDS Jr, the Cavalli LC, the Cavalli CTH, the Gilmore SandpaperMachine, etc., all within the span of about a year-or-two-ish, why do all the original manufacturers run into so many production delays? I mean, not calling out Gilmore specifically, but they've never had anything in stock. ever. All BTO, and it's not like there's any special sauce in any of kevin's amps like Phoenix Caps or weird ass NOS tubes from Croatia.

MD seems to at least be able to get production logistics figured out pretty damn quickly. Speaking from personal experience and dealing with overseas manufacturers, anything less than 6 months from design concept to first articles is insanely quick for anything that's not a simple matchbox car.

 

Regarding the EC Massdrop amp, I think it's more a perception problem.
To give an example, when the BHSE was released in 2009, wait time was 2 years (now in 2017, 2 months), and it selled quite well, because it is a 6k amp for a very small niche of people (Stax SR-009 and SR-007 owners).
However, take a look at Massdrop comment sections...not the brightest people, right? Don't expect 90% of them to understand something related to audio.
Add the low price tag of the EC Massdrop amp (399$)...very few people waits 8 months for something reasonable priced/not esoteric enough, add that to the specific, wonderfully intelligent average Massdrop customer and...boom, you get bitching and fuckery about the waiting times or the amp itself without hearing it.

 

I've only had one issue with a Massdrop order and they made it right. I ordered a couple Pilot fountain pens and it went way over the delivery date. Checked the discussions and they said the they ran out of some color that I requested and that I could switch it out or get a refund. I did the switch but they couldn't promise delivery by a certain date. I asked to cancel the order and they gave me a refund the same day. Since this was the first time I ever tried ordering something it could have given me a bad impression, but communication was smooth and they were clear about the problems.

Since then I have had zero issue with any orders. Massdrop is not a storefront but an evolution of group buys that happened all the time in DIY circles. The difference is that this is more formalized and you don't risk some 'exit scam' by someone that organized the group buy.

If you don't want to wait then buy somewhere else at a higher price. In the case of the ZDT jr the choice is between waiting 7 months or not even having the option to buy it. Or travel to Russia and bringing one back yourself.

 

I'm curious. How much more would people pay for the ZDT jr to have it in lets say 8 weeks? $100 more? $200 more?