Submitted by halfercode t3_11b4wsg in headphones
I am a newcomer/lurker to the sub, with a mildly amusing tale to relate. I've been through a couple of £150 headphones in my time, generally used with a laptop and without a DAC, and they've been pretty good. I'm now in the market for something much more serious. Names below have been omitted to protect the guilty.
Shop One
A few weeks ago I popped into a UK audio store with around 20 headphones to try. It's a very small space, and it's clear they get most of their sales from the internet. The staff are amenable enough, but don't have much time to chat, since they are on the telephone most of the day. I tried a ridiculously expensive electrostatic system (cans, DAC/energiser) and was very impressed. Anyway, some days later we entered into email chat, and they recommended I try some other headphones (list of 14) and a few DAC/amps (3 or 4 to try).
So I turn up for my two-hour demo slot, and it was mostly a good experience. A few of the cans on their list were actually out of stock and not available to try, and it seemed that because I expressed a disliking for MQA, they could only make one DAC/amp available (a Audiolab M-DAC+). I tried some Hifimans, some Sennheisers, some Focals, and one Grado. All were good - and once I tried the planar-magnetic Anandas, I preferred their warm sound presentation over the more clinical electrostatics (costing three times the price). The Focals were great too.
So far so good. We then got to arranging a demo slot to narrow down the choices. They quibbled about whether I could bring a friend along, and I wondered if they'd judged that I had already taken up too much of their time. Perhaps demo slots don't give them a return on their investment, even though it probably cost them all of ten minutes chat and set-up time. Or perhaps they think I'm a time-waster with no intention to buy - who knows?
Shop Two
Anyway, I proposed a new time via email, and no reply came. Assuming that I'd been regarded as not worth the effort, I decided to try another company, again with the genuine intention of buying from the demo store. And here it was that I found my dream system: Audeze LCD-2 LCD-2C cans, a Chord Mojo 2 DAC, and one of those ugly hunk-of-steel amps (presumably they lack aesthetics to illustrate how great they sound). And my goodness, the music from my USB sound-source came alive. The richness, the detail, the warmth of the sound - jaw-droppingly brilliant. And all within budget too.
But... the seller/owner was the meanest, rudest, sweatiest, most condescending, most caustic, and most objectionable salesperson I have ever had the misfortune to meet in my several decades on this planet. He had a face like a slapped arse, and a personality to match it perfectly. In our initial telephone call he set out his stall in terms of "how he does business" and that he doesn't "entertain" sales email conversations. It was clear he thought I was an idiot with too much money, and that Shop One's demo choices were nonsensical and amateurish. On the demo day, he dismissed my prior equipment as "shitty", and even though I said I'd liked the M-DAC+, it was a "shit" piece of equipment "for Richer Sounds customers" [a mid-price audio/visual brand in the UK]. It is hard to overstate how infuriating, intimidating, patronising, and humourless I found the whole experience. The seller stopping to ostentatiously adjust his balls through his trousers, as he shuffled and coughed his way around the shop, was perhaps the icing on the toxic cake.
It had been made clear to me that I only needed to try three headphones, and perhaps in narrow terms this unpleasant oaf was right. I made my escape after about an hour when another customer came in - I thanked him for letting me try some kit, and given that it felt like the conversation had come to a natural close, I was able to deftly leave the store without making any remarks about purchasing.
Prior to leaving, I clearly overheard another customer getting a dressing-down on the telephone. Yet despite this pattern of behaviour, this (ahem) gentleman store owner has a successful business selling a lot of pricey, high-end kit, with some years of (mostly excellent) online reviews.
Anyway, Sluggish Shop One did eventually get back to me after a week by email, suggesting a new demo day in another week's time. Foolishly I had committed to buying the mid-range DAC/amp, but now Sweaty Shop Two had told me how awful it was, I wonder if I have inadvertently boxed myself into something that just won't sound as good as the Dream System. I can't in good conscience buy from Ball Scratcher, even if his other customers seemingly don't mind his demeanour. Oddly I think I would feel bad if I just ordered Dream System from the internet, since I genuinely don't like it when people do that to save a bob or two. Plus, while my amp/DAC choices in Sluggish Shop One seem to be excessively limited, I'd also feel bad if I don't buy something from them either. Ho hum!
If I have a question to bookend my sorry story, it would be: is this what audio shopping is like? How can a customer demonstrate they're a serious buyer, and how can they try a solid range without "wasting the time" of the shop? 😛 Is it less frustrating to buy stuff from the internet without even trying it first?
Update: Shop Three
My "British" worry about letting down the first shop may have been unfounded - I asked them if they could supply Audeze and/or RME products, they said they could not stock them, and I thanked them for their time and said I'd try to use them again. I suspect I misinterpreted efficient speech as the opinion that I'd taken up too much of their time.
I found a supplier of RME products online, and shortly will take possession of an ex-demo ADI-2 DAC FS (version 1). I've not tried it, but it scores well in distortion tests, and has plenty of EQ functions to play with (this may be handy if my future cans need it).
I have also found a friendly shop that wants to show off some ex-demo Focal and Audeze cans - and I suspect unless I find them very heavy, I will just get the Audeze. It's taken some five weeks to get to this point - way more complicated than I expected - but I feel like I am nearly there...
[deleted] t1_j9vz5ki wrote
You can find shitty salespeople everywhere.
When I was 22 my mate and I went into a Benz dealership and started looking at the E class in the showroom. The salesperson redirected us towards the used cars in the backlot, as "[...] an A class makes for a better 'starter car'".
In one Hi-Fi store they mockingly asked me whether I was at the right place, when I took out my phone and an aux cord to use as a source for the provided amplifier. I just did a 180 and left.
Heck, when I wanted to eat at a fancy restaurant once, they didn't believe me that I made the reservation. Ok, sure, neither me nor my mates wore a suit and tie, but still that ain't how you treat a customer. Suffice it to say, we took our business elsewhere.
Sometimes you just get unlucky.