It’s all about the customer service… A tale from Audio T and Dynaudio.

/ Audio T Oxford/

In our almost 60 year history, Audio T has prided itself on exceptional customer service, both during and after the sale. This is often made easier by the quality of the products we sell and the manufacturers we choose to operate with. Here is a tale of one such example of how a premium manufacturer deals with aftercare, alongside an authorised dealer such as ourselves…

Here at Audio T Oxford, we recently had an enquiry from a gentleman whose father had bought a system from us back in 2003 compromising of a pair of Dynaudio Special 25 Speakers, Cyrus 8/ PSXR amplification, an Arcam CD93 Player, an Arcam tuner and a Denon cassette deck - Remember those?

Now, whilst Dynaudio products have a well founded reputation for being bulletproof, after 20 years of faithful service one of the mid/bass drive units had failed. Our customer, Jimmy, is now 99 years young and still loves his music and in particular, loves these speakers.

Dynaudio Special 25

Jimmy had asked his son Steve to see if he could help get the speaker looked at. Given that the speaker was purchased twenty years ago, Steve thought it best to contact Dynaudio directly. As the original purchase location and authorised dealer, Dynaudio put Steve in touch with ourselves.

So, Steve got in touch to see if we could, if at all possible, get the speaker fixed in time for his father’s 100th birthday! As luck would have it, the Special 25 speakers came with a 25 year warranty, personally signed by the long serving then President of Dynaudio, Wilfried Ehrenholz.

The original certificate of warranty from dynaudio

Steve duly dropped the speaker off for us to test and we confirmed that it was indeed the driver that was fault. 

We contacted Bill Livingston, the head of Dynaudio UK about obtaining spares, only to be told that none were left at the factory, but as a manufacturer that are serious about honouring their warranties and given the fact that they build all their own drive units in-house; the conversation went along the lines of “No problem, we can build you new drive units, we keep all the original design drawings and specifications, just give us a couple of weeks and we will make a new pair!”

We felt that this was outstanding customer service and a testament to Dynaudio.

Sure enough, two weeks later the brand new mid/bass drivers arrived…

After some careful servicing from yours truly, the driver has now been replaced and the loudspeaker thoroughly soak tested. And it is sounding fantastic, if we do say so ourselves!

Because Steve isn’t local, and only one speaker was brought in to us, we have given him the option of keeping hold of the other drive unit as a spare or we’ll happily fit it in the other speaker, whichever he, or his father prefers.

The story continues…

This is Jimmy (and his son Steve), collecting his Special Forty’s from audio t oxford

Following on from our initial blog, we have since replaced the other drive unit so that both match. While they were here, we took the opportunity to sit and have a play with the speakers and got to chat to Jimmy…

It turns out that Jimmy was an RAF pilot that fought in the Second World War! He flew Spitfires and even survived a crash landing. In 1944, he had to bale out of a burning P40 Kittyhawk. He reagailed that the metal was so hot that he couldn’t move the canopy (the transparent enclosure over the cockpit). He thought he was a goner and prayed for help only to suddenly find himself out of the aeroplane (landing covered in molten metal) and became a POW for the remainder of the war. 

He had amazing anecdotes, like a German soldier repairing his clothes for him; which he described as “…a real Christian act when you consider that 45 minutes beforehand he had been strafing them”. Being a prisoner he suffered some real hardships of cold and hunger but some of the guards showed real kindness.

He ended his career flying the interceptor aircraft, English Electric Lightning. Being somewhat of an military aviation geek myself, I could literally have talked to him for hours. Jimmy has a short book written about his exploits. I might just have to track it down for myself.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish Jimmy a very happy 100th birthday!

Thanks for reading.

Jon & Rob - Audio T Oxford. 

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Does Qobuz + Chord Electronics' Hugo = Audio Nirvana?

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This is in essence a two-part review.

1. The new Chord Electronics Hugo portable DAC/Headphone amplifier (£1400)

2. Qobuz music streaming service.

 

Qobuz is a fairly new to the UK music streaming service from France offering uncompressed CD quality and also up to 24/192 for £19.99 pm (they also offer 320kbps for £9.99 but that’s the same as Spotify so I’ve not included it)

 

The burning questions are:

 

How good is the Qobuz service? and is it better than the competition and worth the premium asked?

 

Can it really replace the need for physical media and downloads? Can the inclusion of the Hugo really offer a true high-end music & HiFi experience?

 

So I took the Hugo home for an extended listen in a known system/room and put up to some extremely strong competition, ie my regular Rega Reference set-up in the form of the Isis CD player (£6175) into the Osiris amplifier (£6175), both known for their incredible resolution and musicality.

I used the  Qobuz app via an iPhone 4S and an Arcam drDock (£199) linked via a Chord company Prodac digital interconnect (£85). All hooked up to the amp with Chord Company Sarum Tuned Aray interconnects. Isis via balanced and Hugo by RCA. A tough test if ever there was one!

 

After switching the Hugo to line level and making small adjustments to the output level to equal that of the Isis, I listened to a variety of music including LA Woman by the Doors to Amorica by The Black Crowes.

 

From the off, it was quite clear there was very little between them both in terms of sonics and timing, so much so that at times I had forgotten which I was listening too! I wasn’t expecting that, especially from a stream via my iPhone. As the phone is outputting SPDIF the same results should be gained from most other devises with a digital output I assume.

 

Of course the Rega Isis had the distinct advantage of the balanced output so I then compared the Hugo with the Rega both this time using RCAs.

This time the Hugo won hands down and as this is more relevant a comparison for most end users, all the more revelatory.

 

So to answer the above questions:

 

Qobuz really does offer CD and better quality. One no longer has to be penalised qualitatively for wishing to stream their music rather than play CDs or their rips.

Value? Well at £19.99 per month you have unlimited access to 18 million songs all in 16/44.1 over 12,000 albums of which are in 24/96-192. Including offline ie downloaded to the devise itself.

 

Can it match a true high-end set-up?

 

You bet! But you’ll need a DAC as extraordinary as the Hugo to achieve it. This diminutive box packs a massive punch regardless and has to considered a bargain, oh and it’s a top-notch portable headphone amplifier and by dint of battery power so totally portable.

 

Can this set-up really replace the need for physical media or downloads?  Absolutely, yes.

However, if like me, you has hundreds or even thousands of CDs then you might question the value of a £20 per month premium, unless of course you or your partner would like to be clear of piles of discs. If however, your music collection is still rather modest but quality aspirations are high, then Qobuz + Hugo is a great combination for sure.

 

 

AUDIO-T EXCLUSIVE:

 


 

For the month of June 2014, Qobuz, the world’s first true CD quality streaming service, in conjunction with Audio-T, is offering a free, no obligation 2 week trial (no credit card details required unlike their regular trial) Just pop in for the unique access code.

Qobuz is compatible with PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Kindle, and Windows and fully integrated with Sonos, Bluesound, Popcorn Hour, XBMC and Sueezebox and new partner to come later this year.

 

Simon

 

 

 

Another Trip to the Darkside

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For those who came to our Classic Album Evening and even for those who didn't. In fact for any and all Pink Floyd fans out there.

Tune into BBC R2 or R6 on Monday at 8:00pm as Tom Robinson invites listeners to compile The Ultimate Pink Floyd Playlist. See the link for details.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038zlll

Followed by Darkside , a play for radio by Sir Tom Stoppard incorporating The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038xr3n

It sounds like a good evening of listening.