Any heard/heard of Whest DAP.10 R processor?

Rob,
I did in fact hear from James today, as he apparently had been alerted to my post on this forum. I told him that I would be happy to post his e-mail as well, but only if he OK'd it first. However, I think that from my response to him (below), you get the general idea of what he said.

Dear James,

Thank you for the mail. After sending four e-mails, excuse me for saying that it appears serendipitous to
have at last received a response the day after I reluctantly posted the details of my experience. I had actually outlined the matter in a private e-mail with another member, who then insisted it was appropriate to convey this to the audio community,as this addresses in fact the needs of the community in its relationship with the dealers and manufacturers.

I'm sorry if it appears as though you have no regard with servicing matters. Simply put, I have yet to have (in over 65 transactions and countless e-mails and telephone
conversations with sellers of all types a lapse in response. And if you did in fact respond
earlier, I also can't say why I did not receive any of them. I would presume that four e-mails
would garner at least one response making it successfully back to me. As I said in my post, several dealers/manufacturers responded from CES directly, so I don’t accept that this was an issue that was as you say, "out of my control." James, the company
is yours. Who else is someone supposed to turn to? Am I simply to presume that you will appear again at some point to respond to my needs as a customer?

Frankly, I doubt that anything I said will have a negative effect on the sales of Whest Audio, James. And that was not my intention. I said so in my e-mails to you. I was simply trying to get a fair evaluation of your product, and hopefully will still have that opportunity at some point. However, it might be useful for you to consider as the manufacturer what would be the most appropriate response for a customer who has just paid $1750US for your product that is not working. I don’t believe that I am an anomaly in wanting to assuage some of my apprehension in trying out another DAP.10, and you sir are the only person with the power to do this.

Thank you for the correspondence. I will in fact post a follow-up on the web site, and if you
wish I will even post your response below.

Best regards,
Howard

James and I have corresponded twice more today, and all was cordial. He saw no reason to post his responses, so I won't.

Perhaps in the future I'll have a chance to test out the DAP.10 for real, and I anticipate being enamored with its merits just as other owners of the product are.

All the best,
Howard

OK guys, I just qualified for my sucker certificate - Audio Advisor had two DAP 10R's up for auction on ebay. Both were customer returns and are supposed to fully functional (no burning smells, both channels working, etc). No return privilege, of course, but full factory warranty (whatever that means....)

I won one today for 1099. The other didn't make reserve and is re-listed.

I'll let you guys know what I think when I get it.

Well, I got my DAP10 yesterday. I hooked it up and guess what - no right channel. I wonder if they sent me BOA2's unit!

Since I'd asked Audio Advisor explicitly whether or not the unit was working before buying, and they answered "yes", they're going to get me a replacement unit.

What I heard through the left channel alone was promising.

I'll post again once I see a new unit.

I tried the replacement that AA sent me this weekend. It worked fine when I hooked it up, and I listened to a couple of CD cuts I know well on my cold system.

I let the system including the DAP warm up for an hour, then I returned to listen again. I replayed the same two cuts, then moved to another on the same CD.

At this point the DAP had been powered up for about an hour and a quarter. Suddenly the right channel died. I muted the preamp and picked up the DAP to check out the conections, which were fine.

I unmuted the preamp and warily sat down to listen. Both channels were again operational.

About 2 minutes later I heard a loud bang through my right speaker and the right channel went dead again.

At this point I'd had all I could handle. I removed the DAP and confirmed that the right speaker was OK after the transient. This is the first piece of gear that has ever catastrophically failed in my system in over 23 years of listening.

I called AA next day and reported my problems, and they agreed to refund the unit - kudos to Joe and Matt for great customer service.

Now for my listening impressions. Of necessity they are based on about 20 minutes of listening - I normally prefer to listen much longer before forming an impression.

System (my Frankenstein) consists of:

- Wadia 7 transport
- Genesis Digital Lens
- Wadia 9 D/A
- Krell KRC-HR preamp
- Apogee Studio Grand speakers (including DAX electronic crossover)
- Pass Aleph 1.2 on the ribbon panels
- Aragon Palladium II on the subwoofers

System is currently wired single ended, except for the link from the Studio Grand DAX crossover to the Palladium II's, which only have a balanced input.

Test CD: "No Frontiers", Mary Black; main track :"Columbus"

I consider imaging and spatial detail to be one of the great strengths of the Wadia7/9 combo.

With the DAP in place, I did hear more apparent detail, but it came at a cost. My impression was that the entire tonal balance of the system had shifted toward the treble. Bass was there, but it lost some weight, and the highs seemed etched and a bit harsh. The overall sound of the system was thin, and I missed the spectral balance of the system without the DAP.

Mary Black's voice lost its warmth and huskiness, and sounded cold, sterile, and high-fi. True, I heard a bit more ambience, but no more than I would get from EQing the highs.

I don't know how the DAP would have improved with breakin, but I don't want to risk my speakers to try again. I still wonder what the processor is really doing to the signal.

Clearly Whest is having some kind of quality control issue with the DAP-10R. BOA2 got one defective unit and I got two. If you try one be sure you buy from a dealer with good support.

My $.02.