Service After the Sale

I've decided to ignore this conversation for a couple of weeks. Seems fair.

Perfectly.  I’ll be trashing something else long before then :-)

Definitely first-world "problems".

The best CS is the one that you never need.  Streamers are networking computers and it’s not uncommon to have user issues.  If I was implementing an IT service for a small business it would be foolish not to hit the ground running with a support system in place, and usually one purchases a hardware/software/support package from a vendor.  I absolutely would expect some level of post purchase support for an IT product.  
  One reason that Apple became so successful was the level of support.  They offered all kinds of classes for the computer illiterate, and their phone support was far superior to the likes of Gateway or Dell.  It isn’t the same company now, but Apple Support is still pretty helpful.  One of the many factors that led to the demise of brick and mortar audio stores was their inability to adapt to the IT issues.  The places that I would frequent were manned by veterans who were great with analog sources and amplifiers and ok with CDPs and DACs but totally lost in the streaming world (and multichannel, which involved more IT expertise than 2 channel).  They usually relied on a teenager with tattoos and piercings to handle all these issues, and probably paid them as little as possible, and  their business suffered accordingly.

Similar experience with Denefrips. I recently did a firmware update and had a few questions afterward. Each email received a thoughtful response within a day or two at most. It’s clear they recognize the importance of CS. Perhaps they understand that a China made product must overcome US market hesitancy. In any case, kudos to the Denefrips team. Much appreciated.