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Company headquarters and warranty repairs

I'm contemplating between three DACs: Ayre QX5 Twenty, Chord Dave, and Mola Mola Tambaqui.  I've not yet auditioned them but will do so in the next few weeks.

These companies are in the US, UK, and Netherlands respectively.  If I buy a DAC and I need to send it in for a repair/upgrade, being able to send it to a center in the same country as I live in (US) would be cheaper and faster.  If I was considering cheaper DACs (e.g., < $1000) I may not care but with a $10+K DAC, if it breaks down even in a few years, I *will* want to get it repaired.

 

Any thoughts on the reliability of these DACs (and thus the likelihood that I'd need to send them in).  Is this something you consider or should I just worry about sound quality since it is unlikely that an electronic component with no moving parts will need a repair?

deone
deone OP
35 posts
 

I talked to the distributor for Mola Mola (GTT Audio) and they said their DACs need to go to the Netherlands but once they receive them they turn them around in one day.

I have two Ayre components and they are incredible to deal with. They do take about 1.5 weeks to turn around a repair (I’ve had one repair of a component I bought used). But after they do the repair they let it burn in for a couple of days and then test it again before sending it out.  So there is a perfectly excellent reason for taking a week+ for turnaround.

Given this I’ll audition all but unless the Mola Mola or Chord are improvements over Ayre, I’ll pick the Ayre.

 

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,827 posts
 

I just traded my UK DAC (DAVE) for a Polish DAC (Lampizator).  I've never sent a piece of equipment in for repair.

Jerry

mahler123
3,409 posts
 

A lot of upgrades are software and can be done over the internet or via a flash drive

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,383 posts
 

@deone add Bricasti to your list. Great sounding US made DACs. 

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,466 posts
 

I wouldn’t go with Ayre as I heard they are in the middle of restructuring.  It may be a long while before the put out a new dac and isn’t their current dac a bit long in the tooth?  I could be 100% wrong on this but I remember reading something on them recently.   I hear great things about Mola Mola. Six Moons seems to love their gear. 

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