DCS suing over a negative review of the Bartok

[jai1611]

Its a company and like any company is impersonal. Some overzealous employee at a Sr level might have felt that flexing muscles is the right way and of course must be taken to task.

This does not mean the product is bad or all folks there are evil..if you like DCS makes sense to still buy it irrespective as to how this storm shapes up.

This is very much a question of individual preference. In hifi, service is an important consideration when buying a product. One needs to gauge how confident you would be of getting good service from a company that encourages this sort of behaviour

Personally, I keep a list of dealers/distributors and brands I wont deal with. Service is top of the list in deciding what goes on it.

 

[Nitin K]

I like this comment:


Edit:



You should read the response from the dCS Managing Director (who has no business being overzealous) and some claims that he made in his response which headphones.com claim are outright lies. If this is true then no matter what the product is, if it were me, I would as a matter of principle not buy dCS no matter how good their product is. Yes, the loss will be mine but there are things more important than that here.

The " I am not your mommy nor your therapist" remark made by the DCS VP marketing is very unprofessional.
Hats off to to the owner of Headphone.com to stand by Cameron and to stop doing business with DCS.
DCS may be a good product but they should have replied to Cameron's queries as to where they thought he was wrong rather than sending him a legal notice.
Looks like the Streisand effect is already in action.

 

[reignofchaos]

Well if they can spew out blatant lies in public like that, I can only imagine what goes on inside the company and how many corners are cut where the customer can't see.

For sure dCS is not something I'll ever consider in the future.

 

[arj]

Nestle, Coke, Pepsi, Apple, and most consumer goods cos are all aggressive litigators often skirting moral grounds against small business, individuals and even animals in so many countries even in India .I am not sure how many are boycotting those products

I am No fan of dCS and would not want to spend that kind of money on their new products but if i were still serious on digital would not pass up on a DcS delius or Elgar. these sound really good.

I am not sure if I will equate one dept of dCS with another, just because their legal dept is aggressive, does not mean their customer service is bad. Even Bose are known to be very aggressive legal and their customer support is not at all bad.

Again, I am not saying what they did is right, and of course supporting Headphone.com is the right thing but dCs is a company with so many employees and is not 1 person. Bringing the company down means loss of jobs to several people for no fault of theirs at the same time asking for the person responsible to be fired is perfectly fine

 

[captainsubtext]

the DCS Bartok didn’t sound great to me (pre apex) but the Lina dac with clock sounded great. I found the Barton to be too smooth for my liking.

Anyway I think DCS is being rather silly about this whole thing. Suing over a 2 year old video makes no sense.

 

[aeroash]

GoldenSound, headphones.com & dCS: an update

On July 15th I published a statement responding to videos posted by GoldenSound (Cameron Oatley) and headphones.com, which detailed recent communications between dCS and GoldenSound regarding a review of the dCS Bartók Headphone DAC. After reading headphones.com’s official response to this...

dcs.community

 

[arj]

So its over

1. The CEO has given an apology saying its got out of hand and was not endorsed by the company.
2. The employee who was doing this as an individual and not a company and has been fired..

 

[reignofchaos]

Yep the storm seems to have subsided. However it is still beyond me how the CEO/MD was unaware of facts before he put out a public response. Unbelievable!

It seems more like damage control and eventual capitulation with a scapegoat sacrificed.

 

[Ajitsank]

Yep the storm seems to have subsided. However it is still beyond me how the CEO/MD was unaware of facts before he put out a public response. Unbelievable!

It seems more like damage control and eventual capitulation with a scapegoat sacrificed.

CEO's response is so Lame, considering DCS is a well known organization. So Silly of them!

 

[jai1611]

2. The employee who was doing this as an individual and not a company and has been fired..

Hiring an external lawyer as an individual isn't really believable. Scapegoat makes more sense

 

[Nikhil]

Statement from DCS Managing Director David Steven.

GoldenSound, headphones.com & dCS: an update

On July 15th I published a statement responding to videos posted by GoldenSound (Cameron Oatley) and headphones.com, which detailed recent communications between dCS and GoldenSound regarding a review of the dCS Bartók Headphone DAC. After reading headphones.com’s official response to this...

dcs.community

Glad to see that the situation has been addressed and things are moving forward in an amicable manner.


Edit: Oops! Just saw that @aeroash has already posted this ealier.

.

 

[sidvee]

I think the real winner in this whole affair is the reviewer - Cameron Oatley, who according to the MD will be getting this:
"we are sending Cameron a dCS Lina system that will be provided for Cameron to use or gift to a music based community programme or charity of Cameron’s choosing"
which has a retail price of $31,150.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[keith_correa]

I think the real winner in this whole affair is the reviewer - Cameron Oatley, who according to the MD will be getting this:
"we are sending Cameron a dCS Lina system that will be provided for Cameron to use or gift to a music based community programme or charity of Cameron’s choosing"
which has a retail price of $31,150.
Cheers,
Sid

Charity begins at home!

 

[surfatwork]

Any bets on whether the individual in question was John....

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

I think the real winner in this whole affair is the reviewer - Cameron Oatley, who according to the MD will be getting this:
"we are sending Cameron a dCS Lina system that will be provided for Cameron to use or gift to a music based community programme or charity of Cameron’s choosing"
which has a retail price of $31,150.
Cheers,
Sid

How much will it cost for them to manufacture it?

Probably that’s the price they are willing to spend to fix their image

 

[sidvee]

How much will it cost for them to manufacture it?

Probably that’s the price they are willing to spend to fix their image

Usually the figure is 20% so about $6230 (the markup by time goods reach dealer is 5 times). However I think the real cost is loss of image, this small amount is nothing for them. Even if they loose 10-20% sales due to this fiasco, it will hurt them badly (especially in USA which is the largest audio market in the world), as such companies rely a lot on marketing/image/halo image etc etc. to be able command high prices.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[surfatwork]

Sad that their CEO didn't really get it until quite late. And then had to grovel. Just hope that the potential backlash doesn't put them out of business - it's a rarefied market with fickle buyers who rely a lot on gut feel.

 

[DB1989]

Sad that their CEO didn't really get it until quite late. And then had to grovel. Just hope that the potential backlash doesn't put them out of business - it's a rarefied market with fickle buyers who rely a lot on gut feel.

Most people who buy dCS couldn't care less about this controversy I imagine. Unless some dCS user can chip in with their thoughts, this just gives them some added publicity - fame and notoriety aren't too far apart.

 

[surfatwork]

Most people who buy dCS couldn't care less about this controversy I imagine. Unless some dCS user can chip in with their thoughts, this just gives them some added publicity - fame and notoriety aren't too far apart.

Deciding whether to buy a dcs or not is not a problem I currently have so I'd also be interested to hear from someone who is from that universe. Just shared my perspective and my understanding of such buyers.

 

[sidvee]

Another - not such a high end brand - went through a similar fiasco - and appears their sales took a hit. I am sure DCS will face some repercussions.

Audio Brand Faces Boycott for Threatening Reviewers With Legal Action Over Negative Reviews

Perhaps a measured response could have avoided this controversy.

www.headphonesty.com

Summary of above from the article who don't want to read the whole thing:
"Faced with the backlash and lost sales, Tekton Audio ultimately pulled the Troubadour and M-Lore models from its website. Alexander said all future Tekton speakers will now be published with full measurement data, a change from the company’s past approach."
Cheers,
Sid