That would be cool and I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do.
Here is one misconception in audio. All the companies who claim that going dealer direct will give you more bang for you buck aren't always doing that. Due to economy of scale as well as a fleet of engineers etc, you are possibly getting more for your money, but often times not. It's still all about the sound.
The biggest problem I have with the direct companies are selling that gear eventually. Your market share will be less, because fewer folks will have heard of them. I have owned a few products from dealer direct and found that it was a very limited audience. They also weren't able to hold their value the way an established, well known company's product typically does.
There are just a lot of things to keep in mind no matter what piece of gear you get. I have found that digital gear seems to have many more 'direct' manufactures. Often times it's a one or two person operation like Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio (GREAT DACS) or Sam Laufter and designer Mark who make my server/dac www.thememoryplayer.net
I post these things to prove that I DO purchase some pieces dealer direct, but I have to say that my Ayre QX5 isn't being sold just yet as it's still. a GREAT DAC and beats most I've heard up to the 20k mark. YMMV
I hope you get to hear the Salk and compare it to the others in this thread to hear your thoughts.
Here is one misconception in audio. All the companies who claim that going dealer direct will give you more bang for you buck aren't always doing that. Due to economy of scale as well as a fleet of engineers etc, you are possibly getting more for your money, but often times not. It's still all about the sound.
The biggest problem I have with the direct companies are selling that gear eventually. Your market share will be less, because fewer folks will have heard of them. I have owned a few products from dealer direct and found that it was a very limited audience. They also weren't able to hold their value the way an established, well known company's product typically does.
There are just a lot of things to keep in mind no matter what piece of gear you get. I have found that digital gear seems to have many more 'direct' manufactures. Often times it's a one or two person operation like Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio (GREAT DACS) or Sam Laufter and designer Mark who make my server/dac www.thememoryplayer.net
I post these things to prove that I DO purchase some pieces dealer direct, but I have to say that my Ayre QX5 isn't being sold just yet as it's still. a GREAT DAC and beats most I've heard up to the 20k mark. YMMV
I hope you get to hear the Salk and compare it to the others in this thread to hear your thoughts.
