Beware with Musmys, beware with PayPal

[Proud Audiophile]

I would never buy a knockoff product like this. There trying to sell you what someone else created. The same goes for that McIntosh MC275 knockoff. It's a repugnant business model. There is no reason to support these company's. I can't feel too sorry for the OP. You get what you pay for. They could at least make it look and feel like there own product but then they couldn't capitalize off someone else's work and hard earned reputation. Shameful company business model and you expect them to act like pilers of the business community? When you purchase from a thief...well....that's the way it goes.

 

[tonimccloud]

Individuals motivations for buying such a product differ. I can't speak to your decision making process but I'm willing to bet trying to "save money" while getting a look-alike product and hoping, or not caring if the performance matches the genuine product is a strong motivator for the majority customers of such companies.
If one makes an educated decision to take the chance on such a product, with all the information available across innumerable forums and reviews, well caveat emptor.

Expecting such companies to have a strict sense of customer service and business ethics is unrealistic. They know exactly what they're doing. If a handful of customers have issues and cannot be satisfied or made whole it represents a small fraction of their income. There will always be buyers for such products.
Such companies are under absolutely zero obligation to match or even come close to the performance of the genuine article they are copying-cloning-counterfeiting, let alone the real companies customer service policy.

The meter panel, or whatever it is, being held in place with cockeyed washers is a red flag. The glued in switches another. These are short cuts. Such companies, and their suppliers can make nearly anything including inferior IC's and capacitors with ANY markings they please. They know their victims customers are looking for such labels and markings. Would you have known such things about the innards before hand? Possibly. Possibly not. It depends of your level or risk tolerance. Again, caveat emptor.

You stated this post is not about the quality of the unit but the experience of buying it. I think the "quality" of the unit speaks for the entire experience. It's all part and parcel. Entirely separate from the PayPal issue 'm sorry it has not worked out for you but I'm not surprised. Beauty is $kin deep.
My opinion would be to just live with the color. It seems none of this would be an issue if not for that...?

Thanks for your comment. I didn’t buy this preamp to “save money” or get a “look‑alike”. A close friend owns the same unit for months (in gold color haha) and it performs better than several well‑known commercial preamps at much higher price points. I also bought it because it’s genuinely beautiful. In my setup, aesthetics matter. I don’t have a dedicated listening room, every audio video gear is in the main living room, in a custom handmade furniture piece with marble elements, about 3 meters tall and 4 meters wide. All components must match in color. For you the color may not be an issue, but for me it’s a real red flag.

The core problem is simple: wrong color, missing parts, one defective module, seller stopped communicating, and PayPal forced a return that costs more than the product itself.

At this moment the preamp works great. A friend even swapped the opamp and installed a DIP8 module for “Direct Off mode”, and it performs extremely well.

Best regards,

Antonio

 

[Mart68]

You could sell it on, recoup most of your money, maybe 70 percent?

I get that you want matching components but do they even do a silver one? Or did they just take your money anyway and say 'Screw it - he can have gold like everyone else. He's half-way round the world, what's he going to do?'

 

[MAB]

Thanks for your comment. I didn’t buy this preamp to “save money” or get a “look‑alike”. A close friend owns the same unit for months (in gold color haha) and it performs better than several well‑known commercial preamps at much higher price points.

What preamps?
How was this determined?

 

[Haflermichi]

Now I'm even more concerned about the origin and nature of the materials used by this company.