Fosi Audio V3 Mono Amplifier Review

[lxg208]

I set up mine today. They run very warm at 111F(43C). Is this within normal range?

 

[Megaken]

I set up mine today. They run very warm at 111F(43C). Is this within normal range?

That's about average

 

[whaardahl]

I am very frustrated. I was backer #487 and I haven't received any communication re: shipment of my V3 Mono amps. I emailed them and was initially asked to be patient, and advised that my amp would likely ship on the 20th. Sent another very respectful inquiry and have not received any response. My payment was processed on My 29th. I'm disposed to think kindly of Fosi Audio and am not sure what to make of this. Thought I'd post this here because I'm not seeing ithe issue raised anywhere else.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

I am very frustrated. I was backer #487 and I haven't received any communication re: shipment of my V3 Mono amps. I emailed them and was initially asked to be patient, and advised that my amp would likely ship on the 20th. Sent another very respectful inquiry and have not received any response. My payment was processed on My 29th. I'm disposed to think kindly of Fosi Audio and am not sure what to make of this. Thought I'd post this here because I'm not seeing ithe issue raised anywhere else.

I am not trying to excuse Fosi communication gaps in the commentary below, just setting expectations:

You are definitely not in any way the only person raising these concerns, for sure. There is a large number of comments in this thread, and in the Kickstarter comments section, along the same lines as yours. While, this would be a very frustrating experience with a retailer, which by design are logistically capable of shipping hundreds, thousands+ packages/day, this is a crowd sourced product, shipped direct from a small scale manufacturer. This is par for the course for crowd sourced projects.

With regards to payment, Kickstarter projects always collect at the end of the campaign, not when an item ships, so there can be weeks, months, or even years between collection and receipt of the product. That's the point of crowd sourcing, it allows a manufacturer to minimize risk, and place that risk back on the buyers. Its just the nature of the arrangement. If it is not ones preference to be involved in those risks, I would generally recommend waiting for products like this to hit the market through normal retail channels, well after the crowd sourcing has come to an end and the manufacturer has put the product in regular production and built up stock.

That all said, Fosi generally has a good customer service reputation, so I am sure they will get around to everyone in due time. I imagine they are just swamped with shipping and communications, and of course the 10A PS filter supply wrinkle. I would just calmly follow-up with them, and they should respond in due time.

 

[Joe Smith]

All of this is why I don't do Kickstarters...happy to wait for a product to actually come to market and have real-world user reviews before purchasing. Don't need to be the first to get/use something, I'd rather wait and not get caught up in the "gotta have it" rush. Fosi didn't really need to do this as a Kickstarter IMO, it was just a way to gauge initial interest from our specific user base, to determine if they wanted to make the product...a kind of high-level "market research," if you will.

 

[drmevo]

I am very frustrated. I was backer #487 and I haven't received any communication re: shipment of my V3 Mono amps. I emailed them and was initially asked to be patient, and advised that my amp would likely ship on the 20th. Sent another very respectful inquiry and have not received any response. My payment was processed on My 29th. I'm disposed to think kindly of Fosi Audio and am not sure what to make of this. Thought I'd post this here because I'm not seeing ithe issue raised anywhere else.

I'm very close in backer number to you and I haven't received anything either. I know it's not because of what I ordered because plenty of others with the same exact order/reward choice have already received them. It shouldn't be location, others in the states with much higher numbers have received theirs. I'm not exactly frustrated, but they certainly didn't go by backer number like they said they would, which is just a little annoying. I filled out my survey within 20 minutes of receiving the email. I wonder if they went alphabetical by name - I'm near the end of the alphabet.

 

[gwing]

All of this is why I don't do Kickstarters...happy to wait for a product to actually come to market and have real-world user reviews before purchasing.

This is the first time I've bothered with a Kickstarter myself and I'm not unhappy (yet) despite not having received anything so far about my delivery. After all I was backer 1000+ and however long it takes to complete the kickstarter orders it should still be quicker than waiting for the commercially available products, and cheaper. Hopefully.

A bit of patience is good for the soul or so I keep telling myself

 

[Nyarlathotep]

All of this is why I don't do Kickstarters...happy to wait for a product to actually come to market and have real-world user reviews before purchasing. Don't need to be the first to get/use something, I'd rather wait and not get caught up in the "gotta have it" rush. Fosi didn't really need to do this as a Kickstarter IMO, it was just a way to gauge initial interest from our specific user base, to determine if they wanted to make the product...a kind of high-level "market research," if you will.

Totally agree with you on the marketing/gauging tactic, and risk ducking. Its become increasingly common for smaller/boutique producers to go this route. Love it or hate it, it is not uncommon anymore. Fortunately, with Fosi, it is likely they will put these products into regular production after these campaigns.

For some crowd source products, one doesn't know if he producer will continue to manufacture items. This sets off some people's FOMO at the chance for a one time production run or limited run add-ons. I don't mind a few crowd sourced campaigns here and there, I just know to set expectations on delivery timelines and the possibility of complications or failed projects.

 

[rgpit]

It certainly be nice if FOSI would step in here and update us what is going on.

 

[Negatywny]

yeah it would be nice, i'm number #145 and I'm starting to get irritated...

 

[early rejecter]

It certainly be nice if FOSI would step in here and update us what is going on.

We pretty much know what’s going on, I think? They’re packing and shipping rewards to over 1800 backers. The V3 stereo version campaign had fewer than 200 backers and that one took about three weeks to fulfill after the address surveys went out; it doesn’t seem unusual that a campaign with almost 10x as many backers is taking a bit longer.

 

[Negatywny]

yeah the campaign was founded it three days, the product was finished before it started, and they almost already knew the estimated number of backers. So two months is enough to build a city in china, not to mention the integrated circuit on a 10cm board, this is not craftsmanship and handwork. They had time and knowledge to prepare for whats to come. They have time to promote other products, they should have time to explain the situation. And last but not least, why backer number 7 gets served after backer number 2000?

 

[Talisman]

I'm starting to get annoyed too, the dozens of messages from irritated users irritate me.
Campaigns on KS are not purchases from the retailer, if you don't like it don't use KS.
Personally I have used KS to support a manufacturer who is putting a lot of effort into designing economical and high-performance components, introducing important innovations and listening to customer feedback, those who do not have this interest should not proceed with KS, they should wait for the product to go live sale on standard commercial platforms and proceed with the purchase.
All these complaints are not only annoying to read but also make no sense, because as others have written, the reward isn't even guaranteed in theory!

 

[Negatywny]

i don't give a crap what campaigns on kickstarter are, i was promised by Fosi that the delivery start on 06.15, what exactly you don't understand here?

 

[Talisman]

You're the one who didn't understand that the reward isn't even guaranteed, legally they can't send you anything and you wouldn't have any weapons to retaliate against. Whining will not speed up shipping

 

[Negatywny]

oh so its fine, they don't need to send me anything if its legal, its fine then, 0 complains xD

 

[drizzy]

Yeah, it's fine, glad you understand

 

[Nyarlathotep]

yeah the campaign was founded it three days, the product was finished before it started, and they almost already knew the estimated number of backers. So two months is enough to build a city in china, not to mention the integrated circuit on a 10cm board, this is not craftsmanship and handwork. They had time and knowledge to prepare for whats to come. They have time to promote other products, they should have time to explain the situation. And last but not least, why backer number 7 gets served after backer number 2000?

And

Producing units, which IS Fosi's bailiwick, is one thing. Shipping individual packages to 1,661 different addresses is absolutely not their specialty. When backing a Kickstarter, this is the reality of the matter. Delays, uneven shipping, unforeseen consequences, and slow comms should be expected in these campaigns. People should realign their expectations to what crowd sourcing is in a practical sense. Regarding their shipping order algorithm, we aren't privy to that info, and what maybe makes no sense to any of us, likely has a reason behind the scenes.

As noted above, in previous posts, if expectations are for retailer level service, crowd sourcing should not be a consideration for your your needs. It just is not how kickstarters generally work.

And too be clear, this is one of the fastest kickstarters I have seen. So this is approaching best case scenario. I have seen these go sideways fifteen ways to Tuesday, and its pretty wild when they go that way.

 

[early rejecter]

So two months is enough to build a city in china

I’ll have to take your word for it on city completion times; I’m not familiar with that. But Fosi has run five previous Kickstarter campaigns; every one of them has taken three to four weeks to ship to fewer than 200 backers. I just don’t see where we need an explanation as to why 1800+ rewards are taking longer.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

i don't give a crap what campaigns on kickstarter are, i was promised by Fosi that the delivery start on 06.15, what exactly you don't understand here?

They did as promised. And at no point did they promise all, or specifically yours or any other individuals', would ship on 6/15. Specifically, on their campaign timeline, they state "June 2024 Shipping Begins", and this is true. And this beats probably 9 out of 10 Kickstarters for actually hitting the mark.