Hey @struts001,
I agree that I am overly narrowing down the ecosystem. The previous post had already been called out as a TLDR. But as you expand the full ecosystem, the dCS response seems that much more a hyper-overreaction. I don’t think groups #5, #6 and #7 can replace the role of reviewers. It still seem critical to me when maintaining a brand that company show transparency and openness about having distance themselves from a reviewer.
I still very much would like to see commitment from dCS to launch their own YouTube channel and clearly show when information on YouTube is coming direct from them.
PS I see your previous post in this thread is your first on the forum, welcome! Out of interest, are you a dCS customer yourself, or has your interest been sparked by the GoldenSound controversy? Most of the folks here are firmly in group (7) so have a slightly different perspective on this to potential customers in all the other groups.
I am not dCS customer myself. What really sparked by interest was something GoldenSound said of “and it is really really soft.”
If you don’t mind, I need to go on a tangent. My favorite amplifier that I ever owned was made by Bob Carver. It has the warmth / softness of vacuum tube without having to periodically make a run to radio shack to get a replacement tube. But the company went out of business and the capacitors seem to have failed. I am not interested in a refurbished Carver sold for a price higher than the original selling price. Also, no software tricks to process the audio is able to reproduced the “magic” of the Carver. The music didn’t sound processed from a Carver amp, it was still pure and true to the music but just with warmth and softness that traditional transistor amplifier had removed. I am not sure if I am making any sense at all so I am just going to try to stop explaining my long lost friend.
But, back to dCS, as soon as I heard the words “really really soft” then my ears were burning. I really wanted to get a chance to hear one. I wouldn’t be purchasing it right away. Honestly I would be about a year off from buying one. But getting modern day features combined with the warmth of my old amp would be worth it.
Does that answer your question?
Hey @ChrisK
I do hope dCS won’t get negative reviews anymore, in particular on Varèse, otherwise I cannot imagine the length of the discussion thread !
Are we still talking about GoldenSound at this point? Did you even listen to the review? I wouldn’t call it a negative review as much as it was a critical review which is not really the same thing. At the end of the day, it is still increase exposure for dCS.
There was a Call To Action that was very negative. This was in response to dCS choosing to use a law firm as the prefer method of “communications” with a reviewer. The call to action itself is not a review and is not about any specific product. Even better, the solution is very simple, dCS just needs to stop using the letter head of a law firm when communicating with reviewers. Even better would be to never again initiate direct contact with a reviewer and just use a dCS own YouTube channel to respond when reviews require additional context or corrections.
As to the length of the thread, hopefully that also becomes an opportunity for dCS in the future.
Negative clickbait on YouTube works well in the SHORT terms but tends to be a flash in the pan that burns out (unless someone feeds the fire).
