"Budget" converters - Ross Martin?

I think I got an email confirmation 3 days after I ordered it. I figure that its easy to get backed up when you are trying to keep overhead down. It really is a loose loose situation, but it is a hard mind set to break and see that spending money really does make money.

Yes Martin,
you are right...
like i perceive it, Mabry, Ross' wife, does the correspondence of the complete business side of things. Whoever ever organized something like a part groupbuy for DIY, can imagine how much work this actually is, that you never thought of before....
And well, their internet affinity is, let's say it nice, limited. Think like "at home in the age of analog", something like that, they are another generation.
And they really try the best they can to fulfill customers needs in terms of e.g. custom configurations.
But sometimes there can happen minor problems, e.g. we got two orders fulfilled in the wrong order and one seemed to be lost due to this - and we waited...a few months more because we did not want to make pressure, knowing about how small their business is. Then we made a polite inquiry about this - and got the lost order really fast, 2 weeks later at the door in germany, and everything was sorted out in the end nicely.

If the reward of beeing patient is to have extraordinary value for the money and a kind of insider tip product for very small money, personally, i am totally OK with this.
But on the other hand, i was totally OK with waiting around 2 yrs. for getting two Dale Ulan capsules of the first batches...DIY made me a very patient person, indeed.
This is for sure not for everyone, i agree.

I guess they never thought their business would gain so much attention, as it did due to the excellent sound quality of their niche products.
Maybe they are keeping it small on purpose to stay in control of all detail of their business and to maintain their key to success and motivation and rewarding happy customer responses.
Changing business processes means always a kind of risk also, this may be easier, if you are a bit younger and maybe have more business experience, i guess.

This is, what comes to my mind after having dealt with them. Well, and i call myself a happy customer in the end.
YMMV on this kind of topic, this is totally understandable...

Best regards,
Martin

Anybody tried the PCM4222?

4 channels would be enough for my writing room.

Thanks.

I have the PCM 4222.
Its fanstastic. One hell of a piece of gear.

I think cowboy ordered the superbeast. Its D/A. Cant really compare it to the Burl.

I agree with this and find it true in any trade but I think the problem is more on the communication side of RM's business than his quality of work.

It seems that there are so many choices in audio gear that the only guys who are new to the game and surviving are the ones who are making great products /great value products AND providing exceptional service. They advertise through sites like this and rely on word of mouth.

I'm always pulling for guys like RM who are working their asses off in their own houses (work spaces) and who put so much time into the details taking great pride in their work. I'm a big fan of the small guy, blue collar worker- type but you have to have the customer service and communication with your customers to get their loyalty. Too much competition to ignore this side of the business. All my opinion of course.......

Really? TASCAM?

A lot of these one man shops seem to have this problem.

They're run by an engineer, or a luthier, or whatever. And gain success by building a great product, but in the internet age, that success can come rather suddenly.

And if you're a one or two man shop that can easily overwhelm. All of a sudden they go from steadily churning stuff out to being absolutely swamped. Skills in woodworking or engineering may not cross over into the marketing/website or business realm. Or hiring, managing employees, etc. etc. They go from doing what they love and are good at (building guitars, or pedals or converters or whatever) to having to do all this business/ management stuff - a rather different skillset. And communication with the customer often takes a hit.

You see it over and over and over again. 

It is frustrating from the consumer point of view.

I will say about RM's situation though. His website is, uh, difficult. It probably makes sense to him. It probably makes sense if you know a bit more about this stuff than I do. But, there's a fair number of guys here who know their stuff and are having difficulty with figuring it out. So, more clarity there would probably cut down his time answering emails and freeing him up to building, testing and shipping product.

Cheers,
Geoff

Thanks lolo

Uhm, well,
no.
The RM stereo units use other converter chips.
AD is 4222 and DA is 1794a, in the SuperBeast even one for each channel, with absolutely marvellous high end opamps afterwards.
The Tascam uses a combined ADDA all-in-one chip. This makes a difference...seriously.
Different concepts really. From ground up.

Best regarsd,
Martin

lolo, look at the top of the more ear gear section of ross martins site, he's gonna come out with exactly what you want(it think?) some decade lol

he's got 8 channels 1794a DA's for $791 at the bottom of the more ear gear page, i have a hard time believing the appolo or apogee will compete with this based on the ADDA chips per channel ratio, the chips themselves, and the power supply per card, it just specs out through the roof man!