dCS Response and Story

[andrew]

For those who did not see, this was posted on The HEADPHONE Show yesterday. This video was made in relation to an ongoing situation regarding @GoldenSound by dCS in regards to a video review he did of the dCS Bartok in 2021 before he had joined The HEADPHONE Show and Headphones.com which outlines the events leading up to this point.

Manufacturer threatens lawsuit over negative review

dCS has recently responded to the video in which the threat of a lawsuit over a negative review of the dCS Bartok DAC was discussed. You can view their response here A response to recent claims regarding dCS - News - dCS Community. It does not include any email communication.

We feel it is important to address several of the points that were made.

1 - "Firstly, there was no threat of litigation in the letter sent May 2024 from our legal representative to GoldenSound."

This is not true. The letter to GoldenSound from John Rees Law explicitly stated that were he to fail to comply with the demands, “dCS will be forced to exercise its remedies to protect its interests, including the recovery of actual and special damages and punitive damages.” This is a clear threat of intent to sue.

Additionally, in an email from a dCS rep to myself, it was stated “Our attorneys are in the process of preparing a seven-figure lawsuit against Cameron”. This threat could not possibly be more clear and to claim that it did not occur is an outright lie.

2 - "dCS has never tried to restrain accurate and factual reviews of dCS products and we believe that all reviewers are free to express their opinions."

We feel that the behaviour of dCS in this situation and the demands made clearly show otherwise. dCS failed to respond to GoldenSound’s requests for information that would allow him to correct supposed factual inaccuracies up until receiving a legal threat. The specific alleged factual inaccuracies that were discussed by GoldenSound in his response video are also not addressed or refuted in this response from dCS, leaving us to conclude that this situation is the result of a disagreement over a negative review, and nothing to do with factual accuracy.

3 - "GoldenSound replied and dCS provided a written breakdown of some of the specific inaccuracies in the review, along with an explanation of why they were misleading and/or inaccurate."

This breakdown was provided, and GoldenSound responded to David, addressing these concerns. David did not provide any further response to those explanations and therefore the matter was considered resolved.

4 - "This appeared to contain a false and unfounded claim that dCS had been misleading consumers"

As explained in the video, this was explicitly being discussed as a possibility given as another product had exhibited this behavior, the message contained a clear disclaimer that there was no suggestion this WAS the case nor any evidence to suggest that. There was no false statement made and Cameron was careful to ensure that it was clear that there was no implication that this was actually the case.

The full audio clip had also been provided via email to John prior to the cease & desist being received.

5 - “On March 3rd 2024 GoldenSound then announced they had collaborated with a DAC manufacturer to create the WANDLA – Goldensound Edition DAC. This product has similar functionality to dCS digital to analogue converters.”

The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition begun development more than two years after the publication of the dCS Bartok Review, and the original WANDLA itself was not released until almost two years after the publication of the review. To imply that this product had any impact on GoldenSound’s comments regarding the Bartok makes very little sense.

6 - “A spokesperson from this DAC manufacturer appears in GoldenSound’s latest YouTube video covering dCS”

Jussi Laako is not an employee, representative, or spokesperson for Ferrum. Jussi Laako is the founder of Signalyst. Cameron reached out to Jussi due to his unique expertise in the field of delta sigma modulator and DAC design, both in regards to his software product HQPlayer, which features high performance delta sigma modulators, and DAC-specific correction adjustments, and Jussi having released and open-sourced his own delta-sigma DAC design. Thereby making him an ideal person to speak to on the topic of whether a product would be considered a delta-sigma DAC.

7 - “I replied personally to GoldenSound, explaining that I was open to meeting and coming to a resolution on this situation”

Cameron did not take up this offer of an in-person meeting as he was advised that a direct and private discussion may put him at further risk of liability, with little potential positive outcome.

8 - “A virtual meeting between dCS, [headphones.com](http://headphones.com/) and GoldenSound took place on November 1st 2023, where my colleague offered his full and sincere apologies and the matter was talked through between the parties involved. After this meeting headphones.com continued to buy dCS products and work with dCS until July 2024.”

This meeting never took place. There has not been a meeting and there have been no apologies offered for the behaviour or manner of communication thus far. Neither myself, Taron or Cameron were involved.

9 - “We fully acknowledge that some of the emails shared by GoldenSound were unacceptable and we addressed and acknowledged this in subsequent communications.”

This is incorrect. As stated in the previous point, there have at this time been no apologies or explanations for the contents of the communication toward Cameron.

10 - “There was no threat of litigation” - “At present we have no further comments to make on this matter” - “As discussed previously there is no pending litigation or lawsuit and since the letter was issued in May no escalation or further action has been taken”

If this is indeed the case, we are grateful. Though the communications and behaviour of dCS up to this point have implied a continued intent to pursue legal action were Cameron to fail to comply with the demands set out. A written confirmation that no legal action will be taken along with a public apology for the stress that Cameron was put through over the last several months is required.

[Trellus]

Thanks for the follow-up – I had just read their response, so I am disappointed to find out that they were not being honest about having apologized about the unprofessional, ghastly personal tone they took with Cameron. It was embarrassing to hear, and I did not want to believe that a VP of Marketing would be so… childish.

I’m not in their target market, anyway, but I’m saddened to see this kind of juvenile, unprofessional behavior in an industry I love.

[closed_minded]

What DCS fails to realize is that (image and brand damage aside), there are folks here that will go into speakers (or realistically keep upscaling Susvara) and do have the means to purchase their equipment. DCS is arrogant assuming ‘we will never be their market’.

[Jarlaxle]

Wow, I mean wow. We are fools yes, but not braindead.

[Trellus]

The gaslighting is just awful – why are they doing that? Making up apologies and meetings that did not happen? Why?? Most of us are softies and if they just owned up to this mess, would probably all consider it water under the bridge. Why are they digging the hole deeper?

[ICHJL]

If I would live “over there” I’d shop at headphones. com! Thanks for the insight… brave, necessary and right move. Good night to DCS! Imo eye to eye, respectful and moral commercial interactions are what’s needed.

[generic]

That which does not kill @Goldensound makes him stronger.

MQA
dCS

Who is next?

[Infoseeker]

This is really disappointing that dCs went on to claim there was a meeting in which they apologized…not publically.

…and even that had never occurred.

[DantonIzzo]

Keep it up, Andrew!!!

[Resolve]

I just want to reiterate here for folks who are just getting up to speed on this, while the behavior of dCS towards Cameron and critical review content in general is deserving of condemnation, in no way do we endorse harassment or personal attacks of any kind on dCS employees.

This is especially important for those who have nothing to do with this. There are people involved who are just trying to do their jobs and are not responsible for any of this. And when addressing those who are responsible, there are ways of voicing criticism of their behavior here without resorting to harassment.

So feel free to voice your displeasure and/or criticism, as many of us have, but please refrain from personal attacks - both online and at shows like the upcoming CanJam.

[andrew]

Thanks Resolve!

To add to that, it’s really easy to depersonalize stuff like this and think of dCS as some evil faceless company. There are a lot of great people there who have nothing to do with this and who had an awful day today.

[pk500]

The only difference between dCS as a company and a bucket of sh*t is the bucket.

[bez]

Adding onto #4, it’s absurd that dCS did not address Cameron’s disclaimer in the Whatsapp audio when bringing up that Cameron claimed the clip was edited. dCS saying this about the rude communication, “I immediately took action and worked with my colleague.“ just holds little weight. There are a lot of lies, dodges, and fluff in their response, and it’s sad I expected this.

[InvisibleInk]

dCS is having a very bad day in the court of public opinion

[Trellus]

Okay, but weird reminder without any evidence of it happening – I haven’t seen that, so why call it out? That’s just common sense – obviously, it should not be personalized or directed at employees of dCS. Are people really that dense?

[Resolve]

Yes, this has had a particularly wide-reaching effects. In advance of the upcoming CanJam, where there likely will be dCS employees at booths interfacing with the public who will have seen this video and are aware of this issue… you have to anticipate how some may behave, and we’d like for things to remain civil and discourse to be centered around the facts of the issue.

[Pictus]

dCS, because of this crap you will lose a lot of sales…

[generic]

@andrew

dCS as some evil faceless company

The character of an organization is set by its leaders, or by their apathy.

See Bill Gates at Microsoft (internal corporate backstabbing), Larry Ellison at Oracle (armies of attorneys ready to pounce), Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase (deep insider connections), Elon Musk (technological revolutions and long hours), etc. Some corporations win through better products while others win with mediocre products, lawyers, marketing, and social connections. Err…Beats…Bose…

dCS is a small and very high priced audio vendor. They’ve run their business in the ‘elite audiophile’ circle for decades. This typically means positioning equipment with luxury vendors in high-income neighborhoods, finding friendly reviewers who want to keep future review offers coming, and selling to wealthy (and physically declining elderly) men who may buy based on price, salesmanship, reputation, and appearance over quality or performance per se.

This @GoldenSound case follows the audio industry disruption initiated by ASR several years ago: when you have measurements in independent hands, it can be hard to justify massive price gaps for similar performance. In the narrow sense ASR is correct. But in contrast to ASR, @GoldenSound clearly has functional ears too. The double whammy of impressions + numbers is very threatening to old-school, country-club, white-gloves audiophile vendors like dCS.

We have now seen unprofessional content from John Giolas, several errors/distortions (at minimum) from David J Steven (as rebutted with the first post above), and typical cease-and-desist hostile content from attorneys. We do not have a faceless company, we have two very hostile, accusatory, sloppy, and unpleasant faces to attach to dCS.

Evil? Not unless they step into contemporary politics…

[WordsandMusic]

What a fascinating series of events. As if there isn’t enough drama in the world already.

[Nephilim_81]

I really liked seeing @andrew come forward and looking after one of his own. He’s a real man and I appreciate seeing that sort of behavior, especially having the position he has for headphones.com.
Believe me, many would not act like Andrew. Many are spineless and cowardly.

Andrew. I’ve got a ton of respect for you, brother! Always have, but you set such a good example being the classy business owner you are.
If I wasn’t gainfully employed, I’d come work for your company any day.

Cheers!

And to all my fellow head-fi’rs out there. Cameron will pull through this.
He’s a resilient, articulate nice young man who has so much going for him in this industry. The support he’ll receive is incredible. DCS doesn’t stand a chance. They’ll reconcile.