Apos Audio COVID-19/Coronavirus Update - June 12, 2020
June 13, 2020Introduction
We have a lot of exciting updates to share with you since our last post in May. As part of our commitment to maintaining an extremely high standard of customer support, we have been investing heavily in the expansion of the headcount of the Customer Support Team.
In addition to a new DAC and IEMs, we are thrilled to bring you the entire Dan Clark Audio product line on Apos Audio! Since the very beginning of our operation, we've been getting an overwhelming amount of requests from our customers to include headphones from Dan Clark Audio and we are proud to now offer these products.
Like everyone else, we are still battling with the difficulty that the global pandemic brings, but we have been working hard to adapt our processes to the effects of the pandemic to ensure we can still ship your products in a safe and timely manner.
Order Fulfillment
Despite the easing of shelter-in-place protocols here in California, we are continuing to rely on our Shenzhen Fulfillment Center for fulfilling the majority of our orders. We are doing this for a few reasons detailed below; all of our efforts prioritize ease-of-experience for you as the customer and the accuracy of shipping time information we provide you.
Since the majority of our products are manufactured in Asia, we are able to make sure our inventory is never more than one week old by keeping them close to where they are made, ensuring you get the newest products that are coming off the production line.
We have also been continuously investing in our fulfillment network, so even though the shipment comes from outside of the US, we are able to consistently and reliably meet the lead time commitments shown to you at checkout of each order.
As it has always been, despite the bulk of orders coming from outside of the US, we are the importer of record and therefore we take care of the importation process, declaration, and documentation. We do this so that you, the end customer, receive your Apos Audio order just like any other domestic shipment you typically get in the mail (without the hassle of extra paperwork or import duties).
We hope to ramp up the capability of our Oakland facility starting July, but this is dependent on the development of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Order Return Processing
We are still working very hard to increase our processing capacity for returned orders in our Oakland facility; we are working as quickly as we can.
This has been the most severely impacted part of our workflow due to the pandemic. We are doing everything we can to speed up this process for our customers, while still maintaining a safe and trusted work environment for our colleagues in the warehouse.
Depending on the volume, it can take up to several days before we are able to process the return and issue a full refund. We sincerely thank each and every one of our customers for your understanding and patience as we work through this backlog.
Shipping
From what we have seen in the last few weeks, DHL has been quite conservative with its initial estimated arrival date. However, in almost all cases, shipments are still delivering on time and ahead of their initial estimate.
We have seen a slight uptick of shipment delays in the last two weeks, partly due to the protests in various regions. That said, we are still delivering up to 97% of shipments on time in the last four weeks. We expect this rate to improve in the coming weeks.
Customer Support
We have significantly invested in our customer support operations.
We expanded our support team by 50% in May, ensuring we are able to spend as much time as is required serving all of our inbound customer requests. We will continue to add new members to the team throughout June.
As our new team members ramp up and learn how to serve you best, please feel free to say “hi” and give them words of encouragement!
Our goal is to expand our customer support weekend coverage to be on par with our weekday coverage. We very much appreciate your patience and understanding as we work towards that goal.
New Products
Dan Clark Audio
After receiving numerous community requests we are very excited to announce the launch of the Dan Clark Audio product line on Apos Audio and that we are one of the authorized sellers for them in the US. We are providing the Apos Extended 2-Year Warranty on the Dan Clark Audio line along with 30-Day Lowest Price Guarantee and Free Returns .
In addition to all of the DCA gear, we also have added three new items for you: the new Gustard A18 DAC, new variants of the Moondrop Blessing 2 in-ear monitors (IEM), and the Kinera NANNA IEM.
Gustard A18
The Gustard A18 is the newest DAC that uses the AK4499EQ D/A chip from the Japanese company AKM. The A18 comes equipped with a completely independent linear power supply, independent grounding, and four LME49860 dual op-amps to drive ample current that helps derive the excellent performance numbers from the AK4499EQ chip.
The A18 also has the CSR8675 chip by Qualcomm that enables Bluetooth 5.0 and supports HD wireless audio.
Moondrop Blessing 2
The Blessing 2 IEMs have received great reviews from the audio community and Moondrop has released new wood variants of this IEM. The aesthetic is beautiful and comes in two different colors.
Kinera NANNA
The NANNA is the flagship hybrid universal IEM from Kinera, with two Sonion electrostatic drivers, one Sonion full frequency balanced armature driver, and one custom 7mm dynamic driver.
Headfonics has this to say about the NANNA, “There is nothing laid back about the Kinera Nanna sound but neither does it sound edgy or harsh with just a slight hint of upper-most treble fade to keep it from sounding brittle. ...There is a lot of interesting value-for-money ChiFi interpretation of this originally very expensive hybrid fusion of drivers coming out in 2020. This is one of the better ones and worth checking out if you get a chance.”
As always, we will continue to provide updates as we adapt to the changing circumstances around us due to the pandemic. In the meantime, we are working hard to bring you new products that you are requesting and making sure that your experience with Apos Audio is top-notch. We are very grateful to all our customers for the support and well wishes they have provided us. It is always great to hear from you and if you have any suggestions on how we can improve, please feel free to contact us.