Vinyl Asylum: Bob's Devices - Product and Customer Service Kudos (Long) by gastwa

In these days of high prices, sub-par products and horrible customer support, I Just want to give credit where credit is due. No financial interests besides the products I have purchased:

I owned a Bob's Devices Cinemag SUT and was very happy with the sound of it in my system:

Opera Callas Divina Speakers
Audience 24e Speaker Cables
LSA Signature Integrated Amp (with built in MM phono stage) and various NOS 6DJ8/6922 tubes
Sota Nova / SME V / Vacuum State Cartridge / Cardas Golden Reference (TT/ARM/CART/CABLE)
Audience 24 interconnects between SUT and amp

At the time I also had the Zyx active step up and the Aesthetix Rhea phonostage.

I decided to add a mono table to my stable in the form of:

Systemdek IIX with upgraded acrylic platter
Jelco 750D arm
Benz Ace Mono L cartridge

Since I was happier with the Bob's SUT, but wanted the flexibility of the Rhea, I decided to sell everything and have Bob build a custom Cinemag SUT for me that would have two inputs, cardas jacks, and a fixed cable output.

I contacted Bob and for a very fair price he agreed to build the SUT for me with me sending him a Cardas Golden Cross phono cable to use as the output cable.

After 3 weeks, I received my SUT back and the workmanship was great. Unfortunately, there was a significant hum in my system (although it did not show up in Bob's system when he tested the unit). After a few days of trying different grounding, etc. I realized that the problem seemed to lie in the lack of shielding in part of the Cardas cable I had sent to Bob to use. Bob asked me to send the unit back to him to test and confirm what was wrong. I sent the unit back to Bob and in two days, he let me know that it did seem that the Cardas cable was at fault.

The two options were 1. for Bob to put Cardas jacks onto the output side and i could use interconnects. 2. To build me a cable from highly shielded Belden cable that he uses to build his interconnects.

I opted for the second choice and told Bob that since I had sent him the cable in the first place that he should just let me know the costs involved for the extra materials necessary to build the new cable.

I received an email back from Bob that he felt bad about the situation and wanted me to be happy and therefore, there would be no extra charge for the additional work and materials!

On top of the great customer service, communication, support and generosity, I received my SUT back a few days later and it sounds just amazing and there is ABSOLUTELY no hum in the system. The SUT is not anywhere near being broken in, but the bass and soundstage are even better than the previous unit I had from Bob. I attribute this to the Belden cable which I will probably try as interconnects in other parts of my system.

Sound: A+
Customer Service: A+
Craftsmanship: A+

If you are looking for someone to build you an SUT, I highly recommend Bob's Devices.

Regards,
AG