QED Reference Optical Cable - HELP!?!

[admin_exported]

Hey all,

Quick question for you all. I ordered a QED Reference Optical cable early this week and upon unboxing it last night to connect to my new DacMagic I noticed something rather worrying:

Even as a noob I'm sure you could forgive me for thinking something is wrong... So I rang up up FutureShop and I was told this was normal and to just push the connector back in and wire it up. Now, I what I find strange is the connector at the front of the box was fine and the one inside was damaged, let alone a fact that it seems build quality is lacking on these.

Anyway, when I got home I done as she said and now I have another 'possible' problem. The fibre is now sticking out the end of the connector a little. I was just hoping that someone could chime in to say where or not this is okay or if I should insist on a replacement.

The sound doesn't seem any different the other optical cable I was using (which came free with a very old soundcard), however I doubt my current speakers would do it justice anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[idc]

Under The Sale of Goods Act that cable is not of sufficient quality and it is the seller who has to either exchange it or give you your money back. You should not try a DIY repair as that cable is faulty. It would be interesting to know how the seller would react to you asking for a written guarantee that your DIY fix, under their instructions will affect the warranty of the cable, what it is connected to and if they will take full responsibility!

Seriously, call them back and ask for a replacement or refund, keep calm, don't start off by quoting your rights and be clear about what you want. I would also e-mail your pictures to QED 'for their information' and see what they say.

 

[Dave_]

I agree,send it back.It's faulty/not fit for purpose

 

[Anonymous]

Hi idc,

Thanks for your post. Just disconnected it from both the DAC and Mac Pro as soon as youÿmentionedÿthat it may damage other components - never even thought of that! ÿ

I will ring them back on Monday, a technician was meant to ring me back but never did...

I'm sure it'll get sorted out okay - I can also return the connector to how it looked in the first pic.

Question is, do I want another one of these cables!? The reference analogue interconnect seems to be of high quality so I assume this is just a one off. ÿ

 

[idc]

I have had QED cables with no problems. Yesterday I helped a mate with his ancient setup, including a virtually prehistoric QED interconnect with its coiled spring like attachement to the phono plug. A quick wipe and bit of metal polish and it is as good as new. This will be an unlucky fault. I would go with QED again with confidence.

 

[professorhat]

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't just a one off - QED are a good brand and I've certainly never seen anything like that in any of their cables.

 

[Anonymous]

Excellent, thank you both!

ÿIt was a toss up between the Chord Opticord and the QED Reference, I'll stick with the QED reference.

Can't wait until my amp and speakers arrive now, the JBL Creature II's I've been using for the last year are well...rubbish!ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I got a phone call from the store today...

I spoke to a technician there and he said that the cable I returned was fine. He also opened another box and it looked exactly the same inside - making me think they might have a batch, but he assured me this was normal for the cable.

Needless to say, I changed my order to a Chord Opticord which hopefully I'll get by Friday - with secure connectors!

Just thought I'd update you with the outcome and thanks again for the replies!

 

[matengawhat]

have bought a few of these QED although the older model in the grey wrap or sky box ps3 etc and they never looked like that!