Behind the scenery

The emailer was Simone, my contributor in Italy. He'd been contacted by Dragan Solaja to review his new 300B amp. The question was, how? "Ship sample, listen, write, publish, ship back" you advise? Yes, ordinarily it would be that simple. Just add ship fees. But Serbia is special. The country isn't in the EU then punishes its entrepreneurs with draconian banking laws. Even filing a temporary importation carnet to waive VAT due whenever shipments enter the EU from outside might not prevent Serbia from assessing brutal reimportation fees on their end. Writing off Dragan's loaner as cost of doing business wouldn't be appropriate for a pricey hand-made boutique product from a small operator. It's not a €200 Topping DAC from a large firm that spends more on dinner.

An alternate solution could be an EU dealer who, if he doesn't already inventory the model, orders one in, handles its VAT chicane, forwards the sample to my reviewer and thereafter collects it again. But that relies on a copasetic importer. We previously tried working with an Italian gent who demanded pickup in person and only allowed for a 2-week loan. From his perspective—he'd already paid for the product and needed it for demos and home loans to recoup his investment—such restrictions were perfectly reasonable. Why should he play bank for the manufacturer? For a reviewer like Simone who holds down a regular day job and writes on weekends only, they aren't reasonable. What now? Precisely. Suffice it to say, there's a powwow to find a win-win solution. If we fail, it won't be for lack of trying. But then you'll appreciate why certain reviews of interesting products never happen.

It could also explain why other magazines prefer to work with far more established brands big enough to have all such issues licked already. As a small operator myself, I enjoy featuring other small operators. There's simply a gap between the ideal and real worlds. And sometimes it just won't bridge. If Brussels just would let Belgrade into the union, many hifi things would be a lot easier. But politics have no place in hifi reviews so we're back at dealing with reality. Let's see who wins…