Honesty is the best policy...I think.

@rokral that's a fantastic story and congratulations! I've been fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time to save the lives of three different people. Still waiting!🤣

Funny, my wife does the same thing.

@bigsecret OP, I would explain this in brief detail in my ad.  I would challenge all potential buyers to call and verify this is a known issue and maybe that will level the field and with a slightly lower price and verification they will jump on yours and everyone is happy.

If you intend to buying and selling frequently on this site, you will hurt your reputation if you are less than truthful, even if others are doing the same.  Yes, you probably will lose some money on this transaction.  Its only money

If you are going to run an ad to sell, you don't focus on all the negatives. It would be the kiss of death.

In this case I would emphasize the positives first, how great this unit really is and then discuss the one minor flaw but you reduced the price accordingly and it still worth your asking price.

Perfect software doesn’t exist, if they don’t know that they ought to avoid complex things like computers. It’s certainly annoying as all get out when it happens, but I work the hardware end of IT, and I have to either tell the end user to reboot, or personally reboot equipment for them all the time. We, for example because we have far more equipment than scanners, have hand held scanners which are run by internal computers which interface with external computers via radio frequency. These scanners, and the multiplexers, and even the ports they use to connect to the server all need rebooting from time to time. JRivers locks up my computer sometimes when I set my processing requirements too high. JRivers isn’t so much flawed, as it is that it just wasn’t programmed for that particular contingency, there are likely other contingencies that it is incapable of dealing with as well. The issue I have may not even be directly related to JRivers and my PC running Windows 10, it may be because of another program that I am running. Anyway, if it only needs a monthly reboot, that’s actually not bad for something that complex. You ought to cycle your smartphone weekly for security reasons alone, but it will also lessen the odds of it locking up if you run lots of apps.

Again, thanks for all the great responses. Special thanks to Oldhvymec. I have someone interested and I have suggested they contact PS Audio to discuss the issue before committing to buying. My sale, by the way, includes a brand new disc drive from PS Audio just in case. But, I have had no problems with the disc drive in the few years I’ve had the unit. In fact, except for the occasional reboot it has been a very enjoyable transport. And, even the reboot is hardly an inconvenience but seemed like something that should be mentioned to a prospective buyer. I am only selling because I have moved up the the next generation DirectMemoryPlayer. I won't be surprised if it too requires an occasional reboot.

Honesty is the best policy....and unfortunately in today's society....rare....

PS Audio is a Class Act.

What you may want to do is send an e -mail to Paul McGowan.

Explain your situation and ask his advice. You must always be honest! If you are going to sell it make sure it is working the way it should. If not explain the issue.

You could sell it to The Music Room.  They are connected with PS Audio.  You won't get much for it, but they are familiar with the unit and know about this if it's as common as you say.  

I have a PerfectWave Transport and I've been dealing with this problem for a few years. I'm going to tell a fairly detailed story to be fair to PSA but I am really disappointed. At the end I will give you a specific recommendation on how I would proceed if I were you.

My unit was termed "B Stock" but it was sold to me as a new unit. It only had a one year warranty. At about 13 months of age the drive quit working after being glitchy for a few months.. I figured it was under warranty so no problem. When I called PSA they told me my unit was B stock and it was out of warranty. They were sympathetic to my plight, however, and they agreed to fix it for free which meant a new drive. Worked fine after that. BTW, I figured that I must have gotten a lemon drive and I was confident it would be OK with the new one.

After about 6 months the transport started getting glitchy again (skips, freezes, had to turn off unit and reboot) and finally it would get stuck and not open. I then checked the all-knowing Google and found out this model is notorious for breaking down. I also found instructions on how to replace the drive yourself. I called PSA and they told me that they would charge $500 this time to fix it. I told the guy that there was no way I was putting $500 in this unit and that I would use it as a doorstop in my stereo room. This made him very uncomfortable and he put me on hold. He came back and told me they would fix the unit if I paid the shipping to their factory. I agreed to this and they replaced the drive again.

The second drive fix was about a a year ago and it's starting to get glitchy again. BTW, I play maybe 5 or 6 CDs a week in the unit.

My research has turned up that PSA used the cheapest commodity grade drive mechanism they could find. At retail a new drive costs about $17 (wholesale would be about $10). That means that PSA put a $10 drive in a $4000 transport. Just for reference I have a Marantz SA8005 player ($1200) that has played way more discs than the PSA and the drive has never had a glitch.

You can replace the drive yourself but you need to buy some special screws from PSA to make the job easier. You can install a better drive than they used by buying a Plextor PlexWriter PX-891SAF and putting it in yourself. On the PSA forum for transports there is a thread regarding how to do this. I'm not totally confident that a new drive will solve your problem but it is the most likely culprit.

Regarding ethics, I decided that I could never sell this drive to anyone because I would not knowingly sell a bad piece of gear. You may be more flexible and I have two suggestions: 1) Replace the drive before you sell the unit and see if that fixes the problem. If it is working perfectly for a couple months you could be comfortable selling it without a warning or disclosure. You should mention in the ad that you recently replaced the drive. 2) State in the ad that the unit is glitchy and that the new owner can send it to PSA for repair for a fixed sum of $500. You will have to price the unit at substantially less than your normal price to account for the cost.

There's another reason I will put up with this transport for the long term. It has a "Digital Lens" that totally buffers and reclocks the data before going to the DAC. That feature alone can cost $1K or more in a separate unit. At least I can be comfortable that the signal going to the DAC has extremely low jitter and timing errors.

I've owned several pieces of PSA gear but I will never buy another one. To their credit they bent over backwards to be fair but I just can't forgive them for putting a rot gut cheapo drive in their $4000 transport. I just don't trust them any more.

Me, I would read other honest people’s descriptions, see who found a darn good way to mention it

I offer 30 day UNCONDITIONAL RETURNS on anything I sell, and describe things/issues so I don't get returns. In your case. offer 60 days (far past 1st month, so buyer will experience the frequency themselves. If it gets worse, you sold em a unit on the brink, give em their money back.

Oldhvy hit it right. Disclose the issue accurately.

Oppos are considered to be fine products yet

they too require the occasional shut off/reboot.

People may not freak as badly as you think.

That said I would expect it sell about 65% of

average.

@oldhvymec  has made the edit for the ad to sell. It's not a big deal for anyone who understands that computers are in a lot of products and need to be reset.

As Mark Twain once said  " It is never wrong to do the right thing."

agree with full disclosure...that's why I traded mine in to PS when upgrading, so I wouldn't have to deal with this issue...the newest one has quirks like this too...

FYI PS Audio has had a problem with the Powerplants for years, they have acknowledged the bug that the only way to get them to work is to unplug them, talk about a pain in the @ss!

Even Paul said he was going to look at it and get it fixed and dead silence since then. 

You are not alone with PS Audio gear that does not work as advertised or has problems, anyone buying PS should know this by now; all it takes is just a simple search or get in their forum. 

Be honest and @oldhvymec is great advice. 

1. truth

2. "I think it happens more often when I am playing discs I have burned at home of hi-res files". MORE OFTEN or ONLY home made? I would want that answer.

go for a few months without playing home made. what?

3. I would say something like: research and manufacturer advises these units benefit from a monthly reboot. It is more than likely any unit (new or used) will benefit from a monthly reboot.

I have the same problem with a Pro-Ject turntable. Sumiko has no lemon policy.

If I upgrade, how should I discribe the TT? If honesty is the best policy.

For sale, for those who like to gamble!!! A Pro-Ject Classic SB in beautiful physicals shape. It has given me problems twice in the past, and more than likely will do the same again. 

In the year and a half that I have had this $1,200 machine it has been in for repair twice. So if you have a problem call Sumiko. They know the machine well. 

The first repair only took seven weeks, which gave me time to once again, bond with my CD's. 

You say SKUNKS Dad? 

This dog will mess with a skunk big time.. Usually not get skunked.. Usually.. 

I would tell the truth all right.

Want add:

For Sale

Bla, Bla Bla

Then explain: The PS is a wonderful unit that when maintained properly will offer the user a great product. As with all PS XXX. A simple reboot once a month keeps the unit refreshed and trouble free.

I hope you enjoy the product as I have.

This is honest and shows you are truthful and are selling a good, serviceable product. If anyone questions the practice, refer them to your information and where you got it. Note that several others like yourself looked for a solution and found one.

What you are doing is a very common practice with any processor, the issue I’ve found it’s not a single processor with an issue. It’s normally some sub processor not playing well with others. You need to flush and start over so to speak.. Buss issues are "timing and joining the different buss systems". Unless they are designed to reboot, or pass the work to a working back-up. They freeze up.

Side Note:

If it was a Cann Buss it would throw up a code and show which sub/processor/unit had a wiring issue, buffer boo boo or an actual processor problem. Can Buss uses, a null process to check the hot/cold wiring error (kinda like XLR), checks the data wires, checks the sensor circuits, checks sensors, checks the grounds. It’s not inexpensive but redundancy need to be built in. NASA, kind of thinking.

The fail safe with any computer is to cold boot. 5 minutes for every processor up to 15 minutes. Same with any computer, remove the power supply and backup power supply. Unplug and wait!!! Hundreds of times with equipment, trained VETS would not wait long enough.. 100s They always thought I was slow, I was patient. :-)

Skunk at the chicken coop, CRAP!!!

Regards

PS Audio is a great company. Why not send to them for a inspection/re-certification of the unit? Maybe a couple hundred dollars shipping and a factory refresh. It would make me feel better knowing PSA has addressed your concern and that you have given full disclosure of this issue. Thanks

@noromance

@jjss49 Let me know if you ever want to sell the SP100R2s? 🙂

noted... 🤣

Thanks again for the supportive comments. And, if I've learned anything from this, it is to keep an eye out for elderly folks in need of a tire change.🤔

@jjss49 Let me know if you ever want to sell the SP100R2s? 🙂

I had a similar situation with an Oppo BDP93.

A common problem was that the CD tray would not open the first time and sometimes not open at all. The "solution" was to leave a disk in the tray at all times. Trying to sell it as is didn't sit well with me, so I sent it to Oppo and had it fixed. They were fabulous to deal with. I paid $99 USD and shipped to Oppo. They replaced the tray, cleaned everything, updated the firmware and shipped it back to me in a new box.

However, because of the units age and the cost of repair, I netted about $50 on the sale.

Sometimes you just have to take the hit.

i will share a little personal story about good hifi karma, true story...

i sometimes answer ’want’ ads on usam seeking stuff i happen to have on hand, messing with gear as i do ... last year couple folks were looking for an mhdt orchid and a denafrips pontus ... both were backordered or not available used at that point... i had each of them, answered, sold my units to them at a fair used price - made a couple fellow music lovers/audiophiles pretty darned happy

about a week later, a pair of lovely rev 2 spendor sp100’s appeared on a-gon... another member here answered first, got dibs, but i msg’ed him, he was super nice, stepped aside, as there was some shipping complexity involved in getting them that he was hesitant to deal with... i had been looking for these speakers to have again for several years .. after selling them off stupidly in 2006...

the seller of the speakers was also incredibly nice, we have become friends of sorts, he worked with me and a local pack n ship outfit in pennsylvania, got em ltl’ed out to me... he even reduced his price a good bit from his ask as the shipping/packing cost added up... as a result, i ended up getting my lovely spendors plus stands for well less than half price of a new pair...

karma ... can be pretty good...

hope this little story entertained for a minute 🙏

@rokral  Perhaps you could offer to buy this transport from the OP for full asking price? It would be good karma ;-)

Karma is out there. I stopped and helped an elderly man in distress (flat tire, so I jumped out and installed the spare). Two days later won the lottery for 18 million.

I agree with saying a reboot once a month takes care of the issue.  The only computer I don't reboot often is my Pi NAS.  Others get rebooted often and that puts it onto perspective.

Honesty first if you care about karma. Recently bought the same pwt cdt unit and mine had short skips fairly often, like every couple CDs. Returned it a couple weeks later for full refund. Waiting for the Jay's cdt2 mk3, supposed to be in Monday. I don't see how that could be worse :)

However I only have good things to say about my stellar phono preamp. I guess you have to pick and choose correctly from PS Audio products.

I had an Auralic Aries G2 Streamer… it actually had a reboot nightly setting in the configuration. I frequently struggled with it. So, once a month doesn’t seem like a big deal… although I never need to reboot my two Aurender Streamers.

You might mention rebooting it every few weeks is good maintenance.

Hats off to you for really being concerned about this.

czarivey, absolutely, I agree 100%, the poster child of rule #1 someone you should never listen to. 

dill, depends on time zone.

ebm is masterful power-poster of posts that carry little or no sense and usually contain one line and very rare 2 lines.

Thanks for supporting what I, too, know is right. It just seems like a punishment when this is standard for these units but no one selling one ever mentions it. It is such an insignificant problem but sounds scarey. The last year or so I got in the habit of just rebooting it once a month - a 30 second task to prevent it from happening. Again, thanks for your comments.

Being honest to yourself is good exercise.

-- Zigmund Freud

Sometimes it's painful to be upfront and honest but you'll sleep a lot better.

I would be 99% true just Paul McGowan’s new book. Sounds like how they treated the problem when you called. These things should work for what they charge for them. He should write a new book called 99% air, because that’s what is inside the chassis of the unit.

All good advice except for the one posted at 1:57pm.

be honest - good karma will reward you

Honesty is always the right choice. Not always the easiest,but always right. 

Being honest to yourself is good exercise.

-- Zigmund Freud

Full disclosure is always the right thing to do.

Be prepared to accept less than expected. That problem is  to the benefit of the future purchaser. It could used as leverage agreeing on the price.

If they don't have a fix I would include their number in the ad so people can call. It's as much their issue as it is yours. Seems suspect or "sus" as the kids say.

I would tell the buyer im sure nobody would want this unit knowing this.good luck!!