Z&H stands for our sonic design philosophy: Zen and Hit.

It comes from the old oriental wisdom - imagine the routine of monks. You see them sitting there and chanting sutras a lot, which is a major part of meditation that helps them achieve "Zen". In the territory of Zen, you are free from all the chaos of this world. We use plenty of high-capacity components, precisely matching transistors, and sophisticated discrete high-voltage op amps, in order to facilitate "Zen". They sound clean and clear without being tasteless. There is a sense of musical vibe which cannot be replicated by software.

In contrast, the "Hit" also comes from monks themselves. It is fascinating that they would practice martial arts, too. Although Buddha is supposed to give mercy, it is sometimes required to use force. It aligns with our idea perfectly - being faithful and clean would demonstrate our quality, but we need to spice up the track form time to time. It is relatively easier to achieve "Hit" by introducing distortion and harmonics, while the core of our design is to keep such characteristics enjoyable and controllable. We custom-made almost all transformers out there by hand, and experimented with almost all classical discrete driver circuits.

We eventually found the modern transformers to be quite consistent across the spectrum, while driver circuits turned out disruptive. Different combinations between transistors and driver circuits would cook very different results, defining the musical side of our gear. The subtleties of transients smoothify the sound - along with some intriguing distortion, many of our models are born with unique "Hit" expressions. Those manageable flavours are what we call the beauty of analog gear.

When Zen & Hit join forces, it reaches an harmony. It is about Yinyang, about the nature, and about the humanity.

We ship to wherever in the world deliverable by UPS, FedEx, and other legit carriers.

We ship from Shanghai, China, where your gear gets handmade and tested.

Orders above USD 250 / GBP 208 enjoy free shipping, while smaller orders will have to pay a USD 20 shipping fee by default.

It takes up to 2 business days to process your order, followed by 5-10 business days with carrier to most destinations.

Shipping will be handled by UPS or FedEx in most cases. You will receive a tracking ID 2-3 business days after your order.

A phone number is required by the carrier.

Customisation and Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) requests will cause longer processing / shipping time.

(Please do not let the carrier fill in any clearance form on behalf of you. Otherwise, they may charge you a service fee on top.)

If the destination of your order is in the US, you won't be charged with custom duty by default (and the following message won't be relevant to you).

If the destination of your order is in the UK or EU. We will cover the full import duty for you.

If the destination is elsewhere, we will cover up to 20% of the order value.

You will need to pay the duty and provide the invoice, so that we could refund you the amount accordingly. We promise to initiate the refund within 2 business. It takes anywhere between 3-10 days for the refund to reach your account.

If you wish to totally avoid handling the duty, please select "Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) (16-25 days)" shipping method. However, we can't guarantee its availability at the time you order, if the destination is outside UK & EU. Please also acknowledge its much longer shipping time with the carrier. In case the DDP shipping appears to be unavailable or take too long, we could figure out a case-by-case solution with you.

With all the hopes that you would be happy with our product, if you are not completely satisfied with your purchase for any reason, you may return it to us for a full refund.

You have 14 days to try out the unit after receiving your item to request a return. 

To be eligible for a return, your item must be in the same condition that you received it, new or unused, with tags, and in its original packaging. You’ll also need the receipt or proof of purchase. 

To start a return, you can contact us at store@zhdesigns.audio. Please note that returns will need to be sent to a reasonable designated location at your own cost.

If your return is accepted, we’ll send you a return shipping label, as well as instructions on how and where to send your package. Items sent back to us without first requesting a return will not be accepted.

You can always contact us for any return question at store@zhdesigns.audio.

We offer a 5-year warranty to our pro audio gear (and a 2-year warranty to parts sold alone due to the difficulty to inspect the issue).

Within the warranty period, if a product suffers from a defect, you are welcomed to let us cover the cost to repair, which should be conducted by a designated service center.

In case you have to repair on your own / turn to other repair shops, please provide a quote before proceeding. We may not agree to cover the cost without approving the quote in advance.

Exchange is an option if a defect is found within 30 days of delivery. Please acknowledge it may not always be the most efficient solution. We reserve the right to instruct a repair unless your local legislation specifies your right to request an exchange. To exchange, we may instruct you to send the unit to a reasonable location and reimburse the mailing fee.

Return is an option if a major defect is found within 7 days of delivery.

All reimbursements and refunds will be initiated within 2 business days upon agreement. The transaction takes 3-10 days to reach your account.

Although we cannot guarantee the time to respond to such requests, we do accept up to two samples each within 30 seconds for a maximum of 3 products. Please email to store@zhdesign.audio.

For models with customiser:

The general rule is that knob customisation takes 7 days to process, while panel customisation takes 14 days.

The additional charges are displayed as you preview.

You could send us your own design for a mockup. We will quote along.

The customiser gives you a faithful mockup to the customisation, yet it will not be 100% the same as the final result. Upon finishing, we will send you photos / videos for approval.

We acknowledge that some locations may not have great internet connection to the customiser. You could use a VPN or go to our social media pages to find out the latest available customisations and request a mockup.

For models / features without customiser:

The customisation (of any form) is available upon request.


Important notes:

The additional charge due to customisation is generally not refundable if you don't like how a customisation turns out (based on the photos we send you), and it is certainly not refundable for your own panel designs. You could still choose to roll back to the standard model or switch to another customisation with available parts. In case you decide to give up the unit, the maximum amount to refund is the base price of the model.

You will not be provided with the original parts that were replaced by the custom parts. We could ship them along for a discount upon request.