Are High End Audio Products Unreliable?


I don't know if it's just my bad luck but since I've gotten back into high end audio in the past year I have purchased several components that have developed problems that I have never experienced while owning mass produced Japanese components of the 70's and 80's.
First was my Well Tempered turntable. Granted , it was old, but the design is so simple that it should be pretty bomb proof. That one got a lot better once I got everything dialed in, but what a pain in the butt just to get it there.
Second was my Lehmann Black Cube phono preamp, which developed a bad channel. Then it was the Parasound JC-3 phono preamp that was bad out of the box, but was replaced with a new one (no issues since). Next, my Cambridge Azur 840C CD player developed issues loading CDs (no other issues but this is annoying). Then I bought a Furutech GT-40 DAC that had noise when playing computer files through the USB (replaced with a new unit which works great). Next, I bought a CARY SLI-80 amp that was physically damaged out of the box but worked fine at first, but after a couple of weeks developed an issue with the remote relay and required me to send it back for repair. I got a new unit from Upscale that is working great.
I'm not a total hamfist who is hard on equipment, I swear. I'm super careful with my stuff, I run everything through power conditioners, and know how to set up equipment. I must be unlucky. Or have others had similar experiences as mine?
snackeyp

Showing 1 response by bryoncunningham

I've generally had good luck with the reliability of high end products, with one exception: Meridian. I've owned a Meridian G68 for about 4 years and it has given me all kinds of trouble... overheating, a dead power supply, a front panel display that freezes up, the occasional shockingly loud POP, one of which fried a crossover in one of my speakers. Nightmare stuff. The MSRP of the unit at the time I bought it: $10k. Now: $12k.

When the power supply died, I sent the unit to Meridian service. They replaced it and charged me 8 times the cost of the power supply if I had bought it online, which would have been trivial. I'm a fool.

My experience with Meridian's unreliability and greed is definitely not idiosyncratic. If you browse the unofficial Meridian forum, you will see many similar stories.

I still own the Meridian. As I said, I'm a fool.

Bryon