E.A.R. Acute Reliability

I've owned one for about 6 months, no issues with the transport. Should be easy to replace if something does go wrong though, same as the Arcam.
As far as sonics, with the right tubes (I'm using 2 1960s Seimens CCAs), sounds great.

PS: I think the EAR Acute starts life as an Arcam CD36 CDP. Supposedly transport, display and DAC chips straight from CD36, all else changed by EAR.
Of course I stand to be corrected if wrong but I remember reading this, perhaps in a review.

Dan Meinwald, the US importer of EAR products, has responded every time I contacted him before and after my purchase of the Acute. Really excellent communication and service.

One peculiar thing, absolutely no owners manual or instruction sheet comes with the Acute. I contacted Tim de P and he mentioned that he was thinking about producing one but not sure.

Airfla,
If you're thinking about tube rolling, the USA white label Amperex 7308 are excellent as are the 1960s Seimens CCa. Both enhance the performance of the Acute dramatically over the provided stock tubes although they aren't BAD. But they should be changed if you want to fully realize the potential of the Acute. Just my opinion of course but I think there's a good chance that you'll agree :~).

I think EAR would have a real winner with a DAC based on the Acute. To me the weak point of the Acute is the transport (and cheesy remote) which EAR does not manufacture. IMO: The sound of the Acute is right up there.