2. misc-audio
  3. 188889-1635

Stuff You Tried To Love

I know we talk a lot about confirmation bias- we buy something and then convince ourselves we like it. Or something like that. But did you ever buy something you wanted to love and just couldn’t make it work? For me, Esoteric X-05 SACD/CD player. Bought from a local who was upgrading to the X-03. Big, beautiful piece of gear, but I couldn’t get used to the sound after 6 months of trying. Sold it to another local- I insisted he listen before he bought and I believe he sold it soon after as well. Totem Forest and Hawk. I loved the whole concept. Slim, easy to live with. Couldn’t get them to work in my room. The Model Ones were much better. I had a couple of other pieces, but this is long enough. BTW, these were bought used without audition.

chayro

Showing 1 response by zarf

zarf
45 posts
 

I've tried a number of things that have been well reviewed, or seemed to have found favor among different forum residents, across several forums. They've all had strengths and weaknesses.

Superphon Revelation II pre

McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe amp

Forte Model 3 amp, restored

Adcom 5400 amp, restored

Acurus L10 pre

These were all okay, but lacked any exceptional greatness or synergy with anything else I had on hand at the time. On the other hand, a Nak CA5, or a B&K Pro-10 MC, both of those were really pretty good SS preamps, and matched well with many other pieces.

Schitt equipment was mostly unlucky for me, although I did like the Asgard 2 for a good while.

More to discover