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.
I had a McIntosh MC2200 that I bought new. It was the biggest mistake I ever made as an audiophile and I dumped it for a Bryston that a friend still uses. I had an Aurender N100 streamer, also purchased new from my favorite dealer. The thing was never really stable and support wasn’t helpful. I dumped it for a Bryston BDP-3 and have been happy ever since. I’d probably still have both of those components if confirmation bias was as powerful as some suggest. |
1st comes to mind is a SS McIntosh Preamp C28. It worked fine as a switcher/attenuator, many features I still want, HOWEVER, I did not like the sound of it’s MM Phono EQ. I actually preferred the dinky optional phono built into my Audio Technica AT120 TT. Now I use my Fidelity FRT-4 SUT into my beloved McIntosh mx110z Tube Tuner/Preamp’s MM Phono, sounds wonderful. If it was stolen or blew up, I wouldn’t even look about, just find another one, find some money (they have jumped up in price) send it to Audio Classics for check-up. 2nd, more recently: I needed a Phono EQ for my ’new to me’ office TT. Temporarily I bought a $14 Pyle, compact, out of sight, got listening to vinyl up here for the first time. Better: tried ifi phono zen, preferred the pyle, sent ifi back. Tried Cambridge Alva Duo, preferred the Pyle, sent Cambridge away. Finally, I bought my Little Luxman 10wpc tube integrated with both MM and MC within. Love/preferred it’s sound (compared Pyle via Line Level into Luxman). kept my Pyle as a loaner for others with problems, or still researching something they might buy. I always say: anything to do with Phono: have return privilege’s!. 3. I tried a few SS Receivers to replace my beloved Tandberg TR80 in my garage/shop system (had to drive 2 sets of speakers). Nyet, Nyet, ... Finally I got a Yamaha CR-1020 SS Receiver (my 1st ever Yamaha). Great features/sound/looks, couldn’t be happier, except it is heavy, 42 lbs! 4th, I did a big search for a 'new to me' CD player, then realized I needed SACD as well. Asked/received help here, went thru about 9 recommended players (all used) until I tried the recommended Sony Vintage xa5400es, it sounds great.
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Most people don't get music. |
Oh my goodness, I love tubes. I even want one of those cool tube clocks! For me, it’s the NAD C658 all-in-one (preamp, DAC, streamer, DIRAC). The feature set sounded incredible and it used BluOS which I was familiar with from the Node I previously owned. I paid for the complete DIRAC version, invested in mic stand and purchased a UMIK. It sounded good for only a small portion of ownership, but I suspect it may have been due to a really good sweep in DIRAC. Great feature set, but never sounded musical and “right” in my system. Confirmation bias? 100%. But confirmation bias slowly goes away, too. |
i cannot name the company but 10 years ago, perhaps 12, i bought a low cost amplifier , it was so bad we discarded it with a friend after one minute... And it was not a damaged one . i sell it the next morning my friend do not want one too even for free ...and no break in will redeem it trust me... I bought it because of all unanimous reviewers ... Thats my point ...😁 I also bough and here i will name it because it is not american product , then no controversies, i bought a Hifiman He 400... Bad design and a sound less convincing than the Akg K701 which i dislike ...The Hifiman He 400 break on my head for no reason save bad design of the cups attachment to the headband ( yes i take care sorry about my headphones) ... Here too the reviewers were unanimous... I lost faith about singular reviewers here ... I started statistical analysis of users and of all reviews before buying .... It was a good decision ...😊 After that i go for 6 months of analysis for an amplifier and i was very lucky because more informed after an extensive search ... i own it till this day... i bought also 12 years ago a pair of active speakers well reviewed everywhere... I hated it ...but one year ago i modified them extensively and now they are audiophile grade speakers ,incredible so for the price i dont need anything else...M-audio AV 40 ... But if you use them as they are out of the box you will never listen to them at their best and they are really extraordinary if we modify the porthole design , the waveguide of the tweeter , if we control the resonance and vibrations by tuned damping and isolation sandwich and if we use a tube preamplification and protect them agianst EMI .. They became so good i would be afraid to buy anything under 1000 bucks... Not bad for 100 bucks speakers i hated for 10 years before using them the right way ...
Never trust one or two or even three official recognized reviewers... Imagine it is me the reviewer : The american company producing the low cost amp i hated will be in bankrupcy... It is a good thing i was not a reviewer... They certainly created better design after that... Hifiman will also had suffer a lot from me ... All their models are not bad... And M-Audio will have recived from me only a enough acceptable review with no praise as Guttenberg did , praising them... In a way i was lucky because it is after modi9fication and optimization that they shine but not before sorry Steve Guttenberg... But i must say they were only really used as computer speakers even if they called it audiophile computer speakers... Anyway it is not false AFTER modifications of design ...😁 Now i am in love with them after 10 years of hate ... Then dont trust completely reviewers, trust your creativity...
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I really wanted to like the Blue Lights. Got a C2700 preamp new on trial and back it went. Looked nice though. I also had a much longer love hate relationship with my Auralic Aries G2. Even modified the power supply. It was just plain finicky on my network. I have been told I am hard to get along with. |
I had 2 pairs of speakers I gave up on. Von Schweikert VR33 speakers. Spent 6 months adjusting and breaking in, they still sounded terrible. Sold them and next owner loves them. Tekton Pendragon speakers. Very tall and lightweight speakers, flimsy shipping cartons arrived damaged. Tried to like them, tried 3 different amps, moved them all over the listening room. Where is the bass, never did find it. Back they went to Tekton. |
First Watt amps. Most S.S. preamps. Horns. Harbeth speakers, Sanders electrostats, big omni MBLs, most KEFs I have heard recently,and on. Unfortunately as my personal systems improve and as I become a better listener, the list of also rans grows every year. So much equipment these days misses the true color and texture of the music or colors these beyond recognition. |
I bought a Benchmark preamp because it had nearly perfect specs and when I put it in my system it was just dull and lifeless. I ran it for a month constantly and it just never seemed to sound good at all. There was a time in my life where I bought a lot of preamps and at times had no preamp. My Classe is as close to perfect as I could find. Very easy to listen to for hours and hours. |
I always wanted McIntosh stuff from when I way back in college (the 1970's), finally had the house and the money to get an amp and pre (sometime in the early 2000's) and never liked them. I thgough it was me or my other equipment, but nothing made it sound good. This is just my expereience and opinion. Loved the looks though. Now the last time I said something against McIntosh stuff, even though I said clearly it was just my opinion, I was insulted to the point that I made a complaint to the moderator. She took the thread down. I am hoping that doesn't happen again, but wanted to add to this thread, which I find interesting. |
@secretguy .....yeah, in the 1800's, tube anything was pretty rare... ;) It started to improve in the 20th C, finally going bonkers here into the 21st. I still swear at my crystal hairwire driven tuner tho'....😏 The separation between channels is insane.... |
That’s something, but it’s not confirmation bias.
And that’s not how confirmation bias works.
Also not how confirmation bias works.
Just FYI, fellas. |
That happened to me with a McIntosh amp and preamp. I gave them about six months, a period where I tried different cables and different speaker positions. To be fair, it was a great sounding combo and I loved the look, but it just wasn't checking all the boxes for my personal taste in the way I wanted my system to sound. Luckily, I don't suffer from confirmation bias and I didn't take too bad of a beating when I sold them. I do suffer from buyer's remorse, and I can safely say that the amount of pain you derive from it is directly proportional to the amount it cost you to inflict it upon yourself. 🤑 |
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My Jazz albums / CD's. Especially "Kind of Blue" I've never been able to listen to the whole album because it puts me to sleep. I know one must be a jazz or female vocals guy in order to have an affirmed audiophile card but those genres just don't move me. Me too. I’ve come to like some jazz but I can’t get into Miles. 🤷🏻♂️ |
@bojack is that your personal opinion or just a word salad? |
😊 Anyone who does not get Bach "art of the fugue" a) lack a soul and b) does not deserve to even call themselves a music lover. Harsh but true!
😁😊😋😎
(But our musical biases, even the informed one cannot be imposed on others back, especially after a false alternative proposed as truth...) The only exception for sure is Bach partitions😉... Any of them MUST be loved and merit to be put over anything ( i really think so by the way😜 ) ... Period... I am half joking here...
Bach is my forever favorite composer...And i am not alone in my gang of enlightened souls... I apologize i could not resist... After all Bach art of the fugue is over a jazz session so good it was and it is... I apologize to Miles and the others who anyway will be Ok with my opinion because they are first rate musicians ... Sorry.... 😊 |
Phillips SACD 1000. Back in 2001, it was all the rage. Made the cover of Stereophile, lots of hyperbole. It originally sold for $2k, but all of a sudden I saw prices at $400, so had to do it. Well, turns out it suffered from a known flaw with the cd transport that Phillips couldn’t, or wouldn’t fix. I mean, this was a gorgeous piece of gear: heavy, beautiful, minimalist. But even before my transport gave out, I didn’t really hear it as the game-changer I was hoping for. There were almost no SACDs around, and I had a pretty nice, modified Nakamichi changer. I was able to get my money back, but it did involve a little conflict with the dealer. |
Never understood the concept of bashing someone else's preference in music. Personally, I have nothing against classical music, but I wouldn't listen to it even if I could use someone else's ears to do so. It's not good or bad, it's just not what I like. I also never audition my system for others because I didn't build it to please others. I built it to please me, and it does that admirably. |
For sure you are right! Be it Miles Davis and any other great musicians or Bach or Ali Akbar Khan, we cannot impose our values and tastes... We can only communicate them politely... Anyway all great musicians are in a world of their own and are uncomparable and all necessary for humankind ... Even those i will not name whom i like less...😊
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I listen to jazz probably 40% of the time (otherwise classic rock - only classical is that part of Days of Future Passed), mainly late fifties to mid 60's with a little progressive stuff in there from the 80's and beyond. Of course Coltrane is heavily in the mix. I just can't stand A Love Supreme and it is always rated highly among his records. Same goes for a few other very highly rated jazz choices that are I guess a little too "out there" for my taste like Eric Dolphy and Wayne Shorter's The All Seeing Eye.. If you don't like Miles you don't like jazz, and that's OK. Kind of Blue is a masterpiece, highly influenced by the great Bill Evans. This is the only album of Miles' he plays on. BTW, I only like Miles' records from the late 50's to early 60's, and I know Bitches Brew is always named among his best, but that is also in the Love Supreme category. I just don't get it. |
(uhmm, I think it's "Bach Partitas") To get back to the regret-drenched topic of this thread: some years ago I went through a long period of researching passive volume controllers. I had been using a very nice sounding, transformer based PVC from NHT for years, but needed additional outputs, so went on a deep PVC dive. Ultimately it led me to a Goldpoint PVC that (with much difficulty) I had the mfr configure the way I wanted, not the way he wanted. Paid a lot, put it in system, and the sound was horrifying: thin, bright, lifeless. In fairness to Goldpoint, which makes terrific stepped pots, PVCs that don't use transformers or autoformers often sound pretty bad, as they're wholly dependant on the impedance/capacitance of whatever is upstream & downstream. In any case, I wasn't paying attention. The answer was to search for PVCs that use transformers or autoformers. There are some beauties of this kind out there. Unfortunately they're very expensive. Ah, well. Another day, another unfulfilled obsession... |
Zu Cube speakers, the shrill of the Lowther Shout was unbearable. McIntosh MA6500, the ridiculously bad phono stage, not to mention the overall product quality (illumination bulbs, meters, screeching potentiometers). @artemus_5 the same here, I can’t get through the whole side of the album and I have tried numerous times. Not even close to my cup of tea. @sokogear "If you don't like Miles you don't like jazz, and that's OK." I do not have beef with Jazz and definitely I am not the one who does not like it, just The Kind of Blue is annoying to me. |
@benanders enlighten us then, how confirmation bias work. |
Adcom GFA-545 (Nelson Pass version). Lusted after them in the 80’s when they came out, but could not afford them. Bought one used, and ultimately decided it was just too ‘dry’ and a bit grating to my ears. Sold it off to a local Adcom fan. Replaced it with a B&K 125.2 and it was like night and day to my ears….so comforting in its presentation. It was like ‘home’. Still like most old B&K amps for their presentation, have one in my bedroom system. |
Thanks for reminding me of Adcom. Have had the 555s and then the monos and couldnt really ever come to like them. Still use a 535 in my garage, although this is soon to be replaced with most likely a vintage tube integrated. If I dont sell my pair of vintage horns soon, A. Dudley's reference, they are destined for the garage as well. |
Jazz comprises more than 50% of my listening and at times has comprised a much greater proportion since I first began exploring it in the mid 70’s. There are numerous Jazz luminaries and genres missing from my collection because they simply don’t engage me. I’m not a scholar. I’m a music lover and I listen to what pleases me. RE: Miles, the Second Great Quintet and its predecessor with George Coleman constituted "desert island" recordings for me. I own none of the recordings by the earlier Quintet with Coltrane. No Chet Baker. No Ella. No Ellington. No Armstrong. No B. Holiday. No Basie. No Dolphy. Gee, I must really hate Jazz! Actually,I don’t hate any of the above. There are simply other Jazz artists to whom I’d rather listen.
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