Dynaudio S5.4
Rogue RP-5
Bryston BDA-3
What Gear Has Disappointed You?
While it's clearly not an absolute fact, we tend to have an expectation that a more expensive product should be better. Within a given brand it really should be a fact, but because there's a wide range of factors in play when it comes to pricing it's not necessarily true when comparing different brands. I think that it's fair to say that when we purchase a more expensive product we generally have an expectation that it'll perform better. In the cases where our experience confirms this belief it can be the result of the product actually being better and/or some expectation bias. In a sense, it doesn't really matter which it is.
With this in mind, have you ever purchased a product expecting it to be superior only find that it was clearly inferior in your experience?
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Schiit Gungnir. Just did not have the sound quality for the price. In my comparisons, Chord Qutest and RME ADI2 both better, for different reasons. Surprisingly, KEF LS50 Meta. Lots of hype, but for classical music the timbres were just not reproduced well, especially highs. Fine for amplified music like rock and roll. |
Back about 10 years ago I decided to get serious about power delivery and purchase a more expensive than had power conditioner. I bought a Running Springs Audio Dmitri power conditioner (around 5k new) I was shocked how closed-in and warm it made everything. Maybe I already had to much warmth at the time and it just wasn’t a good fit. But I surely didn’t expect a power conditioner to impart such a seemingly strong sonic profile onto everything. Out it went after just a few days and I lost more reselling it than any other purchase before or since. |
A decade plus a few years ago, adding home theater in a different room from my two- channel system, I purchased a Pioneer Elite top model receiver. Just after it went out of warranty—~three years, I think, it died. I called Pioneer for an RMA to pay to have it repaired and was told that the failure code indicated the main processor had gone bad and that the company that produced them had gone out of business … and that there was no replacement. I was directed to my dealer to purchase a new Pioneer; end of conversation. I did go to my dealer, who, saying he felt bad about my experience, sold me—allegedly at his cost and it was a very good price— a new, top line but second level Marantz, which has worked superbly ever since. So, Pioneer Elite is off my preferred list. |
+1 @okhunter
I gave up on the BDP 3 for the same reason. I got tired of waiting for Bryston to do something about it. I own the DAC3 and use with with a Melco N 100 and a CA CXN60. .
The Bryston optical player was a piece of crap as well. |
I love all my other Bryston gear (14BSST, BCD-1, BDA-3, BP-26 PRE-AMP) but the interface (Manic Moose) for the BDP-3 Network player is so unappealing to use, that mine has been sitting unused for more than a year. |
@bigtwin - I took the negative approach because it's hard know if the improvement is a result of truly being real or if it's just different colored by expectation bias. If someone paid for a product that they expected to be better and found that it wasn't, it seems like expectation bias would not be a factor as the result was the opposite of what was expected. Ideally, I was looking for responses that said I had a $1000 component and then purchased a $3000 component and found that it wasn't an improvement. |
Adcom GFP-565 preamp (early Nineties). Highly touted by the Mags but extremely ordinary performance. Replaced with a Classe 6. Now you're talking... Another was the Magnepan MMG speakers (mid Seventies). Were pleasing to the ear until I heard some Conrad Johnson "Synthesis" floor standers which were clearly superior in every way. Granted, the CJs were 3-4 times the price but... Lastly, for whatever reason, I've never been able to warm up to Audioquest cables. Not extensive exposure but never seemed to keep them more than a few months. I did own and enjoy their "Lapis" phono cables for a few years.
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@mceljo I think you are asking what equipment has not prespecteformed to our expectations, given the money paid, as in better sound? So far, I am reading about failures in equipment, which is not really the same thing. More bad luck than musical performance? It might have been better to ask what if any equipment you've paid more for, surprised to the upside in musical performance? My experience in almost all upgrades has been disappointment in the sound improvement. Not to say there wasn't any, but the cost/benefit relationship really falls off when you have any kind of decent system to start with. By example, I had a $600 Audiolab 6000 CDT in my system. I now have an Esoteric K-03XD. Yes, I did hear an improvement in sound. Did it justify the obscene increase in system cost? No. I can say the same with moving from a $10K Triton Reference to a $25K Acoustic Zen Crescendo Mark ll, or $25K Focal Sopra 2. (Canadian dollars) It was splitting hairs between the three sets of speakers. It would be a wonderful world if spending twice as much on any piece of equipment brought huge improvement to the overall sound of my system, but sadly, for me anyway, this has never been the case. Well, there was that one 3 foot power cord that blew my mind with the increase to sound stage, more air between the instruments, a nearly 3 dimensional aspect to the performance and don’t get me started on how tight the bass was or the incredible improvement to the midrange and highs…….. Sorry but I couldn’t resist. 🤣 |
CAMBRIDGE AV equipment - (1);the very top model CAMBRIDGE AVR (model number escapes me for the moment ….) It suddenly and catastrophically failed twice in the reported faulty P,O.S HDMI board ,..,it suddenly crapped out TOTALLY TWICE during its three-year warranty period. The entire HDMI motherboard was replaced each time. The first FUHBAR was a failed HDMI Motherboard case that was only 13 months out from new; and it was thankfully covered by warranty, The second catastrophic HDMI board FUHBAR was only 27 months out from new after very light use,…and the distributor now fought me and refused to honour the warranty. It was their BS argument that it was somehow now my fault that created fatal damage to the hdmi connectors from my alleged repeated swap-in and swap-out of HDMI cable connectors . (Hint: there were repeated no swap-ins or swap-outs ,,,,once only to set it up …) (2) The stablemate top model CAMBRIDGE Blu-Ray player.
MY TAKEAWAY I immediately sold the AVR and grudgingly rendered the stablemate Blu-ray player to a boat anchor status.
MY TAKEAWAY CAMBRIDGE AV equipment is very good WHEN IT WORKS ….but otherwise is a must-to-avoid IMO. |
Bought a new Rotel 975 cdp for $550, back in 1996, not cheap. 7 years later, the drawer went bad, controls unresponsive. This happened twice, in a three year time period, and had it repaired by two different techs. Well, as the saying goes- "the third time is a charm", so I trashed it. I miss that player, it was pretty good sounding. Bought, a used Rega Apollo, which lasted 2 years, until the ribbon cabble went bad. I then, bought a used Rega Saturn, which lasted a year, before its` ribbon cabble and lazer assy went bad. I had the Saturn repaired by a reputable tech, but eventually, has issues. Still have a cheap ol’ NAD 515, bought in 1995, still going strong. |
