sksos,
I remember that company. It was started by an expat from Wilson Audio. I read good things too, they were supposed to be efficient for one thing. They went bell-up pretty fast though. That was a terrible financial loss for you.
Your single most significant purchase mistake?
Your most significant regret for having bought? Big expectations and an even bigger letdown? The one you kicked yourself the hardest for ever having bight
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Not measuring twice and buying an extra 1.0M worth of interconnects and power cords. It was compounded by the fact that I have mono blocks and two subwoofer amps and they are sited 12 feet from the preamp. That's a lot of extra cables/cords--and they are very fine (and expensive). Ouch. Wish I hadn't done that. |
That forum hyper gave out so much trash "information". I'm sure you're not the only one that got hosed, |
secretguy596 posts
“That forum hyper gave out so much trash "information". I'm sure you're not the only one that got hosed,”
All trails leading back to one particular ‘Individual’ thankfully no longer able to shill products on here for his buddies
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Lol @fthompson251 They’re great for PA Systems and or supplying the muscle needed for Home Audio sub drivers, but that pretty much sums them up. |
There are those items I let 'go away' that I regret now.....but one must move onward and up 'different', which is my rationale...or excuse, if one prefers....*s* One either enjoys 'where you're at', or off into the swap swamp or into the detail dilemmas (cables, ic's, specs vs. reviews vs. 'bench racing' ) and the eternal "...it costs What?!" That can kill allurer faster almost as fast as snorting bleach...which, over audio items, is understood but rampantly inconceivable. I like 'the cheap seats'.....but picky enough to get the good ones... ;) |
I have had good luck with a couple of items discussed here. Worst decision: selling the BEL Mark IV Best decision: Proac 1sc, for my ‘office’ system |
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Rel s812 subs. Without a doubt the worst purchase I ever made. Kept believing all that hype but when it came time to perform, although they were fast, they just didn’t go low enough and were incredibly difficult to integrate. (I guess most likely because there’s no fine-tuning on the back of them) Seeing how they were overpriced to begin with, I lost a lot of money in that transaction. Regardless, lesson learned, will never buy on media hype ever again. |
@zavato - Mr. OP, did you provide an answer to your own question? Curious, didn't see one. Were you thinking about a mistake you had made when you posted this question? |
NAD C275. Not an expensive purchase but was my first real foray into separates. Huge expectations. I had just purchased a NAD preamp and was looking forward to audio bliss. Then for kicks, I put my old 1994 Carver TFM-15 in there and it killed the NAD. And I mean it totally murdered it. I had always used the Carver with CD directly into it. It sounded OK. But with preamp in front of it, WOW. Break-in did not help...sold the amp the same month. It scared me into really vetting gear before I buy. 10 years later, I haven't had a purchase regret since. |
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@cleeds & other Aurender N100H folks: I have had similar troubles, although to date Ari has got me back & running. Question: knowing this will be just a temporary component on my digital side, WITH WHAT DID YOU REPLACE the N100H? |
I had a N100H back in 2016. I hated it. Their conductor software was always a work in progress. Every time I powered it up, I had to hold my breath because I never knew what would happen. It always had trouble finding my router, even though the N100H was on the shelf just above it. After 2 months ownership, I sold it for half of what I paid and bought a second Sony HAPZ1ES player. Unfortunately, 6 years later, the Sony won’t turn on and I can’t find anyone to fix it. I really think that todays audio equipment is too complicated and tries to do too much. Bring back the good old 70’s! |
Bryston BDP-3. It sounds great and is very stable. Of course it comes with legendary Bryston support, which unlike Aurender's one-man show actually delivers - not that you'll need it much. You can add Rigelian software if you like. |
Schitt Aegir - Had a pair that would crash and burn while driving LSA Statement 10s and Fyne F501 speakers. Come to find out their advertised ratings weren't even close according to actual testing by Stereophile and Audio Science Review. After zero response from Schiit I sold them for a loss
Lumin U1 Mini - Absolutely horrible app GUI and way to dark of a sound for me. I sent it back and bought the Auralic Aries which it fantastic. |
@sandthemall : good call on the Carver TFM15! I have the cb version in use in the front room system driving OHM Walsh Sound Cylinders. I bought the TFM15cb at Goodwill for $20! |
The whole surround sound think, especially the final system, a Yamaha DVD player that was unreliable, Rotel Pre processer that never worked properly with volume that changed mid track lots of lights but no setting that was not awful, 2 channel power amp that was really quite superb and stayed as a stereo amp for 15 years until recently, a 5 channel power amp with no guts and 5 Kef speakers that apart from the centre, I still have but have no need for, were lumpy and disjointed. |
I read someware that the i2s connection between a streamer and a DAC has the best sound quality. I wanted to get the most out of my fancy DAC so I went a head and purchased this 5K streamer with an i2s output. Little did I know that streamers in general preaty much sounds the same, plus I can't tell the difference between my $500 node 2i S/PDIF output and this $5000 streamer i2s output both going into my DAC. This was the largest mistake I made to date. Lately, I tend to think that an all in one amp of the highest level, something like a darTZeel amp, can sound as good or better then seperates, costing about the same, looks better, and without the jungle of expansive cables dangling at the back on the floor. What do you guys think? |
@Jasonbourne52 That's a great find for $20! Mine is the TFM-15CB too. On eBay a few years back I bought a TFM-35 NOS in the box for $450. No pictures, just the outside of the box. This I had compared head to head with Don Sach's Kootenay. And, yes, the Kootenay was the better with more body...but the Carver had a slightly prettier top end. The Kootenay didn't murder the Carver...in fact, in a bizarre sense, they sounded somewhat similar. They were both running through a Don Sachs preamp. Also the Kootenay had only 50+ hours on it and would surely sound better in time. |
I have an N100H sitting in storage. I had problems with it too and as you just said, every time I turned it on I never knew if it would "see" my router or not. I replaced it with an Aurender W20 and it has been a complete joy to use. Never a single problem finding the router. Ari at Aurender is an excellent dude. Whatever he is being paid, Aurender ought to double it. I got to know Ari too with my N100H. With my W20 we are now strangers. Btw, the SQ with the W20 is night and day to the N100H. |
(great thread) I learned at least something from the few truly bad components I ever owned. But the first was the worst (and the most learning): it was an Infinity floorstanding 3-way with ribbon tweeter, 3" midrange and 10" woofer in a tall, shallow tilt-back cabinet with wood endcaps. To my not-yet-experienced-audiophile eyes, these speakers looked amazing. And I was reading about giant Infinity IRS speakers that cost as much as small houses of the day, so plunged on these "gently used" speakers. Think I paid $1,200 for them. The sound was AWFUL. To this day it’s easily the brightest, edgiest sound ever. At least some blame went to the ribbon tweeter. But even the woofer sounded awful. It was made of translucent polypropylene which was pretty, but it had a weird "trampoline" (bouncy) bass sound that made me never want polypropylene anything again. To make it sound better, I changed everything upstream that could be changed--the sound never improved. I finally realized speakers are one component where the "neighborhood" rule is in play: if you don’t get a sound that’s at least "in the neighborhood" for you from the get-go, you’ll never mod, reposition, or otherwise refine those sound-like-ass speakers. |
I challenge those who claim, assert, and insist that Aurender has only one person handling all customer inquiry, troubleshooting, and support matters this is a very hard to justify accusation that does not seem possible there are obviously people with agendas hear and without clear support, proof and documentation such claims should be removed from this site they are wrong. |
On the back of great reviews I bought an Antipodes server which took me literally weeks to get up and running as the set up guide and my technical knowledge combined to make it almost unuseable The most disappointing part was the lack of support, given the rave reviews of the manufacturer, and how helpful they were supposed to be. Didn't get a single reply to my emails or attempts to contact, including trying to register for the extended warranty Tried to swap it out with the dealer but the allowance against the price paid made my eyes water and I eventually sold at a significant loss within a year of purchase...... ....went back to a CD player and couldn't be happier (now the hassle and financial hit have been, almost, forgotten) |
2 examples come to mind...a trapezoidal shaped Kenwood receiver with a space age LED pad remote that had a shape to match. Oh and also the Kenwood that came with the blue smooth membrane remote, Kenwood tried hard after the classic silver-face days to bring innovative space age looking designs. The products just weren't ready for prime time. And even worse, and some years earlier---a "home theater" set of Pinnacle speakers bought at hi-fi-fo-fum in Lawton, OK. The subwoofer even was passive. Only speakers I ever had that had a zero excitement to its sound signature. Oh sorry it was supposed to be singular---I don't like abiding by rules. If I were pressed---the Pinnacles. |
Most of my adult life I wanted McIntosh. After an accident and reward from it money I bought McIntosh. Sales experience horrible, no questions of what I listened to or solid state versus tube. So I can tell you that I have found much better sound at a fraction of the cost. I could have been sold better, educated better and maybe had spent more but because of all the above my Mac experience was a true disappointment |
My biggest mistake was not anticipating how much fun this hobby would be and so started out not spending what I could have and therefore continually upgrading. For example, I went from a Rega P6, then an 8, then a 10, and then scrapping the brand altogether and bought a Bergmann table. Same with the phonostage- went through 3 before getting what I ultimately have kept. Same with my preamp/amp - started with an integrated and went to separates pretty quickly after that. Each time losing some money all the way and let me tel you it adds up!!!! |
Biggest mistake was dealing with Mike Powell Bought a pair of AGD Tempo GAN amps and just didn’t work out in my system. Sent them back within 3 weeks of the 30 day trial and he said he spent my money. He pieced me back the 9k over a 10 week period while calling me names, and dogging my system. |
