Nah, in the UK they were *cheeky* little boxes and some of them punched way beyond their standing... The Nu-Vista preamp was w@nked over by Ken Kessler in HFN, yet the simpler cheaper solid state version XP-100 was the same sounding (some caps go off on these I gather now), we sold dozens of the X-ray CD player which didn't sound as 'messy' as the Arcam Alpha 9 (with 'Ring' dac chip) did. The XAS-100 power amp was delightful and the XA 200 mono's awesome, if 'dryer' sounding than the smaller stereo one I mention. There was also an effective integrated too.
Now, the thing is and hopefully knowing what I know now, I'd love to see these measured (in restored/serviced form) to see if our listening vibes translate into measurements (they must really but it'd scratch that itch well). Maybe they were pretty bad, but as I believe E.A.R's Tim de Paravicini (R.I.P.) may have designed them and that he could design to order it seems, I doubt it and I'm intrigued. Did these units find their way in any quantity to the US market?