Regrets in buying super expensive components

[Theta]

How many have been convinced by reviewers and bought very high end components who turned out to be excellent as promised but later discovered that they brought no significant improvement to your system. Please exclude snake oil and cables BS. Tell us your stories.

 

[Purité Audio]

Meridian 808 CD player ( this is pre PA) already used their 508.24, Grahams of Islington lent it to me, couldn’t really hear any difference between the two I asked my girlfriend and her flatmate ( not in the kitchen) they couldn’t either but the 808 looked much more impressive at that time, now actually prefer the 508 aesthetic.
When I started PA I must have auditioned twenty CD players with a view to retailing them all sounded pretty much identical ( sighted ) only one with a valve output was different and that was really poor.
We never did sell a CD player.
Keith

 

[Mort]

B&W Nautilus

 

[Purité Audio]

I had always used Meridian active speakers but reading a magazine ( what a fool I was) convinced me to change to the then new B&W 800s they were really difficult to drive, the shop convinced me that a small DNM ( low power perspex case) would be powerful enough to drive them it wasn’t.
Pass Labs something else then an ASR Emitter seemed to work best, entirely my fault, my ignorance and believing everything that I was told/read.
Active loudspeakers are just better in every respect imho .
Keith

 

[MattHooper]

The single piece of equipment that I can remember, regretting was the Uptone USB REGEN. Not terribly expensive I think a couple hundred bucks or something. But I bought it before reading Amir’s review which showed it to be useless. I sold it on the market opened. But the guy who bought it demanded a refund because he said it was faulty. So was losing proposition all around.

Aside from that, I’ve spent a fair amount of money on gear, including stretching my budget sometimes, and some of it that I think would be seen as overspending, but I haven’t regretted one single thing. Every piece of gear has provided me satisfaction and pleasure.

 

[Chrispy]

I tend to simply make my own mind up about things. Can't think of very many reviewers whose opinion is meaningful especially in audio.

 

[suttondesign]

Meridian 808 CD player ( this is pre PA) already used their 508.24, Grahams of Islington lent it to me, couldn’t really hear any difference between the two I asked my girlfriend and her flatmate ( not in the kitchen) they couldn’t either but the 808 looked much more impressive at that time, now actually prefer the 508 aesthetic.
When I started PA I must have auditioned twenty CD players with a view to retailing them all sounded pretty much identical ( sighted ) only one with a valve output was different and that was really poor.
We never did sell a CD player.
Keith

Meridian. I had a cd player and a preamp a couple decades ago. They were nothing special.
Musical Fidelity DAC. It had a weird sound. I think it had to be high-order distortion.
Big, heavy planar-magnetic headphones. Just not worth the bother.

 

[pablolie]

How many have been convinced by reviewers and bought very high end components who turned out to be excellent as promised but later discovered that they brought no significant improvement to your system. Please exclude snake oil and cables BS. Tell us your stories.

I have never bought an expensive component because of an audio review that manipulated me. I bought them because I saw them, touched them, listened to them, and decided it was what I wanted for my "end game" system. And I'd still use them if my life circumstances hadn't changed... I loved that system for 15 years and would be still using them.

I did buy some stupid stuff in a $2k power conditioner and such, but it wasn't terrible.

My regret is in the 4 years of upgrade dementia I went through in my new environment, just buying box after box and speaker after speaker trying to convince myself I could hear a difference. Until I did admit to myself I could not.

So it was a mindset that I regret, and to which degree it was influenced by audio mags I can't exactly establish, but I'd say less than 20%.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I always think buying the highest price alternative in the market is a big mistake. In most cases the companies that made those products like Beveridge or Apogee have gone out of business, leaving the buyer in a quandary regarding how to service the product. That's why I'd rather own LS 3/5 a's than a pair of Beveridge Electrostatics. Likewise a Hafler DH-220 is probably more serviceable today than, say, a Levinson ML-2. Ultimately, when you back away from that bleeding edge and buy a still excellent product, you'll probably find it's something that the market will embrace and continue to maintain because it's delivers a high quality experience and can, even if the originating company goes belly up, be maintained by local electronic technicians. Something like a Linn will have a variety of mechanics continuing to service it (and it's still actively sold today), but a Versa Dynamics not so much.

 

[wwenze]

Nuforce icon speakers lol

 

[Doodski]

I was seduced by magazine articles to want an Arcam integrated amp, a B&K amp and pre-amp and a pair of the B&W 801 Matrix. I then became a service tech and was sent several Arcam amps for repair and found them to be run of the mill low production units, The B&K lust went after I saw the guts of a entry level B&K preamp and the B&W 801 Matrix lust faded after I built a set of transmission line KEF speakers and went tri-amp'd with active crossover. So I never bought based on the magazine stuff and thankfully so.

 

[amirm]

A system I would buy today, would cost half as much as what I have spent on my system. If not lower....

 

[Theta]

I have never bought an expensive component because of an audio review that manipulated me. I bought them because I saw them, touched them, listened to them, and decided it was what I wanted for my "end game" system. And I'd still use them if my life circumstances hadn't changed... I loved that system for 15 years and would be still using them.

I did buy some stupid stuff in a $2k power conditioner and such, but it wasn't terrible.

My regret is in the 4 years of upgrade dementia I went through in my new environment, just buying box after box and speaker after speaker trying to convince myself I could hear a difference. Until I did admit to myself I could not.

So it was a mindset that I regret, and to which degree it was influenced by audio mags I can't exactly establish, but I'd say less than 20%.

Same here, the speaker thing is the most costly. Sooner or latter one realizes that all small speakers are crap even if they measure well, Large speakers with at least a 12 inch woofer, even if not the best measuring will give you more satisfaction with a variety of music types.

 

[Theta]

I always think buying the highest price alternative in the market is a big mistake. In most cases the companies that made those products like Beveridge or Apogee have gone out of business, leaving the buyer in a quandary regarding how to service the product. That's why I'd rather own LS 3/5 a's than a pair of Beveridge Electrostatics. Likewise a Hafler DH-220 is probably more serviceable today than, say, a Levinson ML-2. Ultimately, when you back away from that bleeding edge and buy a still excellent product, you'll probably find it's something that the market will embrace and continue to maintain because it's delivers a high quality experience and can, even if the originating company goes belly up, be maintained by local electronic technicians. Something like a Linn will have a variety of mechanics continuing to service it (and it's still actively sold today), but a Versa Dynamics not so much.

You are right about Beveridge, Although they are still near state of the art,, the down side is you wont be able to get service and they are practically not sell able..But you are comparing Toyotas to BMW. LS3/a Is just a compact voice speaker not intended for music and overrated and over priced. Hafler DH220 is a excellent mosfet amp as were all Hafler products but not in the same league as the Levinson and other class AB Bipolar amps.

 

[JaccoW]

I mostly buy stuff that reviewers tell me is useless but I enjoy it nonetheless. Think the Topping P50 linear power supply and the Topping display base.

Also, the occasional SACD though I plan on selling my player since I mostly listed to the ripped disks.

 

[Koeitje]

Not really that expensive, but I bought a pair PMC Twenty.22's second hand. I was glad I didn't sell my DIY speakers (not build by me) before getting them, because those PMC's where not very good. At first listen they didn't sound too bad, but that changed after a couple of minutes and listening to different tracks. They had too much treble and there was something weird going on in the bass (had some weird transmission line noise at certain frequencies). Sold them and bought Revel M106's for less than I paid for the PMC's and they were absolutely perfect. It also made me realize how good my DIY speakers where, because in terms of tonality they were pretty close to the Revel just a little less refined here and there.

Amir measured the Twenty.21's (their smaller brother) I think and it showed the same issues. Weird bump at 100hz and Amir also notes weird bass performance, plus too bright in-room. This was long after I already sold my Twenty.22's, so it's not some kind of self fulfilling prophecy.

 

[CapMan]

Dual mono Devialet Expert Pro - convinced myself it was less sibilant with two in mono rather than a single unit running stereo - expectation bias and absence of controlled listening can be expensive

 

[Waxx]

Same here, the speaker thing is the most costly. Sooner or latter one realizes that all small speakers are crap even if they measure well, Large speakers with at least a 12 inch woofer, even if not the best measuring will give you more satisfaction with a variety of music types.

It's not the size of the woofer, it's the combination of high sensivity (that gives massive headroom and low distortion at average living room levels) combined with a low response that makes many love big woofers. And so do I. I build a few JBL like speaker sets for some people and one for myself is in the planning, probally with a 12" woofer (or at least a 10") and a compression driver in a horn. It's not to play loud, it's to have massive headroom (and the controlled dispertion of the trreble) that make me prefer those above most dome tweeter/small woofer hifi speaker of today.

The disadvantage is the size, my setup will be big, the smallest bass cabinet that i simmed (i always do a lot of designs before i decide what to build) is about 50x90x40cm big, and the tweeter horn adds another 40cm height, and that is with a 10". A 12" woofer variation of it would be 60x53x110cm for the bass cabinet.

And if you look at commercial iterations of such a setup like the JBL M2 or 4367 (that use 15" woofer) they are all massive in size. That does not fit every situation, and not the modern fashion where speakers should be small and almost invisible. Not that i follow that fashion, but most do... And i'm now talking 2 way systems, if you want more ways it even becomes bigger...

But for some, good quality earbuds or small bookshelf's is all they need, and as long as they enjoy the music (or other media) they play with it, i think its valid. Just know what you get and for what. And don't take your personal preference in this as the general truth. We measure here objectively (and that is very needed for various reasons), but at the end we are all individuals with a personal preference, and not everybody think alike on that. Pick what fits you, not what your neighbour or friend tells you to get. But pick it for the right reason and with the right knowledge about it.

 

[DSJR]

ARC SP14 preamp (£2500 in the UK in 1989 or so). Not that it was at all bad for me at the time, but I discovered a UK made Croft model which 'sounded the same' for well under half the price (£899) back then. It fed a pair of Tube Technology Genesis mono amps (also £2500pr) which ate their quads of EL34 output valves in under a year and which had two 'upgrades' in that time as well. Had I bought a then similarly priced pair of E.A.R. 509s (now seemingly over ten grand the pair), I believe they'd still be running and arguably on the original output valves as well!

 

[mhardy6647]

Being a) cheap and b) kind of unwilling to spend large sums all at once unless necessary, I've bought very little expensive hifi componentry. That said, I can think of one four-figure purchase that was pretty disappointing all in all.



Full disclosure, I bought it used/demo and the price was relatively reasonable... but nothing about the tt, arm, motor/drive, nor cartridge is all that great.
It's still here , packed up in its original box and sitting upstairs on the floor with some other stuff on it.

This is the one I do use, FWIW, when I do play a record.