What gear you wouldn't buy because of its name or cult status.

[Goodman]

This unfortunate answer? yes. There are brands that I liked without any reason other than convinced that they sounded good. I would think that many subjectivist audiophiles behave that way too. There is a herd mentality in the HEA. Out of nowhere a brand comes and people flock to it and it, sometimes, disappears, comes another and the cycle continues... . Back in the days, in the late 80's, early 90's there was a school of "synergy", it is still around, perhaps not as strong or perhaps I haven't kept up with what's going on at the HEA (High End Audio) level: They would marry said-dark tonalities components with lighter-shade of tones, components . And they would assign such "quality" to a brand... and, the subjective audiophiles, will believe... For example Spectral was "cold", Mark Levinson "dark", Rowland a bit "mellow", tube-like, Audio Research was supposed to be the more neutral of tubes-wares and Conrad Johnson the more "chocolatey", "velvety"... So you married a "cold" preamp to a "warm" amp, using "neutral" sources that were leaning toward the "mellow" and of couse with cables of appropriate character.... And you spent increasingly more money, lot of it, chasing that forever wrong-sounding audio system, with amplifier changes, preamplifier changes, cable changes, eventually speaker changes, you dropped without any measurements a forest of tall cylinders in your listening environment, the famous ASC Tube Traps, found out the bass lacking then bought a different cable, amp, speaker.... Such is the madhouse in which most subjective audiophiles inhabit. It makes money for the industry, things that would be simply solved with EQ are dealt with "synergy" and ( increasingly expensive of course) components changes... . The magazines and reviewers on their end touting every month increasingly expensive wares... keep this alive....

I did like and continue to respect some HEA brands that tend to produce components of serious quality and objective performances, among these :Magico, YG Acoustics, Revel, Bryston (they of the 20 years warranty)... There are others that I can't recall at the moment, nor do I want to ...for the most part, I would advise people to stay away from HEA brands. The level of fleecing and falsehoods in this sector is appalling.

Peace.

Magico? Really?

 

[tifune]

iFi - much like Chord, they have the expertise to know better yet they continue to market to the religiosity of headphone enthusiasts, sprinkling in cherry-picked specs and/or non-existent needs to add an air of legitimacy.

IFi Diablo = "made for power hungry IEMs". If anyone knows an IEM that needs 1W+, I'd love to hear about it?

 

[FrantzM]

Magico? Really?

Look at some measurements. They hold their own. Some models anyway. Here’s an interesting thread here on ASR:

Looking for insights into Magico's amazing off-axis measurements

The off-axis response of early generation Magico speakers was nothing special. Here are Stereophile's normalized horizontal off-axis curves for the Magico V3, and the radiation pattern mis-match between the 6" midwoofer and 1" tweeter in the crossover region is pretty obvious. We see the...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[paddycrow]

Magico? Really?

Everyone needs a speaker that costs more than their car (and some houses)!

 

[JABrown]

Hifiman.

 

[teched58]

Anything by Bob Carver (or whoever is masquerading as him/his company these days).

Anything recommended by Stereophile. (The assumption I'm making here, which is correct 99% of the time, is that we're talking about their usual $10,000 "affordable" stuff. I know what they're thinking: "Oooooooooo, you're jealous of the "rich" people."

 

[Astoneroad]

Sorry, not sorry … the MAC7200 is on my bucket list!

View attachment 198833
That is, until I have to lift it!

This is my end game system (MC 7300)... no apologies... I love it... I've got a couple names that are on this "Shun" list... lol... vintage Sonus Faber & McIntosh... total spent... under $9k... I really don't crave anything else... Seize the moment.

 

[threni]

Anything by Bob Carver (or whoever is masquerading as him/his company these days).

Anything recommended by Stereophile. (The assumption I'm making here, which is correct 99% of the time, is that we're talking about their usual $10,000 "affordable" stuff. I know what they're thinking: "Oooooooooo, you're jealous of the "rich" people."

Hehe. Whenever I look at expensive cars, hifi, watches etc I always think "the best thing you can say about rich people - they just have no taste whatsoever".

 

[Ron Texas]

Double Anchovies Capsicum, what I'd like on the pizza

Me too!

 

[killdozzer]

This looks like good fun!

I wouldn't buy Arcam because there was a war criminal in out parts called Arkan.

I wouldn't buy Karan because there's a dumb prick singer in our parts called Karan.

But most importantly, I wouldn't buy Wangine. Guess why? Go ahead, guess!

 

[Angsty]

Anything by Bob Carver (or whoever is masquerading as him/his company these days).

Anything recommended by Stereophile. (The assumption I'm making here, which is correct 99% of the time, is that we're talking about their usual $10,000 "affordable" stuff. I know what they're thinking: "Oooooooooo, you're jealous of the "rich" people."

I think Stereophile and Absolute Sound both recently recommended Topping.

 

[killdozzer]

If a piece of gear does what I want, I don't think I'd let brand dissuade me.
McIntosh I can see how it rubs some people the wrong way, but man I've had a couple of their tuners and while there are alternatives those were super sweet tuners.

I'd not be ashamed to own anything Spectral has made.

I've heard Wilsons that were good, but that one takes care of itself on being over-priced for performance offered. OTOH if I got some kind of super deal on some I'd go for it. Then I'd have the dilemma of whether to keep it or sell it for a profit and spend those funds on something else.

There is plenty I wouldn't buy due to poor performance, but not just because of its name or cult status.

What makes a tuner a great tuner? An honest question from someone who knows nothing about tuners.

 

[Angsty]

What makes a tuner a great tuner? An honest question from someone who knows nothing about tuners.

Sensitivity and selectivity.

This review is memorable to me because of its discussion of those measures and it got me to buy the product many years ago. I still own it along with another NAD tuner.

NAD 1600 Tuner/Preamplifier Review price specs - Hi-Fi Classic

www.hifi-classic.net

 

[killdozzer]

Sensitivity and selectivity.

*Pending further explanation.*

 

[killdozzer]

Look at some measurements. They hold their own. Some models anyway. Here’s an interesting thread here on ASR:

Looking for insights into Magico's amazing off-axis measurements

The off-axis response of early generation Magico speakers was nothing special. Here are Stereophile's normalized horizontal off-axis curves for the Magico V3, and the radiation pattern mis-match between the 6" midwoofer and 1" tweeter in the crossover region is pretty obvious. We see the...

audiosciencereview.com

That's a hard case to make for Magico considering some brands hold their own at a fraction of a price.

 

[Angsty]

*Pending further explanation.*

I edited my earlier entry before the 5 minute time limit was up.

 

[killdozzer]

Going on:

Popcorn. It's just dumb. I mean... Popcorn. Come on. And just look at how much they're asking for such a silly name. The profit margin is close to actual cinema popcorns.

 

[Angsty]

That's a hard case to make for Magico considering some brands hold their own at a fraction of a price.

I admire Magico for their engineering approach. These are not mass market products; they are definitely luxury products. They are made in small quantities in an artisanal fashion with unusually high end materials. I don’t claim they are “worth” their cost, but the cost is justifiable given the production techniques and their distribution system. There is not a lot of doubt that Magico products do perform well, but others can approach their performance at lower cost.

 

[Angsty]

Jeff Rowland
Accuphase

I do have an especially hard time understanding the Accuphase cult. To me, Luxman delivers a similar level of performance and luxury feel at lower (but still high!) price points. To me, Accuphase just smacks of the “in crowd”.

 

[Gorgonzola]

There is no product I wouldn't buy simply or only because it has cult status. Cult is fine with me it offers high performance for the money. Granted, most cult stuff doesn't offer great value.

The only products I consider because they have cult status, (if I had the money which I don't), are McIntosh'. For instance Mac MA7200 would be just swell by me ...