Audio Research I/50

A local dealer let me take one home for a few days.  I thought it was great, especially for the price.  I wanted to order one but there's a 2 month+ wait and I have a Leben on order that I have a 5 month wait for.  I was using the ARC as a temporary amp while the Leben was being made. I still may get one once the DAC module comes out in June. They are not auto-bias. You need to flip it over and do it manually as someone already said. That's according to the dealer.

Would love to hear more from your hands on listening session with the i50. I heard one driving Maggie 1.7i briefly and thought it sounded great. 

so why would Audio Research create this problem by not adding auto bias for a user who is new to Tubes? it seem that their target audience is the affluent 20 something  metro hipster. dropped the ball on that one.

has anyone compared this to say a Cayin CS55 at less than half the price or a Willsington R8?

I assume they were trying to hit the $5k price point and auto bias would add a couple hundred? Maybe it really only needs biasing if you use different tubes and this isn't a product they expected tube rollers to buy? Metro hipsters may be more apt to just use it as is? It really does sound good. Can it sound better with different tubes? Most likely, but the price then goes up. AR touts their tube testing and matching in the Darko video. They want to keep it all in house. Even advertising trying different tubes like Upscale does for Primaluna gets people thinking about it. Upscale sells "upgraded" tubes, AR sells replacement tubes.