E.A.R. Acute Reliability

I think EAR would have a real winner with a DAC based on the Acute. To me the weak point of the Acute is the transport (and cheesy remote) which EAR does not manufacture. IMO: The sound of the Acute is right up there.

Needlessly stirring up reliability concerns? I think not. I hope that you don't experience any problems but reliability is certainly a valid consideration, especially given some of the negative comments about EAR's build quality. Newbee's experience can hardly be described as "speculative".

I've had an EAR 534 for about 5 years now. While other amps have come and gone, that one has stayed. That and my art audio 845. I'm not sure what everyone expects but opening the EAR and looking around is pretty impressive imo. Now, changing the el34s(you have to get rid of the sovteks) is a pain in the ass but other than that, it's a beautiful sounding piece of equipment... and slapping in a pair of telefunken ecc85s. wow.

I've been contemplating buying an acute for a long time now and would do so without hesitation execpt... I'd like to see what all these new DACs have to offer.

I have owned and used the Acute 1 for 7 years now. My choice of tubes is on the warm side, Amperex large O getter bugle boys. (I just got some 60's Siemens to try). It requires the best A/C power cord and interconnects to obtain great sound as well as Stillpoints (I'm using 3 originals now and will be trying the ultra-minis soon). I have had no unit transport issues although for a month, I lost the remote open button control (accidently tapped it to a solid surface and it has worked again for the last 1 1/2 years). So, I cannot fault it on durability with over 5,000 hours on it. The sound is like the best analog with less hassle (I know since I have 36,000 LPs/78s).