Unusual TAS bomb


Something you don't see too often in this month's issue of TAS - a truly bad component review, of an Audio Research piece none-the-less. Alan Taffell reviewing the the DAC8 said "Overall the DAC 8 is simply not as involving, musically informative, or relaxing as it must be to compete at its price point" and that might have been the most polite thing he said about it. I've gotten so used to reading fawning reviews I almost didn't think they had it in them to really pan a piece of gear.
grimace
I like to read the reviews. When they do tell you about the equipment's flaws, it's usually even worse in your own system. So they do save me time and money occasionally. But, when they tell you it sounds fantastic, don't believe it until you've heard it yourself.
We'll probably find out that the unit had a bad cap or tube or whatever and the new unit will undoubtedly be spectacular.
Chayro, I was thinking the same thing while I was reading. The reviewer suspected that, returned it for repair, and found no difference in the returned one!