ARC Ref 5se inferior to LS28?

Anyone from Audio Research able to shed some light on the question?

That will not address the question either. Where do you think the "rumors" that the LS28 is 'superior' to the Ref 5SE are coming from?
That's like asking the fox if he will eat any of your chickens if you let him into your hen house, and expecting an honest answer.

ALL manufacturers will claim that their new current lineup is superior to their older, discontinued lineup, or they don't stay in business very long.
The marketing idea, is to sell current product, not discontinued product.

I would agree if we were discussing a comparison of the Ref 6 and Ref 5SE, or LS28 and LS27.  I've not yet seen ARC claim a new LS is better than a recently discontinued Ref series.

LarryRS

+1 @jmcgrogan2

There are a lot of good points here but the most important one I think is simply older can be every bit as good as newer sometimes better. Good design is good design, and well designed well built gear holds up well. Also a well designed point to point wired tubed circuit is easier, and cheaper, to maintain over the long term. My amp and preamp in addition to being older, around 17 years of age on each, also use many vintage parts and sound fantastic. I just dropped a "new" Dac in my system that was built in 1995, it's the best digital sound I've heard in my system. Buy gear you like and if you really like it, hang on to it! Just my $.02.

Exactly. Tube design isn't exactly progressing further as the manufacturers would try to have you believe.