What Gear Has Disappointed You?

Like okhunter and mahler123 with their Brystens, I have a major user interface disappointment only mine is with miniDSP and Volumio.The hardware (SHD Studio) is fine, but the Volumio os/ui is so frustrating that after a year of trying to get comfortable with it I am ready to throw in the towel.  I find my listening time has gone down because the streaming interface is so unpleasant to use. 

Incidentally, I got the SHD because Dirac Live dsp comes integrated with it.  To my great surprise the dsp made little difference in SQ.  Thus, another product that did not meet expectations, but in this case probably not the fault of the product.  Either my room was OK to begin with (I have some tube traps, diffusers, acoustic panels already in place), or maybe it is just plain irremediable.

NAD 7 channel Surround Sound Receiver. I forget the model ( sort of intentionally) but it was the top of the line & pretty expensive. Performed well, sounded quite good for both stereo music listening & for movie watching & had plenty of power. 

After about 4 years of only moderate use, the right channel started to get occasionally noisy for a second or two & then be fine for weeks. Finally, the right channel died. Goodwins High End in Waltham MA where I bought it seemed to have very little interest in helping me, took way too long to get back to me, & quoted about $1000 to get it repaired w/ no guarantee of success!
 

The unit was supposed to be easily upgradable w/ plug in modules as technology changed which also turned out not to be true. Both the equipment & the store left a bad taste in my mouth. I bought a nice Anthem receiver to replace it & been happy ever since. 

B&W Matrix 802 series 3. I couldn't believe how thin these sounded compared to Infinity kappa 8's. I put them for sale the same day and never had not one call. So I kept them replaced the xovers,  added a sub woofer swarm, they still sound a little thin at times but I'm keeping them for now.  I was told there a collectors speaker whatever that means. 

Aurender A10 lack luster sound for excessive money. its built well but has a boring presentation.

Roon Nucleus other than room software itself what a disappointing sound from a well review streamer, not surprising when you open one up and see an empty box. 

Spendor D9.2 speakers, a very thin sounding presentation, lack of tone, and tipped up top end. yes, they are hyper detailed and have good speed but that's about all. 

A lot of the very large and high end systems set up in small hotel rooms at audio shows disappoint me. Could do just as well in a room like that for a fraction of the cost in many cases.