Unusual TAS bomb

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!

How many of you remember when TAS was small, put original artwork on the cover, contained long form pieces on music, culture, audio engineering and the pursuit of high fidelity sound and contained a very low ratio of ads to enlightened text? They also had a steadfast rule that prohibited reproducing review excerpts in ad copy--which they refused to compromise. The same was (nearly) true of Stereophile back in the 80's. I'm always (sadly) reminded of these bygone days when the latest TAS or Stereophile shows up in my mailbox. I look at the latest cover and get a little misty over where this whole thing has gone. It is sad to think that there are new (younger) audiophiles who have no knowledge of the past when these mags were fun and interesting to read and provided solid (though of course subjective) guidance for those of us who were into audio. What is really sad is that the folks at TAS and Stereophile seem to not remember their past and pretent as though they are still offering something more than a glossy rag with sexy pictures that caters to high end manufacturers rather than passionate consumers.

Dodgealum:
Yep, I remember. I was a senior in high school when I bought my first TAS subscription, starting with the double issue 21/22, quite a big deal back then. I kept up the scrip for maybe 10 years before abandoning. The trend had already started.