Your most disappointing purchase or audition?


I've had a few.

bought a Naim Nait 3. Loved it in the store. Returned it within a week- way forward at home

Brought home some CJ preamp to audition perhaps 22 years ago. Noisy as anything and a turn off transient destroyed a tweeter (though years later i bought a CJ 17LS2 which I thought was the finest preamp I ever heard in my home)

Auditioned a VPI table (HW19) in a store- the store just could not get the belt to stay on. Bought a Rega instead. This was in perhaps 1990.

Fortunately, I never really experienced buyers remorse say 6 months or more after settling on a piece of gear.

Finally, there have been too many speakers that got stellar write ups which I just didn't care for.
128x128zavato
great question/thread

Had an NAD 375 BEE, loved its sound paired with PSB then Dynaudio speakers, but fell into upgrade bug and reading about NAD being "mid-fi".

So, sold it here for a Musical Fidelity A5. Wow, did my my speakers shut down. Terrible, closed in, dead.

Sold it for my current Krell 400xi, and loving the sound.

...but, still have the upgrade bug. Crap.
Musical Fidelity A5. Just didn't seem to have any intestinal fortitude, if you get my gist. Sold it for a loss nearly immediately.
Ohm speakers. They sounded shut in. They weren't omnidirectional since the rear of the speaker was closed off and sound could only radiate from the front. Plus, the speaker cabinets looked like they were from a high school wood shop project. The finish on them had runs and drips. They were returned after a phone call to explain my major disappointment. They did return my money.