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
08-05-14: Roxy54
Mel,
I take your point as well...those incidents are frustrating and can stay with you for a long while. It has happened to me as well.
Thanks for your f'back Roxy. It's good to know in a sense you're not alone and that this kind of thing has happened to others.
I'm going to stick the boot into Musical Fidelity as well. Gave up on them years ago.

Starting with auditioning the X-Ray gear then more of their subsequent overpriced, overhyped designs with cheap components and big-cases designs. To me, the MF sound is: bright, thin, sterile, cheap...just outright lame with all kinds of music!

I shake my head at all the review laudits they get, especially when they show internal photos of the sparse circuit boards with cheap op-amps and ICs in a gigantic, empty case. In every product category they're in, there are tons of more compelling, thoughtfully designed options from smaller companies, for less money.