Has anybody heard the new Audio Research LS 27?

In Audio Research's defense, any quality audio manufacturer has the right to improve their products as state of the art parts and technology improves. It is in their best interest to do so. You try a new design and you learn from it. It either works or it fails, in which case you move on and try something else. High end manufacturers that do not improve their products over time won't last long as it's extremely competitive.

It is certainly the case that if they don't come out with new products they won't get reviewed and they might even fall of recommended component lists because they haven't been reviewed in so long. This is especially a problem when a ten or twenty year old design is every bit as good as anything made today. There may be some improvement in passive parts over time, maybe, perhaps, but I suspect the basic designs for amps and preamps have been part of the electrical engineer's "recipe" book for quite a while now.

I bought mine about 4 weeks ago. Still going through break in. So far, I'm extremely happy.

Very musical, very transparent, excellent soundstage, very nice image.

Associated components are the ARC DS450, Oppo 83se, Revel Salon 2, Kimber, Audioquest. On order Shunyata Black Mamba PC, IC and SC.

No question they make excellent line stages, they have been for a long time. An interesting A/B would be the all balanced LS5 versus anything before or after, I think it would hold up pretty well in comparisons (sound-wise, maybe not functionality and ergonomics)

Ritmo: Since very little has been written about the ARC DS450, would you care to give us your thoughts about yours? Any specific comparisons to more traditional class A or A/B designs?