Preamp Deal of the Century

I initially read the glowing reviews of the Supratek and just naturally assumed they were unbiased. After reading the way some of you attacked the two posters who were just asking for help in resolving system issues I now realize that many of you are so small in your perspectives and lives I can never believe anything written here.

Let's see. Nearly 3,000 posts over a five-year period written by dozens of different people, you see a couple of negative ones written by the same guy, and you are ready to dismiss the whole lot? Exactly who is "small" in their perspective?

Any group of posters devoted to one product, be it Supratek, or something else entirely, is a scewed sample.
I imagine that only those with a positive experience will bother to post here.
If I didn't like a certain component, I would never post in respective thread, just simply move onto something else.
Another consideration- if one doesn't like component, this means one needs to sell it. Posting ones negative impressions about it would not increase it's market value, would it?
Does it make Supratek an inferior product?- absolutely not.
Is Supratek beyond criticism?- possibly not.

As far as I know, no one has suggested that the Supratek is "beyond criticism." It is simply a preamp that very many audiophiles have bought and now consider the "crown jewel" in their systems because they find it pleasing to their ears. Maril555, with all due respect, what evidence do you have that this number represents a "scewed (sic)sample"?

Obviously, audiophiles are a finicky lot by nature, and no product will ever satisfy every one of us. I think what I find irritating about these recent posts is NOT that they are critical of Supratek gear--if you guys say you have a glare in your system, I don't doubt that that is what you hear. It's the assumptions embedded in these "critiques" that irritate me: One, the positive reponses represent a skewed sample. Two, people who have less than satisfying impressions are reluctant to post them because they don't want to be negative. Three, people cannot be relied upon to give their real impressions because it would negatively impact resell value. In short, it is assumed that there is this "pool" of people out there somewhere who have had bad experiences with Supratek gear who are simply not posting about them.

In my years in the hobby, it has certainly not been my impression that audiophiles are reluctant to post their impressions--good or bad--of the many different pieces of gear that come and go in their systems. My own impression is that people in the hobby can be as ruthlessly honest about stuff they don't like as they are prone to hyperbole in lavishing praise on the stuff they do like.

What we have seen in this thread is that a great many people love the Supratek gear, while a handful of others have found problems that detract from their enjoyment of it. It is absolutely true that the experience of the many does not negate the experience of the few. It is also true that the experience of the few does not negate the experience of the many. If we can agree on this, why look for theories on why there are so many more positive responses than negative ones, UNLESS you have an ax to grind?

I personally don't have any axes to grind, but my point is this:
Just to make an example- in the field of medical research there is a term called "file drawer effect". What this means is- for instance if one is to read all published studies about drug X being efficacious for the treatment of desease Y, one will possibly find 3,4,5 or any number of published studies that found drug X indeed more efficaciuos than placebo. So you wou would assume, that this is a scientifically proven fact.
But, and a very big one is- at least in medicine, where most studies are sponsored by drug companies, only the studies with positive findings get published, and the ones with negative go to the "file drawer".
To a certain degree you can see the same effect here. Hypothetical people, who didn't find Supratek working in their systems are not likely to post in this very thread (I know, I wouldn't).
There are components I had in my system, that I didn't like, but after selling them, I simply will have no interest to post in the dedicated thread my negative impressions. I know I didn't like it, and will never buy it again- why spoil enjoyment for those who did?
Audiophiles are not hesitant to post a negative view in appropriate context.
I'm sure there are people who do not care for say, CJ or Krell sound. I can hardly imagine them going to forum dedicated to CJ, or Krell and bash the product there.