Well,
I do believe Mick was more attentive to his customers in the early years of Supratek, my experience correlates with the late stages of it's existence, and it was very clear, that his priorities had shifted.
I owned three of his pieces, and my cumulative experience is not insignificant.
Also, I've had numerous interactions with then current and ex- Supratek owners, all off of this thread, and their opinions reflected mine almost exactly. I'm talking about a few areas- sound and built quality more, than anything.
There have been a number of posts here on A-gon, discussing some sonic attributes of Suprateks.
And if one is careful and open- minded enough, one can gather less, than stellar impressions of MANY owners.
Let me be blunt saying this: I've owned and had a number of different preamps in my own system, since Supratek-
Doshi Alaap, Nagra PL-P, BAT REX.
All of them I found to be superior to Supratek, especially in the area of neutrality and timbral accuracy.
Let me be even more blunt. Supratek made my system pretty much unlistenable due to quite extreme sibilance and treble quality.
Again, I'm not being subjective to even a slightest degree- that's in comparison with at least THREE different preamps, in my own system, over a long periods of listening.
Next on to the build quality- please put any Supratek next to Nagra or BAT, then open the case, and then you'll see , that Supratek is nothing more, than a poorly built piece of
DIY.
Looks cool on the outside, though.
Next one - packaging. It's not even funny- the lowest quality of boxes,I've ever seen. They are not even dedicated boxes, just DHL standard box.
The hight dimension of the boxes is way too small for the height of the component, the box pressing against the fake trannies covers, making it way too susceptable to shipping damage. And I can attest to that. BOTH of my brand new Mondeuse amps arrived badly damaged, with bent chassis, entirely due to inadequate packing.
Should I go on?
As to the integrity of SOME members, known for trumpeting this product, I'm willing to explain it, in the best case scenario, by a limited exposure to better products- and that's is nobody's fault, of course. We are all entitled to our own opinions.
The worst case scenario is lack of restrain and objectivity, and willingness to be a messiah of the audiophiledom.
One reservation, though : In my humble opinion, if one is willing to influence many of the A-gon members purchasing decision, and let's be realistic- many of us, myself included, are influenced by A-gon members reviews, by posting unreserved praise about any product, then one should have enough integrity to make that praise as objective and evidence based, as possible. We are supposed to be a community of like- minded and mutually helpful individuals.
Many of us, fortunately are. That's why, I'm not making any blunket statements.
And the last thing- anyone can question my integrity, I don't mind. At least, I stated, what my opinion is based on, make your own conclusions, and tried to stay away from saying, that component "A" absolutely kills component "B".
