A Product that reviewed well but you thought was terrible

[crisis]

5 hours ago, stevoz said:

 I actually think that reviewers are listeners who now write as well, but due to the variables/pitfalls that Zaphod has pointed out, they can become writers who don't/won't review without bias/prejudices..... You almost have to read between the lines for signs of sarcasm, snobbiness, arrogance etc to figure out where the writer is coming from.

I also have a great problem with some of the music the reviewers use. Some of them seem to go out of their way to be "avant garde" (smart arse). And others use music I wouldn't use to get me out of bed as materiel to test equipment. I have to bag out What HiFi again here. When I see some of the music they use I pretty much dismiss their reviews.

[rossb]

1 hour ago, rantan said:

 

Tellurium Q Black speaker cables. It seems the entire audio journalist world goes completely ga ga over these and I did try a set in my system.

They were one of the  worst cables I have ever used in my system. Flat,bloated and lifeless.

 

To add insult to injury, I was delayed by a couple of weeks  ( due to illness ) in returning them for a promised refund under the trial program and they refused to refund my money.

 

Suffice to say I would never deal with them again and would never use their products ether.

 

I had exactly the same experience with these speaker cables. They sounded just awful. Anyone who thinks all cables sound the same should give these rubbish cables a try.

[Steam]

B&W 800 series.

 

I know some love them but they just don't float my boat.  Have heard them multiple times and I always walk away thinking they are "nice" but for the cash I would get something else.

[crisis]

On 3/5/2017 at 9:15 PM, Eggcup The Daft said:

My very first visit to a hifi store in Manchester, 1981. I was buying my first system on a budget, and the dealer brought out the compulsory Dual 505 and the Trio 1033. I preferred the 1033 by a large margin. The Dual was indistinct both in terms of basslines and leading edges on instruments - I was already into harpsichord music and the Dual just didn't get that right. This wasn't just against all the reviews, but the dogma of the time: the demonstrator kicked me out of the store!

I bought my first system from Laskys, despite their awful reputation, because they stocked the Trio and would even sell me one.

Well you now have an opportunity to put all of that right.

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/news/article/dual-relaunches-in-the-uk/24842

 

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

1 hour ago, crisis said:

Well you now have an opportunity to put all of that right.

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/news/article/dual-relaunches-in-the-uk/24842

 

Put what right, exactly?

[crisis]

5 minutes ago, Eggcup The Daft said:

Put what right, exactly?

Your summary dismissal of the Dual TT.

[vinilink]

My vote goes to Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2 which I own. After all the hype and rave reviews, bought it out of curiosity. I can't hear any improvements unless I am a deaf man.

[cafe67]

In the 90's I tried one of those first Roksan DAC , the big ones that came with the flip lid transport. Dull and lifeless it just would not rock. 

 

Mid 2000's Big MF integrated ( stain steel with gold buttons stuff) on loan while my marantz was fixed under warranty , again flat and lifeless, might have been a "synergy" problem with the MA S6 speakers I had at the time.

 

Rega RP6 which I bought to replace my 22year old planar 3, sounded okay but to me it didn't seem a great leap foward ( cartridge on both was a DV 10x5) plus the lower plastic inner platter didn't sit flat and had to be replaced. The actual platter halves had some wierd cloudyness between them. Build quality didn't seem to match the price.

[Guest Arthur]

I may cause a bit of a turmoil here but, my negative vote goes to a pair of KEF Ref 3 - two that I bought brand new many years ago.

 

I never seem to be quite happy with their sound, despite all the re positioning, toeing in and out, different cables etc. etc.  After a while I came to the conclusion KEF tried to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. have a potentially audiophile speaker serving music as well as home theater, NOT a good mix in my view. 

 

I was lucky enough to find a buyer who loved their sound while his wife thought they looked great!

 

Never missed them since then!

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

14 hours ago, crisis said:

Your summary dismissal of the Dual TT.

Nothing wrong with my dismissal of the Dual - rather, of that Dual in that demonstration, and after comparison with another similarly priced product.

 

I don't see what your point is.

[crisis]

5 hours ago, Eggcup The Daft said:

Nothing wrong with my dismissal of the Dual - rather, of that Dual in that demonstration, and after comparison with another similarly priced product.

 

I don't see what your point is.

I guess I should have included one of these.....

[metal beat]

CD's        

[PKay]

Okay - here goes.

 

Power cables (running for cover). they aren't terrible, just couldn't see a huge gain for the money.

I have Nordost Heimdal 2.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Nap250

[powerav]

On 3/9/2017 at 0:21 AM, vinilink said:

My vote goes to Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2

No good for a main system but perfect for PC or phone.

[Guest scumbag]

2 hours ago, powerav said:

No good for a main system but perfect for PC or phone.

Actually I thought the Dragonfly sounded harsh in the upper midrange. It didn't live up to the hype for me. On the other hand, the IFI IDSD Nano was a brilliant unit - it did live up to the hype. I find most raved about products have a 50% hit rate for me. Some stuff sounds as good as the reviews and the rest leaves me disappointed.

[rossb]

5 hours ago, scumbag said:

Actually I thought the Dragonfly sounded harsh in the upper midrange. It didn't live up to the hype for me. On the other hand, the IFI IDSD Nano was a brilliant unit - it did live up to the hype. I find most raved about products have a 50% hit rate for me. Some stuff sounds as good as the reviews and the rest leaves me disappointed.

 

I recently bought the Dragonfly Red. At first, I thought the same thing - it sounded dry, grainy and a little harsh. I was going to sell it. But over time as it ran in it improved enormously, becoming smooth and rich sounding. I now use it most days and find it very enjoyable sounding. It was one of the starkest examples of something changing its sound during break in that I have heard.

[powerav]

7 hours ago, scumbag said:

Actually I thought the Dragonfly sounded harsh in the upper midrange.

I use mine with a Jitterbug.

[Guest Sime]

On 08/03/2017 at 5:49 PM, Hydrology said:

Bluesound V1.

 

Particularly the products I tested in my system, the Node and the Vault. Even hard-wired, these would constantly drop off the network for no reason.

I read lots of great things about them now (v2), but once bitten, twice shy as they say. Besides, I've moved on to other things.

 

Elac Debut series - always been a huge fan of Elac speakers (even owning a few pairs over the years). cant fathom why these Debut range get the praise they do, the Line 70 (German-designed models) series eat them for breakfast!

 

Bad idea to permanently base an opinion of version 1 to version 2, bad bad idea. 

[Hydrology]

7 hours ago, Sime said:

 

Bad idea to permanently base an opinion of version 1 to version 2, bad bad idea. 

I've never, ever, had a hard-wired network product constantly drop off the network, unless that product itself suffers from

1. Flawed design

2. Being faulty in the first place.

 

As I was testing these in my home AND work network at different times, the conclusion (in my opinion) was they were a POS, when they cant reliably stay on the networks they are connected to, as the chances of having two units at different times, being faulty, would be unlucky. I was testing them for NO OTHER REASON than to bloody own them! They sounded awesome. But I want to spend what little free time I have actually listening to music, not trying to get the product to actually work. Any product has to be judged on the sum of its parts, not "just" because its sounds incredible for the money - why do you think Sonos are so successful?

Great that you have no issues, but the I think you're missing the point of this thread - I wasn't aware posting my displeasure in a brand or product would single me out - I have made numerous reference on this forum that all things suggest V2 is greatly improved, but as I have already moved onto better things, I have no desire to move back to the product. Please note I haven't used the word "ever".

[Guest scumbag]

10 hours ago, powerav said:

I use mine with a Jitterbug.

See, the IFI doesn't need the jitterbug to sound better because it uses battery power and is not connected to the 5V feed from your device.

[Guest scumbag]

1 hour ago, Hydrology said:

I've never, ever, had a hard-wired network product constantly drop off the network, unless that product itself suffers from

1. Flawed design

2. Being faulty in the first place.

 

As I was testing these in my home AND work network at different times, the conclusion (in my opinion) was they were a POS, when they cant reliably stay on the networks they are connected to, as the chances of having two units at different times, being faulty, would be unlucky. I was testing them for NO OTHER REASON than to bloody own them! They sounded awesome. But I want to spend what little free time I have actually listening to music, not trying to get the product to actually work. Any product has to be judged on the sum of its parts, not "just" because its sounds incredible for the money - why do you think Sonos are so successful?

Great that you have no issues, but the I think you're missing the point of this thread - I wasn't aware posting my displeasure in a brand or product would single me out - I have made numerous reference on this forum that all things suggest V2 is greatly improved, but as I have already moved onto better things, I have no desire to move back to the product. Please note I haven't used the word "ever".

That might just be Simon's unique communication style at work. Anyway, I know how you feel about devices that seem fundamentally flawed. It really leaves a bad taste in your mouth for a long time.

[Guest Sime]

@scumbag correct. 

 

Though still trying to figure out if unique is a good or bad thing 

Edited March 12, 2017 by Sime

[sir sanders zingmore]

After the massive hype and rave reviews of Bybees  I must say that hearing them in my system was a huge disappointment. Total waste of (a lot) of money if you ask me. 

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

7 minutes ago, Sir Sanders Zingmore said:

After the massive hype and rave reviews of Bybees  I must say that hearing them in my system was a huge disappointment. Total waste of (a lot) of money if you ask me. 

 

I saw the website. Way too much use of words like "crystal", "energy" and "quantum" for my liking, quite apart from the bad English.

[thimmy118]

living in Perth is often a disadvantage for many audiophiles who are not able to make frequent visits to the East. With the advent of the internet, shopping has been made significantly easier, however, there is still some reliance on reviews for some of the equipment that are not available in Perth. I have made a number of purchases from the East based on reviews and would only buy without audition if reviews are positive on more than one magazine, more than one website that is not affiliated to each other and also from as many reviews by various hifi forums. So far, touch wood, my choices have been okay. The ones that were not were often emotional purchases and/or based on one positive review.