Any disappointments or regrets?

[plastic penguin]

Not to be mixed up with favourite or least favourite brands, but perhaps brands that slipped past you.

The only real regrets was when I was demoing speakers. On my shortlist I also had ATCs and ProAcs. To be honest, I got bored lugging my gear around.

Dalis are fab, but would be nice to have demoed the full compliment on the shortlist.

 

[Gray]

We could all regret the fact that we can't hear everything, therefore could be missing a combination that would be 'perfect' for us.

ATC is one of the popular brands that I've yet to hear too.

 

[aversaurus]

Regrets I've had a few but few few to to mention
focal speakers there quite good
roksan k2 should have kept a bit longer
sansui au 7417 should never have let go

 

[nads]

The demise of HD DVD and Logitech canning the Squeezebox units.

 

[Al ears]

Regret having to sell my Tom Evans Audio amplification but that was down to a financial crisis.
Oh! And Oppo stopped making Universal disc players.....

 

[Friesiansam]

No real regrets. Disappointments, Beyerdynamic T5p Gen 2 just didn't suit me, so had to go back and, that I don't have the money for a Pathos InPol Ear and Focal Stellias.

Anyone got 8½ grand taking up too much space in their bank account?

 

[Dom]

After listening to a HMV demo booth and being very impressed with the sound quality, I bought a £30 pair of headphones and was so really hoping to getting a similar crunchy sound. Unfortunately it sounded very underwhelming and I was gutted.

I now look back and realise of course there not going to sound as good, that HMV were using high grade headphones and amplification. My headphones now are probably as good or better! I needed experience to know that.

 

[MrReaper182]

When I brought my Audiolab 82000 CD player a few years ago I did demo a Naim 5SI CD player and part of me wishes I brought the Naim over the Audiolab. I can not afford to pay just over a grand for a CD player right now (and probably not for a while) so it's the one that got away.

 

[Gray]

When I brought my Audiolab 82000 CD player a few years ago I did demo a Naim 5SI CD player and part of me wishes I brought the Naim over the Audiolab. I can not afford to pay just over a grand for a CD player right now (and probably not for a while) so it's the one that got away.

I had an 8200 on home loan - for a chance to try it as a complete CDP - and, equally important to me at the time, to see if a standalone M-DAC would worth £600 to me.
(Thanks to the M-DAC being effectively built in to the 8200, with full external access to its inputs).
Nice player.
I wouldn't let not getting the Naim bother you too much 👍

 

[matthewpianist]

Years ago I had a system of Project RPM turntable, Rotel RCD965BX CD player, Pioneer A400 amplifier and Mission 751 speakers. I bought them all secondhand for relatively little money and it was a cracking system.

I regret the itchy feet that set me back on a long period of constant and expensive box swapping, when that system would likely have got me to the point where I bought my current system.

 

[twinkletoes]

My biggest disappointment was naim, specifically the DACv1 and uniti 2 before that. They were so unstable
constantly stalling and the V1 6 months of the 9 months I owned in the shop for repair.

A letdown and controversial to some is ATC (passive 19s) I couldn't get on with their sound at all, and couldn't follow them at lower volumes, which is important to me. I just didn't gel with them all.

 

[MrSinghsStereo]

recent regrets - selling my Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck and B&W 805S speakers when I did not really have to
lingering regrets - selling my Sennheiser PX100s headphones more than 15 years ago.

 

[plastic penguin]

Interesting stuff.

Ones I've mentioned before:

Electrocompaniet PC-1. For a £1100 price tag new I was hugely disappointed as the brand used to have a loyal following.

The other was Grado SR60i. For some reason I can't hack highly detailed headphones. They drove me nuts.

 

[WayneKerr]

The other was Grado SR60i. For some reason I can't hack highly detailed headphones. They drove me nuts.

Grado are certainly an acquired taste, not my favourites at all, strictly very short occasional use as they are ruddy uncomfortable too.

 

[matthewpianist]

Grado are certainly an acquired taste, not my favourites at all, strictly very short occasional use as they are ruddy uncomfortable too.

I haven't been a Grado owner for long, but I'm really pleased with my SR225X. Grado seem to split opinion more than most, but I find them easy but engaging to listen to and perfectly comfortable over even lengthy listening sessions.

 

[WayneKerr]

I haven't been a Grado owner for long, but I'm really pleased with my SR225X. Grado seem to split opinion more than most, but I find them easy but engaging to listen to and perfectly comfortable over even lengthy listening sessions.

Do you wear specs Matthew? I do like their sound signature but find I can only wear them for about an hour before discomfort sets in, even worse wearing specs... I can't wear them with Grado's.

 

[plastic penguin]

Years ago I had a system of Project RPM turntable, Rotel RCD965BX CD player, Pioneer A400 amplifier and Mission 751 speakers. I bought them all secondhand for relatively little money and it was a cracking system.

I regret the itchy feet that set me back on a long period of constant and expensive box swapping, when that system would likely have got me to the point where I bought my current system.

I had the Rotel RCD 975, although not as common as the 965BX, it was still a cracking player. A great match with Arcam amplifiers.

Rotel seemed to get the tonality just right, the only downside to those players was they suffered from flimsy trays.

 

[MrReaper182]

I had an 8200 on home loan - for a chance to try it as a complete CDP - and, equally important to me at the time, to see if a standalone M-DAC would worth £600 to me.
(Thanks to the M-DAC being effectively built in to the 8200, with full external access to its inputs).
Nice player.
I wouldn't let not getting the Naim bother you too much 👍

I really like Naim's hi-fi separates gear but only have £1000 max to spend on one piece of hi-fi separates at any one time, Naim's cheapest hi-fi Separates gear is sadly (especially with the cost of living crisis going on at the minute) just out of my price range.

 

[Gray]

I really like Naim's hi-fi separates gear but only have £1000 max to spend on one piece of hi-fi separates at any one time, Naim's cheapest hi-fi Separates gear is sadly (especially with the cost of living crisis going on at the minute) just out of my price range.

Yes, £1000 has always been a psychological barrier.
Let's be honest though, those worst hit by the COL crisis can only dream of spending a grand on anything - let alone a single piece of hi-fi.

 

[MrReaper182]

Yes, £1000 has always been a psychological barrier.
Let's be honest though, those worst hit by the COL crisis can only dream of spending a grand on anything - let alone a single piece of hi-fi.

I can not really afford to even spend a grand at the minute on hi-fi what with rent and unity bills going up. Plus I have a car to run, you probably get the picture.

 

[matthewpianist]

I can not really afford to even spend a grand at the minute on hi-fi what with rent and unity bills going up. Plus I have a car to run, you probably get the picture.

The only way I could buy any hi-fi right now would be to sell an existing part of my system and use the proceeds. All that leads to is a downward spiral, and based on my experience I would have to spend considerably more than I paid for my current set-up to make any worthwhile improvement at all.

 

[MrReaper182]

The only way I could buy any hi-fi right now would be to sell an existing part of my system and use the proceeds. All that leads to is a downward spiral, and based on my experience I would have to spend considerably more than I paid for my current set-up to make any worthwhile improvement at all.

I've often sold old electronics in the past to buy h-fi upgrades for my separates system. Right now I would probably have to sell a body part to be able to afford new upgrades thanks to the mess the Tories have got the country in.