What Purchases do You Regret as An Audiophile?

When I emigrated , the Pickford’s man came and estimated how much container space we needed, We came up short so the witch-hunt began “when did you last listen it , read it, use it etc”

My 16 ft of vinyl was a casualty , shortly after my Linn LP12 /Ittok / Trioka was swapped for a Linn Karik CD player .

Been digital ever since , not sure I regret it

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Not a purchasing regret, but a selling one.
Phillips CD850 Mk2 was my first cd player, and I honestly can’t remember what made me sell it before I had listened to anything’s else, but it was a huge mistake.
I trawled around a few hifi shops, excitedly looking for the upgrade that was going to take my system to the next level. I listened to a far more expensive Meridian/DPA combination and just felt absolutely deflated.

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Back in the day a Phase Linear Amp. Yup it blew up. Recently cheap switches, routers and connects.

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I had a great LP collection starting in the early 70’s - and they sat dormant until 6 or 7 years ago - roughly 1500 lp’s - But I was getting into streaming and digital playback - decided to get rid of my old Lenco tt - and to get back into my vinyl -

I bought a used Linn LP12 - and fully upgraded it with Keele / Klimax / Lingo etc - to the tune of about 15 k - to rival their top of the line offering ( 25k - 30k msrp)

After a few years - I’ve likely only put 30 hours on it - as it still can’t rival my digital front end - I’m considering dumping my nostalgic attachment to the records I loved when I was younger - and forget about trying to get the vinyl to sound as good as streaming through a tubed DAC -

I think a DAC can make digital sound better than vinyl - that’s my experience. I’ll invest further in my digital - but I think I’m done with vinyl - I tried - maybe not hard enough - but I’ve realized my limits

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One of my greatest joys was the compact disc and no longer having to deal with the inevitable and unanticipated snap crackle and pop of the vinyl discs, no more dust bugs, cleaning rituals and new styluses. I happily gave away my extensive vinyl collection to a charity.

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Yup, the biggest winners were the record companies….again.

I had 16 feet of shelving full of vinyl probably much the same as you , it was a casualty of emigrating , the container was fuller than full so “when did you last …”

I also had an LP12 but with an Ittok / Trioka

I don’t really miss the fuss and care stuff to keep vinyl noise free (someone will shoot me for that comment) I have been CD and then digital since 1986 .

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Decades ago I bought a used pair of Martin Logans that had been modified cosmetically and beautifully. But SQ was terrible, unlistenable, so I sold them immediately. The buyer was thrilled to get a pair of Martin Logans although I tried to warn him about the sound. He took them and in no time got back to me confirming my comment on SQ.

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Years ago I was a full fledged Kool-Aid drinking audiophile and many of the interconnects, speaker wires and other over priced cables that I purchased back then I now regret. However I do still use these items in my system since they are all paid for and don’t really do any damage.

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Thanks for sharing this perspective. It’s very easy to fall into the rabbit hole chasing the latest/supposed magic bullets to perfect sound.

I had an original Auralic Altair and it froze up all the time. Glad to be rid of it.

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For perspective I’m having no freezing issues with my Aries G2 now and all is working well.

.sjb

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I bought a Bose Acoustimass with the 2 little cube speakers and the worthless little sub. It was when I had little kids and I had no space or money for something better.

Glad to hear. Do they still force firmware updates? That was part of the problem for me. And my only solution was to block it from calling home at a firewall level, and I think that that actually caused just as many problems

As far as I know they do although I am asked through the app do you wish to install or not but I think if I say no then it will possibly be installed the following night – I usually say yes to firmware updates but I realise it could be a recipe for disaster if there is a major problem.

.sjb

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Quite a few people have owned up to issues with NAD kit, and I too have experienced those. I bought a NAD T775 AV receiver in about 2008, based on rated power and a perception it would be good with music. Two units died and had to be replaced. The third I actually spent money on converting from US to UK voltage in about 2011. I think it limped on until 2012. At which point it too died and I replaced it with a Marantz SR7008. Which is now getting quite obsolete, but still just works. I know know that NAD was going through a VERY difficult period with its AV kit, but it still colours my views of NAD/Bluesound amplifiers.

Had same issues with T778 would never touch NAD again with a barge pole, this was only 18 months ago. 4 units I had all developed faults of one kind or another.

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Being forced to buy CD releases over Vinyl in the 90’s/00’s when there no Vinyl releases being made. The record labels claimed there was no demand.

Poor digital transfers, poor digital recordings on a lesser format & standard (compromised by Sony & Philips)

Of course the big record labels were just happy to release on CD and sell people music they had already bought on Vinyl previously, regardless of quality

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My Schiit Aegir amps. Both have been back to the factory for numerous repairs and one still hums so loud i can hear it across the room. So frustrating. I have a Decware amp on order, but doubt I will see that amp at least another two years.
One other, my Nordost phono cable… way overpriced. I have been ordering cables from Blue Jean Cables and the quality is amazing at a fraction of tne cost.

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I did the exact opposite to you. :+1: