Confession time! Who has bought…..

DomT

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Who has bought a reasonably expensive item completely unheard, no demo, not at a friends house, nothing, but bought because it was recommended or you read a review or trusted your dealer or were just too busy etc etc 

I bought an Audio Note Arm 2/2 for my Lenco on a dealer recommendation. I was also interested in comparing to an SME but the dealer would have needed to buy one in especially for me. I trusted the dealer as I had dealt with him a lot and didn’t want him to go to extra cost. I asked his opinion of the two arms and bought the Audio Note.  But it didn’t seem a risky prospect as it was a choice of two stellar products. 

I did also recently buy an Audio Research D130 on eBay never having ever heard an ARC S/S power amp and having now compared it to others it was a lucky purchase. 

But I demoed the hell out of streamer DACs recently even though they sound the same (not) because I was spending £2000 and it could have sounded rubbish; but actually none were rubbish just very different. 

 
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Jezzer

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Me. Kef Ls50 Meta (based on reviews). But not so expensive and easy to sell on if I didn’t get on with it (which I didn’t).

If you can be bothered with the to and fro, then there’s little risk in buying blind if the item is used and you understand the resell value. I’ve bought loads of stuff used without having previously listened to the kit… 

 

andrew s

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I bought my Benchmark DAC and power amp unheared based on research which looked at both subjective and objective/measured reviews.

Guilty as charged. Regards Andrew 

 
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mtbmarkymark

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I would always advise a demo and most things bought during recent years have been on extended home demo which is even better.

Despite these good habits last year I ignored all this and bought a expensive P.S Audio BHK preamp. No demo, just reviews, .........flipping fab bit of kit mind so I either my judgement is improving or I got lucky

 

Southeastern

The '59 Sound
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Nov 26, 2019
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HiFi Trade?
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Mainly vinyl stuff.

I bought a Gyrodec without ever having heard one, and used so there was no returns policy in place...but its a Gyrodec, enough heritage not to go wrong. 

All my cartridges have been purchased blind, Nagaoka MP500, Hana SL, Hana ML, all based on subjective reviews, and all absolutely fantastic. 

Everything else I had a demo or there was a concrete returns policy before purchasing.

 

bigfish786

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May 15, 2013
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Lee
HiFi Trade?
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Never once demo'd any equipment. Always bought blind. I read reviews etc, but don’t generally make my decisions based on that. If I want something, I buy it. 
It can get a bit nervy, spending thousands on stuff, but I’ve not gone wrong yet. I’ve always enjoyed what I bought. One minor exception was an Arcam DV79 bought for dual duties. Was great for dvd, but CD performance was crap. Had it a few years, then sold it for the same as I’d paid 👍

pushing it to the limit this time. 3k on speakers. Squeaky bum time. 😂😂

 

Richdirector

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Sep 16, 2015
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Richard
HiFi Trade?
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Project rs2 transport and DAC...... Purely on reviews.... Made me sell my sacd player as cd sounded better. 

Tannoy arden legacy as I had chance to buy 3k cheaper and got it interest free.... 

Still have this all 

 
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MF 1000

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I bought my DT1770 headphones and then the iFi Hipdac based in reviews and reports etc ......and I definitely won 😀 

 
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DomT

Food and coffee and rock n roll
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Jul 23, 2019
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Village near Nottingham.
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Dom
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I bought my Benchmark DAC and power amp unheared based on research which looked at both subjective and objective/measured reviews.

Guilty as charged. Regards Andrew 
You just reminded me that I bought my first Benchmark DAC1 from my pro audio dealer without ever having heard of the brand!

 

PeteT59

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Jul 20, 2020
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So, despite having the used Transfiguration Pheonix I picked up from@kernow not so long ago, and sounding sweet... (Jack, (NSM) heard it the other week when he popped round).

But as most of us do, my thoughts had turned to what next for a cartridge, a hop forward perhaps...

I was of course wondering how far my custom deck would go in terms of responding to 'better' cartridges, and of course how far could I stretch, or should I say shrink, my wallet.?

So long story shortened I've only just fitted a... VDH The Frog gold..!

It's only a few hours old yet, so has some settling in to be done yet, but...

...the dynamics are fabulous, the attack of plucked string, the beaten skin, the vocals, all so realistic, Johnny Cash is in my front room as I type.

Boy does it sound bloody good..!! [emoji4]
aeb1a32d1abf2679c405e4c075ffd656.jpg


Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

 

Rockchild

Formerly Radiant Red 🎶
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Jonathan
HiFi Trade?
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So, despite having the used Transfiguration Pheonix I picked up from@kernow not so long ago, and sounding sweet... (Jack, (NSM) heard it the other week when he popped round).

But as most of us do, my thoughts had turned to what next for a cartridge, a hop forward perhaps...

I was of course wondering how far my custom deck would go in terms of responding to 'better' cartridges, and of course how far could I stretch, or should I say shrink, my wallet.?

So long story shortened I've only just fitted a... VDH The Frog gold..!

It's only a few hours old yet, so has some settling in to be done yet, but...

...the dynamics are fabulous, the attack of plucked string, the beaten skin, the vocals, all so realistic, Johnny Cash is in my front room as I type.

Boy does it sound bloody good..!!

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk
 
The AM6 arm is capable of taking some serious cartridges as I’m finding out too. 

 
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dave

incurable tinkerer
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I buy pretty much everything like this for the last 10 years, in the distant past I demoed and bought a few bits of kit, but there is nothing like testing it in your own system at home for a few days to find it doesn't really satisfy. Sure I have had a few disappointments but that's part of the fun. I buy stuff because I want to know if it is as good as my perception of its reputation.

Possibly my most satisfying "Blind" purchases, Yamaha NS1000m - they just keep getting better, as i narrow down what type  amp they really want (well behaved valve), and a Pioneer PL 1000. it has a couple of problems, but still "just works" from a music making perspective.

 
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