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Audio Research State of the Art Audio Reproduction

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  #31  
Old 10-23-2020, 10:07 PM
tima tima is online now
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Originally Posted by djcxxx View Post
He did not review the Ref6SE. ... In another era the editor would not have accepted the article for publication.
Exactly. It is incumbent on the editor to decline such poor work and maintain a level of quality for his publication. It's not clear that Austin has what it takes. Based on the ever diplomatic Dave Gordon's letter in the manufacturer's section, I doubt Serenius will review other ARC products for Stereophile.
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  #32  
Old 10-23-2020, 11:18 PM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Read the review.

I learned that he did not like it.
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  #33  
Old 10-24-2020, 05:55 PM
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It is posted now. Painful to read, actually. Like watching a movie for two hours that at the end has no resolution. It actually reminded me of Jim Austin’s review of the 160S. It was also completely inconclusive.
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  #34  
Old 10-25-2020, 03:01 PM
ariess ariess is offline
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A bad review that tells you more about the scattered emotional state of the reviewer than the product. It’s fine for a reviewer to be less than thrilled with product. But when that product is the flagship product of a flagship company doing their flagship product (tube preamps) its more than curious. And the reviewer spends all his time comparing different tweaks and is all over the map you gotta wonder what is going on. The same reviewer, JVS, panned the Esoteric N1 about two years ago and Stereophile put it in the A category anyway! This tells me Stereophile doesn’t trust this reviewer, but why still use him?
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  #35  
Old 10-25-2020, 07:29 PM
lem321 lem321 is offline
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Originally Posted by ariess View Post
A bad review that tells you more about the scattered emotional state of the reviewer than the product. It’s fine for a reviewer to be less than thrilled with product. But when that product is the flagship product of a flagship company doing their flagship product (tube preamps) its more than curious. And the reviewer spends all his time comparing different tweaks and is all over the map you gotta wonder what is going on. The same reviewer, JVS, panned the Esoteric N1 about two years ago and Stereophile put it in the A category anyway! This tells me Stereophile doesn’t trust this reviewer, but why still use him?
ariess,
Couldn't agree more with your assessment. The reviewer should present his/her evaluation of the component "as-is" with the stock cord and then comment on how various tweaks such as after market power cords, footers or rack may affect the sound. Comparison with prior models (e.g. Ref 6) with which he has experience would be helpful as well as comparison to other products in the same price range would be useful to prospective buyers. Too bad about the missed opportunity to review such a fine product from a flagship company IMO.
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  #36  
Old 01-11-2021, 08:43 PM
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George Prentice George Prentice is offline
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I agree about the review. I was thinking of upgrading my REF 5se and that review was not helpful. However, there are enough reviews of the REF6 vs the REF5SE to conclude the upgrade was worth it. Besides, after listening to how Audio Research performed the upgrade I am not hesitant. So, I ordered one. Given I have the REF 160s and REF CD9SE I am sure it will be very complimentary.
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Main: Aurender W20SE music streamer, ARC REF 9SE DAC / CD, Linn LP 12, Koetsu Rosewood SignCartrige, ARC REF 3 Phono Stage, ARC REF 6SE Preamp, ARC 160s amp, Sonus Faber Amati Traditional Speakers,Transparent Ultra IC & SC Library:Aurender N100, Ayre QB9 2020 DAC, Woo WA5-LE amp upgraded tubes, Focal Utopia HP, Sennheiser 800s HP, LCD HP.
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  #37  
Old 01-12-2021, 02:42 PM
2fastdriving 2fastdriving is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by George Prentice View Post
I agree about the review. I was thinking of upgrading my REF 5se and that review was not helpful. However, there are enough reviews of the REF6 vs the REF5SE to conclude the upgrade was worth it. Besides, after listening to how Audio Research performed the upgrade I am not hesitant. So, I ordered one. Given I have the REF 160s and REF CD9SE I am sure it will be very complimentary.
Congrats! You will NOT be disappointed!
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  #38  
Old 01-13-2021, 02:39 AM
tima tima is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by George Prentice View Post
I agree about the review. I was thinking of upgrading my REF 5se and that review was not helpful. However, there are enough reviews of the REF6 vs the REF5SE to conclude the upgrade was worth it. Besides, after listening to how Audio Research performed the upgrade I am not hesitant. So, I ordered one. Given I have the REF 160s and REF CD9SE I am sure it will be very complimentary.
I have not seen those reviews. Would you please post links or say what are their findings. Thanks.
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  #39  
Old 01-14-2021, 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by tima View Post
I have not seen those reviews. Would you please post links or say what are their findings. Thanks.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/...e-preamplifier

Just google audio research REF 6se preamp, review and audio research REF 6, review and you'll get them all.
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Main: Aurender W20SE music streamer, ARC REF 9SE DAC / CD, Linn LP 12, Koetsu Rosewood SignCartrige, ARC REF 3 Phono Stage, ARC REF 6SE Preamp, ARC 160s amp, Sonus Faber Amati Traditional Speakers,Transparent Ultra IC & SC Library:Aurender N100, Ayre QB9 2020 DAC, Woo WA5-LE amp upgraded tubes, Focal Utopia HP, Sennheiser 800s HP, LCD HP.
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  #40  
Old 01-16-2021, 12:49 PM
ctsooner ctsooner is offline
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I may need to buy a pre as I’m about to get my server/dac back with a motorized quad analog volume control. If I don’t like it I’ll gat a used AR pre I believe. Good thread.
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