To Jeff Fritz,
As of late, I’ve been pretty disappointed with a lot of the high-end equipment that’s being put out. It’s not that it’s not good, but that it’s not good enough.
Seeing the quality of the stuff that Benchmark puts out for a few thousand dollars, I find it amazing how companies offer and reviewers can think so highly of high-dollar equipment that underperforms.
I can understand paying for a Bentley. It’s about more than performance. With audio equipment, though, it should be all about performance, but that no longer seems to be the case. You can’t get away with this type of bullshit with TVs, but, with audio equipment, sure. It’s insane.
Last year, Stereophile did a review of a BorderPatrol DAC that John Atkinson said, in no uncertain terms, was crap. The reviewer that listened to it loved it.
Personally, I take reviews without measurements with a grain of salt.
Not everything audible can be measured, but everything you can measure can be heard. Noise and distortion are not good things unless you’re talking about a guitar amp.
All the best,
Jeff
United States
