Equipment sight but not sound.

There are two out of many that come to mind. I was using a Mac MC300 amp happily until I read many positive professional as well as user reviews of the Pass Labs x250.5 amp. I got one and hated everything about it. 

Conversely, by chance I read an old review of Klipsch Epic CF 4 speakers on Audio Review.com, and then found a set used for $1k. I loved them for 15 years even after trying several others during that period, including the JBL Array 1400's.

Yup, been there, done that, and in most cases it was a huge mistake.  

Alon speakers was the worst.  Totally wrong for my music, tastes, and partnering equipment.  Ayre CD player, preamp, and DAC, none of which had enough meat on the bones for me.  

All of those items were well-regarded and from well-regarded manufacturers.  Just goes to show that only you can judge the sound that you will enjoy in your system.

50/50 with recent purchases. SVS SB-3000 sub has really, really blown me away with the results. Absolutely love it. Bluesound POWERNODE, not so much. Love the functionality and the app, but the sound is quite meh, even when feeding it via analog input from a proper DAC (which completely negates the benefit of the lovely app!).

-Ed

In 1979 when I bought my hugely expensive Threshold S500 ($5K then, $19K equivalent now)… with my first ever bank loan there was no choice. This Pass amp was very cutting edge at the time… no samples any where. I did not care about looks, I was only interested in the best sound quality possible.

Well for me I bought a demo unit at a great price purely based on brand reputation...McIntosh C2600 Preamp! It worked out for me as I enjoyed music as much as ever.

@tattooedtrackman,

I hope you didn’t purchase your speakers based on Louis Lipnick’s Stereophile review. He claimed the speakers had no flaws and was pretty much laughed out of the industry. I heard them once and they were pretty impressive. I am glad it worked out for you. For myself, I didnt like the looks at all. Do you use it wit the triangle part facing out or in? There were lots of discussions on that back in the day.

I purchased Von Schweikert VR33 speakers based on looks and the gushing review by Greg Weaver.    Long story short, I hated the speakers as soon as I unboxed them and never got them to sound good in my room.  Even Albert Von Schweikert couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting great sound.   The person I sold them to loved them so there is that.