Ref 6SE

[tima]

Originally Posted by djcxxx

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.

[joey_v]

Read the review.

I learned that he did not like it.

[guitardave]

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.

[ariess]

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?

[lem321]

Originally Posted by ariess

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.

[George Prentice]

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.

[2fastdriving]

Originally Posted by George Prentice

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!

[tima]

Originally Posted by George Prentice

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.

[George Prentice]

Originally Posted by tima

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.

[ctsooner]

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.