I have been very happy with my main pre/power amplification system - ARC Ref 5se and ARC Ref 75se - for some time. I wanted a solid state solution both as a backup if something were to fail and for daily use (leave it on all the time, no tube considerations). I did a fair amount of research, and, for my speakers (Harbeth 40.2) I could not find anything but overwhelming gush for the Luxman integrateds, with 509x arguably the best. I even had reason to believe it could meet or exceed the ARC stack from a SQ standpoint. I don't cycle through a lot of gear, but generally "demo" by buying used, and I got a good deal on a near-new 509x, and in she went.
Hmmm. Its a nice piece of equiment for sure, but no way does it sound as good as the ARC stack. Less refined, a little more thin and brittle, smaller sound stage, bass is a little more...coarse. Any reactions to this? I'm curious if this is a case of "Everyone's ears are different, just a matter of preference," or "Duh, the ARC Ref combo is a particularly sweet pairing that retailed for more than 2x the cost of the Luxman, so what do you expect?!"