The recent happenings here remind me of what happened a while back on an online forum in my country (I am based in Taiwan). It was a heated discussion around the NuForce's sonic virtues and vices.
As NuForce's distributor we were supposed to feel happy for the publicity gained, but honestly I was not particularly encouraged, especially as an audiophile.
Why? Because I've personally listened to 90% of the systems in which the forumers auditioned the NuForce amps (we provided in-your-home audition service here). If you ask me, only a handful of them were well set up in the first place. The huge gap between all the expressive adjetives used in the thread and the reality surprised and upset me.
I've since changed my view towards the value of in-home audition. (Instead we are now focusing on setting up a good listening room and will try to invite as many audiophiles to experience, in person and with their own ears, what all the audiophile terms like soundstage, imaging, transparency, and coherence mean).
Don't get put off by such discussions-turn-sour incident. It's a small price to pay for the freedom of speech and friendship we enjoy in the cyber space.
