I hate to say this.... because you are a well respected member and your contributions to the forum are vast..... but you are the case study for overreaction...I remember the meltdown you had on here over a problem with Burning Shed...which excels at customer service...AF is trying to make things right and this concept of yours that because companies don't make perfect products that it's a quality control problem is a simplistic overview of modern production...this isn't a single operation under one roof and other companies have made similar errors and not made any attempts to correct the problems...I would hope that you would tone down your rhetoric when addressing your concerns...like in the Burning Shed incident where your emotions took over.... I would suggest you not use the word "we" in your proclamations...because you don't represent my views and I suspect others feel the same way...using I would add more clarity to your suggestions..hopefully you take my input as being constructive criticism and not punitive in nature
I don't think I'm overreacting on my voicing my displeasure on the flaws in playback on audiophile product. The BS&T disc is great on the quad layer, but this is an album I do go back to the stereo on, and was quite thrilled at having a stereo option. This is especially important on this album given the use of single edits on the quad mix, often listening to the single edits leaves me a bit dissatisfied and going back for a listen to the stereo on those tracks afterwards. Yes, that one is a bit of a simple correction, with a minor adjustment on the balance control...but I'm a perfectionist. As far as my mindset on the use of the word we, my thought is that, if people wanted refunds, they wouldn't have bought the disc in the first place. Clearly the purchase indicated a desire for a disc of that title at that price, and the audiophile buying public generally doesn't want a flawed disc. So, to me, it seemed to not make sense to see a refund as an adequate course of action. But....that was my opinion, I'll correct the post to an I.
As far as the Mahavishnu disc, this one is a bit more difficult. When I play this disc, I want to hear the instruments panned as I've always heard them, I want to listen to the intended mix as was meant to be presented to us, and I want my swirls to circle (unless there is a case of someone actually wanting to mix an X). Yes, the audio is preserved nicely in a digital format, but due to the difficulty in ripping SACD, if one wants to play this back properly, it requires swapping patch cables around when playing, or if you use hdmi swapping around speaker cables, making this a rather inconvenient disc to listen to for those that care about the details of listening to the intended mix. The only other option is making a backup copy with use of ps3 (or obtaining one), converting DSD to PCM (adding a digital generation), and correcting in the PCM realm. So, I think my displeasure at the error is justified, and my disappointment in a lack of any response or recognition of this from Audio Fidelity when inquiring about it is also justified.
I've gone to great efforts here to try and be diplomatic and calm in my voicing of opinions here.
As far as your comments on the burning shed issue, out of respect to them for resolving the issue, I don't speak of that issue anymore. I felt my comments at that time were justified, but that's all I'll say on that.