I approve this thread. People just don't like it when other people bash on their opinions, lawl.
On the other hand, having appreciation threads only serves to sway the buyer and not giving him a fair judgement of a product. Hearing both sides of the coin is always the best thing for people so that they can make their own decisions.
846 is bad.
Some brands too hyped
Some brands too overpriced
Some claim to hear differences when it's placebo
Some just after the most expensive gear
Some just want to haolian
"Gearphile" fits the bill for a lot of people
Back in 2007/2008 I used to have a RSA HORNET (older model non 'M') for those of you who don't know, connecting to an iPod 5.5G and then to my UM2 which I upgraded to UM3X. 2 years down the road I realised, WTF am I bringing this brick out. And bam I went into desktop audio. Never looked back. Having been into audio for 6-7 years, I learned to semi understand hearing the difference, and seeing the difference. Most I feel will come to understand with experience. I have, and it saved me a lot of money
RSA is overhyped and overpriced. I fell for that. There were so many controversies around the DarkStar. I'm glad I steered away