I have owned a range of ARC products for more than 30 years, since the original Reference 1 preamplifier, the Reference 1 phono preamplifier and the VT 100 Mk2 amplifier. I now enjoy the ARC 6SE preamp, the Reference 210 amplifier, the Reference 3SE phono stage and the Reference CD8.
In all these years, I’ve not had one ARC component fail on me. Perhaps I’ve been lucky. But just comparing the build quality of the 6SE preamp to an equally pricey Conrad Johnson GAT S2 that I recently got for use with a single ended SET amp, I’m amazed ARC can build stuff like this at the prices they charge. Their construction quality is very high quality. My Ref Phono lasted 25+ years. This stuff can be handed fine to your grandkids. It’s not cheaply made.
While I dearly love my Lampizator Pacific DAC, compared to ARC, it looks like a product made in someone’s garage! There’s a lot that goes into making an ARC product. I’m not disagreeing with the premise that this storied brand is in serious financial trouble or that they need a huge shot in the arm in terms of new products (how about a Reference ARC media server?), but comparing their ARC Reference CD players to the junk CD players most audiophile companies put out, it’s laughable how badly high end audio products are designed. In the last 30+ years, I’ve owned countless digital products from many famous audiophile brands that were just atrociously made. Compared to those horror shows, the ARC Reference CD8 just goes on and on. It reads any CD, ANY CD, in half a second! Sounds better in many ways than my Lampi Pacific playing compressed Roon streaming.
I would like to see them succeed, but they do need to introduce new products that merit the high standard we have come to expect from them. They are notoriously conservative. They championed CD playback and ignored SACD and DVD Audio as too fringe and having inherent problems. That’s completely justified. SACDs have all but disappeared. But streaming is here to stay. ARC needs to introduce a Reference streamer. Among other things. The price increases are not out of the ordinary. It’s the cost of building everything in house. And listening to each and every component before it leaves the factory. When was the last time you bought a pair of trousers that the person who tailored them signed off on and personally supervised their packaging?
I agree with much of this but digital requires a very specialized skill set and is a different world from ARC's core skill set in designing amplifier circuits.