- Thread Starter
- #141
The Monoprice is sold at thin margins with no dealer network or mark up. If it were to be sold like a Lyngdorf, it would retail for $10,000. And if it had the brand assurance of Benchmark, it again would sell for a lot more money.I don't disagree with any of this. But the HTP-1 and AHB2 are not in the same class. Doesn't the AHB2 list for $3,000 (2ch)?
The HTP-1 is not a $4000 2ch processor. This is an "entry-level" 16ch processor. Imagine the cost of installing 8 AHB2s. I would love to be the salesman to a customer who thinks they need a 130dB dynamic range in their surround and overhead channels (let alone their mains).
By any definition, anyone buying a $4,000 processor is looking for state of the art in sound reproduction. Yet what they get can't even properly muster 4 volt output which we get in a $150 balanced DAC:
Under the same condition HTP-1 severely clips and produces SINAD of 56 dB from what I recall.
I am an electronic designer and I am still waiting or the explanation for why it is OK to give us less output level and lower distortion and noise. We have an Apple dongle which at $9 produces a SINAD of 99 dB:
And here is our $4,000 processor again at reduced output of 2.7 volts:
Distortion level is essentially the same as the Apple $9 dongle.
In this forum, we are after engineering excellence. When corners are cut at the expense of the consumer, then we point it out. We have a large reference of audio products tested. As I said, the ones with DACs near 300 units now. The standard of performance is firmly established even among bargain products sold by brands similar to Monoprice. We are not going to grade on a curve just because something has HDMI switching and a DSP.
It is time that the AV industry wakes up and produces proper performance when it comes to audio. The dark secrets are no more.