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After the hype of Chinese HiFi brands, what is the jury?

Your sentiments on Chinese HiFi brands?


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Why would an astute consumer be bothered by this unless they were bothered by this?

I think for the most part the Chinese brands have made inroads not made in many other markets for decades....despite marketing to obscure that.
It does say a lot about there focus on a core set of products. Less product line up, equals more time and resources to perfect your core products.
 
I was going to choose;

There are some issues, but overall the value and engineering still makes it a top choice.

But then decided not to vote, as it doesn't seem right to lump all Chinese based Hi-Fi companies in the one basket... it's too general, as the market is broad.
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Agreed. I would have selected it if it read, "There are some issues, but overall the value and engineering still makes it a good choice for some."

The point is, "top choice" suggests some kind of objective perspective. But even among audiophiles who highly value sound quality, the tradeoffs between measured performance, build quality, extensive QA, support, etc. are entirely subjective.
 
It does say a lot about there focus on a core set of products. Less product line up, equals more time and resources to perfect your core products.
Their focus? Depends what you want to buy, the whole reason for the chinese origin economy, cost....
 
It does say a lot about there focus on a core set of products. Less product line up, equals more time and resources to perfect your core products.
Considering their rather recent entry and changes....how do you rank that in terms of learning/application in general rather than nitpicking particular issues you've thought of?
 
Their focus? Depends what you want to buy, the whole reason for the chinese origin economy, cost....
I understand that. Why can't they just have 3-4 DACs, every 3 years or so. Say, Ultra budget, budget, medium, high end. Right now they have 14 models. That spreading, R&D across 14 models, instead of 3/4.
 
Considering their rather recent entry and changes....how do you rank that in terms of learning/application in general rather than nitpicking particular issues you've thought of?
Not understanding what you mean.
 
I understand that. Why can't they just have 3-4 DACs, every 3 years or so. Say, Ultra budget, budget, medium, high end. Right now they have 14 models. That spreading, R&D across 14 models, instead of 3/4.
So you want things as you expect as some oddly placed consumer? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me...
 
I understand that. Why can't they just have 3-4 DACs, every 3 years or so. Say, Ultra budget, budget, medium, high end. Right now they have 14 models. That spreading, R&D across 14 models, instead of 3/4.
The way it sometimes works for some companies is design is done in house, but production is outsourced to a 3rd party company. They do a deal on X number of units at Y price, then once that run is done that's it using those parts and PCB. So once stock of that model/run starts to reduce, a company may design a new product (very similar to the last) and do a new deal on a new product run and release it as a new model.


JSmith
 
So you want things as you expect as some oddly placed consumer? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me...
No, I am saying from a R&D perspective that is a lot of products to spread your R&D resources. That can have problems, such as not enough QA time/effort. If you look at Apple, one of the things they did was to simplify their product portfolio and each product gets a lot of R&D time.
 
The way it sometimes works for some companies is design is done in house, but production is outsourced to a 3rd party company. They do a deal on X number of units at Y price, then once that run is done that's it using those parts and PCB. So once stock of that model/run starts to reduce, a company may design a new product (very similar to the last) and do a new deal on a new product run and release it as a new model.


JSmith
That is a possibility. But Topping is selling all 14 DACs right now.
 
Ok, so we're discussing Topping only are we? :)

Samsung currently have 9 TV models for example in their 2023 lineup and still selling the prior models too.


JSmith
No, I was just using Topping as an example. But with Samsung TV's, I personally don't think it's a fair comparison, market for TV is so much bigger and so many segments.
 
It would likely take a lot of work to make a correct list of Chinese audio brands under your specifications. Not many audio consumers and also not many persons who are regular readers of ASR clearly know and distinguish what brands are Chinese. Oppo was, I believe, a Chinese brand by your terms. I would bet that many products branded and marketed by non-Chinese European, US and Canadian companies/labels are in fact relabeled Chinese product. Marketers, advertisers, retailers, resellers are masters of mixing and matching, and of obfuscating product origins, and of creating a fabricated nice patina to otherwise ordinary products. The same goes for automobile brands. Do Indian and Chinese corporations own plants across the globe and also own many brands once classically European or classically American?

I believe Oppo Digital was a US-based subsidiary of Oppo, and so to my knowledge was the converse of what the OP is defining as Chinese hi-fi, since Oppo Digital's gear was designed and engineered in the US. (I don't say this to argue or fight; just relaying my understanding.)

As for the general topic of this thread, honestly I don't give a sh*t what the nationality of the company is. If I have to make an overall judgement of the entire Chinese hi-fi industry, my judgment is hats off to them, they've done amazing work over the years to become an absolute powerhouse in the industry, and their market share is probably only going to increase.
 
If Topping is making 14 DACs at the moment, that means the market is big enough to support that. Nothing odd about it.

Matsushita (Technics) had 30 different models of turntables and about 20 cartridges in one model lineup for one year in 1985/86.

 
I was going to choose;

There are some issues, but overall the value and engineering still makes it a top choice.

But then decided not to vote, as it doesn't seem right to lump all Chinese based Hi-Fi companies in the one basket... it's too general, as the market is broad.


JSmith
Quite right.

Remember, for example, Consonance (Opera Audio). Sure, their product range is definitely "audiophile" and there's some snake oil, but some of their tube amps measure well, and their product range has proved reliable for 25 years now.

Or Eastern Electric Audio, around nearly as long.

Or Line Magnetic, revivalists of a lot of vintage technologies.

Or Shanling, who effectively established Chinese products in Western markets.

And that's before starting on loudspeaker specialists, the builders of high quality copies (and fakes) of past western company products - that I would avoid personally unless out of patent - and plenty of others.

It isn't all cheap chipset amps and DACs, or even a recent industry over there.
 
yeah but the thing is these brands tended to not have the penetration in the west as the toppings and smsls of the world?

I went to china-hi-f-audio before the relatively recent explosion of products

to me it opened up a new world

where I am there's probably THREE B*M hifi shops and really they are centered around home theater

there's a slew of high end places on the other side of the city but they cater to a crowd that has the money

i was conversing with a swedish bloke here andhe had the same experience... you either get HT stuff from the denon sony pioneer onkyo marantz of the world... or its nothing

the big electronics retailers here have got out of home theater and moved to soundbars and BT pils and HTIBs.... this is how is going

I suspect that if I gave you $1,000 and said "BUY ME A DAC in 12hrs" you'd have issues

WHAT'S A DAC? will be what you hear a lot from retailers.

I'm looking at half a dozen dozens on my setup table right now, not hooked up.

And so you can go on and on about how the Chinese are doing this and that but they opened up a new market for certain buyers here.
 
2 weeks ago I would have picked "what hype" as I had a SMSL M-8 DAC which worked flawlessly for 6 years. Then it died without warning. I just bought a SMSL DO100 DAC for $145 and it seems fine and has a bunch of extra features. I would like things like a DAC, with no moving parts, to last more than 6 years but for the price and performance it is hard not to go back for more. I voted " overall still a top choice" but not really satisfied.
 
Better might be to put the gear the OP has used that strikes contrast to the "Chinese" gear...
 
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