I know this is a stretch, but I would love to see one of them jump into the AVR/AVP side of audio. I know the licensing is probably the biggest hurdle, and other ones have tried and failed in the last 10 years IMO. Competition, especially competent competition can only further the home theater industry.
Edit;
When I say other ones have tried to jump into the home theater business and failed, what I mean is some of them have failed to make a stable AVR/AVP. Even the long reach of JBL didn’t save them from producing a buggy, and mediocre performing AVR/AVP.
Not to get this further off topic, but just wanted to agree w/ the above sentiment re: AVR/AVPs.
Would love to see one of these Chinese companies like SMSL, Topping, etc. take a crack at an affordable AVP, or even just an audio processor/dac that can decode 5.1 or 7.1 audio formats.
I have a hulking Arcam AVR600 (retailed for $6000 back in the day), with a broken and unrepairable power amp section, so I hooked up a couple of $80 Aiyima A07 power amps to use as a stopgap, and was astonished to find that the little Aiyimas produced cleaner, punchier and smoother sound than the original built-in power amps.
At that point, I figured that instead of getting a whole new AVR, I would just look for an inexpensive pre/processor that could decode surround audio formats and use the Aiyimas to power the speakers, but was rather astonished to find that no one really makes something like this, at least nothing affordable.
I don't even need something that handles video as most modern TVs have multiple HDMI inputs and and can pass the audio signal through a digital out.
As it is, I'm stuck using this ridiculous 30 lb. monster AVR that takes up a ton of space and runs hotter than hell simply as a processor for 5.1 audio.
Even if it would be a somewhat niche product, I can't believe I'd be the only person interested in something like this.
