Fosi V4 & V5 Mono - Fosi goes Hypex

[solderdude]

NO. just sharing my experience.

Thanks for that ... reads like shilling.

You simply reported what you were hearing (which was actually the speakers in that room, the amps will alter NOTHING in the sound) and regurgitated the marketing blurb and your opinion.

The 'classical musician' in the video basically tells you that Fosi designs were 'crap' and his external design isn't. He just uses Hypex modules as they are highly regarded. Put them in a box, gave it an ingenious name and now Fosi suddenly is great while before it was just a cheap for the masses brand.

The design of the boxes reminds me of an external Harddisk for a gaming PC.

 

[Sokel]

These look like gaming stuff to me.
I don't blame them though, gaming has potential for piles of money.

 

[Rick63]

Well, You are trying very hard to feed/influence my opinion in my post according to what YOU THINK is your opinion. If U don't like what U read, no problem. Don't try to change my opinion or put in question my experiences! Otherwise it looks for You not good ..., if U don't like my opinion, just go on and look for those who write what U will accept, those to dance your dance ! We are still leaving in a free world. wish U all the best!

No, he's speaking the truth that most here know and that you'll learn after/if you spend more time here.

PS - Welcome to the forum.

 

[BeeKay]

Not my piece of cake. I’d prefer any ‚boring‘ but not flashy enclosure just like the one by audiophonics over these bug ugly cases.

 

[solderdude]

Well, You are trying very hard to feed/influence my opinion in my post according to what YOU THINK is your opinion.

Not trying to influence you.
Not about liking or not liking your opinion.
Just explaining your experience was NOT about the actual amps but the speakers in the room, music selection and sales pitch.

As I wrote earlier the design is a personal thing. My opinion is that it reminds me of an external HD for a gaming PC.

 

[BeeKay]

If this is the truth, quite sick enviroment U have here!

You are off for a rough start. Maybe take the a step back and see if evidence, science based methods and facts are for you. If not - there are plenty of echo chambers that will suit you, probably.

 

[Ruediger]

These look like gaming stuff to me.
I don't blame them though, gaming has potential for piles of money.

I'm not sure they are aiming at that market though.

Various reasons:

- For gamers often a slim, functional yet high quality space is the thing. The v5 does not fit there at all.

- Gamers often prefer headphones.

- If you prefer to play with speakers, multichannel sets are often the choice. 5.1 sound is great.

- Last but not least, if you really do 2 speakers on desktop for gaming, you might want to add a subwoofer. I see the v5 covers that.

But even when all boxes are checked, there is no reason for a Hypex 250w or 500w amp. Fosi has a lot of other stuff that's smaller, cheaper and more than capable for the gaming task.

I think they really aim at music with the v4 and v5. And these cases - prototypes - have a big chance of not being final.

 

[Sokel]

I'm not sure they are aiming at that market though.

Various reasons:

- For gamers often a slim, functional yet high quality space is the thing. The v5 does not fit there at all.

- Gamers often prefer headphones.

- If you prefer to play with speakers, multichannel sets are often the choice. 5.1 sound is great.

- Last but not least, if you really do 2 speakers on desktop for gaming, you might want to add a subwoofer. I see the v5 covers that.

But even when all boxes are checked, there is no reason for a Hypex 250w or 500w amp. Fosi has a lot of other stuff that's smaller, cheaper and more than capable for the gaming task.

I think they really aim at music with the v4 and v5. And these cases - prototypes - have a big chance of not being final.

I'll take your word for it, I don't have a clue about gaming, it's only what I see my nephew and his friends do.
And lots of their stuff, do look similar in aesthetics, so...

 

[Chanur]

I don't hate the look but don't love it either. For those prices I'd rather have a Buckeye amp. I trust their build quality and if it fails I have local support. If you need a fancier case I'd go with Orchard Audio or Peachtree.

 

[Ropeburn]

These look like gaming stuff to me.
I don't blame them though, gaming has potential for piles of money.

Gamers typically don't buy 500W monoblocks for 1000 each, for their desk... especially not with the PC parts prices these days

 

[BeeKay]

Gamers typically don't buy 500W monoblocks for 1000 each, for their desk... especially not with the PC parts prices these days

True. Lucky us that AI data centers are not after hardware that we typically need

 

[Sokel]

Gamers typically don't buy 500W monoblocks for 1000 each, for their desk... especially not with the PC parts prices these days

I guess they save for their hi-end motherboards and memory sticks, these can go easy above 4k euro as I hear around

 

[Ruediger]

I guess they save for their hi-end motherboards and memory sticks, these can go easy above 4k euro as I hear around

Harddisks and older gen GPUs bring good money on the used market though.

And luckily almost no games need really big memory kits, which easily go into 4 digits.

Good mainboards and GPUs got very expensive. And nice OLED gaming displays. That's serious hifi budget level, not easy for young people to get the nice stuff in that area.

But PC hardware goes through cycles for decades now. There have always been these times of high demand and high prices, especially with RAM. Followed by extensive production and low prices. AI created a lot of demand, but the industry will adjust. When people pay $1k for a mediocre 128GB kit, someone will make much more of those. Also: wait for the current AI bubble to pop.

The prototype case of the v5 could also be from a car amp?

 

[Ropeburn]

I guess they save for their hi-end motherboards and memory sticks, these can go easy above 4k euro as I hear around

Hehe

 

[Redacted]

I'd guess for kit "in development" the cases would have been 3D printed in order to get them to the show.on time. They probably would not commit to even soft-tooling until they got some feedback about the designs from their mktg dept, or even from shows and ASR!

 

[Redacted]

Hehe View attachment 538876

Gamers I know have suitably messy cacbling, and tell me the main things are frame rate on GPU (at required res and 'detail features'), the latest PCI on the motherboard and low latency over the internet for online games.

Personally, I've no idea, I'm exhausted after 2 mins of many games these days, and hate the endless repetition to complete scenes.

I worked in LAN networking in the 80's, and I recall playing networked Doom. It was a favourite test when developing drivers for the LAN cards (as they were then).

 

[Ropeburn]

Gamers I know have suitably messy cacbling, and tell me the main things are frame rate on GPU (at required res and 'detail features'), the latest PCI on the motherboard and low latency over the internet for online games.

Personally, I've no idea, I'm exhausted after 2 mins of many games these days, and hate the endless repetition to complete scenes.

I worked in LAN networking in the 80's, and I recall playing networked Doom. It was a favourite test when developing drivers for the LAN cards (as they were then).

That reminds me. All these DSPs and stuff, everywhere in modern hifi... nifty parametric EQ and room correction and subwoofer management, yes yes but can it run Doom?

 

[Emulator II]

Not my piece of cake. I’d prefer any ‚boring‘ but not flashy enclosure just like the one by audiophonics over these bug ugly cases.

And the good thing is that many of these Hypex amps are small enough to be hidden all the way. Most of them have a trigger input so there's really no need to touch or see them anyway. They can just doing their job in the background.

 

[PristineSound]

I haven't heard any with the V3 to be honest. But I like having peace of mind and I just don't have it with them. It's awesome that we have all the inexpensive and excellent measuring devices from the likes of Topping/SMSL/Fosi and others these days, but at the same time I've seen more than enough reports of failure on several devices made by these companies to have much faith in them lasting as long as I'd like. That makes me less willing to fork out the prices these new models are listed at.

There are reasons why these type of units are as inexpensive as they are and in my opinion not spending more time engineering them to be more reliable is one of the biggest. These companies appear to be in a race to outdo each other with the amount of new products they introduce and of course the SINAD race.

I have two sets of speakers, both are rather expensive for me (maybe not for others). Both of these speakers are meant to be with me for at least another 10 years, most likely for another 15.

I cannot afford to take a risk with these brands that have reported QA issues even if only here and there.

Specific to the Chinese brands, for me their reliability is in question not because of the legacy of poor Chinese QA/QC reputation, since Chinese QA/QC has already hit parity for easily over a decade now with their Western counterparts. But because of how fast they push through a product cycle and how short live each product is. This naturally cuts out valuable QA/QC and shortens the support lifecycle, especially if products are treated as disposable.

Reliability concerns are not limited to just these Chinese brands alone, there are also reported issues with the Hypex MP series as well, which was on my short list at one point.

These specific Fosi are likely using a derivative of the Hypex MP series, so right off the bat, we are dealt with a double whammy risk: Chinese brand shorten product development cycle and Hypex MP.

 

[Mort]

Their amplifiers don't exactly shine in terms of design, either. They are drab, utilitarian boxes you’d want to hide in a closet and never see again.

Your sarcasometer needs tuning.