Your talking nonsense, prejudiced nonsense.Thank you very much for very speedy responses. This is very valuable...
Let me explain my predicament: I am just a regular user. Main reason I purchased Sabaj D5 is to have a remote to switch between sources, my kids are rather young and have difficulty using JDS Labs switch. I conducted thorough analysis online and used some of the materials from this site to help with purchasing decision. Idea was to keep Sabaj D5 and sell JDS Labs Element ii.
In terms of some statements in response to my original post
To DeepSpace57 / Arvind
1. buying from Ali express is even worse than amazon.
a. no support
b. sellers frequently cant communicate coherently
c. shipping using DHL - Buyer will pay custom duties and tax!
d. If you lucky, seller will accept your return, Buyer will pay for shipping. Imagine my situation: unit is defective and I need to send it back to China and pay for it!
To RickSanchez
1. AE-5 has been measured on this site. but it's irrelevant for our conversation
2. Sabaj D5 is poorly engineered device - any device that has been engineered to a standard will not have display go bad after few hours of use. This is unacceptable from engineering point of view. It tells me that whole chain of engineering workflow is not followed here.
3. Packaging act - yes they are in violations. Please read information you provided - I did (it has nothing to do with specialty products and Sabaj D5 is not a specialty product btw). (but this is irrelevant for me as a consumer. I pointed out just to help out manufacturer/potential distributors and other organized sellers not to be dinged by someone for this).
4. "To each their own I guess. How a DAC or amp is advertised means nothing to me; I care about measurements, features, price, build quality, etc. Personally I'd prefer to spend my money with a company that invests more on engineering than they do on marketing. "
It means to me - since it provides an insight on manufacturer and poor documentation= equals poor engineering.
5. Sabaj D5 manufacturer states that this device is JAS-Hi-Res certified. However there is no record of SHENZHEN DAHAO and Sabaj D5 being certified. You can conduct search yourself.
I would really like to have a different opinion on this but it is what it is. Only reason i published by opinion is because we as consumers heavily rely on internet reviews and so called specialty forums. Long gone those days when these places were trustworthy source of information. Now they are filled by salesman and bots.
Before buying it, I read forums, sites and audio measuring sites where they measure audio equipment, etc.
I watched all youtubes related to sabaj d5 - my impression is that there are small number of people who create a bubble of information that is either not accurate(semi-scientific) of highly exaggerated and biased.
and please suggesting an idea of aliexpress as an option to buy audio equipment in north america... unless you are a masochist.
p.s. I would love the idea to be able to buy rock solid things from China and use them for many years, but unfortunately this doesn't work. Its disheartening to see that staff that is engineered and assembled in China without proper foreign outside supervision is bad as it was 20 years ago. Nothing has changed.
p.s. Please feel free to delete my posts.
It's not welcomed here I'm afraid. One has to wonder why you bought something from China when you hold such views.