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What is your stance on Chinese brand Hi-fi equipment

What is your stance

  • I had no, and have no interest in buying Chinese Hifi equipment

    Votes: 14 8.1%
  • I am watching, waiting for a good sale

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I am watching, waiting for a better device in the future

    Votes: 8 4.7%
  • I have bought at least one, and will buy more in the future

    Votes: 117 68.0%
  • I have bought at least one, and will never buy again

    Votes: 14 8.1%
  • I am already fully Chinese Hifi equipped

    Votes: 19 11.0%

  • Total voters
    172

Sgt. Ear Ache

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And yet, when it came to their own children Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg chose to keep technology at arm's length:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tech-billionaire-parents-limit/
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

FWIW, I bought a Playstation VR pre-pandemic, but during lockdown, I spent more of my time in the real world, working on projects which had accumulated over the years because I had been too distracted. Watched a movie or two via the goggles, and yes the virtual (very big) screen is kind of neat, though 3D movies didn't look particularly 3D, maybe because they weren't optimized for goggles. But mostly I watch movies on my 32" set.

Sure, but we're in the early days of the game right now. It's pretty inevitable that we're headed down that road eventually. Putting limits on what little kids do is part of parenting right? We limit their TV time...how much candy they eat...don't let them stay up all night. Why wouldn't we limit their VR time too? I'm not advocating for it really...I just think it's more or less what the future holds. (BTW, I had no idea the VR goggles already had that virtually big screen option. I've never even put a pair on and frankly I'm not all that interested in it yet. Once the technology is advanced enough I'll be interested though)
 
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ta240

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Not having a go at you, and I do agree with your major point...but the SINAD thing is a hot button issue for me. I'm so tired of "the other side" trying to paint ASR as a bunch of bean counters obsessed with SINAD to the exclusion of everything else. Judging by how over-played that narrative is, you'd almost think Amir's reviews looked like this:

"Topping E30 Dac - SINAD 119 - Bye."

Is SINAD important to "enjoying music?" Well, I don't know...is burn-in important to enjoying music? Are expensive wires important to enjoying music? Are tubes important to enjoying music? If any of those things might be, then I don't know why SINAD couldn't also be - I mean at least it's a real, measurable quality that actually exists.

The problem is that this site says that all the other things you listed are not important to enjoying the music and says some are against enjoying the music. Your post kind of makes it sound like those things are accepted here but SINAD isn't accepted there. Instead you are trying to use their logic against them.

Once the SINAD gets to the inaudible level, how is it different from rubbing magic lotion on the front of your amp? It doesn't make a change you can hear but it makes you feel better about it.

I do see a lot of comments on products here that are along the lines of "SINAD XXX, that isn't as good as such and such product - bye"

As to the "this side" and "the other side" maybe I don't frequent the right other forums but I see many more digs at the other side from here. I haven't seen people on other forums call for companies to change their processes to make amps more musical and less technically correct. They may get excited about amps that they consider musical but they just ignore the ones that don't suit their desires. This site on the other hand seems to seek out the products the other side likes to try to destroy them. The glee that is shown on the comments on equipment that doesn't meet the criteria of the site and the subsequent mocking of those that like it seems to be one sided.
 
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Sgt. Ear Ache

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The problem is that this site says that all the other things you listed are not important to enjoying the music and says some are against enjoying the music.

Once the SINAD gets to the inaudible level, how is it different from rubbing magic lotion on the front of your amp? It doesn't make a change you can hear but it makes you feel better about it.
No, we say there's no evidence they have any effect at all (other than removing dollars from the wallet). And we also all agree that beyond a certain point SINAD makes no notable difference either. There's significant areas of the forum dedicated to psycho-acoustics. It becomes little more than a way to organize different items on a chart...
I do see a lot of comments on products here that are along the lines of "SINAD XXX, that isn't as good as such and such product - bye"

I doubt you really do.
 

Vacceo

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I figure in 20 years time we'll all be wearing high-tec eye glasses that have a hud display as well as an array of visual real-time filtering constantly on display and a couple extensions with little balls on the end that insert deep into our ear canals and feed filtered audio from both the live 3D microphones on the glasses as well as the always-online digital stream directly to our ear drums.

Either that or we'll be fighting each other for food and water...
Both can perfectly happen at the same time.
 

Sgt. Ear Ache

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As to the "this side" and "the other side" maybe I don't frequent the right other forums but I see many more digs at the other side from here. I haven't seen people on other forums call for companies to change their processes to make amps more musical and less technically correct. They may get excited about amps that they consider musical but they just ignore the ones that don't suit their desires. This site on the other hand seems to seek out the products the other side likes to try to destroy them. The glee that is shown on the comments on equipment that doesn't meet the criteria of the site and the subsequent mocking of those that like it seems to be one sided.

I'm only talking about what happens here. I don't go to the other forums at all anymore. I just see those sorts of arguments brought here on a regular basis. There's a thread or two every week started up to debate the merits of SINAD and suggest that it's overvalued "here."

As far as seeking out products to destroy them - I think there's value in revealing truth. If a product is being sold (often for large amounts of money) based on merits that don't exist then why shouldn't that be brought to light?
 

Thomas savage

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Hi, welcome to ASR.

Please, try not to use this term, otherwise feel free to discuss the open topic;


JSmith
Agree 100% but the OP basically says ' chifi '

So your uniting a country in respect or non respect and condemning every person and entity within .

At best it's lazy , there might be trends , movements but to unite that behind a nationality like this is prejudiced and tbh racist .

It's dosnt matter if it's a positive or negative, prejudice is damaging and alienates people .

We are a international forum , id like to think all nationalities can enjoy friction free access to ASR and we are united behind objective, recognised reasoning.

We don't need threads like these. Least you want to know what the British thought of US manufacturing and engineering when i was growing up.

Nothing good comes of it , you've a issue with a brand come and tell us, pressure should be applied and accountability is a core value here .

Generalising a while country and its people , what good can that possibly do .
 

shal

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My only fear about using low cost gear is not how many years they will live , it is more, if this gear failed, my speakers/amplifer will died with the gear ?

Ok they are cheap, they have very good SINAD, but what if they broke ?

I am more concerning by protection offer by device. It's why I prefers use profesionnal device from renommed brand.

My amp has more than 35 year (Pro Yamaha) for exemple.
But I have confidence that protections are OK for protect my old pro JBL speakers
 

fpitas

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My only fear about using low cost gear is not how many years they will live , it is more, if this gear failed, my speakers/amplifer will died with the gear ?

Ok they are cheap, they have very good SINAD, but what if they broke ?

I am more concerning by protection offer by device. It's why I prefers use profesionnal device from renommed brand.

My amp has more than 35 year (Pro Yamaha) for exemple.
But I have confidence that protections are OK for protect my old pro JBL speakers
I agree in principal. But many name-brand manufacturers use Chinese assembly companies. My $1300 RCF DX 2006 was made in China, for example. As in many things, you get what you pay for.
 

shal

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I agree in principal. But many name-brand manufacturers use Chinese assembly companies. My $1300 RCF DX 2006 was made in China, for example. As in many things, you get what you pay for.
Yes,
But name-brand manufacturers have design with all needed protections and good quality-control.
it's why, i have no problem with chinese product , they can as good as other.
But I don't belived that product designed for low cost included all of theses protections.
I am perhaps wrong...
 

fpitas

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Yes,
But name-brand manufacturers have design with all needed protections and good quality-control.
it's why, i have no problem with chinese product , they can as good as other.
But I don't belived that product designed for low cost included all of theses protections.
I am perhaps wrong...
No, you're not entirely wrong. It depends on the profit margin, among other things. If you sell enough that engineering costs are covered, you have the luxury of good quality even on an inexpensive product.
 

restorer-john

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Agree 100% but the OP basically says ' chifi '

So your uniting a country in respect or non respect and condemning every person and entity within .

At best it's lazy , there might be trends , movements but to unite that behind a nationality like this is prejudiced and tbh racist .

It's dosnt matter if it's a positive or negative, prejudice is damaging and alienates people .

We are a international forum , id like to think all nationalities can enjoy friction free access to ASR and we are united behind objective, recognised reasoning.

We don't need threads like these. Least you want to know what the British thought of US manufacturing and engineering when i was growing up.

Nothing good comes of it , you've a issue with a brand come and tell us, pressure should be applied and accountability is a core value here .

Generalising a while country and its people , what good can that possibly do .

I don't use the term 'ChiFi'. It sends a message that is derogatory.

That said, I have no problem in using 'Chinese HiFi' or 'Chinese made' as they are country of origin descriptors. No different to 'Made in Japan' which was a quality descriptor through the 1970s and 1980s. The fact that a huge amount of small boxes are pouring out of China masquerading as HiFi is undisputed. Much of the gear is not up to high fidelity standards, it is disposable and of very dubious construction.

But there are a small, yet growing number of excellent products being sold under their own brands, coming from China. That is a good thing.

Some however is good, really good in fact.
 

Jimster480

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I have no problems with Chinese gear. My first gear is the shangling DAC-50 which I am still using today.
My first one was technically a fiio K1.
I still carry it in the case with my one more quad driver. It sounds better than most laptop outputs even if I'm sure it won't measure that well.
 

mcdn

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As far as I know, Luxman is made in Japan. Why did you state Luxman was made in China?
They’re all IAG brands, and they make most of their stuff in China. Peter Comeau moved out to China to supervise the factory IIRC. Maybe some or all of the Luxman bits are still made in Japan, but who knows for sure, and does it matter?
 

anmpr1

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As far as I know, Luxman is made in Japan. Why did you state Luxman was made in China?

The back of their gear tells the story. As far as what's on the inside, and where circuit boards are sourced?

lux.jpg
 

fpitas

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The back of their gear tells the story. As far as what's on the inside, and where circuit boards are sourced?

View attachment 223778
Perhaps, but be a little careful. I know that here you can say, "Made in the USA" if some of the parts are final assembled here.
 

Waxx

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They’re all IAG brands, and they make most of their stuff in China. Peter Comeau moved out to China to supervise the factory IIRC. Maybe some or all of the Luxman bits are still made in Japan, but who knows for sure, and does it matter?
IAG makes a lot of stuff in China, but Luxman is still in Japan, and most of their UK brands (the higher end ones) are still in the UK also. They try to keep their bought brands in their original setup and quality (or higher) they say.
 
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