I'm sure that all but the most uninformed audiophile has noticed that China (or rather Chinese manufacture) has become a major component of the mid to high end audio marketplace these days. My Rotel amplifiers were made in China, so was the Marantz integrated I owned before it, and I'm sure that many others own products from other well known brands which have similar origins.
Some believe that products produced in China are inherently inferior and not worth serious consideration. Two experiences have convinced me that this attitude is absolute biased rubbish. One is my "made in China" Rotels haven't given me any trouble whatsoever since I bought them and the other is a listening experience I had at a friends place recently. A short while ago, he acquired a few pieces of (Chinese made) Opera Audio, Consonance valve gear incl. a Droplet CD player & turntable and a pair of Cyber 800 monoblocks. For whatever it's worth, I'm an architect, so I consider standards of manufacture very critically, but I could not fault them in terms of build quality. Design is a bit more tricky to judge, very much an "eye of the beholder" decision, but let's just say, they don't fall into the anonymous "black box" category. But design considerations aside their real "magic" lies in their sonic performance. Neither soft and warm (as most typecast valves) nor sterile and analytical in a way that most would agree valves could never sound, but rather somewhere pleasantly in between. Yet what struck me most was the presence music had when played on this gear, as well as... dare I say it... their musicality. Listening for a considerable period of time, I felt no compulsion to mentally pull the music apart into a technical analysis (eg. bass was good, soundstaging was... blah, blah, blah... etc, etc...) Instead I just listened to music, and enjoyed it a great deal. Now just to be clear, this isn't a valve/transistor debate... more a statement of the fact that these are Chinese designs, not a big name Euro/US brand made in China, and they sounded glorious despite having no snob value!!
At present I am eagerly awaiting my chance to listen to soon to arrive samples of the new Consonance, Forbidden City "Calaf" integrated amp, a 200wpc/8 ohms (1st 40wpc in Class A) valve/transistor hybrid in the hopes of replacing my current amplification with it. I doubt that owners of the current reigning super amp brands would lose sleep over this lot, nor do I suppose that these same folks would be having a Krell/Classe/Ayre etc. bonfire anytime soon, and switching to Chinese brands in their droves; but these sure did sound good to me, and challenged my (occasionally smug) western attitude towards Far Eastern goods.
And as for the "sweatshop" exploited worker argument one sometimes hears as a further justification for why these products should continue to be sidelined... surely the same rationale has to apply to our big brand running shoes & designer jeans? In other words the moral high ground in this instance is more of a shaky pause on a very slippery slope. In any event, they do present those of us who aren't on a super amp budget (and a willingness to experiment) with a great sounding alternate to the usual suspects.
I'd be truly interested to hear the opinions of others on this matter, if indeed anyone has strong feelings for or against. As for me, it did take quite a bit of thinking to get my own attitude re-alinged even this little bit, so I understand the apprehension of others. But wouldn't it be interesting if we used our ears exclusively to decide these things, and let go of the snob value for a bit?
Some believe that products produced in China are inherently inferior and not worth serious consideration. Two experiences have convinced me that this attitude is absolute biased rubbish. One is my "made in China" Rotels haven't given me any trouble whatsoever since I bought them and the other is a listening experience I had at a friends place recently. A short while ago, he acquired a few pieces of (Chinese made) Opera Audio, Consonance valve gear incl. a Droplet CD player & turntable and a pair of Cyber 800 monoblocks. For whatever it's worth, I'm an architect, so I consider standards of manufacture very critically, but I could not fault them in terms of build quality. Design is a bit more tricky to judge, very much an "eye of the beholder" decision, but let's just say, they don't fall into the anonymous "black box" category. But design considerations aside their real "magic" lies in their sonic performance. Neither soft and warm (as most typecast valves) nor sterile and analytical in a way that most would agree valves could never sound, but rather somewhere pleasantly in between. Yet what struck me most was the presence music had when played on this gear, as well as... dare I say it... their musicality. Listening for a considerable period of time, I felt no compulsion to mentally pull the music apart into a technical analysis (eg. bass was good, soundstaging was... blah, blah, blah... etc, etc...) Instead I just listened to music, and enjoyed it a great deal. Now just to be clear, this isn't a valve/transistor debate... more a statement of the fact that these are Chinese designs, not a big name Euro/US brand made in China, and they sounded glorious despite having no snob value!!
At present I am eagerly awaiting my chance to listen to soon to arrive samples of the new Consonance, Forbidden City "Calaf" integrated amp, a 200wpc/8 ohms (1st 40wpc in Class A) valve/transistor hybrid in the hopes of replacing my current amplification with it. I doubt that owners of the current reigning super amp brands would lose sleep over this lot, nor do I suppose that these same folks would be having a Krell/Classe/Ayre etc. bonfire anytime soon, and switching to Chinese brands in their droves; but these sure did sound good to me, and challenged my (occasionally smug) western attitude towards Far Eastern goods.
And as for the "sweatshop" exploited worker argument one sometimes hears as a further justification for why these products should continue to be sidelined... surely the same rationale has to apply to our big brand running shoes & designer jeans? In other words the moral high ground in this instance is more of a shaky pause on a very slippery slope. In any event, they do present those of us who aren't on a super amp budget (and a willingness to experiment) with a great sounding alternate to the usual suspects.
I'd be truly interested to hear the opinions of others on this matter, if indeed anyone has strong feelings for or against. As for me, it did take quite a bit of thinking to get my own attitude re-alinged even this little bit, so I understand the apprehension of others. But wouldn't it be interesting if we used our ears exclusively to decide these things, and let go of the snob value for a bit?
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