[chgolatin2]

Any info on Cayin, Shenga and Original from China? I've heard of the brand Cayin but the others I have no clue, seems like the Chinese are catching up with the world of "high end audiophile" products and beating the good ole U.S of A on prices 

[Singapura]

I have an Meng Yue Aria tube amp. The sound is on par with amplifiers costing a thousand (US) bucks or more. Paid USD 149,00 including shipping to Singapore  . China has some very high-end manufacturers who have years of experience producing for expensive European and American brands. Shanlin and Cayin are among the best! Currently I'm saving for this one:



http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/0902/shanling.htm

 

[PhishPhan]

ShengYa is a brand I'm familiar with. I bought one of their tube CD players and it was extremely well built for the money. The sound was exceptional, too. I sold it after a few years to upgrade to another Chinese CDP, an Eastsound CD-E5. Again, the build and sound quality of this player is astounding given it's modest price tag. The ShengYa sold immediately on Audiogon for 90% of what I paid, so the resale was suprisingly high.

My amp, a Jungson JA-88D, is also Chinese. 80 watts of pure class A. 

[BubbleChamber]

Original makes very eye catching high end gears, mainly CD players. I learned of them when I was reading the review of their top of the line CD player, the Leonardo. It received a below par review from 6moons. You can read about it here:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/original/original.html

There are quite a few well recognized Chinese high end manufacturers: Shanling, Raysonic, Consonance, Aurum Cantus, Dared and Jolida (Jolida is manufactured in China), to name a few. Plus the ones that were mentioned in this thread and many others.

I personally own a modded Shanling CDT-100 and a Jolida 502b. They are built like a tank and they sound wonderful. 

[nickspicks]

Let me add props for Audio Experience products.
their preamps kick serious ass.  I can only imagine their amps are awesome as well.

[goldlizsts]

Any info on Cayin, Shenga and Original from China? I've heard of the brand Cayin but the others I have no clue, seems like the Chinese are catching up with the world of "high end audiophile" products and beating the good ole U.S of A on prices 

Well designed and made, hence the competitive edge.  The one thing lacking is perhaps the looks.  Not too imaginative often (squarish, boxy....), tho there are exceptions (as always).  Main reason: they don't have labor problems.  If the soldering technician gets paid at like $3 a day, imagine?  Get a UAW worker to be on the asembly line for less than $60!  Add fringes too.  There are no medical plans for workers in China.  Overhead is loooooooooow!

Cayin, Ming Da, they're all very much established names already.  Tien Jin brand of 300B tubes is at least on par with WE's, at much less cost, tho they have their virtues each...... American brands, many, are made in China now, tho designs are perhaps still American.

[rollo]

I own Consonance Cyber 211 amps. To date no problems. The sound is on par with units costing 3 times as much.
     Don't forget about Malaysia. I own the Promitheus TVC and for the money it is well beyond expectations. Actually it is a no brain-er. I'll put this TVC against any Preamp no matter what the cost and it will not be embarrassed.
      Yes labor cost is the key but the distributor and dealer mark up of 40% for dealer and 20-30% for distributor is also a key factor. . US manfs. just cannot compete on an even level. I purchased my Consonance amps in China for less than half of retail here. Even after shipping it still was a $2500 savings.
      It appears to me that direct sales with a 30 day money back guarantee will be the wave of the future for US companies to compete with the Asian products. If free trade agreements between our countries were changed to favor US manfs. there would not be such a difference in price.   
      In the world market the Chinese and other Asian countries now have the advantage. So at this time we should take advantage as well. When our government finally realizes what is happening to the American manf. maybe things will change. I doubt it though. Good for the consumer bad for US manfs.
     So, do the US manfs. change their ways of marketing or do they die off? My guess is they need to change their thinking to compete. Lets face it the Asian products are good infact very good and the price is right. I am going for bang for the buck.
     How about you?

   rollo

[tanchiro58]

So, do the US manfs. change their ways of marketing or do they die off? My guess is they need to change their thinking to compete. Lets face it the Asian products are good infact very good and the price is right. I am going for bang for the buck.

It depends on which "Asian" hi-end products. The quality of components are among the most important subject of discussion too. You can not compare the high end audio components and their sky-high prices like Audio Note Japan, Wavac and AudioTekne (they are the most popular) with Chinese and/or Western products. I know some American hi-end products that just have the look but all chinese components inside. Their sounds are okay (I would say) and nothing special (I think DIY and modifying stuffs are much better). If you have a chance to listen to them you will appreciate how much they cost. But things are you could not afford them with your paycheck.

I also know outhere a couple new "Asian" manufactory build their products with high quality components and looks, their sounds are almost the same like "high price audio system" but the cost is only fraction of their price.

I have owned the Silver Eagle Audio preamp 8608 Reference and SET 2A3 parallel Signature amplifier.

[lcrim]

I own or have owned a number of components from Eastern Electric.   The design and build quality are first rate and at their price points, the value is extraordinary.  Couple that part of the equation with the customer skills of Bill O'Connell, head of Morningstar Audio, the importer and business partner in the US and you have a business model that is well tailored to the times.
I wish that the Melody products would build as strong a US arm and remove the question mark of gray market that seems to hang over what is otherwise a product line of very high quality.

[kirch]

I currently have a Jolida 302RC and a totally unknown Chinese integrated called Audio Institute.  These are comparable units in looks and build, one you've heard of, one you haven't.  Both are very sturdy, attractive, albeit relatively plain looking, but excellent sounding integrateds. 

I'd like to hear from those who've purchased no-name Chinese equipment (tube) and were disappointed.  Everyone posting thus far has nothing but positive things to say.

[Tweaker]

I wish that the Melody products would build as strong a US arm and remove the question mark of gray market that seems to hang over what is otherwise a product line of very high quality.

It seems they have:
http://www.melodyhifi.com/aboutus.html

[bprice2]

Let me add props for Audio Experience products.
their preamps kick serious ass.  I can only imagine their amps are awesome as well.

I've read good things about the Eastern Electric preamps.  Can you make any comparisons with the Audio Experience preamps?

[GHM]

Well I owned one of those Dared 2000a tubed preamps. It sounded pretty good and looked cool. But the build quality wasn't that great. The unit had very bad micro phonics... no matter what tubes I tried.

This could have been from any country. My friend had one of those Philly Audio tube preamps. This unit sounded terrible!! It did look good.

The MinMax is one of the special ones....Not bad at all.

[crossroadazn]

I have the Dared SL-2000A and it's dead quiet even put my ears next to the speakers. I'm using Mullard and Brima GZ30 from Britian, the other 12AT7s are NOS RCA and GE. Awesome sounding for the money without any problemo 
BTW I have the Mengyue EL84 with Tekton mini monitors for the bedroom very good for jazz vocal music. Never thought of owning tube components few years ago.

[TheChairGuy]

China graduates more engineers than the US does...and possibly more than all of Europe, too, now.

Combine mass brainpower with 1 billion folks than can work for 1/10 to 1/20th of what an average American can and you have a world power emerging in audiophile-quality Chinese electronics.  A 40' container from China to US is anywhere from $2700 to $4000...depending on which port, time of year, contracted rate, and the like.  So, if you can load a couple thousands units on a container, freight is a relative non-factor.

The math is nearly immutable.

Just enjoy the ride 

[Nels Ferre]

Let me add props for Audio Experience products.
their preamps kick serious ass.  I can only imagine their amps are awesome as well.

I thought the Audio Experience gear was not good at all, unless you upgrade the coupling caps, output caps, and power supply.

[doug s.]

I currently have a Jolida 302RC and a totally unknown Chinese integrated called Audio Institute.  These are comparable units in looks and build, one you've heard of, one you haven't.  Both are very sturdy, attractive, albeit relatively plain looking, but excellent sounding integrateds.

I'd like to hear from those who've purchased no-name Chinese equipment (tube) and were disappointed.  Everyone posting thus far has nothing but positive things to say.

sorry to disappoint you, but the one no-name chinese amp i purchased on ebay (sonice el84 integrated, for ~$250 shipped), was extremely nice!     same amp as the more familiar (and more expensive) sophia baby...

ymmv,

doug s.

[mike_c]

I've owned an Eastern Electric M520 integrated amp for a little over a year now - it has performed flawlessly. This amp retails for ~$1800, but just from looking at it, I would estimate it to cost atleast 2-3 times that - it's a gorgeous piece of equipment. Very solidly built, weighs in at around 50+ pounds...built like the proverbial tank. While this is certainly not the last amp that I will ever purchase (there are other amps I am anxious to hear - various low-powered SET's, Red Wine's new Sig 30, etc, etc...), I know that this piece will always have a place in my home.