Chinese CD players vs. Arcam

The 73T is made in China.

They should compete very well since most of the stuff is made by people employed at near slave wages. Since they are not much cheaper than American or UK made gear we have to wonder who in the company is gouging the consumer. Chinese gear should cost about half, or less than well made gear, where the company actually pays the employees a living wage.

Lant5-
well i realize almost everything is made in China, but referring these newer companies coming directly out of China, as Arcam is UK based.

Lant5 - do you have proof of this? Last time I looked the 73t was made in the UK in Arcam's dedicated factory.
Not confusing Arcam with Cambridge Audio ?

Last I knew htere were only 2 major Cos into CDP\DVDP's and that was Sony & Philips. Now there are the Tiawanese and Chinese also.

As for China you need to be selective as to what comes from China as it is either hit or miss. You have to consider what type of sound we like or preser in the west also. While the Brits favor a different sound then the americans also.

JMO

I'm not sure why anyone would buy a budget CD player outside of the Music Hall MMF25 CD player. Competes with most players out in the market as things are.

Trelja,

I kinda had it narrowed down to the Arcam 72 or 73t and the Music Hall MMF 25.

was just wondering about these other players, especially the ones with a tube output.

i just recieved a shengya tube cd player from china-very well built and sounds very nice-only 300$

Kray, I just sold my MMF25, and it was one heck of a player. I had to jump up to a reference level CD player to actually outshine it. I feel so strongly about it, I recently submitted a thread about the player
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1089461341&read&keyw&zztrelja+recommendation+mmf25

I have not listened to most of the new wave of Chinese imports, but the reliability, sonics, build quality, and having a Roy Hall behind the company make it a clear choice for me. Put it this way, I can't recommend the player enough to people, and if I ever need another non reference level player, I won't even have to think about it.

Trelja - what CD player did you end up getting?

can you compare the arcam and the music hall?

My 73T has a sticker on the back of the unit stating Manufactured in PRC which I take as Peoples Republic of China. A friend bought an 82 which clearly is marked Made in the UK. I have had my 73 for a couple of weeks and find it to be a nice sounding player. I prefer it to the Cambridge 640 and Jolida JD100. The one thing that I do not like and I find this on nearly all the units I have looked at recently is the really flimsy drawer and general plasticky construction. The Cambridge and Jolida have nicer casework than the Arcam. The transport on the Cambridge I had was noisy and the tranport on the Jolida was the typical run of the mill Phillips. Under the hood these players all had construction with robust power supplies, dampned chassis, good parts quality, the stuff that counts but I think for the increased cost the transports should be of a better quality than your basic $60 Best Buy unit.

Lant .. thanks. Sorry to hear Arcam has sold out. One of the last hold-outs of UK hifi manufacturing. Naim and Cyrus still manufacture electronics in the UK.

Lant5

so are you totally happy with your 73t? would you recommend it in it's price range? any specific characteristics it might have vs other players (soundwise)?

I'm not totally happy with the 73T. I think the top end could be better, cymbals don't seem to have as much of the impact and bronze tone to them as they should. Bottom end seems a little lacking. I do like the mids however and soundstaging is solid, wide, and decent depth. I think some more time and experimentation with cables might get me to give it a unqualified thumbs up. I did try the 82, and it is a better player with more control and energy at the frequency extremes, a smoother operating transport but for the price difference I didn't feel that it really distanced itself from the 73.

I heard the Eastern Electric MiniMax in the Audio Zone Amp at CES and I have to say I was stunned at how good the sound was; excellent resolution and focus. The build was solid, the finish up to the standard of other made-in-Asia-western players. My bet is some this could be attributable to the Audio Zone Amp. I did not ask whether Audio Zone had put NOS tubes in the MiniMax or not, since it has a slot in the back panel for 2 6DJ8/ECC88/6922 type tubes.