Has anybody bought or heard a Chinese knock off amplifier?
I saw an amazing looking linestage which had parts that looked like vintage Western Electric transformers, capacitors and resistors. The buyer paid big bucks (I think it was something like $15,000), but the parts turned out to be Chinese counterfeit parts. The parts really looked quite good (made to look aged), but an expert spotted discrepancies in the decals on the parts. |
There is the whole gamut of Chinese audio gear--original designs, designs based on existing gear from other manufacturers and outright counterfeits (meant to actually fooling someone into thinking it is an original piece from another manufacturer). I've seen, for example, Chinese counterfeit tubes (Telefunken 803S) and counterfeit Audio Note interconnect cables. It takes quite a bit of skill to pull off realistic counterfeit goods, something that a manufacturing juggernaut like China has in abundance. |
You can get a complete audiophool setup at "Crazy Eddie" prices here https://www.china-hifi-audio.com/en |
I dont know if China can create now a great amplifier.... Among all the sea of junk however i bet they can... China invented almost anything basic in all fields, centuries and even millenia before Europe figure it out and borrow it most of the times.... I will copy only the partial list if you dont know it and if you asked for.... Propaganda is not reality, communist one or capitalist one... I am not chinese by the way, i only read books.... I read Joseph Needham book about China when i was 25 years old 45 five years ago then my "news" is very old news.... China own at least 3 millenia of continuous history and more in reality... Then.... Coming back from the moon they can make an amplifier.... 😁 The problem is the CCP, not their science and tech..... I dont know tough what are the name of their best audiophile products.... If someone knows i am curious.... Japan is top audiophile design creator of products like Korea... |
To say nothing of this website. https://chinaaudiostore.aliexpress.com/store/3005033 darTZeel anyone? |
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@tablejockey This Crazy Eddie? https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=crazy+edde&docid=608052238798095930&mid=764F8C4300C3C95... |
On this topic, I would trust millercarbon. He knows where the value is and is deep into admiration of Chinese products' sound. Millercarbon's System - Virtual Systems (audiogon.com) |
Before moving up to a Bob Carver Crimson 275, I bought a new Muzishare X-7 integrated amp on Amazon to see if I even wanted to get back into tubes. I have seen enough crap electronics in my time to know good from bad, and I was very impressed with the build quality and the components used in the Muzishare. It also sounds great. I have no idea what the clones look like, but there is some pretty respectable gear, like the highly rated Line Magnetic Audio coming from China. There are quite a few reviews out there that back that observation up too. As for getting fooled by a clone, the same adage applies to name brand audio gear as anything else; If the price is too good to be true, beware. |
There are a couple knock offs that do the job. Not quite as good as the real ones but none the less they are ok. The Bad News.... Pretty difficult too get repaired if needed. If they fail (amplifier 's) they usually take down a good part of the unit leaving you with a boat anchor. If you have 1000.00 to toy around with The DartZeel is pretty cool. |
even worse. I recently mounted two chinese 500 watt class d modules for 20€ each into a frame of a quad 405 frame to replace the old, unstable existing modules that killed my tweeters by wildly oscillating and I had to state: the 405 NEVER BEFORE played that well. amazing power, transparent and clear treble and all that at with incredible dynamics. |
Before buying Chinese, you should learn a bit about what your money will be contributing to. And yes, it is a question of the world you want to live in. It's easy to find things to knock in any nation, the US included, and being at the top, we take more than our share of criticism. But attempt to find out a bit about how the world might change with the Chinese government at the top, which is a very real and looming possibility. Really, have a look. It will probably scare the sh*t out of you. It's what North Korea can only aspire to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1DjkPWtj0 |
For decades I’ve read/heard disparaging comments about electronics made in S Korea. In college (1981) I bought a Sherwood S9600 CP receiver. Designed in the USA, manufactured and assembled in S Korea. Here it is 40 years later and I still use that receiver with no issues. Replaced a power switch. That’s it! It’s been in daily use for 40 years. Moved 14 times, even overseas. Im not supporting a communist regime in buying it. Denied Japan some money. But I feel good about it. i can’t feel good about supporting the PRC and the CCP! Their stated aim and business practice is to take over all industry and control from non-communist countries. When you buy from them, you add a strand to the noose designed to hang western countries and economies. |
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I love the quality and sound of my Cayin, not a fake like OP is talking about, just to say, the capability of terrific products is there. ................................ Once, on the way to lunch with a client, I saw a sign on an audio store, asked my client "what kind of name is (my pronunciation) mass a goona? He laughed, pronounced it properly: mashugana It was ’Mashugana Ike’s’, a funny take off on Crazy Eddies. I had heard, knew what it meant, but had never seen Mashugana spelled before. https://www.google.com/search?q=mashugana&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS881US881&oq=mashu&aqs=chrome.2... |
yogiboy, funny, thanks Mashugana Ike mentioned here (spelled wrong sometimes) https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/17130-the-death-of-the-home-stereo-system/page/6/ OP, sorry to wander from your discussion. |
Until China ends this illegal trade in knock-offs and stealing IP rights, Trump is correct. China is not fit to trade with other nations. A friend of mine bought a fake Rolex years ago. He showed it to me while we were sitting by the pool in Thailand. I could see it was fake (watch out, they're a lot better now although cost a lot more than $20. Anyhow, I wanted him to admit it was fake. So I waited til we got up to go in the pool. He started to take it off. I said: no Graham, that's waterproof to 2000 feet. He said, no not this one. |
Guys, I think your anger is misdirected here. You should go and discuss it here... World Trade Organization - Home page - Global trade (wto.org) |
glupson6,945 posts02-03-2021 6:22amGuys, Anger? Or things you don't agree with? |
People that produce counterfeit anything are thieves. It’s no more complicated than that. People that buy things from thieves are either ignorant, or amoral.Poor people from poor countries must buy US and must not work to eat? 😁 Black and white in morality is sometimes very pragmatical but for whom? We had a good advice here i think..... Guys,World trade Organization |
clearthinker 2 fake watch stories. Many years ago, at least 50, I found out about a coin shop and jeweler (not sidewalk stuff), fake Cartier Tank watch. The seller said, it looks like the original, but DO NOT take it to Cartier for repair. Big smile. Also many years ago, maybe 30, a client’s facilities manager came from Chicago to NYC. We going to lunch, he says let’s walk on that side of the street. He had seen a guy selling fake Rolex the day before. I said, noooo, sidewalk, on top of a cardboard box is not a good idea. He buys one, back to Chicago. Comes back about a month later, same thing, his had broken. Who would think it, but the guy was there. My friend picks one up, looks the guy straight in the eye, hands him his broken one, says that’s yours. Did I forget to mention my friend was HUGE. Seller smiles, off we go. OP, sorry again. |
What a bunch of BS, mahgister. Poor people from poor countries can work. The governments that control those countries can actually design and build products that haven't been pirated from others. But that won't happen when others turn a blind eye to their current practices. Are you suggesting that we also should have remained silent about the toys for toddlers that were painted with lead paint? Or the pet food that contained poisonous ingredients? So poor people can work to eat? I'm not buying your ill-thought-out "moral high ground", I'm sorry. |
I only point to the necessities of cooperation and world trade organization empowerement... Is it not clear? Did i suggect patent violation worlwide being the norm and the solution? But think about that: in the world actually vaccination is a necessities, analyse the unjust distribution of vaxx products in poor and rich countries...a low percentage of population monopolizing more than the rest of the world with STOLEN money.... Disease dont discriminate poor and rich... Analyse the negative consequences of abject poverty in disease transmission and incubation... Analyse the monstruosity of the MONEY in medecine BUSINESS and research BUSINESS....If you dont know that science dont exist anymore in medecine and had been replaced by tech and business you are blind and deaf.... Are you? Analyse the total Abjection of the patent industry in life product and reduction of live genomic to merchandise.... After that call me and recall me your indignation about false watches from China... People that produce counterfeit anything are thieves. It’s no more complicated than that. People that buy things from thieves are either ignorant, or amoral Your simplification of the problem is the mountain and high ground where you put yourself in security against others... Judgement is very easy indeed.... It is not me who are in moral high ground it is you.... And dont accuse me of children labor profitering.... All rich country people PROFIT now from this.... Unbeknownst to them or not...Open your eyes.... The problem ask for solutions that are not one country solution, or technocatratic corporation protection... Solutions of the world problems exceed binary thinking, communist/capitalist.....Thief/ rightful-consumers etc I am an optimist, the era of stupidity touch the end, we cooperate like one humanity or we die...In the 2 cases there is no more problem.... Across universe NO civilization can survive in an economic system like ours... NONE.... Poor people from poor countries can work. What is your news channel? Are you a martian ? A simple problem for you: If 9 percent of the global population lacks access to water, how many work against a minimal wage to only barely survive? |
builder3, "Anger? Or things you don’t agree with?" It has nothing to do with me. I simply think that fear is wasted on some audio forum. Why not go directly where you can be heard by people who matter? Let us know what they said. I am certain they have better formulated answers than all of the posters above have questions. They may even make sense to you (plural). Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs — Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America (china-embassy.org) |
Why buy a knock off top brand piece of gear if you can buy excellent gear from chinese brands with "incredible" perfomance price ratio? There are many very good chinese audio brands like Audio-GD, Line Magnetic, Cayin, etc. All of my audio gear, but the speakers and the subs, is from China and I've heard systems costing up many times mine not sounding that good. I'm from Argentina and I've bought my Line Magnetic LM508 amp and some tubes from Mr Yong, the owner of www.china-hifi-audio.com He is an authorized LM chinese dealer and very professional. Please don't turn this thread into a political one. |
Arguing about trade or economic injustices the world over misses the point, in my opinion. For me, the crux is the nature of governance in question. If you think the Chinese government as the dominant power would make for a better world, I believe you are sadly mistaken. It may be impossible to avoid China all together, but buying ChiFi is just feeding the monster that plans to eat you. Nature is unjust. There is no shortage of injustice all around us. But, if you think we have legitimate complaints in this country about government surveillance, open your eyes to what is going on in China. Understand the nature of the threat and what their vision for our future is. Then, maybe you will think hard about giving money to a country where surveillance is just one tool in a kit being developed for the purpose of taking human beings and remaking them to align with government specifications. Remember, our system is messy. Things would be a lot more orderly and efficient with government programmed robots. Remember when we laughed at North Korea's inability to hit us with nukes, and then, all of a sudden they could? Keep contributing to a growing superpower and see how it works out for us and the rest of the world. |
HOBO 452 Concur with your post......I just also recently acquired a MUZISHARE X7 Integrated Tube amp and it is indeed a superb device. Using it with an ARC 6SE PREAMP, as you can use the X7 as just an Amp (yes I know sounds absurd to use a $1400.00 Tube Amp with the ARC (17K MSRP), but the amp holds it own in this pairing. Of course MUZISHARE is a well established brand in China, and this post doesn’t really speak to the question posed by this thread, as the MUZISHARE isn’t a Clone of anything.....There’s a lot of great equipment coming out of Asia in general and China specifically. CHEERS..... |
+1 daj You got it! The world has to slowly wean itself off Chinese manufacture that we foolishly allowed ourselves to pass to them. Also avoid investing in China and prevent them buying into our companies, sending their students, etc. so they can steal our technology. Naysayers: Above is relevant to this thread because we shouldn't buy Chinese hi-fi, knock-off or legit. As the great man said: "Well, you know, lots of people complainin’ that there is no work I say, “Why you say that for When nothin’ you got is U.S. made?” They don’t make nothin’ here no more" |
"Above is relevant to this thread because we shouldn’t buy Chinese hi-fi, knock-off or legit." This thread is not, at least according to OP, about your fears and righteousness. It is about sound quality of Chinese knock-offs. Ramblings about taking over the world are misdirected and sad to even consider. While you are at stealing inventions, be ashamed of using some of the China’s. You know what they are. Not to mention, who is "we"? |
