AudioQuest vs Cardas XLR

@spearl8

I have spoken with an Audioquest customer support over the phone the other day and he told me that the lower end models are indeed made in China but their higher and series or models are manufactured in house in California. For example, the AQ Blizzard power cable and lower are made in China but anything above the Blizzard line are made in California. The same applies to their speaker cable lines, interconnects, and other cables.

@jafant

in regards to Cardas cables all of their cable lines are made in the USA. I currently own the Cardas Clear Reflection speaker cables and 2 pairs of Clear Reflection XLR balanced interconnects in my setup and I can tell you that they are all made in Oregon, USA. The dealer had them shipped directly from their factory in Oregon to my house here in Seattle. And on the box and on the cables themselves it says made in USA. I also used to own a pair of lower end Cardas Clear Cygnus interconnects, which is a step down below the Clear Reflection line, and they are also made in USA because it says on the cable itself and on the box.

There are always counterfeit cables especially with Audioquest and all these counterfeit cables are of course made in China. I’m sure they are also counterfeit Cardas cables that are made out of China. 

Who cares if they’re made in China? If AQ, Cardas, or whoever is overseeing manufacturing and is standing behind their quality, who give a great God damn where their made? Would I prefer the to be made in the US? Of course!!! But if I can get better cables at half the price that they could be made here, I’m pretty fine with that as long as the parent company is ensuring quality and standing behind their products and they’re not made in a sweatshop, which no reputable US company would do. It’s just economics folks. If relatively low-tech products like audio cables can be reliably produced in countries like China, Viet Nam, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, etc. due to lower labor rates then so be it. It’s called global economics folks — get over it. My speakers, that I’ve owned for over 20 years, were designed in America but made in China, and they’re fantastic, built like a brick  house, and would’ve cost double if they were made in the US. In economics, money flows like water to where it meets least resistance. Period. It’s just math. Get over it. If China makes crap products, people in the US won’t buy them and they’ll ultimately fail. Full stop — end of story. But that does not mean that foreign countries can’t produce excellent products for less to our benefit. Look, I’m a Made in the USA dude as much as the next guy, but that doesn’t mean great products can’t be produced elsewhere. And, BTW, to all of you “it needs to be made in the US” guys realize that most of the parts within your “made in the US” audio components COME FROM OVERSEAS!!! Get over it. Support the US when you can of course and I subscribe to that as well, but don’t deny the value that foreign countries can provide even if you don’t like them. Their parts are unavoidably in almost everything we own, so don’t be a hypocrite and think that just because something is assembled here purely benefits the US, because it doesn’t and you’re just fooling yourself. Yeesh.

@soix

+1

I have worked in manufacturing globally for most of my career… extensively in mainland China. Some of the finest products made (like iPhones) are made there… so is some real junk. So, it depends on the company designing and is in charge of manufacturing.

So, much of our affluence is based on manufacturing in China, you would think we would be grateful. And before you jump in and say they steal our technology, that is only true if we let them. It is not a problem with Apple. Why? They are there, they manage quality and protect their intellectual property. Lots of American companies, large and small do. Some not so smart people send their IP over and expect them to respect the source. Very naive.