Chinese Hi Fi (revisited)

A couple of months ago, we had a thread running describing exotic looking Chinese Hi Fi Equipment.

Did any body actually buy any of the amps (mainly valve) or speakers (mainly ribbon mid/tweeters) that were discussed?

Ken

 

Colin^ on the HFC forum got a pair of Aurum Cantus, he was doing a blog of running in and positioning etc. I think he is in NZ.

 

Got a nice DVDP called Oppo Digital for US$199. It is giving the all singing Tag a run for its money.

 

I'm still researching the Shanling/Jungson/Xindak SACD players. Lots of info on the US forums, very little of it is positive

DT

 

How so? I've been pondering a Jungson Moon Harbour CD or SACD player as a transport for a while....whats not positive about peoples experiences?

 

Yes I have purchsed everything from CDP to Cables from China.

Extremely happy.

 

For a start, I would personally consider the above to be overkill for use a pure transports, but each to their own.....

Just type the above decks into google and look at the posts on the US forums. Obvious, people with complaints/problems are more vocal than those without

General quality control and finish seem to be the biggest complaints, with peculiar operating faults second and repair difficulties third.

Certainly won't prevent me from ever buying chi-fi, but it's certainly made me more cautious/careful about diving in head-first.

DT

 

Today I listened to a pair of these

http://www.daredtube.com/pages/pdv300B.htm

P-SET 300B 18 watts

They were driving a newly designed speaker using an Isobarik design bass system and Hales ribbon Mid/Tweeter unit.

Mighty fine sound.

 

I'm not sure if the Eastern Electric MiniMax pre/power counts - but if it does, I am delighted with mine. It replaced a Naim 52/SC/250 amp system, and significantly betters it for a fraction of the price. Sure, it's not going to drive real tricky loads with only eight watts, but other than that I really can't find anything to complain about...

 

Running a Ming-Da 34A and am very pleased. Sounds great. Only problem has been a blown valve, but there was nothing wrong with the circuit, must have been a faulty valve concluded the repairer. Is doing a great job of driving the Meadowlarks

 

I have a Consonance pre-amp (a kit one with choice parts).

Its beaten all-comers so far.. (IMO, in my system etc)

 

Must be a Ming Da thing, the very same just happened to mine last night! Are your valves Sovteks by any chance?

 

i use vincent / sheng-ya valve / solid state hybrid monoblocks - absolutely destroyed everything else i tried and were the cheapest too.
cheers


julian.

 

Julian - what's the pre-amp you use? been having a sniff around Vincent. has it got balanced outs?

 

Chinese Hi-Fi is fine, I think they just don't have quite such tight quality control on it. That, or the shipping it about causes damage, I can see a valve failing quickly because of a rough ride and I had a CD player where the laser assembly had come out of its correct seating. I know it wasn’t just made that way because it got a good 2 days testing before shipping.

It definitely represents good value for money but its better to buy it from a local dealer if you want ISO and EU safety regulations all abided to and a warranty.

 

MMmmm - Vincent.
Very popular in Germany apparently.

The V8i integrated has caught my eye (so to speak).
It uses a biasing circuit similar to the Krell system allowing Class A up to around 120W rms.

Don't suppose anyone has had a listen to it have they?

Back on topic...
I have no problem with Chinese equipment - I have a Shanling SCD200 (bought used from AlanBeeb) and i've had various cables from Xindak.
Decent build quality and un-beatable sound for the money.

 

My valves were Svetlana's. Have switched to Golden Dragons on the advice of my repairer, and I think he was right

 

I am running a pair of opera audio consonance cyber 800 monobloc amps that were reviewed in hifi plush a few months back, they sound as good as the review said and no quality issues so far, someones taking the piss with the uk price though, less than half the asking in asia

 

Joe I would love to hear your 'actual' opinion of the sound quality, build quality and if you have any electrical or mechanical noise problems.

Ken

 

Not aware of the previous thread but I have a Inca / jungson SACD player and a Xindak interconnect, both from chinese-hifi.co.uk and the equipment and the service was faultless.