Yeah. As you say, the enclosure alone is worth that price! Clearly it is a copy cat. Those big orange filter caps are certainly suspect.
I often buy Chinese aluminum boxes for various devices, mostly of smaller dimensions. The quality is better than the price. Postage is often more expensive than the box. Capacitors and the like are extremely cheap in China, especially in larger quantities. The price of work is unrealistically low, so it is possible to get such amplifier for that money. I don't know how long it will last and how it really works. That MF A1 was not a reliable device either.
If you are familiar with the price structuring in 'traditional' HiFi it becomes quite believeable.
Jan
Jan
I think possible, I was a skeptic on JL for PCB's. I just could not believe the pricing was possible. But I had a large board (50 sq inch) that was going to be crazy expensive in the US, 5x50 or 250 for 3 copies. The order thru JL was 15 + 22 for shipping for 5 copies. So about 1/5th including shipping and less than 1/10th for actual product. The boards look just as good as the US ones I've had made and ironically, they beat the US company in terms of time to my doorstep. The US supplier usually took a week to schedule it to production and a couple days to ship. JL produces it practically overnight and shipping took around 5 days. I still don't have a clue how they can do it. 5 blank boards I think would cost more than 15 here. And this is prototypes. I've never checked but I bet they give a discount for volume.
At least 50% of the price being dealer mark-up alone. If you see anything advertised for X (at retail) there is a way to get it for X/2, if you can open the right doors.
Look inside a $ 1000 DAC.
That board can be produced for less than $ 100 with enough left for a nice box.
It's called 'capitalism' ;-)
Jan
That board can be produced for less than $ 100 with enough left for a nice box.
It's called 'capitalism' ;-)
Jan
The last video players we sold were +/- 40€, tax, VAT, shipping, wholesale profit, retailer profit and even production included.
Hugo
Hugo
Hi,
you are right. The chinese do not know what to do with the PE ( Protected Earth). I have bought two Audio Technica Headphone Clones at different companys on Aliexpress and the housing was connected to transformator ground. The PE only was connected to the transformator shielding. Dangerous....and you get some hum...
If someone has no knowledge about electric or having a friend that knows about...don't buy such chinese assembled devices. Perhaps next month the capacitors have a different colour. The chinese take what components they have in stock and try to save money.
Greets
Peter
Or look at this. An almost perfect amp for $ 300.
How can you justify a 30k amp except for an ultra-expensive sculpted case and/or bragging rights?
Hi-End is no longer about bang for the buck, if it ever was.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-b100-amplifier-review.57036/
Jan
How can you justify a 30k amp except for an ultra-expensive sculpted case and/or bragging rights?
Hi-End is no longer about bang for the buck, if it ever was.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-b100-amplifier-review.57036/
Jan
Inside reveals a throwaway design similar to e.g. chinese routers or switches. And when it breaks it does not even work as a boat anchor.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ping-b100-amplifier-review.57036/post-2083695
Based on the size of those TO-126 transistors, the whole thing is 10 inches across and the transformer is 50 VA.
I look at that picture, and wonder about the scale. The screws on the front corners, the IEC inlet on the back (ungrounded?), the terminals... Is it very small?
haha, wg_ski beat me to the punch...
haha, wg_ski beat me to the punch...
How is this possible? It's made in China silly.
- A large well established industrial complex.
- Economies of scale.
- Cheap parts.
- An almost unlimited supply of cheap labor.
- Sell direct, no dealer network with all the markup (already covered)
- I'm probably forgetting many others.
jeff
Yes I agree Martti, that is a serious design deficiency. 'Cannot be used as boat anchor' 😎
I hadn't seen this inside photo. They claim is it a class B amp (not AB), and I heard from others they developed a special feedback arrangement to beat the crossover distortion. I wonder if it is a variant of Current Dumping? That would help to keep idle dissipation in check.
Jan
Ach, the algorithm follows me ... Youtube guy likes this one (and similar), tho I didn't find his comments very informative.
Not to surprising.
You can actually make a 20/25 watt amplifier even cheaper than that.
Specially such a simply design with such few components.
2 channels with no features.
Todays world, you can now see the actual value.
People pay up to 3 grand for a pair of vintage shoes.
At the end of the day it still only contains 7 dollars of material.
Any additional value is subjective and up to the buyer
to make up a reason for the price after that.
People had amazing reviews of the Gain Card.
2 grand for a 4 dollar chip amp.
Heck at least the distortion is likely lower
and twice the power.
You can actually make a 20/25 watt amplifier even cheaper than that.
Specially such a simply design with such few components.
2 channels with no features.
Todays world, you can now see the actual value.
People pay up to 3 grand for a pair of vintage shoes.
At the end of the day it still only contains 7 dollars of material.
Any additional value is subjective and up to the buyer
to make up a reason for the price after that.
People had amazing reviews of the Gain Card.
2 grand for a 4 dollar chip amp.
Heck at least the distortion is likely lower
and twice the power.
Circular economy is the future. There needs to be an alternative usage when (not 'if' in this case) it breaks otherwise it will just end up in a landfill.
My Revox A740 is 45+ years old and still going strong. It probably weighs more than my boat anchor.
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