$39,000.oo Aavik Acoustics U-380 Class-D integrated amplifier

Here we go again, Covid-19 is everywhere

That’s also used in the $900 Red Dragon S500 amp
https://ibb.co/VmvR0sD

That are used in a $300 subwoofer plate amp
https://ibb.co/JjnrzXw

That all come from China, that sold these modules on Alibaba a year ago for $100!! just like these.
https://ibb.co/NWnRPbJ

What would you think the profit margin is on this amp?

Cheers George

georgehifi05-20-2020 11:37am

mapman Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 22,807 posts 05-22-2020 at 02:39am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Look let’s get to the crux of the matter. No piece of hifi electronics costing $40k, the cost of a decent luxury car, is a good value. Hopefully stuff costing that much at least is capable of sounding good to go along with the bling because lots of gear for a fraction of the cost does.
mapman Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 22,807 posts 05-21-2020 at 10:02pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Personally that is too much money for any amp much less a Class D which is supposed to be about more for less but sounds like it competes sound wise with comparable products so why beat on this particular product? It’s an integrated amp with dac and phono so the amp is not the whole story.
mapman Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 22,807 posts 05-21-2020 at 02:11am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I don’t know if it’s worth 40k or not but in all fairness there is more in there than just a Class D circuit. It’s also a DAC and has phono. How it sounds versus other products in its class is all that matters. Stereophile likes it but if a $40k product sounded bad you would have a real problem.
mapman Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 22,807 posts 05-21-2020 at 01:27am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete High end audio is a high margin boutique business.