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Chinese products

I'm a little confused... Please bear with me

I recently reviewed a Chinese push pull amp for 600+ dollars as was pleasantly surprised with the sound quality( prev post)

I now see it for $50 more  on the same website.

I started looking at Chinese high end products like Line Magnetic an Sophia. (Please see glowing reviews on Stereophile). They are often 1000s of dollars more. The lm518ia( per SV $4450) caught my attention but the specs match up very close to the mc13s($600+)! So what am I missing?

Also, I see the above lm 518ia 835 integrated now selling for $1800.

This price volatility got me thinking:

Are all these products in fact the same? with the hope that someone will pay more for a variety of reasons?

This may be another thread, but who in world would pay or sell an amp for 114,000? ( Boulder)

Thanks for you input
recluse

Showing 2 responses by audiothesis

audiothesis
168 posts
 
Quality control, attention to detail, proper design, better parts, better transformers (big one there), and better customer service and warranty work are all reasons why the higher priced units are worth it.  Quality transformers aren't cheap and greatly influence the sound.  They are critical IMO to make a great tube amplifier.  

It all leads to better security and most importantly, better sound.  I normally don't even recommend tube products unless we start talking around the $3,000 mark as I feel that is where all the above start to line up.  
audiothesis
168 posts
 
Hey Dave. I’ve heard the Denafrips and it’s an excellent unit. It is also not a budget minded product - hence the higher quality, higher price I talked about in my post.

My first foray into nicer tube amps was the Shuguang s845mk and s200mk. Great units but when compared to something like the MastersounD Compact 845, it simply doesn’t compare on a handful of facets. Still, I have them in the closet and struggle with the idea of them leaving my possession. At the time it was as the best move I had made in this hobby so there is a bit of sentimental value to it.
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