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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 1 response by trelja

trelja
3,226 posts
 
@recluse "Are all these products in fact the same? with the hope that someone will pay more for a variety of reasons?"

No, they are not all the same.  That said, many instances DO exist where the same product gets sold under different names, and different pricing.  And the span of that range of pricing can really surprise.  It's not difficult to find the same product offered for $X and for $5X.  Rule Number One in business is buy low, sell high.  Don't think the Chinese sellers did this first, consider how many high-end audio loudspeaker companies claim to use a special version of a driver made only for them or everyday cable marketed for audiophiles at unbelievable (100 - 1000X) markup.

Personally, I think it makes sense to look into Chinese gear on the low-end.  They offer a wide array products with a fair amount of what more expensive ones provide.  However, once you get to the mid to upper ranges, service after the sale, intermediate / long term product reliability, and overall track record of a company become some of the more important factors.  With a few exceptions, you just don't get that from the Chinese products
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