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Difference in quality in products made in China?

There is a belief among many audiophiles that electronics assembled in China or Korea are not as well made as products assembled in the USA and England. This has nothing to do,(I believe) with the "technical abilities" of workers, as it has to do with standards of quality control, and the sourcing of less quality parts throughout Asia

This may be all hogwash and just biased opinion, but this question comes up to often to be quickly dismissed. From my own experience which is limited compared to other members, the products(amps. pre-amps CD players) I have owned that were made in the USA, or UK, and Canada, have been solid in terms of long term reliability. I would like to hear others opinions on this issue.
sunnyjim

Showing 2 responses by jameswei

jameswei
883 posts
 
I've often felt that quality control is a corporate choice. Like what kind of failure rate is acceptable for the brand and how much would it cost to reduce it.

I have had failures in notebook computers made in China. But they are complicated products, and I have had no notebook computers made in the U.S. So an apples to apples (sorry pun) comparison is hard.

The best comparisons would be between similar products from the same company but made in different locations. (e.g., BMWs made in Germany vs BMWs made in U.S.) There are a few high end companies that do sell electronics made in China and in the U.S., but I haven't seen any failure data to make a comparison. Has anyone else?
jameswei
883 posts
 
I remember a story about stainless steel.

Properly manufactured stainless steel uses iron, nickel, and molybdenum blended to make a shiny and corrosion resistant metal.

A Chinese chemical plant under construction bought cheap stainless steel made in China.

The stainless steel maker had substituted another cheaper metal for the nickel. The resultant product was shiny but not corrosion resistant.

The chemical plant began to experience considerable corrosion after a few months and all of the "stainless steel" componentry had to be replaced with expensive authentic stainless steel. At considerable cost in labor and lost production.

Natural selection at the corporate level?
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