I have heard comments about Chinese audio products which I thought amounted less to lucid perception than to a kind of sour grapes. It's as though Chinese labour costs and working conditions gave these products an unfair advantage in the market. But haven't I read somewhere, in the latest Esquire perhaps, the president of GM saying that "fair" has no application to the word "competition"? I think I believe him, and "fair competition" is an oxymoron like "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence".
I do not believe in competition as a healthy basis for relations on Earth except in so far as it helps the competitors to improve their abilities (and so stops a good way short of destroying the adversary). I think high end audio is a very interesting field for someone who would like to improve their products. We can probably all think of products which are high end in price only. Their makers are the ones who stand to lose most in competition with inexpensive, well-made goods from China.
Yes, I think working conditions in China should improve, and I think that if they did, Chinese labour would cost more and the cost would be passed on in pricing. But I do not think that low prices of Chinese goods are unfair. Indeed, Western companies have taken advantage of low Chinese labour costs by exporting their manufacturing. If there is unfairness here, many Westerners have participated in it.
Furthermore, in designing products for manufacture abroad where labour is cheap, Western companies have not only enjoyed a competitive advantage--they have also exported their knowledge. It was only to be expected that local makers would want to take on more of the high-level work, with its risks and rewards, as soon as they had learned enough.
I believe many Chinese designers and manufacturers have now learned enough to be competitive with their Western counterparts. I think Shanling is one of them (I don't know Xindak). I have inspected several Shanling T100 and 200 players close up and have never seen the slightest trace of rust on the chrome. I had a remote go dead and the distributor replaced it by return mail.
Goods of consistent quality from China at competitive prices are sure to force some adjustment in the Western audio industry, I think. Whether this happens, though, will really depend on the buyers. Nobody has to buy anything made in China.
I think the T100 and T200 are both very good players. I have not yet heard any multiformat player that did an equally good job on all formats.
