Warning: China-Hifi-Audio.com

Good lesson. Never order anything no matter how it looks from China.

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Not true at all, Chinahifi has a ligit reputation, 
I' will read through this thread. 
But my guess is the original owner backed off RE-selling the amp to chinahifi. 
so chinahifi was caught in themiddle
this is my hunch.

Having ordered from China before (Not Audio), I am astounded that the $595 shipping charge did not seem excessive or bogus.

~~~ Not true at all. Shipping fro china fees has sky rocketed, and dealers are not making a  profit,,maybe some are discounting the unit, but addinga  few $'s to ship fees = break even. 
Pay less on amp = pay a bit more on shipping.
Infaltion has bumbed ship fees lately. 
DHL wants their money

Another Chinese scenario: Typically, shipping from China is dirt cheap on many items because the Chinese government provides free or next to free shipping for their exports

On items weighta  few onzes, shipping is free/cheap like $1
But on amps weighing 50lbs++++,. shipping goes DHL, and these fees have jumped, = Inflation.

But my guess is the original owner backed off RE-selling the amp to chinahifi.
so chinahifi was caught in themiddle
this is my hunch.

@mozartfan -- there’s a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell to you. Please PM me asap. I only take cash by the way. Once I receive the cash, I can send you pictures and other non-essential details like the condition of the bridge, not that it matters when buying bridges.

Why don't you just buy from a Local Dealer. Line Magnetic Stuff is shipped from China and many of the items are old discontinued or back of the factory products that have not passed quality control properly and are not fit for export. 

Update from my my last post. Yong Lee from China HI-Fi did reach out to me on 5/6/21 to inform me that R8 amp would ship out between 5/10 and 5/20. Apologized for not replying sooner.
Amp shipped on 5/18 and received UPS Worldwide Expedited tracking number. I received amp on 5/25/2021. UPS delayed delivery by one day. I received amp double boxed and well protected. No damages, I set up amp, I used my own tubes and not the Wellsington tubes. I’ve been playing the amp for the last 4 days and it sounds great. Overall, my experience was positive and would purchase from China Hi-Fi again.

With Amazon Prime, it seems the safest bet, is to go with near zero risk. 30 days to try the product and not more than 40.00 to ship it back. That is the experience I'm having with the 100LBS Muzishare R100 300B 805 currently running up my electric bill. Coming off a Theta Dreadnaught, my jaw is on the floor at the sound that is coming out of this thing. Your milage may very as its not getting a fully flat single and is being high passed at about 100Hz into powered subs on Vandersteen Quatros, but still. IMO, it is very much worth the slight risks you take with your money, but Amazon has a pretty iron grip on their vendors, nearest I can guess. Ive have the same experience with Chinese DACs as well. Absolutely insane hw good they sound at any price.

Why are you folks still buying junk made in China? So many companies in China are deceptive. You can buy other equipment that is as good or better from more trust worthy sources. The government is the problem, their influence on the people and all industries is troubling.

I jumped on the Buy America train back in the late 80s. The 1989 Camaro had so much major problems that I couldn't be happy enough to trade in with whatever value the dealer gave. All prior vehicles were made in Japan and they were just about trouble free. After that Camaro, I brought not made in America vehicles. No doubt I would buy made in USA whenever I can. I tried again and brought the 2011 Silverado 1500. OMG, nightmare reappear...enough of that. I will never comment anymore anything related to this.

Here is my experience with China HIFI. I did got anxious when no response from dealer after I placed the order. Email responses were no later than a day or two prior placing the order. Mark from here helped reach out to Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee responded and subsequently a few others issues with the amp also got quick responses.

My unit got banged up pretty bad when arrived. The inner box was not taped. That was custom's doing and DHL. The unit smell fresh paint and packaged well. I do wish they continue to pack with tubes installed as before. Tubes wrapped with few layers inside the cage so it probably okay.

The unit didn't power up when first started. The power cable is not tightly connected with the receptacle. It is still loose even I use other power cable. It is temporary hold up with mickey mouse job from available material at home. China HIFI is shipping me a replacement unit but they charge me $5 for it. That should have been no charge but it is minumum and I am okay with that. The noise floor of the amp is much noisier compares to my Audio Research LS2 and Parasound A21 driving the Cornwall IV. I have issue with my power supply line, ground hum is noticeable when I connect equipment to two different outlet. The APC tamped 99.9% of any noise coming out of the CW IV. Hum and hiss much noticeable from the R8. I went crazy buying different brands of noise isolation and power conditioner to suppress noise. The Earthquake Pro APL-200 silent 99% of hum and hiss when connect between the Bluesound Node 2i to the R8. Only if I placed my ear near touch the speaker to hear any noise. My tinnitus is louder than noise from the CW IV using the R8 with the placement of the APL-200.

I look for tubes with low noise rating. The Electro-Harmonic 6SN7 helps some but the RCA VT-299/6SL7 not only increased sound stage, clarity, focus and warm but also increased the signal to noise ratio a few decibels . No more hardness by the lower tremble compares to stock 6LS7.

Over all, this is an excellent intergraded amp. Would I buy from China HIFI? Yes, I would. I also hope they provide better communication and after purchase services. Surely it would increase their cost but it would be a good business to give your customer better satisfaction post purchase.

I would have brought one of the Decware amps if Steve responded to my two emails. Surely he was very busied and emails got lost sometimes. Steve did responded two months later and I already purchased the R8. I will buy an amp from Steve in the future.

We're not talking cars here. So, are you going to buy a car made in China? Yeah, I thought so...

I remember when this forum DIDN'T have people talking out of their a$$es.

RE: Junk from China. This just isn't the case any longer. Understand and embrace the retail price point vs comparable gear from US manufacturers and its a quick study to determine that the value is there, hands down. Be smart about your purchase with a bail out plan in advance so you can unwind with minimal pain (this is called Amazon lol) in the event things so south (or east in these cases).
Far as product performance, I gave the R100 805 a very in depth sonic review in my current system (which uses a Theta Dreadnaught I SS Amp) and after many many hours and three or four configuration changes, I can't make it sound better than my SS amp. This is of no fault to China, or the design, or the parts quality, or topology, or the glued on face plate (which would likely lasted quite a while if it was handled appropriately during shipping)....
Its because (IMO) its a tube amp, with all its non-linearities, just like every tube amp I've tried to replace SS with over the last 30+ years.
I intend to post a full review in the coming weeks.
For what it is, its OUTSTANDING for the money when compared to the multiples (Like 15K-30K) one could spend for esoteric gear that has near zero (if any) sonic difference.

Sorry you had a bad experience and good warning for everyone.

However its a bit irksome that a comment like "Never order anything no matter how it looks from China." made it into the replies.

Making broad-sweeping statements like that is what turns an informative thread into something less useful.

I am a proud owner of various Topping and Denafrips gear, hasn't broken once, came with 3-5 year warranties and is primarily serviced out of Singapore.

My experience from China Hifi is surprisingly a good one. 
 

I ordered an amp - yes the “postage” was expensive but the amp wasn’t so basically I took the whole costs as a cost for the amp. Worked out £550 inc customs in the end. 
 

We ordered the beginning of Feb and after a week it still hadn’t been sent so I emailed asking what the issue was. He replied the same day to say that it was Chinese New Year and everything shuts down but he could send one from Europe if that was acceptable. I said it was and it was posted. It didn’t make it past Germany - it just never made it to the UK. After two weeks of waiting for it I emailed to which once again they replied straight away and between us we came to the conclusion it was lost and they said they would send another on the provision I send the old one back if it arrives - I said they had to pay the postage if they wanted it back and they agreed. 
 

The second one was sent and this time it arrived. It was extremely well packaged and the amp is well made and all works fantastic. Do I recommend them? Yes I do.

Not sure if posters are so naive that they register and post on the same day to support a discussion? Do such posters expects OR posters that make their first post on such topics expect to be taken seriously?

I ordered once from China-Hifi-Audio.com, and it worked just fine. It was power amp and preamp. Fast response, fast and secure shipping, and yes, the shipping was very expensive. But I think it will cost at least as much if I ship an item with the same weight to China from US.

A few other audio items (a tube amp, cables, ...) from different merchants from China worked fine too. However, I had some problems with non-audio items purchased from China -- items never arrived or different items arrived, and ended up losing money.

A posting like this from a new user raises the questions though. 

 

Lots of xenophobia and racism evident in some of these comments. For those "America First" parrots, look at your iPhone, look at every appliance in your home, look under the hood of your car: "Made in China." And hey, guess what, it's great quality. The reason there's so little anything still made in the US is you and I want our stuff cheap, and aren't willing to pay high US wages. Yes, there's still lots of high-quality audio gear made here, so feel free to buy it if you can afford it. Will it sound better than the much less expensive "Chi-Fi" gear? Maybe, maybe not. Just don't let ignorance and prejudice guide your decision.

And it would be ignorant not to believe that the horribly repressive government of China has its finger in every pie in the country.

A lot of folks posting on here are making the point that they do not care to, as much as possible, subsidize labor camps, repression of basic freedoms and genocide.

But hey, if you do, be glad you live in a country that allows you that freedom.

@output555 + 1

I have no issue with anyone buying anything from any citizen of the world (that excludes Russia doesnt it...and China is on watch). With that said, even those who believe in buying their Chines made gear, I have yet to hear anyone recommend buying baby formula from China. Just sayin...

thecarpathian Using that yardstick, you should throw away your iPhone, your TV and pretty much everything you've bought in the past 35 years. To get on a moral high horse pretending you're not buying Chi-Fi because the Chinese government is repressive (it is) and corrupt (it is) is hypocritical bullshit. If you're gonna take the moral high ground here you can't cherry pick.

 

Hint: Look at the long, long history of oppression, corruption and violation of human rights by our very own government before judging others.

ghasley

Uh, huh. Sure. How about that great American company, Johnson & Johnson’s wonderful talcum powder? Kill folks, then contort bankruptcy laws to avoid paying victims. Very American.

While I would be the last person to condone or excuse the sins of the Chinese government, or certain companies, I do not hold the people of China accountable. Would you like to be held accountable by the rest of the world for the inhumanity, corruption and crimes of our government and corporations?

 

 

@output555 

 

No I wouldn't but thanks sincerely for asking. 

It’s certainly not the citizens of communist countries,it’s the government’s.  I think sometimes that’s what folks are referring to,however, it comes out on paper sounding totally different.   I would love to support “made in America “ products,but the reality is we live in a global economy.   We would have to eat only food grown in our yards,and pull the plug on everything else. I’m too spoiled to give up electrical items. 

 

thecarpathian Using that yardstick, you should throw away your iPhone, your TV and pretty much everything you’ve bought in the past 35 years. To get on a moral high horse pretending you’re not buying Chi-Fi because the Chinese government is repressive (it is) and corrupt (it is) is hypocritical bullshit. If you’re gonna take the moral high ground here you can’t cherry pick.

 

output555,

My phone and tv were made in South Korea. My amp was made in Germany with zero Chinese parts. My refrigerator was made in Vietnam. My microwave was made in Malaysia. My washer and dryer were made in South Korea.

This, being a global economy, it is difficult to find a finished consumer product that does not have a component or two in it that originated in China, but not impossible.

Why do you think I used the words "as much as possible"?

Before you go off on someone, it helps to actually comprehend what they wrote.

That way, you won’t make yourself look like a complete douche.

Oh, too late.

I buy from American companies and dealers that may sell or build products offshore.

People build products not countries.

I still buy tubes built in Russia by 2 American companies Tung Sol, and Electro Harmonix. To wit they are owned by the same folks in the USA.

I will never buy from an offshore retailer. 

I cant get past China's support for the Russian genocide in Ukraine. All these companies and their employees pay taxes to a totalitarian government bent on world domination. I personally won't put money in their pockets so they can buy more hypersonic missiles. Between human rights violations, many manipulation and theft of our industrial and military secrets I just can not financially support what they are doing. Tilting at windmills maybe but I have to live with myself. 

The tube retailers that are selling Russian made tubes, if they are not already sold out, already bought those tubes and have them in stock in the USA or Canada. They aren’t going to be getting anymore. So you don’t have to feel guilty about buying those tubes. 

Ignorance is bliss.

All the Russian tube manufactures are US Owned Companies.

Yes they will be able to get tubes to the US and Canada though not through their traditional distribution. 

 

I purchased a Willsenton amp from china hifi audio two years ago and had a great experience, shipping, packing, and answering follow up emails about the amp and its tubes.

However, recent attempts to access the website fail. Cannot establish a secure connection error message. Its been going on for a few months. Clearly something has happened to this dealer, who was the exclusive seller at one time. 
 

You can buy Willsenton amps on Amazon now, and they honor returns, etc.