What about all those Chinese DACs?

@goodlistening64 I avoid ASR completely. Its such a one sided conversation and I'm not interested in their conclusions. I like to have a balance in Audio gear. I do believe in gear having good specifications BUT my preferences are never in just gear that surpasses all of the other brands specification wise. I've heard lots of gear whose manufacturers could care a less about measurements that sound extremely good. Musicality is so important in this industry as is synergy with other equipment. With that being said I subscribe to both Stereophile magazine and The Absolute Sound. I subscribe to Stereophile because they do make measurements.

I think its critical to to keep manufacturers honest in their claims, especially related to speaker sensitivity and Tube power output. I remember years ago they did a review in Stereophile magazine and found a defect in the gears output. Later the manufacturer indicated they were putting the incorrect part in it by mistake that was meant for a (Lower priced) different model. With good Quality control, Chinese equipment can be of very good quality. I own 3 different Chinese made DAC's and all 3 were excellent for what they are. My Latest DAC is a Holo Audio May KTE that I've owned for 4 years but my next DAC will most likely be American made. Already looking at that now. Like any industry companies will cuts corners if not monitored and held to a standard. I have no problem with the excellent specifications of the Chinese gear if it sounds good for the money. 

@larsman What's comical is the United States was responsible for the Japanese jump in quality control. After WW2 (In the early 50's) we sent a man named William Edwards Deming to Japan to teach them about Quality control. Little did we know how that would end up.

Yep, I remember Japanese goods were synonymous with crap. Then as the thoughts of Deming took over in a culture of cooperation... the quality went from terrible to outstanding. I studied Deming in grad school and had to laugh at the idea of large scale implementing his ideas in... the US where labor and management were often antagonistic.

@larsman 

The Sony Walkman was a revelation. Could not afford it, but borrowed an AM/FM one for some time and thought it was the bees knees. My first real purchase when I had any money to speak of was a Sony Trinitron TV, I think, 19". Not long after that, I purchased a Honda Prelude. Japan was engineering some great products at the time.

I didn’t mean the car industry went under, but their economy did via the real estate stock bubble burst. 

@ghdprentice 

You are a bit of an expert on China, correct? If their real estate bubble (all reports I have read is that it is far bigger than Japan’s of that time) does burst, will they enter "lost decades" ala Japan? A communist country may have levers to pull in order to minimize damage, but an economy does not care how the government is organized. Bad decisions lead to failed markets.

Anyway, human failure is at least consistent. America had the auto and tech peak from the 50’s to the 70’s, then Japan ruled, now it looks a lot like China has the same upper hand.

Of course, the oil crisis is what brought America down to earth as if we need anymore parallels of oil dominating the world order. I have read where over 50% of a car is made up of oil products. Most, I would guess, being made of plastic.

@willywonka

Good point on Deming. I guess he thought sharing would be reciprocated, or that one country could work in good faith with another.

That quality control you talk about is what is in doubt with China audio products, there is no American at the end of the production line (certainly would be for Apple products, right?) confirming measurements are fittingly correct to meet a standardization. No representation means one should not expect validation when it comes to measurements.

I am not an ASR fan, but do read Stereophile and appreciate the time and effort they take to cover all aspects of a component.

@goodlistening64 

Yes the real estate bubble is real. I’d walk by these huge tower buildings... just beautiful for a couple blocks with new ones being built all around them and realize I was walking by vacant buildings with squatters camped in window wells and in corners outside the building. These would be thirty - forty story buildings. This has been going on for a very long time. 

But the Chinese government has more levers to pull than countries like Japan. They also have vast resources  and a huge labor pool that would love to have a job that paid $1/ hour. The economic boom started in the East and has been moving to the west. First the boom is started by incredibly low wage s of unskilled labor. Once they start becoming skilled then the wages rise and the management is kindled... wages rise further and they produce high quality goods and a middle class. The use of low wages to start things off continues to move West. 

Just a little note. The thing that always blew me away traveling in China was the scale. Let's say I was driving for two hours west to east. Either close up or at a mid distance I could always see six or more huge cranes on both sides of the highway building at least eight high rise apartment complex. Sometimes five or six groups at one time... continuously for hours. The scale boggles the mind. 

If you are interested I have a few of my photos posted here:

 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdflood/albums