What about all those Chinese DACs?

@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

My Audio Alchemy DDP 1 (Dac/Pre)+ PS 5 power supply finally stoppeg working. I was  thinking to get it foxed, but they responded, which left me (on SS retirement budget) to explore less costly options. Being Prime member gave me the opportunity to return. First I ordered a SMSL PL200T transport $600 and a Topping D90iii Discrete 1 bit dac/ pre, which is excellent but the pre was lacking so I replaced it with Topping D90 preamp, Cables and power cords matter A LOT, but blows away the 13 year old AA tech

HTH

@ghdprentice 

Very interesting! You are quite the traveler.

Aside from China having a vastly larger population it is remarkable how their problems are so similar to ours. Probably just a product of a global economy and/or the pandemic but a real estate downturn, government debt, and an aging population are just a few similarities that are issues with all the largest countries in the world. Not saying it is comforting, but if you set military might aside, we humans are similarly matched to the point that we share the same organizational problems. Kumbaya.

One thing that is notable and relatable to all here is that China inflated GDP numbers for decades. When local governments reached GDP numbers, they were rewarded and were then allowed to borrow and overbuild. Deceptive control opens the door for widespread corruption when reliable numbers are manipulated, which makes me wonder about what is truth and what is fiction - of all things Chinese. It's a lack of a moral compass that was driven by capitalism, unfortunately. Yes, they have levers that we do not, but their debt is likely far and away worse than ours considering the scope, as you have mentioned.

People buy from people and a lot of folks trusted Alvin Chee. He worked for many years building relationships that enabled growth. If one was to look at the new Garlubidor products (brought on via Denafrips), they look a lot like Vinshone (Alvin Chee) products. It may be questionable that Alvin was not happy that Denafrips stole his work to create a new line- but if you do a comparison of products- it is painfully evident that is what happened. 

Since you have spent a lot of time there, is there an audiophile presence in China?

And as we all know, there was a time in American history when a trip to Hong Kong was a worthwhile shopping experience, is that no longer the case? You don't have to answer if you don't want to ..don't mean to corner you for info. Thanks for sharing..

+1 kerrybh.  Well said.