Why Build Quality Matters


There are reports from time to time here about people opening up products to find either shoddy workmanship, cheap parts or little at all inside to warrant the price paid. Companies recently mentioned in this regard are Synergistic Research, QOL and Nordost. They are not the only ones that have been noted over the years.

What are we to make of all this? Some people say they don't care as long as the product delivers what they expected. Point well made. But in many cases these products no not deliver what was expected. In any case, it makes one wonder about makers who charge full price but don't deliver high quality workmanship and parts. Not to mention the "little-inside makers". I have been shocked by high-priced cables that were poorly made (bad soldering, cheap terminations and "hobby-quality" dialectric) and a very high-priced component that contained very cheap parts. In both of these cases the products themselves did not "deliver" either and were sold off.

What do you think about all this?
sabai
Chayro,

You make a good point. One that may be shared by most. But this is not just a matter of the brand of capacitor. We are talking about virtual hobby parts sometimes being used in expensive components. I had a very expensive $10,000 + component belly-up on me just outside warranty provisions. The company has one of the best reputations in high end audio and the product was very favorably reviewed all over Audioland. When I looked inside I came to the conclusion that it was not the brand of resistor or capacitor that caused the problem. It was likely the hobby grade resistors and capacitors that caused the problem. So much for reputation and reviews.

Many problems are covered up by reviewers -- not to mention manufacturers. This was not an isolated incident. I had another highly reputed product from another highly reputed company blow up on me -- twice. You might say I ran out of luck -- again. But in both cases the same problems were shared by many other buyers. I found this out after doing some research. The problems had been covered up for obvious reasons.

On another occasion I was curious about the build quality of a $1,000 + cable. Upon removing the plug I was very surprised to find shoddy soldering and dialectric that even a hobbyist would balk at using.

These are the kinds of things that many buyers are not aware of -- even when there is a break-down. These are the kinds of things that can easily contribute to break-down or under-performance. I believe more people would care if they only knew how they are being hoodwinked.
Sabai - if you feel that way, I would go with a brand like Naim, who is able to service their products virtually forever. Almost. Or Bryston. I can't think of any others offhand, but I'm sure there are. Or if you're really going to agonize over the stuff, just buy a decent mid-fi system with a Yamaha integrated and some Belden cables and throw it out when it breaks. I've said it a hundred times before, but there are just too many people who see this hobby as a source of constant grief and, with all due respect (whatever that means) I think they should just be involved in something else. IMO.
Chayro,

This so-called hobby is not a source of constant grief for me, thankfully. I have had a few startling problems in the past but I now have a system that is bomb-proof.