Chi-Fi or British?

[Hibster_2000]

Should there be any concerns over buying a product from a Chinese manufacturer like Sabaj, as opposed to someone like Audiolab, which is designed in the U.K., and made in China?

The only thing I can think of is customer support.
The Sabaj D5 DAC has caught my eye, as it looks pretty good, either that or a D50S or D70 from Topping.
I guess the cheaper price makes the difference between customer support, or not.

[Opti-cal]

There's certainly value to be had in a lot of the chinese manufactured products. Compared to buying British its always going to be more of a risk regarding warranties/support/general quality issues. Until there are more home-grown reviews/buyers its hard to say if a product is well supported or likely to suffer quality issues.

I would think its unlikely you would be able to get that much actual customer support in regards to helpful customer stuff, questions etc. However the larger companies (Topping etc) do have support to a point. Better support I have found, is usually from the vendor of the product be that Ali Express/Ebay etc. I have recently had a faulty "Breeze Audio" amp go bad and they are replacing it for me free of charge, even though its a few months old. This is via the messaging center on Ali Express.

I have found the vendors helpful whenever I have had an issue.

I too am interested in the Topping D70. Very useful features for me like AES/EBU in and balanced output as well as a superb DAC.

[Opti-cal]

Oh and I forgot to add, its worth checking if some of the products are available via Amazon which usually offers some extra buyer protection and support. Especially if you're lucky enough to find it on "prime".

If I've ever had any issue they just replace asap (sometimes before I've posted the faulty product back) and sometimes just refund me.

Cheers

Chris

[Hibster_2000]

I was looking at the Sabaj D5 from Amazon, or the Topping D70 from them as well, as if it is no better than what I have, it will go back.

[scotty38]

I have a Ming Da amp sourced from Mark Manwaring-White (Ming Da in the UK) and his service/warranty is absolutely first class, as good as any you'd get on any product.

[oldius]

The British had the same concerns about Japanese motorcycles; there is no reason to assume inferiority whatsoever.

[struth]

Some Chinese stuff isnt very well made, but I guess you can say that about other countries too. Ive had stuff that hasnt been earthed properly for a start.
Companies like Ming Da are very good tho, and i'm sure there are others too.

[griffo104]

I recently bought the Sabaj PHA3 headphone from Amazon. For £40 I didn't really see it being much of gamble. The build quality was very good and it came very well packaged. It has been a very good buy. What is the after sales like? no idea but at £40 I doubt I'll worry too much about it. At some point there are a couple of SMSL and Topping kit that I quite fancy to put a small little bedroom system together. Whether I worry about the after sales then may well be different.

Looking at the spec of some of this chi-fi and then seeing the cost against what the UK companies are doing and it becomes a little of a no brainer.

I decided to go against the Sabaj usb dac/headphone amp simply because Richer Sounds were selling the Cyrus Soundkey for £49 on Black Friday but I was very close to pressing that buy button for the Sabaj.

[Jimbo]

I think Chinese quality can easily match UK but electrical compliance maybe an issue. Also it is difficult to listen and evaluate stuff before buying. The wait for some Chinese goods can be 8 weeks and returning stuff could be an issue.

However the price is often so ridiculously cheap it is often worth the gamble. My personal experience buying thing from China has been excellent apart from the long wait!

[Hibster_2000]

This is in stock at Amazon, as well as in the U.K.
Currently on sale as well.