Hong Kong Products

Totally unknown quantity - and by that I mean both product and vendor.

Some of the Shanlings they sell I have seen before, but the rest would require a real leap of faith to buy.

What with that and tubes/valves being sent by post, 22% or thereabouts VAT and duty to pay, shipper's handling fee to administer the payment of the taxes, potential for a lengthy delay while they're detained in customs, and what happens if you unbox it and it goes 'phut' or packs up after a few months, rather you than me...
 
Yeah, question is really if anyone has auditioned these or read any reviews on them?
Perhaps one of our more cultured members?
 
More cultured?

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[quote user="amarocknrollstar"]Obviously an indirect quote dear sir!
Well travelled I should say.[/quote]

Thinks: The Spice Girls have travelled a lot, but - nah, cheap shot...
 
Valid question I guess. I have not had/listened to one of those far eastern, direct import products but you'll find that a few come out of the same factories that produce better known names such as Puresound. As they are contracted to the distributor in the country in question for example, they are (probably) often knocked up in a back shed by the same people with inferior parts etc like fake rolexes (have a great TAG fake though, amazing what them little chinese can do in a dim room with probably only an exposed light bulb
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)

But, as mentioned by AE, the complications of getting the things over and the risk of a total lack of warranty etc surely outweigh any financial gains unless you're handy with a solder iron.

In addition, you find that many EU distributors of repute specify their own, breath-up-on variants of the products with inevitable gain in long term reliability, sound quality and often, looks. They also do the quality control necessary.
 
[quote user="drummerman"]they are (probably) often knocked up in a back shed by the same people with inferior parts etc like fake rolexes (have a great TAG fake though, amazing what them little chinese can do in a dim room with probably only an exposed light bulb
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)[/quote]

What a quaint old-fashioned view.

Most of the fake watches and so on are made on a pretty impressive industrial scale, and many of the factories turning out hi-fi in China would put all but the very best British manufacturers to shame.
 
[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
What a quaint old-fashioned view.

Most of the fake watches and so on are made on a pretty impressive industrial scale, and many of the factories turning out hi-fi in China would put all but the very best British manufacturers to shame.

[/quote]

Not disagreeing. Read an article about melody(ie) and the standards, technology and work ethics (!) would probably put almost every uk manufacturer to shame. Same for cello etc but like I said, Distributors of their products pay good money for their own specs (russ andrews for one) so its fair to assume the product available on ebay for 90 quid may be slightly inferior to those
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.

The production of counterfeit goods (watches in this case) is illegal in hong kong as in most places in the world as the products are protected in name and patents. Thats why the things are made using cheap metals, chinese movements etc with no quality control whatsoever. Look good though. They are also often made in places that can be moved quickly for obvious reasons.
 
[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
What a quaint old-fashioned view.

Most of the fake watches and so on are made on a pretty impressive industrial scale, and many of the factories turning out hi-fi in China would put all but the very best British manufacturers to shame.

[/quote]

But you could always lead by example and do a 'test' of imported gear. After all, it does reflect the market as consumers clearly buy them.
 
[quote user="drummerman"]But you could always lead by example and do a 'test' of imported gear. After
all, it does reflect the market as consumers clearly buy them[/quote]

Or would possibly like to!
Know anything about this product drummerman - Delphonica Valhalla
 
Sorry no. But if you buy in the interest of science let me know how it went and if any good I follow your example
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never seen whf do a review of any of these products or any other mags for that matter so i would guess that tells us something, could be wrong though, there may well be someone out there who has exprience with these products.
 
[quote user="gregory"]never seen whf do a review of any of these products or any other mags for that matter so i would guess that tells us something, could be wrong though, there may well be someone out there who has exprience with these products.[/quote]

Whilst I understand both your scepticism and your loyalty to What Hi-fi, I think it's rather ignorant to presume that because WHF does not review a product it's not worth looking at. What about the products WHF gives poor reviews on? Are the reviews to be dismissed? For they must be good for WHF to review them?
Simple fact is that there are a great number of fantastic products AND poor ones on the market that WHF have not reviewed!
 
it's not loyalty or scepticism and like i said i could be wrong, but my buying a product comes from having a listen to the product. wouldn't call that ignorance just careful judgement. i don't need anyone telling me what product to buy but it is helpful to have a knowledgeable and informed appraisal of any given product.
 
[quote user="gregory"]it's not loyalty or scepticism and like i said i could be wrong, but my buying a product comes from having a listen to the product. wouldn't call that ignorance just careful judgement. i don't need anyone telling me what product to buy but it is helpful to have a knowledgeable and informed appraisal of any given product.[/quote]

Exactly!
I refer to Drummerman;s previous point.
Perhaps there is a market out there for a magazine that auditions not just "housesold names" or "soon to be so"!?
 
[quote user="amarocknrollstar"] Exactly! I refer to Drummerman;s previous point. Perhaps there is a market out there for a magazine that auditions not just "housesold [/quote]

... what was my point amarocknrollstar?
 
[quote user="drummerman"]
[quote user="amarocknrollstar"] Exactly! I refer to Drummerman;s previous point. Perhaps there is a market out there for a magazine that auditions not just "housesold [/quote]

... what was my point amarocknrollstar?
[/quote]

"But you could always lead by example and do a 'test' of imported gear. After all, it does reflect the market as consumers clearly buy them"
 
[quote user="amarocknrollstar"][quote user="drummerman"]
[quote user="amarocknrollstar"] Exactly! I refer to Drummerman;s previous point. Perhaps there is a market out there for a magazine that auditions not just "housesold [/quote]

... what was my point amarocknrollstar?

[/quote] "But you could always lead by example and do a 'test' of imported gear. After all, it does reflect the market as consumers clearly buy them"[/quote]

Ah, that one
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Why not but I was joking. I dont think it would be of interest to enough people but you never know.
 
[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
Gosh everyone's on edge tonight. Full moon, you see...

[/quote]

Can't see it, it's too dark.
 
We review products from all over the world, from manufacturers great and small - the only requirement we have for reviewing a product is that it's either stocked in a good range of retailers (so you can get a demo/see the product in person) or available on free home trial (ditto).

If any of these manufacturers care to offer such a customer service proposition - which also means you've got a port of call should something go wrong - then we'd be happy to give them the coverage.
 

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