[ngohw]

Ah ah ifi has a musical sound that Chinese manufacturers can just dream about. In fact they sound all the same more or less. But this is my opinion :a lot of people judge hifi gear reading science audio review and perfect measurements. Bah

measurements mean nothing if your ears hate it that's my general attitude towards it. I appreciate graphs as theyre a reflection of the manufacturer's care in producing sound, but ultimately they should not define your opinion on it!

Gustard H26, Schiit MJ3, Flux Labs Mentor, Cayin iHA-8

lovely, I'll have a look through them all

I will admit while I have zero doubt that Chinese hi-fi can produce the same quality of audio compared to British counterparts, I have noticed that I've had less manufacturing and QC issues with the British-made products I've used so far. but I suppose they gotta bring the costs down somehow if they're shipping it from thousands of kilometres away, right?

do not get me wrong though, as a Chinese person myself I will always hold a soft spot for Chinese hi-fi

 

[Marlowe]

My only problem with iFi (I have one iFi product, the Go bar dongle), and it's a fairly large one in my view, is an ethical one--they apparently tend to play fast and loose with their amp specs, significantly exaggerating the power output. As I understand it, they often (or always?) produce their power figures using a method that has little to no resemblance to actual real world use and is different from the standard method generally used by other brands to determine power ratings (and, no surprise, greatly to iFi's advantage). I understand that, after a lengthy back and forth with various reviewers, they finally revised the stated power rating of their Diablo 2 amp downward.

 

[ngohw]

My only problem with iFi (I have one iFi product, the Go bar dongle), and it's a fairly large one in my view, is an ethical one--they apparently tend to play fast and loose with their amp specs, significantly exaggerating the power output. As I understand it, they often (or always?) produce their power figures using a method that has little to no resemblance to actual real world use and is different from the standard method generally used by other brands to determine power ratings (and, no surprise, greatly to iFi's advantage). I understand that, after a lengthy back and forth with various reviewers, they finally revised the stated power rating of their Diablo 2 amp downward.

I think its entirely fair to almost call them the Apple of this hobby, where they always cherry pick numbers and use the 'best-sounding' ones regardless of how useful or relevant they actually are

 

[Shane D]

My only problem with iFi (I have one iFi product, the Go bar dongle), and it's a fairly large one in my view, is an ethical one--they apparently tend to play fast and loose with their amp specs, significantly exaggerating the power output. As I understand it, they often (or always?) produce their power figures using a method that has little to no resemblance to actual real world use and is different from the standard method generally used by other brands to determine power ratings (and, no surprise, greatly to iFi's advantage). I understand that, after a lengthy back and forth with various reviewers, they finally revised the stated power rating of their Diablo 2 amp downward.

I have an iFi Pro iCAN and the only power rating is 14 WPC @ 16 Ohms, which is kinda useless. No ratings above that.
However, it does have a Ton of power. I run my HiFiman HE6se V2's in mid-gain and can't go much past 10:00, although I am a quiet listener (under 75Db's).

 

[lucanato]

My only problem with iFi (I have one iFi product, the Go bar dongle), and it's a fairly large one in my view, is an ethical one--they apparently tend to play fast and loose with their amp specs, significantly exaggerating the power output. As I understand it, they often (or always?) produce their power figures using a method that has little to no resemblance to actual real world use and is different from the standard method generally used by other brands to determine power ratings (and, no surprise, greatly to iFi's advantage). I understand that, after a lengthy back and forth with various reviewers, they finally revised the stated power rating of their Diablo 2 amp downward.

And finally which was the declared power and the real power?

 

[D1N0]

Using the Aune X8 magic DAC XVIIIth with Sparkos opamp. You can switch op-amps to tune response and it has balanced outputs. Also using the Aune linear PS with it, which was a further improvement. A different power cable made a difference too for both x8 and x17

 

[Marlowe]

And finally which was the declared power and the real power?

Watch this if interested:

 

[Temudschin]

Ah ah ifi has a musical sound that Chinese manufacturers can just dream about. In fact they sound all the same more or less. But this is my opinion :a lot of people judge hifi gear reading science audio review and perfect measurements. Bah

Agree.
The only exeption in my opinion is Aune. At least they are trying to differenciate themselfs from the fiios,shangling etc...
The S17 to my ears has that extra musical sound.

 

[pradiptacr7]

Agree.
The only exeption in my opinion is Aune. At least they are trying to differenciate themselfs from the fiios,shangling etc...
The S17 to my ears has that extra musical sound.

Agreed, Aune is more musical. The regular SMSL, Topping are too sterile sounding for me.

 

[davehutch]

I think its entirely fair to almost call them the Apple of this hobby, where they always cherry pick numbers and use the 'best-sounding' ones regardless of how useful or relevant they actually are

All is fair in love and war (and marketing). As long as the figures are true, it's the buyers' responsibility to 'read between the lines' and do the necessary research/due diligence.
Caveat Emptor as they say (they also say 'there's one born every minute' and 'a fool and his money are soon parted' etc. etc.)

 

[Marlowe]

All is fair in love and war (and marketing). As long as the figures are true, it's the buyers' responsibility to 'read between the lines' and do the necessary research/due diligence.
Caveat Emptor as they say (they also say 'there's one born every minute' and 'a fool and his money are soon parted' etc. etc.)

I couldn't disagree with this more. No, all is not fair in marketing and iFi's practices--even if technically true--were tantamount to lies. Many, if not most. buyers (certainly including me) are not engineers and can't "read between the lines" of technical specs. And even if they are capable, they still can't "read between the lines" in this situation because iFi does not provide the method by which the specs were measured or even hint that they were obtained by methods that differed from the standard methods generally used by other manufacturers. Their very clear--and deliberate--intention was for the buyer, when comparing iFi products to other products, to assume that they were comparing apples to apples when in fact they had no way to know that they were comparing apples and oranges, if not apples and kumquats. This is flat out unethical. It may be acceptable at the local Libertarian Party convention, but not with me.

 

[Erick Muller]

Agree.
The only exeption in my opinion is Aune. At least they are trying to differenciate themselfs from the fiios,shangling etc...
The S17 to my ears has that extra musical sound.

I would agree mostly but I do think the both Aune and Shanling differentiate from the rest of the bunch of chi-fi gear, my H5 sounds warmish and relax compare to Fiio stuff for example, which can sometimes be hard to tell apart from both SMSL and Topping.

 

[gadus]

I found an interesting amplifier comparison (that cooled my rush towards M3 Shiitt a bit):

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...-tube-amplifier.963983/page-146#post-18111737

so there we have the summary list:


Here's a comparison I'll put in a different way, (from Soundnews):



I think it looks quite nice for an amplifier at half the price, the Mentor became the link between these comparisons.

Anyway, I recently discovered that in quiet night listening, the Aune S17 Pro (I like that word) crushed the Singxer SA-1.
When I listen quietly do I see how spacious it is

Is there really a comparison between the mentor and s17?
There is hype now around Mentor and I have seen some who say that it is really high end,
I wonder how the s17 compares to it.

 

[MaxMini]

At this level (TOTL) it's usually something at the expense of something. According to all the advice I've read, with the Mentor you can expect a wider soundstage (dual-mono design) at the expense of the 3D holography that the Aune has. The Mentor may be more resolving, but individual sounds may have less power. This airy presentation in the Mentor could mean leaner bass. Mentor is probably even more neutral than Aune.

FLux is preparing a new M-Field amplifier for the price of Mentor, which will have a thicker sound base and will be closer to Aune S17, but it will not be dual-mono like Mentor.

You have to watch out for hype-trains that are in the spotlight so you don't get on a train that isn't heading your way. In general, what Flux does appeals to me more than M3 from Schiit, which is at a similar price. I'm talking strictly about construction, workmanship and materials used.

 

[MaxMini]

... by the way, now I noticed that in charts marked the opposite results for Aune and Mentors Stack, so it should be:

Power Out:
93/100 Aune <> 99/100 Mentors Stack

Stage Size:
92/100 Aune <> 95/100 Mentors Stack

the rest (dynamics etc.) have identical results, so it doesn't matter