Teac is actually a greatly, and unjustly underappreciated company. I may be wrong, but it was either Panasonic or Techniques that were the parent company after acquiring Teac. Eventually as the decent entry class of well engineered components started to fade as the mainstay of the audio marketplace in the face of personal audio, Teac was allowed to keep together a core group of talented engineers. At least for a number of years. As best I can remember, this is the story told to me by an owner of a very well curated audio store, Planet of Sound that which sold beautiful gear; an entire spectrum from very well done entry level all the way to premium systems that make bank accounts quiver.
I believe it. My parents purchased what the owner told me was this core group of engineers innovative and very well designed all in one integrated amplifier with a tuner and a CD player. I imagine it would have been in production around 2002 for maybe four years? The amp is very well done and currently drives some nice little Jamo 2 way bookshelves very musically, and with plenty of grip and authority. I am so fortunate to have a lovely studio apartment in a fantastic heritage building. My listening space is a amazing raised platform of hardwood, about 14 feet across by 16 feet deep, and the real treat, 11 foot ceiling. The acoustic in this space are sublime. The Teac is absolutely a wonderfully designed system. I use an SMSL M200 DAC streaming via Bluetooth from my phone with all the digital masters ripped from my CD collection. Sometimes I hook my laptop running JRiver 24 to the M200 and use USB. Either way, the system sounds top notch.
Teac may not be the Teac of old, but I don't think people should judge based on price alone without listening to it. If you are paying for that from China, chances are it is stunning and would likely cost at least 30% more if it was produced in the west, and it wouldn't be better from the west either. Like it or not, China is pretty much the king of all levels of quality for electronic devices. Some of the very best audio equipment money can buy is made in China as is some of the worst. I have no doubt that this Class D Ncore based amp will be fantastic. Will it be worth the money? Don't we ask that about pretty much any premium priced product? We all know about diminishing returns. I think the jury should wait before ripping this product to pieces. It is up to the people who actually buy this product to decide if they feel their money was well spent.
If I could demo this in my lovely studio driving those Jamo speakers I am sure I would be in heaven.
