General Skanky
Prominent Member
Ok, so it's well known that components and internals are shared about amongst manufacturers. For instance, we all know that CD transports are commonly from Sony and Philips.
However, just recently I was disappointed to realise 'fully' that manufacturers we all rate highly, in this example NAD and Arcam, will market products that are practicaly identical. Plenty others abound but at least here I have easy access to articles.
See here - http://www.homecinemachoice.com/testbench/Amplifiers/NAD/NADT751.shtml
An old review that at the time I skimmed over. Then I saw last night the photos at www.smr-group.co.uk showing the internals of these units. (http://www.smr-group.co.uk/components/index.html).
Apart from price and perceived value, what's the difference really? Ok a transformer and one or two bits and pieces, but the 'real' manufacturer is in China, mass producing chasis for others, just like the pc market.
The question is, just how far reaching is this? I have read other HCC articles for high end kit, that use the brains from 'off the shelf' kit/IC's and so on. Is that really good enough when the marketing will sell you what is supposed to be their next great thing?
However, just recently I was disappointed to realise 'fully' that manufacturers we all rate highly, in this example NAD and Arcam, will market products that are practicaly identical. Plenty others abound but at least here I have easy access to articles.
See here - http://www.homecinemachoice.com/testbench/Amplifiers/NAD/NADT751.shtml
An old review that at the time I skimmed over. Then I saw last night the photos at www.smr-group.co.uk showing the internals of these units. (http://www.smr-group.co.uk/components/index.html).
Apart from price and perceived value, what's the difference really? Ok a transformer and one or two bits and pieces, but the 'real' manufacturer is in China, mass producing chasis for others, just like the pc market.
The question is, just how far reaching is this? I have read other HCC articles for high end kit, that use the brains from 'off the shelf' kit/IC's and so on. Is that really good enough when the marketing will sell you what is supposed to be their next great thing?