Vasr
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It is interesting to me that the audio industry is going through the same transformation as the wine industry in "negociant" products coming to market especially at lower end.
Compared to the "Chateau" brands such as Benchmark, Paradigm, Schiit, etc to just name a few of the many that design and build their own (even if off-shore manufactured).
It is a bit more nuanced than just OEM. There seem to be the equivalent of all the three types of Wine Negociants emerging in audio.
1. Those that just get pre-made product and label them to market it - Monoprice with ATI is a good example.
2. Those that make some small improvements on their own or have the whole thing built to their specs with minor changes - Many Outlaw, Emotiva, IOTAVX, products
3. Those that buy some specific "grapes" from outside and blend with their own - NAD with Class D amps (or any of the brands with Class D modules)
Generally, I think this is a good trend. Increases competition, allows the best stuff that Asians can build to give them the marketing and sales expertise they often lack and more important allows good stuff to come out at lower prices and to occupy niche markets.
What I don't like though is some of them claiming the equivalent of "Chateau grown and bottled" when it isn't or their contribution is minimal/cosmetic.
A good example is IOTA with their IOTAVX 7.1 4K/HDR pre/pro. The description starts as "The IOTAVX AVX1 is the successor to the highly acclaimed AV1. Developed from the ground up,..." All of this is highly misleading bordering on unethical advertising in my opinion.
The AVX1 has zero to do with AV1 as far as I know in anything inside it. It is a successor in the sense that the negociant IOTA acquired the Nakamichi brand rights (not sure what all it included that allowed them to claim AV-1 as their product) and they also label and sell a product called AVX1 as the next product - so loosely a "successor". But the tagline is designed to make one believe that the new product is somehow an evolution of a famous product inheriting its design or designers.
The second line isn't true either in what it is meant to imply.
The DAC board in it is a Cirrus Logic late-2000 era CS42528 8-channel DAC chip that made its appearance (not just the chip but the board design itself) in the now-defunct NuForce AVP-18 which was the first digital only pre/pro but only did HDMI 1.4. The same board (split into two) seemed to have appeared upgrading the HDMI to 4k capable in the Emotiva MCA-700 and IOTA now seems to be using the exact same board adding XLR outs. I suspect they all come from Hontron Electronics, a Taiwanese company that seems to have had close ties with Nuforce and now NuPrime. So who actually "developed it ground up" is a bit fuzzy but it is definitely not IOTA Electronics.
I think these common origins are OK as far as negociant business models go. I wish more people would build such front-ends at these lower prices that one can mate with suitable amps of their choice.
But the aggressive marketing style rubs me the wrong way.
Compared to the "Chateau" brands such as Benchmark, Paradigm, Schiit, etc to just name a few of the many that design and build their own (even if off-shore manufactured).
It is a bit more nuanced than just OEM. There seem to be the equivalent of all the three types of Wine Negociants emerging in audio.
1. Those that just get pre-made product and label them to market it - Monoprice with ATI is a good example.
2. Those that make some small improvements on their own or have the whole thing built to their specs with minor changes - Many Outlaw, Emotiva, IOTAVX, products
3. Those that buy some specific "grapes" from outside and blend with their own - NAD with Class D amps (or any of the brands with Class D modules)
Generally, I think this is a good trend. Increases competition, allows the best stuff that Asians can build to give them the marketing and sales expertise they often lack and more important allows good stuff to come out at lower prices and to occupy niche markets.
What I don't like though is some of them claiming the equivalent of "Chateau grown and bottled" when it isn't or their contribution is minimal/cosmetic.
A good example is IOTA with their IOTAVX 7.1 4K/HDR pre/pro. The description starts as "The IOTAVX AVX1 is the successor to the highly acclaimed AV1. Developed from the ground up,..." All of this is highly misleading bordering on unethical advertising in my opinion.
The AVX1 has zero to do with AV1 as far as I know in anything inside it. It is a successor in the sense that the negociant IOTA acquired the Nakamichi brand rights (not sure what all it included that allowed them to claim AV-1 as their product) and they also label and sell a product called AVX1 as the next product - so loosely a "successor". But the tagline is designed to make one believe that the new product is somehow an evolution of a famous product inheriting its design or designers.
The second line isn't true either in what it is meant to imply.
The DAC board in it is a Cirrus Logic late-2000 era CS42528 8-channel DAC chip that made its appearance (not just the chip but the board design itself) in the now-defunct NuForce AVP-18 which was the first digital only pre/pro but only did HDMI 1.4. The same board (split into two) seemed to have appeared upgrading the HDMI to 4k capable in the Emotiva MCA-700 and IOTA now seems to be using the exact same board adding XLR outs. I suspect they all come from Hontron Electronics, a Taiwanese company that seems to have had close ties with Nuforce and now NuPrime. So who actually "developed it ground up" is a bit fuzzy but it is definitely not IOTA Electronics.
I think these common origins are OK as far as negociant business models go. I wish more people would build such front-ends at these lower prices that one can mate with suitable amps of their choice.
But the aggressive marketing style rubs me the wrong way.
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