Audio Brands that don't rip you off.

ANKER

I've liked their USB cables and batteries for portable/rechargeable use. Priced fairly and built well.

 

SUPRA

Excellent cables and powercords etc.

 

Absolutely disagree that "fiio still sucks, and always has." Very good value proposition in portable gear, especially daps. I especially find the comment re: fiio quite amusing in light of the citation of Astell and Kern by the same poster as an audio company that doesn't rip you off. Hugely overpriced audio jewelry for wealth signaling. Pretty much how I define a rip-off.

 

I agree. Although Koss sells some turds also and should really streamline their product line a bit.

 

Both are listed under "They f**k you at the drive through." - Joe Pesci, Lethal Weapon 2 on his list?

 

The Jeckyll side of LH Labs would be a contender (Geek) if they could just sort out QC and Customer Service. The Hyde side is f'ing preposterous, though.

 

Yeah, maybe you are right. Because of the way the list is formatted, I thought that the quote was meant to refer only to fiio. If true, my bad. Still don't agree about fiio though.

 

SVS

 

I agree with the fiio part. I still have not heard a good sounding product from them.

 

And I haven't yet heard anything from them (not that I've heard it all by any means) that I didn't think was great value.

 

Yamaha Studio Monitors:
These thing are built to last forever and they sound really great for the asking price.

 

+1 on that. MT220 with mod sounds great.

 

Re: Stax, which model that you recommend under $1000? I heard good thing about 2170 and price was $550 but now gone up to $980.

 

Its hard for me to recommend since i have not heard the rest of the range extensively.

Id suggest you head over to head-case for a recommendation.

 

I agree with most of these, but what is wrong with NWAVguy and Mayflower?
NWAVguy didn't make any money off the o2, so he's not greedy.

 

Purely from my experience:

Good stuff:
Schiit - all the stuff have great value/perfomance ratio
Eddie Current - best amps for reasonable prices
DNA - Stratus and Riva Audio Turbo are amazing performance products for good value
Sennheiser - so much good stuff they have for decent price and best HP's i have ever heard
Sonic Frontiers - used stuff is really cheap and good
Mogami cables - great result for so cheap cables
Forza Audio Cables - good value performance ratio

Bad stuff:
Apex stuff - really good sounding, enjoyment, but prices are too high compared to others.
Chord - some of they products are good, but prices are too high, not worth the money
Woo Audio - they put more effort on design and advertisement than sound quality
Grado - not sure what they are selling, just crappy headphones?
Cardas cables - not sure what they are asking so much money for, but 100x cheaper mogami cables can beat them.

I could add some more to bad list, but the list is going to be very long this way and most of the companies
can do some decent stuff for decent price. Some not.

 

Another vote for Koss. Their shit is UGLY, but such a good value. porta pro, ksc 35, ksc 75, esp 950. They make some other stupid stuff but none of it sounds shitty, and none of it costs more than it needs.

Another vote for Jan Meier. You can take issue with his theories on balanced ground and whatever else, but his stuff is priced fairly and sounds good. He has never tried to price gouge or play to fads. He just makes his amps (and a dac), updates them periodically, and keeps trucking. Even his ugly website never changes.