Topping DACs?

It is totally on the West and Chinas low standards spreading blatant Chinese crap products (look at the past 10 - 20 years). I actually hate people using racist in any term. Usually, shitty governments defending their ill ways and using their people as a meat shield, where the people lose the most. China-phobia? Yeah, no.

 

1. How am I racist? The PRC is the PRC. They don’t have a monopoly on Chinese people and culture. They want to but the government and current don’t encompass the entirety of the Sinosphere. Some of the most developed Chinese dynasties, that improved the standard of living of Chinese people in the Middle Ages and early modern period, weren’t even headed by Chinese people.

The PRC makes some good stuff. Some of the UAD, Focusrite, KRK, and JBL stuff I’ve used is quite okay. Same with the Holo Spring, some workman guitars, mic capsules, and speaker drivers. But the economy of the whole country is mostly setup to make cheap crap or small parts. Many of the factories don’t know how to implement quality control. They slack and cut corners even if it’s paid for. They substitute knockoff parts even in new production items. The item to item performance variations from many oems would get tossed out by a western manufacturer with entire batches taken off the line and discarded.

Apologists for claiming that’s too expensive and the PRC is still a relatively poor country don’t realize that Guinness invented modern quality control methods used in everything for beer in the 19th century. Irish people were traditionally depicted as monkeys and apes until the 20th century. Look up pictures of 19th century Ireland. Read Angela’s Ashes.

 

EU and USA should have banned many products 15 years ago so that people investing 50k USD/EUR on some products didn't get pile of crap in return. It is improved in many departments. I don't have anything fundamentally against China and their peoples' products. It just so happen many best PC parts come from Taiwan. Yeah, I know totally different country, different principles I suppose. Luckily China is catching up in terms of reliability from consumers POV.

 

IMO, an SBAF frontpage "shootout" between 3 or 4 roughly equivalent (marketwise) Toppings, JDS, Schiit, etc. vs. similiar Motu, Focusrite, etc. boxes in the sub $800 range would helpful for those coming into the market but with only the usual webzines and free-for-all forums to learn from...

 

I am also of mixed ethnic origin (half Croat half Serb), so I’m totally agnostic when it comes to this stuff. I resisted the temptation to get the Topping stuff for a while precisely because I thought the other forum was shilling them. I really do not care about the measurements that much. I’m just willing to try different products and thought people who have reservations towards ChiFi would appreciate some subjective feedback from someone who has owned and enjoyed many Schiit products. I am not justifying my purchase or looking for approval.

 

Crap like painting on rusted surfaces shows there is no QC (non audio). Even without QC no real concept of quality or motivation to follow the rules.

 

Why am I not surprised this thread went ass-upwards.

Sincere question out of curiosity: what cheap products in the lower-end Topping price range (is it $100? No clue) have good build quality? I do agree that evaluation of build isn't so shallow as to extend solely to the chassis but also to how long the components within are going to last with expected use cases, so Psalm may have a point there if there's something inside that could give pause for concern. No experience with absolutely crap gear so f**k if I know anything.

@bboris77 personal attacks are often more revealing of those who fling them than of their intended recipients when they're tangentially related to the matter at hand, as they often are online. If 2013 me were hanging out here I'd probably have been beheaded immediately for getting my heckles raised and biting, but given how royally screwed many things in the world are nowadays letting pettier things disrupt your peace only serves to undermine yourself. Speaking from experience as someone who's been in way too many arguments on social media

If I had $5 for every time I've said use of certain words out of very specific contexts makes me angry enough to snap someone's fingers backwards I'd probably be able to afford a Starlett or Aficionado by now, so I'm the last person to enable certain idiocies and idiosyncracies. Not to mention I'm all too aware of how cyber/bullying is representative of many, many societal shortcomings, of course. Still, while taking a stance against it is laudable, some hills just make for a poor last stand.

I'm Filipino so like many SE Asian nationals have come to develop... unpleasant thoughts associated with mainland China in recent years. At the same time I'm a left-leaning SJW who's been on the receiving end of racism and colourism, so feel here compelled to say that making generalisations about an entire country or anything associated with that country, e.g. products, while rooted in verifiable fact, can be sketchy.

I'm with Avenue Q on this: everyone's a little bit racist (except some people are far moreso). I do think certain stereotypes are based in fact, but at the same time I believe that these should not inform personal decisions on how to conduct one's manner.

P.S.
+1 this should have been named SARSv2 or similar. Hearing absolutely gormless buffoons thinking this is the NINETEENTH in its line honestly made me slap my now-larger forehead.

P.P.S.
@Psalmanazar my opinion of you is probably worth less than a mason jar of rat piss but I consider you to be a well-informed and well-read individual, albeit one who is often absolutely infuriating when speaking of cultural and ethnic matters because of how you deliver the same and how that fits into the world as it is now. Political correctness can be frustrating— I am all too aware of that, but at the same time that the global zeitgeist made movements towards it is not without reason.


Hell I can go off on this topic for absolute hours if I weren't trying to be less of a rubbernecky bastard, but I'll leave at this tl;dr:

In everything look carefully, think long, and strive to strike a balance.

 

Before I was not convinced of the whole Huawei scandal, but when you see things like big Chinese corporations must have Communist party symbols and must take time to digest Communist party propaganda, it makes you reconsider your views.

People forget too often, that the Soviet Communist regime was on par with Nazi Germany. Not racial, just Hate f-ing everybody who has brains or stands against the regime. Many GULAGS were death camps. I read an article with photos that around 1 million people died in Kolyma. I saw photos of tiered workers just being shot and rolled down a snowy valley. Some half-rotten bodies melting out of the snow. Soviets were known for not keeping records or destroying them. So it is difficult but not impossible to find out what happened.
There were half-decent times too in parts of the USSR...

Is this the symbol you want to have on your political parties' flag? Then you read how they use the government's institutions to push their services and products to edge out the competition. I am a skeptic still. I am sure other countries might try similar stunts, but they get called out for it too.

 

And yet when you even so much as imply Filipinos are racist you are derided and believed to be a horrible person. Hah. I referenced a silly musical in Avenue Q, but while it's an oversimplification I genuinely believe, based on what I've learned and experienced, that everyone, without exception, without excuse for their culture, skin colour, faith or lack thereof, sexual orientation, gender, gender identification, has biases, and is morally obligated to learn them and compensate for the same.

Case in point, came across a thing on reddit where a bisexual woman was ostracised by her lesbian master's cohort for being in a happy relationship with a dude. Bi-erasure is a thing, and something many members of the gay community are guilty of. EVERY community has issues, even ones that are sadly viewed uncharitably by many.

Also, I remember sharing this story here before, but imagine a shop clerk selling skin whitening lotion to a black dude. Absolutely stupid things happen in this country, and it's passed off as normal.

I'm gonna stop derailing now, not because I give a shit about the Topping discussion but because this is just irritating to talk about.

 

All that said, all the best to the Chinese and their country. I have heard good things about rural area hospitality in China. People are kind there.

 

If you can't tell the difference between mocking traditionally chi-fi quality and racism (Chinese people are not as good as me because...) you might actually be retarded . Put the race card away, you don't get to use it.

 

For the record, I owned a D70 for a couple weeks , and liked the sound of it. The build quality was lame , and the buttons were loose crap. It settled my curiosity,and I stuck with Bifrost 2.

 

You know what. You can go f**k yourself. I’m out of this place.

 

Don't let the door hit you on your way out, buddy.

 

Mithrandir41 is one of the nicer people around here, so f**k Off.

 

So nice that he called me retarded. The fact that this passes for nice here is the reason I’m out. Don’t need this bs in my life. Oh, I did not say anything to you, so go f**k yourself as well.

 

Because people have negative experience with socialite fucks who become the worst offenders in RL. People who like to sprout out bigot and racist without even knowing people. If you can't get over guys like Psalmanzar you must have issues.

 

We all have issues. I did not start calling people retarded. Please admin delete my account here.