These days I spend rather a lot of idle time perusing the bizarre assortment of audio-gear available from the mysterious Orient. There are strange and wonderful things to be had (if you believe what they say) for relatively little money. Although there are dangers in the lack of serious consumer protection, questionable build quality and will you get what you paid for? AliExpress, on the whole, does offer certain forms of money-back guarantee (and it works, I can testify to that).
But Chi-Fi - is it worth the hassle?
My current experience is Yes. On the whole.
Initial experiments were not successful, one ultra-cheap DAC for the TV just refused to work properly (wasn't refunded but it was only a tenner), a slightly more expensive unit failed on one channel, that was sent back and (eventually) refunded.
A Linear PSU from Weiliang for a Pi unit looks good, was a nice price, seems to be well-built and works perfectly.
Then I got my courage up and started to get serious. The Topping D30 seemed to be a safe bet and for 100 euros it is a phenomenal little DAC. Then more from TeraDak who have been around for a relatively long time. What they make is simply breathtaking and far below the prices of anything equivalent from a European manufacturer. Brands like Fiio and SMSL are also becoming widely accepted.
Something I spotted last week is the TIN Audio T3 earbuds. Apparently these use a balanced armature driver normally found in megabuck phones, these will set you back about 50 quid and are gaining a mighty reputation in certain circles.
Because we all like to get the best sound-to-the-pound and nobody likes to be ripped off it would be an idea to share personal experiences in thise rather dodgy area. There are bargains to be had - and mistakes to be made! But if we pool the knowledge then anyone who is intrigued can at least get a first foothold onto - what should be - some great bargains.
