Pretty new to the world of hi-fi and I have a question regarding cheap amps like the Fosi V3, and this question might be a bit short sighted or obvious to some of you who know more than me.
Essentially, what would be the benefit or how does an amp from a company like Cambridge Audio or Pro-Ject or even Schiit compete with amps from Fosi with lower power output, even when tested by resources like ASR?
To add to this, I understand that power is not everything, but even when it comes to signal to noise ratio and other measurements, it seems that some of these cheap chinese amps are still outperforming claimed measurements by other brands. And so with that being said, what reason would someone have for going for an AXA25 over the Fosi V3 or similar amp.
(I wish I could phrase this question better, but it’s hard to put this into words as a noob).
The higher priced ones compete with marketing, case work, product support and perceived brand prestige, not performance.
Amplifiers have been essentially a solved problem for quite some time now and have become commodified as a result.
Commercially available modules and chips (ex. Hypex, Purifi, TI 325X) have made it relatively simple to produce a highly performant unit.
But also the cheap chinesium amps lie about their wattage. You see this basically anywhere performance can be boiled down to a number. It’s so bad with flashlights that you’ll see sellers advertising that the 1000 lumen rating is “Chinese lumens.” Only there’s no such thing. It was a joke about how bullshit the numbers are that the sellers are now trying to claim is a real thing to cover their asses for the blatantly false advertising.