Dissection of Audio/Video Gears Components

[denom]

Nothing wrong with the thread. I am certainly not questioning it's existence. I agree with the intention and I love kanwar's explanation. i just gave an alternate view because to draw correlation between technology and sound quality can be a bit inappropriate.

also to make purchases based on the BOM (bill of materials) is as wrong (or right) as making the purchase based on looks.

there was no "between the lines intention"- at least not on this one.

Hahahaha, now 'dissection' of Rolls Royce & Bentley in our thread ?

What ever I said about the purpose of this thread stands unchanged, if your getting more(alternative views) out of it than what its sole purpose is, enjoy

 

[prem]

Interesting thread. What might be also interesting is to have some idea of the cost of the components used and its relation to the selling price. For example Antelope Audio dac costs in excess of Rs 2 lakhs. What, for example, would the cost of the components used be? My guess is it will not be in excess of 12-15%. If you use cheaper components, it would probably be 7-10%.

 

[kanwar]

Interesting thread. What might be also interesting is to have some idea of the cost of the components used and its relation to the selling price. For example Antelope Audio dac costs in excess of Rs 2 lakhs. What, for example, would the cost of the components used be? My guess is it will not be in excess of 12-15%. If you use cheaper components, it would probably be 7-10%.

Well said Prem,

What i have seen in home audio sector is that usually the component cost is never more than 20% max of the retail price at customer end. The big brands make huge profits out of it in this way. This doesn't happen in live pro-sound due to its own nature.


Kanwar

 

[prem]

Hi Kanwar

When you say pro audio, does it include products sold to studios? Some of the dacs sold to studios are very very expensive. In the region of 8-10 lakhs. What would the cost of components be in such dacs?

 

[kanwar]

Hi Kanwar

When you say pro audio, does it include products sold to studios? Some of the dacs sold to studios are very very expensive. In the region of 8-10 lakhs.

Hi Prem,

I am talking about live pro-audio which excludes studio gear. For example DAC with USB 2.0 24-bit/192khz included in home audio Big branded segment is much costlier than this Live Pro-audio option:

MultiMix 8 USB 2.0 Integrated USB 2.0 audio interface and mixer

Product: DP-24 | TASCAM

These are digital multi channel mixers with very high dynamic range + Balanced in/out configurations and host of digital controls/interfaces.

Kanwar

 

[kanwar]

Hi Kanwar

Some of the dacs sold to studios are very very expensive. In the region of 8-10 lakhs. What would the cost of components be in such dacs?

Studio gear, just like home audio is good profit making business these days but the quality of components is much better and reliable than what you get in home audio.

 

[prem]

Thanks Kanwar

 

[sidvee]

I have read/heard in multiple locations that by the time a component hits the dealer shelf in US and other developed audio markets the price has increased 5 times. So the manufacturer cost is usually 1/5 th of the retail price. Perhaps one has to keep this in mind while looking under the hood, that there will be some discount of the parts to the actual msrp. BTW the manufacturer is not making 500 % profit. There are distributors and dealers in between him and us, the consumer so they get their cuts as well.

http://www.orbaudio.com/audiomarkups.aspx

Cheers,
Sid

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes, 25% or even 20% material costs is fair enough for many manufactured items. I'm sure that Kanwar is more aware than most of us (intimately aware: it's his business!) of the application of this to audio equipment.

I can recall reading on the Musical Fidelity site, with regard to their low-priced "V" series in plain boxes, that the case can eat up as much as 70% of the cost of an item. Maybe that's ok. Maybe some of us like hefty and good-looking cases. I do. But I guess we want the value to be more than skin-deep.

 

[denom]

On the surgery table next is Ayon Skylla DAC:

Source: 6moons audio reviews: Ayon Audio Skylla

Amazon.com: Ayon - Skylla II Digital DAC: Musical Instruments

 

[kanwar]

On the surgery table next is Ayon Skylla DAC:

Source: 6moons audio reviews: Ayon Audio Skylla

Apart from the price tag and using obsolete DAC chips which are no longer in production, this DAC is well implemented as far as components and pcb layout is concerned.

 

[trittya]

Hiya Kanwar,
Lets do this one now, shall we? - The Asus Xonar Essence One
Basically for the benefit of folks who are keen on getting it serviced in India. Is it any good at all? for the price ie . . .

We are all ears, mate.:licklips: Thanks in advance.
Cheerio.

 

[kanwar]

What makes this Asus Xonar a great buy for the price tag is the quality of components especially the WIMA film caps along with KT audio series from Nichicon which is rarely seen in such products. Next favourable thing is its mod friendly nature, the opamps are placed in sockets, so that one can upgrade them to better ones for higher performance. PCB layout is optimized for the placement of key components. Analog volume and balanced interfaces along with various digital input options like USB2.0.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

The responses, especially from engineers, on this one will be interesting, because it doesn't actually work! Half and hour can be doubled by standing it on sticks, thus improving the airflow, so my theory is overheating.



It's a Bravo Audio Ocean headphone amp.

 

[kanwar]

The responses, especially from engineers, on this one will be interesting, because it doesn't actually work! Half and hour can be doubled by standing it on sticks, thus improving the airflow, so my theory is overheating.



It's a Bravo Audio Ocean headphone amp.

Hi Thad,

Housing a tube like this is catastrophic sometimes, over heating is really an issue with this. Volume pot looks like Alps. Rest its a simple thing, what more to expect from it.

Why not transfer the internal board to some larger chassis with proper ventilation and heatsinking for regulators. This will cool the Tube and regulators.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Should I try it with the top off? Or am I loosing half the heat sink? I don't want any fires!

 

[kanwar]

Should I try it with the top off? Or am I loosing half the heat sink? I don't want any fires!

You can try if the regulators are not much hot, if they still remain hot then better shift to another large casing.