The Dealer you mentioned uses what is known as "creative license" in large doses. The term "best of show" in his belief system is a portable term. I mean one product wins best of show one year, then magically every product is "Best of show", lol! Speaking of portable terms, Ayon is 100% made in China...Koowloon, Hong Kong to be precise. You may notice they stamp "Austria" or "Ayon - Austria" on the back of their components. That is because they can't legally say "Product of Austria" or "Made in Austria". Their products may be designed in Austria, but it is all built in their factory in China with cheap Taiwanese boards.
Ayon, are there too many ads out there?
I just checked the ads for Ayon. About 50 of them, all with those ''best of show'' mentions. Too much hype is like not enough I guess. What do you think?
Years ago it was all those DK Design ads (now LSA)that were all over the 'Gon, but never as over-exposed as Ayon.
Years ago it was all those DK Design ads (now LSA)that were all over the 'Gon, but never as over-exposed as Ayon.
Showing 8 responses by melbguy1
@Kong, this is all public information. You only need do a quick Google search. This link shows Ayon Audio's address in Hong Kong. Incidentally, the consignee mentioned on that webpage (Harwil Group) are USA Tube Audio. Re; the similar looking products you saw in China, you might be thinking of Raysonic who make the cases for Ayon. They make their own players as well. With that said, I would assume Ayon sell factory direct in China as they don't have a Distributor posted on their website. I should point out I think Ayon make a couple of nice products. I enjoyed my time with my old Ayon CD-5s. And my Dealer has big wraps on the Ayon Stratos. I simply believe it is misleading to tell punters a product is made in Austria when even their own labeling proves it isn't. And obviously I find said Distributor's claims on this site optimistic at best. |
@Thuhaile, I'm glad your enjoying your Ayon amp. And yes on the surface they appear well built. However a high end audio engineer I know with over 25 years experience told me he was not impressed with Ayon amps. He said they are way too complicated, have way too much internal wire, poor wiring topology, are unreliable & use propriatory software which once broke, has in the past been no longer supported by the manufacturer due to staff turnover, meaning alternative parts or repair options have had to be used. Personally, I wouldn't touch these or any other Chinese amps for that matter. |
Facten, I have owned an Ayon CD-5s for 2 years, opened it up & had my player re-tubed and modded. I have seen Ayon amps on the work bench being repaired. And I was, as I said, given an honest opinion about their amps by a high end audio engineer with over 25 years experience. I might add, I have had more than one A'gon member over the last few years report repeated issues with their amps. Ayon's top model cdp's are their best work. Their amps are kind of dumb when you compare them to well designed tube amps like Audionote or Vac. I'm glad your amp hasn't given you any issues. From what i've heard you can get 9 amps that work fine, and number 10 has repeated problems. If you don't make amps overly complicated, don't use in-house designed software which only one guy knows anything about (who then leaves the company), don't use cheap Chinese boards & don't out-source your labor to China because it's cheaper, you don't get these issues. |
11-02-15: FactenI did say that their cd players (up to the CD-5s anyway) were their best work. Like I said, if you are happy with your amp & it isn't giving you any issues, enjoy! 11-03-15: ThuhailePleased to hear, and hope it stays that way. I wish some of the audiophiles who contacted me in my Ayon days were as fortunate, and the many owners of amps that went in for repair to my AE. For most folks, if the thing works and sounds good, they won't care if it is made in China or if an old fart like me posts a comment which flies in the face of their own experience...until their experience is different. |