I bought a Hegel HD-12 DAC used about six months ago. Simply says "Hegel, Oslo, Norway" on the rear panel. No "Made in ..." marking anywhere on the unit, the box, nor the owner’s manual.
I did not know of the China thing when I bought it, but it has been completely problem free and sounds fantastic streaming Tidal from my laptop via USB. Appears to be a high-quality product to me in both construction and sonics.
For the record, the rest of my gear, including cabling (Synergistic Research), is made in the USA (Ayre, VPI, Krell) or Canada (Classe' Audio) excepting my Sony CDP, which was modified by ModWright, so "pseudo-USA" and my Transfiguration Orpheus L LOMC, made in Japan.
This Hegel DAC is well-made, versatile, and sounds ridiculously good for what I paid for it (does any other DAC sound better under <$1k?), so it stays in play for now, regardless of country of manufacture.
Dave
I did not know of the China thing when I bought it, but it has been completely problem free and sounds fantastic streaming Tidal from my laptop via USB. Appears to be a high-quality product to me in both construction and sonics.
For the record, the rest of my gear, including cabling (Synergistic Research), is made in the USA (Ayre, VPI, Krell) or Canada (Classe' Audio) excepting my Sony CDP, which was modified by ModWright, so "pseudo-USA" and my Transfiguration Orpheus L LOMC, made in Japan.
This Hegel DAC is well-made, versatile, and sounds ridiculously good for what I paid for it (does any other DAC sound better under <$1k?), so it stays in play for now, regardless of country of manufacture.
Dave