Pricey amp that contained cheap / simple parts?

January 25, 2023 8:20 PM

I'm trying to recall the brand / model of an expensive, well-regarded "audiophile"-grade amplifier that was subsequently found to contain a handful of inexpensive parts and a simple (or short?) circuit design. What was it?
posted by some little punk in a rocket to Technology (11 answers total)

Bose, probably most famously, but I'm sure not exclusively. Or are you thinking less mass-market?
posted by ssg at 8:29 PM on January 25, 2023

Response by poster: Much less so. This particular amplifier caused quite some consternation in the audiophile community. It wasn't a case of "everybody knows brand X is overblown".
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 9:01 PM on January 25, 2023

There was a similar story on Beats headphones some years back here that I thought of, but no idea if that's what you were thinking of.
posted by reptile at 9:16 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, but no. To be clear, it's not a well-known mass market brand. Think small scale, almost bespoke manufacturing, and products that sell for thousands of dollars many years (possibly decades) ago.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 9:20 PM on January 25, 2023

Other thing that came to mind was teardown of audiophile network switch here: https://youtu.be/NMFQ3YvR3Eo
posted by reptile at 9:23 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks again, but I've just remembered: it was the 47 Labs Gaincard:

Unless you've hidden on Samoa's beaches all along, you'll have heard of 'em: World's smallest number of parts - 9 parts per channel. World's shortest signal pass length - 32mm. World's shortest NFB loop length - 9mm.

Further factoring into the unique allure of controversy was the fact that despite parts minimalism and 25wpc power rating (pityfully low for a sand amp in those days though a 50wpc version has been added since), the price of admission with just one power supply clocked in at a stout $3,300. Add another $1,800 for a second power supply to ring the bell at $5,100. Add $700 per supply for the 50-watt version. Fully tricked out and beefed up, that's $6,500.

Thus caught between geek and designer appeal, the Gaincard pretty much from its very beginning was a unique beast. It inspired equal amounts of awe and derision, applause and mockery.

posted by some little punk in a rocket at 9:28 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I do think you might be misremembering or misinterpreting a bit - the original Gaincard was always, very openly and rather audaciously, an extremely minimalist design reliant on a single mass-market op-amp chip. The manufacturer never pretended it was anything other than that. It was a novel enough idea, at the time, that it actually kicked off a trend of 'Gainclones'. This really wasn't a situation of anyone being duped (although there's definitely plenty of that in high-end audio).

In fact, in some ways, I'd say a better answer to this question would be the various high-end 'manufacturers' who were heavily implying in their marketing that they were doing in-house engineering, but were actually just putting totally stock class-D amplifier modules from makers like IcePower or Hypex into fancy-looking cases and selling them at huge markups.
posted by kickingtheground at 10:02 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: the original Gaincard was always, very openly and rather audaciously, an extremely minimalist design reliant on a single mass-market op-amp chip

I don't think I implied that anybody was duped - only that the design caused consternation. Primary sources indicate that it did, in terms of design, and in terms of price given the quantity and cost price of components.

I say "subsequently found" because I also recalled (and have now found again) suggestions that it came in a tightly sealed case; and that when it was first opened and photos presented online, the designer denied that they showed the inside of a Gaincard, but also refused to provide such pictures of his own.

(Here's the original thread from 2002, and the consternation was already in full flight:

"If you are in the business of selling 47 labs products: The truth will out, always. If you can't justify the price to someone with a full knowledge of the product, you are acting with deceitful intent. Your half hearted denials are disgraceful."

"[question] the circuit board looks quite a bit like the "hand-etched" circuit board that the Power Humpty diodes were mounted on. It looks pretty crude in there, doesn't it?

[answer]Yup. Not something one expects to see in a product with an asking price over $3,000 (the photos were of the 25 watt Gaincard by the way). Personally I'd always thought that the Gaincard was rather grossly overpriced. When I saw the photos, I just had to shake my head.

There's a lot of discussion about whether the photos depicted the inside of a Gainclone or a Gaincard; Chris Fraser asserted on another board they were the latter, and those photos later lined up with official pics from the manufacturer for the 6moons review, when they got over their "we're not providing pics" issue.

If that's true, then there's not much that's open about a sealed case, and not much audacious about denying your own work. If there was transparency about what was in the box, then these people seem to have missed those messages.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 12:09 AM on January 26, 2023

Response by poster: It seems there definitely was a degree of transparency - as far back as 1999, Sakura was completely open about having just 9 parts per channel. Perhaps I should say "subsequently found, in the same way that Columbus found America".

In any case, this is Ask MeFi, not Blog MeFi, and I'm doing the latter.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 12:28 AM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Man, DIY audio stuff is a rabbit warren of interesting, passionate people...and dead URLs. *sigh*

Thanks for this question, I found it really interesting!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:48 AM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

You found your answer but the first thing that came to mind was the Grado RA1 headphone amplifier that cost $350 and was based on a 50 cent op amp.
posted by zsazsa at 7:42 AM on January 26, 2023 [2 favorites]