China is a large country with many manufacturers at various stages on the "learning curve," and representing a wide range of quality levels.
Yes, there is terrible junk being made in China. Some of us are old enough to remember when "Made in Japan" was synonymous with the worst, cheapest disposable JUNK we'd ever seen... and how that changed. China has a very different culture, and will not travel down the same paths, but to some extent they've been on a similar learning curve. We've all heard about how the Japanese kept the best of their production for the domestic market; the Chinese do the opposite, and export their best. That tells you how truly bad some of their production (that you never saw elsewhere) really was. However, as more and more Chinese become able to afford --and start to demand-- higher-quality goods, there is both overseas AND domestic pressure for manufacturers to upgrade their quality, and they have been doing it with a vengeance.
Would you say that Apple products (computers, iPods, iPhones, etc...) are generally well-made? Is their packaging high-quality? Well, guess what? They are "Made in China!" Most of them are made by Foxconn, one of the dominant companies in the field, which also makes computers for Dell and many other highly-respected brands. Inventec also makes some Apple products, and it's a Chinese company, too! IBMs have been made in China since the brand was taken over by Lenovo (a Chinese company). This is true for a large number of "respected" brands who choose not to talk much about it, because of the stigma associated with the "Made in China" label. However, it's a good example of how that label no longer automatically equates to poor quality, or poor quality control.
In tube audio, China, like the former USSR/Russia, is one of the only places where tube production never stopped --under a state-managed economy, they just kept on producing them through the years. Unfortunately, as we all know, centralized governments make terrible business owner/managers, so their quality didn't improve during those periods, but since the economic changes in China from a state-managed economy to a largely competitive free-market one, these companies came under market pressure to improve their quality... and they HAVE!
While there weren't many new tube-making start-ups, there was a slew of start-up companies jumping into the market to manufacture tube amps and gear using the China-made tubes ...and their quality varied greatly. Some former Hong Kong-based audio OEM companies moved their factories across the border, too. Some of these start-ups have fizzled, others have chugged along in the middle of the market, selling mostly domestically, but a few have expanded into the world of high-end gear aimed originally at the export market, and increasingly at the growing domestic audiophile sector. Some of those better brands, like Caiyin and Shuguang, have become international brands.
While there is still a general cultural tendency to favor "flash" over solid quality and to cut corners to make the fast profit, nevertheless their quality continues to improve at the top end, with some of the new "special" and more expensive tube lines, and it wouldn't surprise me if in a few years, some of the best tubes EVER made start coming out of China. They are at least working on/towards it!
It just seems like anything that comes out of that country is junk. Have you ever bought anything like a rug from Walmart? First time you try to wash it, it falls apart and screws up your washer.:thumbsdn: Brake rotors, harmonic dampers/balancers, bearings, Walmart type electronics etc.....
I hope they are making great tubes, but as long as Sovtek and my supply of old stock are around, they won't get my money.
I hate to say this, but Walmart is at least as much to blame for this as the Chinese manufacturers themselves. It's called "the Walmart effect," and has been the subject of many articles and at least one full-length book of that name. Walmart's fundamental competitive principles are only TWO: (1) Walmart will always have the cheapest prices for the items it carries, and (2) Walmart will never be out-of-stock on an item it carries. The pressure of meeting #1 is largely responsible for them squeezing margins and thereby forcing manufacturers to cut corners on the cut corners they've taken off of the already-cut corners, to the point where most of what they sell is rubbish.
But shoppers have been overwhelmingly "voting with their dollars" for the cheapest prices, regardless of (lack of) quality, and they've made Walmart the biggest company that has ever existed. This relentless trend of ever-cheaper production has forced other companies trying to compete with Walmart to cut their quality standards, too, and contributed significantly to today's consumer culture, rife with disposable and planned-obsolescence products.
Walmart sources a lot from China, because it has been (until recently) a cheap-labor country where goods could be made more cheaply. You can't entirely blame China for the quality of the products made there and sold in Walmart, though: a lot of the blame rests with Walmarts obsessive insistence on CHEAPER production, no matter what. Walmart is truly extreme when it comes to this, using their sheer size as the largest buyer of almost anything, to strong-arm companies into reducing costs to the ABSOLUTE minimums, and they expect those costs to be further reduced every year, almost regardless of what is happening to the cost of raw materials, labor, etc...
[In case you are wondering, aside from reading, I'm speaking from close firsthand knowledge of several companies that manufacture in China for Walmart, including two companies owned by friends, with whom I've had close discussions about this. I'm a part-time paid consultant for one of them, with inside knowledge of various aspects of the business. I also know of at least two companies that deliberately turned away potential Walmart business (chose not to go beyond initial discussions with Walmart), because they didn't want to be subjected to the extreme "we own you and will squeeze you to near-death" Walmart approach.]
Getting back to audio tubes, though... to the best of my knowledge, Walmart doesn't buy these, and the tube companies in China have not been subjected to "the Walmart effect." Their quality, in my experience, overall still lags the best of the Russian and NOS tubes, but generally has been improving a lot in recent years, and the very best of the Chinese tubes today really are not bad at all. I wouldn't be surprised at all if soon, they become the best in the world, and I might believe it if someone told me that their latest best already are. I don't have enough firsthand and comparative experience of their recent TOTL tubes to be sure either way.
There is one other factor that is seldom discussed in tube discussions. Years ago, tubes were made with various metal alloy formulations and manufacturing processes which contained traces of toxic substances which are banned today, for environmental reasons. Some old techs have told me that some of those substances had an impact on the sound, and NO ONE will EVER be able to legally make tubes that sound as good again, because of the newer environmental restrictions. I don't know how true or untrue this is, but I've heard it from two old guys with lifetime experience in the industry, but who had no personal profit to be made from these claims. Maybe it is true? If so, it would be an argument in favor of NOS tubes over ANY modern production.
