Under-rated Gear

[kratu]

my thinking is, if any product is "Under-rated and undervalued" then there is a possibility of price correction. I may put it as "Under-rated but Optimally Priced" .

I see a subtle hint of the equity market and am enticed to go there but I will resist. Sure, let’s go with optimally priced. So, we can continue with the thread.

 

[kratu]

There are two mentions of Indian products. In general I feel our products don’t get the attention they deserve. Either due to the lack of marketing push or customer’s bias for imported global brands?

 

[chander]

I feel all gear that is going to make it to the list here will be highly regarded in the circles, so I will stick to what I feel is a great value for money as a stand alone product and when pitted against competition. Also in my opinion versatility is a huge part of value.

My 5 undervalued/extremely versatile - "value" being subjective.

1 - Audiolab 6000a Amplifier. Phenomenal sound. About 65K INR new and used around 40K. A very well rounded - almost perfect integrated amp. Comes with Subwoofer integration & a dedicated HT & pre-amp mode. So you can use it somewhere. In fact I believe it is a better value than more expensive AL offerings as they all sound fairly similar & there is absolutely nothing I have tried that can push the 6000a to it's limits. So why pay the premium?

2 - O&B power amps. Hard to beat value. 3 channel power amp, fully customised - chassis, ports, additional accessory ports, cables, comes with XLR ins & a bunch more customisations - well under 1L with copious amounts of power on tap & built like a tank. Pretty much life-long Support & they sound pretty good too.

3 - RME ADI 2 DAC FS - what can it not do - Preamp + Fully Balanced DAC + DSP + EQ + a decent enough HP amp all in one for <1L. Software updates & support are phenomenal. Features can be fully customised or controlled via a phone/tablet & PC.

4 - iPad Mini 6/2021 as a streamer - This is going to be a bit of a "controversial" choice maybe. A used iPad mini is around 20-25K - what you get is a streamer with - USB C, Native support for almost all streaming apps under the sun, spotify/tidal connect + apple airplay, bit perfect audio - upto a reasonable standard, a beautiful 8 inch multitouch screen, onboard memory/storage, incredibly robust software & UI, offline playback, software support for atleast 5 years, usage for easily 10. Incredibly snappy - super secure.
In the recent months, whenever I have helped someone setup a stereo/media setup - who are already in the apple eco-system, this is it. ***Also when you are not using it as a streamer - well it is a full fledged tablet.

5 - Marantz cinema 70 - fairly upgrade proof - Around 70K for a 7.2 AVR with all bells & whistles + & this is big - a full 7.2 AV Processor.
a. you can have a 7.2 setup that can drive most budget setups out there.
b. if you upgrade your speakers, you can just get a power amp for the front LCR or 5 channels.
c. You can have active speakers /studio monitors for all or the front 3.
d. You can have smaller 7.2 setup like small wall mounted speakers or something & have a dedicated 2 channel active setup or 2 channel power amp attached to the Zone 2 Pre-outs for stereo.

I mean this is incredibly versatile for the price. A lot of people do not go for this thinking - 50W per channel realistically 30W per channel; in my opinion & experience you can do a lot with 30WPC and if you push your front 3 as active/external powered, well....