China 2006

When I checked in late last night, I noticed the cribs lined up along the halls of my corridor, but all I thought was, "What a child friendly country." Nor did I think much about all the Caucasian couples I saw carrying Asian infants amidst all the audiophiles thronging the halls.

NuForce's S-9 was pretty interesting, too. The cabinet is constructed of birch plywood laminations, which creates both the inner and outer profiles. The tweeter is mounted into a fairly deep horn and flanked by the twin midrange/woofers. There's a built-in switchable Zobel filter and an external crossover, which can be purchased as active or passive. Speaker wire is included in the S-9's $5500/pair (USD) price.

"Essentially, we build everything by hand. Some Chinese companies think almost think this approach is primitive, but it gives us a lot of quality control."

This is Ping Gong, one of my hosts and my fellow traveler. At breakfast this morning, he explained to me how he became an audiophile. "It was the Cultural Revolution," he said. "We weren't allowed to study, so we played music and talked. I had a big Russian turntable—mono! And one speaker, of course.

Here's a better look at the tubes from the Original CD-A6T—they're miniature 6C7B, a military tube.

This CNC machine is fluting a side panel.