Re: 3980 reliability....MADE in CHINA ???

Posted by PeAK (A) on November 20, 2005 at 05:02:30

In Reply to: Re: 3980 operational issues posted by Dave Pogue on November 18, 2005 at 06:56:45:

Hey Dave,

I've put a link to your experience with the SD-3980 on my transport web page. Hopefully we will hear from Toshiba on what it intends to do to remedy the situation.

Low cost manufacture can lead to assembly materials and handling procedures that can result in quality issues. I've seen the general quality of products from China to very good in general, but, not having the right design/manaufacturing engineer(s) on the assembly floor from Japan can lead to a host of possible problems. Being able to run your unit for a week and then have it fail is a bit odd. I suspect some sort of cumlative failure such as static or destructive heat cycle (causing loss of contact between chip and board) to be at work.

Several years ago, I went on a trip through the middle regions of China (Kunming, Chengdu) away from the industrial heartland where some of the smaller developed cities dwell. I picked up local light switches, powerbars and solder...what else is an "AA inmate" to do when tempted by the pricing. The solder looks nice but does tends not to bead and also melt at much higher temperatures. It flow as well and removing joints using solder wick is trickier. It tends to require an increase in the amount of heat needed to make or removed a solder joint. It is either the flux or the solder. Nowadays, I just use it now for non-audio use. Last, it could be that the chip process technology just has some long term issues that should have been exposed in the normal "shake and bake" tests. At $60, the question is whether they were skipped over. There is no denying that underlying technology and "technology filter down" are at a point where the "non recurring engineering" (NRE) costs have been paid for. Companies are now just competing on cost of manufacture. I'm surprised that Toshiba is letting its reputation get tarnished by cheap manufacture. This is the reason that I do not buy low-end Sony products for the last 8 years. Technics is one company which seems to be somewhat immune to this judging from the experiences of numerous friends and family despite offshoring to Signapore/Malysia, Mexico and China. I'm sure the SD-3980 sounded wonderful...but reliability FIRST!!!

cheers,
PeAK

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Toshiba SD4960 as a CD source - Presto 16:47:43 11/11/05 (23)

A different opinion - niws 17:14:43 11/15/05 (2)

Setup function. - nimby 08:20:16 11/16/05 (1)

Re: Setup function. - niws 21:14:34 11/16/05 (0)

I just Googled "Toshiba 4960," prepared to buy. - Dave Pogue 07:50:45 11/15/05 (0)

Here's the link to the mods thread for the 4960 - BobM 10:45:56 11/14/05 (0)

Interesting. My setup is quite similar. - KCHANG 23:31:38 11/13/05 (0)

Does the 4960 exhibit the same problems as the 3980? - Dave Pogue 11:05:12 11/13/05 (11)

Re: 3980 operational issues - PeAK 06:35:05 11/18/05 (5)

Re: 3980 operational issues - Dave Pogue 06:56:45 11/18/05 (4)

Re: 3980 reliability....MADE in CHINA ??? - PeAK 05:02:30 11/20/05 (3)

Both my 3980s took about the same amount of time to fail - Dave Pogue 05:50:36 11/20/05 (2)

Re: Both my 3980s took about the same amount of time to fail - PeAK 06:03:59 11/21/05 (1)

Sorry, too much trouble - Dave Pogue 07:00:27 11/21/05 (0)

Bulletin: My second 3980 just crapped out totally - Dave Pogue 12:41:08 11/14/05 (0)

The 4960 does NOT exhibit the same problems as the 3980 - DaveT 19:37:53 11/13/05 (1)

Thanks - what I wanted to know (nt) - Dave Pogue 04:53:33 11/14/05 (0)

Re: Does the 4960 exhibit the same problems as the 3980? - zacster 12:55:30 11/13/05 (1)

Oh, I agree. - Dave Pogue 14:13:37 11/13/05 (0)

Re: Toshiba SD4960 as a CD source - Pinco Pallino 14:05:13 11/12/05 (0)

k t turnstall-" Eye to the Telescope" - bluenose 03:29:33 11/12/05 (1)

Re: k t turnstall-" Eye to the Telescope" - Presto 14:05:34 11/12/05 (0)

Interesting, just started to audition my refurb... - docw 20:46:00 11/11/05 (1)

Re: Interesting, just started to audition my refurb... - Presto 14:14:35 11/12/05 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: 3980 reliability....MADE in CHINA ??? - PeAK 05:02:30 11/20/05 (3)

Both my 3980s took about the same amount of time to fail - Dave Pogue 05:50:36 11/20/05 (2)

Re: Both my 3980s took about the same amount of time to fail - PeAK 06:03:59 11/21/05 (1)

Sorry, too much trouble - Dave Pogue 07:00:27 11/21/05 (0)

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