In the past, every time I did an annual inventory, it was a headache, because every year there were many new products in the circle, and all kinds of melons could not be eaten at all. But the nearly finished 2021 shows a very distinctive feature, a very regular phenomenon: the new player products within 3000 are almost extinct, replaced by hifi decoding ear release lines, or a more down-to-earth term - "small tail".
The picture above is the last two quite hot hifi small tails, wearing a green leather case is Lepi's latest flagship W2-131, and wearing an orange leather case is Kaiyin's first small tail RU6. The two new products have two common characteristics: one is that the price is not cheap, W2-131 sells 1980, is the most expensive tail, RU6 also sold to 1680, for the first tail this price is also quite high; the second common point is that the decoding scheme used is affected by the chip shortage, W2-131 built-in two crystal DAC CS43198, is to replace the old W2 CS43198, the latter is out of stock and no resumption plan in the future short period of time, Lepi was forced to replace it with the CS43131 solution; the RU6 used discrete R-2R decoding, circumventing the problem of limited production capacity of DS decoding chip manufacturers such as AKM and Cirrus Logic.
A fire a year ago caused heavy losses to asahi Kasei (AKM) wafer factories in Japan, and many chips, including two flagship DACs AK4497 and AK4499, could not continue to be produced. Coupled with the new crown epidemic that has ravaged the world, the shortage of chips has become a world problem, and many industries such as smart phones and automobile industries have been seriously affected, and the production capacity has dropped significantly. The audio industry is no exception. In the face of a large number of orders, manufacturers on the one hand need to solve the problem of difficult supply, on the other hand, they have to face the high cost pressure caused by the soaring price of chips, so this year's HiFi player is summarized in two words: limited + high price.
10,000 yuan flagship blowout, 2000-3000 file "vacuum"
This is the new flagship M9 of Shanling, and the previous M8, using two Asahi Kasei AK4499EQ flagship chips, but the price rose directly from 9998 to 14980, and the national limited edition was 300 units. Although Shanling emphasized that this is an out-of-print AK4499 chip, and from the perspective of the overall machine configuration, whether it is sound quality materials (new OP+BUF architecture and I/V conversion circuit) or human-computer interaction (Snapdragon 665 main control + Sharp LCD HD large screen + Android 10), M9 has obvious upgrades, but compared to M8, 50% of the price is still "expensive" for many burners.
Another well-known domestic manufacturer, Fei Ao, was the first manufacturer in the industry to announce the adjustment of product line planning due to the shortage of AKM chips. As a large customer of AKM in the domestic audio circle, Fei Ao should also be the most affected. From the desktop product K9 to the portable player M17, they were forced to switch to ESS's chip solution. The player in the picture is the M17 released 2 months ago, the so-called belated flagship player, M17 positioning "smart portable desktop", built-in 2 ES9038PRO flagship DACs, using the same THX788 + amplification circuit as its own desktop decoding flagship K9Pro, the thrust is extremely large, and even has a special heat dissipation base, the price is 11999. Although it is the most expensive product ever made by Fei Ou, it is a conscience compared to the pricing of friends. Since ESS is in China, the supply will not be as severely limited as AKM and CS, so the M17 production capacity is relatively stable, and it is also one of the very few flagship machines that use non-limited sales this year.
From the new products of the two domestic hifi manufacturers, it can be found that in 2021, their updated portable player models are all mid-to-high-end models. In addition to the flagship M9 and M17 priced at over 10,000 yuan, other new products launched by Shanling and FeiO include: the Shanling M6 21 version of the ESS chip solution was released in March, priced at 3298; 2 months later, the M6 Pro 21 version was released at a price of 4398; Feio also released the AK4497 singing model - M11Plus LTD in May, the aluminum alloy version of the global limited edition of 6000 units, priced at 4999 yuan; the stainless steel version limited to 1000 units, priced at 5999 yuan.
At the entry price of 3000 or less, it can be found that: Shanling and Fei'ao have "strategically abandoned" traditional player products, and instead "embraced wireless" and "embraced mobile phones", and the new products launched in addition to Bluetooth ear amplifiers are wired small tails: Shanling's first action is to launch UA1's upgraded small tail UA2 in March, priced at 498 yuan, and then launched UA1 Pro in August, priced at 278 yuan; Bluetooth ear amplifiers are from the previous year's UP2, UP4 and then this year's flagship UP5, Steady iteration, the price is 998 yuan. Fei'ao's pace is more streamlined, at the beginning of the year, the BTR5 was slightly iterated into the BTR5 2021 version, and at the same time, in October, the first small tail in the standard sense was released - KA3, which cost 469 yuan.
Look at the international factories. Sony this year is very Buddhist, zero new products, it seems to focus on the PS5 and camera business; Aili and adhere to the "ten thousand yuan machine sea" tactics - just a few years have piled up SP1000M, Kann Cube, SA700, SE200, Kann Alpha and other products, and then this year began to play modules, multi-circuit SE180, SP2000T, low-end models are only a small iteration of SR25ii, selling 5288; it is worth mentioning that Avery and also launched their own small tail products: in the first half of this year, PEE51 was released, built-in dual CS43198 DAC, priced at 999 yuan, although the official listed it as the third hifi adapter based on the extended attributes of intelligent hardware devices after AK10 and AK XB10, but from the definition of HiFi small tail, PEE51 is a more standard first product.
After watching several first-line factories, look at the second- and third-line labels:
Oriolus's only product this year is the DPS-L2, using a single ES9038Pro, limited to 999 units, selling for 12800;
Qianlongsheng similar, launched a new flagship QA390LE, the original use of AK4497 replaced by DPS-L2 the same ES9038Pro, limited to 600 units, the price is also 12800;
Rainbow did not release a new player this year, but launched the first small tail CDA M1, priced at 499 yuan, and together with Fei'ao KA3, it became a 500-file "shoulder handle" product;
Leto also did not have a new player, but updated the flagship small tail, upgraded the S1 to S2, AKM4377 DAC + OPA1622 op amp, starting at 1499;
iBasso and Shanling Fei'ao similar, in August updated the limited edition flagship DX300MAX, equipped with dual AK4499EQ, stainless steel version limited to 400 units, selling 16888, titanium alloy version of DX300MAX TI is limited to 100 units, selling 21888. The volume of products is still the DC series, currently iterative to DC05, priced at 328 yuan, the same price is very competitive small tail;
The main software of Haibei this year's blockbuster new product is a new series of RS6, positioning in the high-end, selling 8498, the highlight is the integration of the R-2R architecture of the Android system, the small tail series also updated the flagship FC5, ES9281Pro DAC + double ES9803Q ear amplifier, limited to 999 units, retail price of 999 yuan.
Finally, look at Lepi and Kaiyin mentioned at the beginning of the article:
Lepi's new player products this year are based on the iteration of the previous game: P6Pro obsidian configuration is almost exactly the same as P6Pro, the appearance and tuning have been changed, and the price remains 24999; the mysterious flagship LP6Ti seventh anniversary commemorative model has upgraded the LP6Ti's op amp part, optimized the tuning, and the back shell has increased the Echizen paint process, the price is 3000, selling 42800, limited to 99 units; the new product of the small tail is a high-profile W2 series, the W2 released at the beginning of the year is the same as PEE51, With two CS43198, priced at 1880, the user response is quite good, the recent release of the new flagship tail W2-131 is due to the CS43198 discontinuation forced to switch to the CS43131 scheme, replaced the circuit architecture iteration of the new version, thrust, distortion, tuning, power consumption and appearance are improved than the old W2, sold 1980.
The main theme of Kaiyin's new product is R-2R: the widely acclaimed N6ii has updated the new motherboard and new models after two years, launched the R-2R architecture R01 motherboard composed of 96 resistors (3998 yuan sold alone), and the N6ii titanium alloy R2R limited edition machine, with a global limited edition of 600 units and sold for 11998 yuan. The highlight is its own first small tail RU6, also built-in 96 micro resistors, limited by the volume, the resistance accuracy is lower than R01, in the machine line separation of the small tail, is the first to use the R-2R architecture, the price of 1599.
Combing through the annual new products of each family, we are more likely to find this law: high-end is more expensive, mostly limited; mid-range vacuum, all rely on the old machine; entry is either none, or small tail.
Causing such "polarization", on the one hand, is the manufacturer's thinking, but more importantly, it is market feedback - manufacturers will definitely do sufficient market research when laying out product lines. Even if some people say that the high-priced machine is an IQ tax, and some people say that the small tail is a burden, the actual sales still confirm that "existence is reasonable". The sound quality of the top models can be heard enough with the entry model, and more distinctive designs can be developed in the arms race, such as the super thrust Fei O M17, the tube transistor multi-mode switching Avery and SP2000T; the small tail circle has also become the most serious main battlefield of the inner volume, because it and the life entertainment & productivity digital trio - mobile phones, tablets, laptops have formed a tight "bundle" concept, hifi small tail has also begun to move closer to the digital peripheral category, Many music lovers who didn't play hifi before have gradually begun to try this new toy.
Since the iPhone 7 canceled the headphone port in 2016, many users who usually love to listen to songs on mobile phones and have requirements for sound quality will feel uncomfortable. AirPods solves the convenience problem, but does not solve the sound quality problem. In June this year, Apple opened the Apple Music lossless sound source, the highest support to 24bit/192KHz high-resolution lossless, sound quality party more than the original adapter sound quality program, to push the hands of the wired hifi headphones - even a few hundred yuan of hifi headphones, after fully driven sound quality is still better than AirPods. But iPhone, iPad, MacBook does not support LDAC and aptX HD lossless Bluetooth transmission protocol, if you use Bluetooth line or Bluetooth ear amplifier to connect hifi headphones, it is bound to cause information loss and other distortion, can not support the highest quality lossless sound source, so Apple officially recommends the use of audio converters that support usb protocol as a lossless solution, so all kinds of small tails came into being.
Compared with professional hifi players, the hifi small tails attached to just-needed digital products - smart phones have a much broader market capacity, so in addition to national brick factories such as Shanling Fei'ao, traditional ear amplifier labels (Lakeman, Qidu), the main sound card labels (Lezhibang, Rhythm Tank), domestic mobile phone labels (Meizu, Xiaomi) and some unknown foundries have also joined in, intending to share a piece of the pie; the declining PC business has also forced some peripheral factories such as Razer and AKKO to transfer the battlefield Even some manufacturers of headphones and wires (Dayinko, AQ Line Saint) have also entered... More and more players related to audio or unrelated, either self-developed or buy mature solutions, in the period of chip shortage, a mess of scuffles. As a result, an unprecedented situation of inward rolling has been created.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the Lepite W2-131 adopts a fully balanced circuit, various independent components and independent power supply architecture, and the performance index is comparable to the high-end small tail of a mid-range player, or a black technology small tail with multiple resistors built into the R-2R architecture like the Kaiyin RU6. In order to kill a blood road, each family has invested resources and energy into it, completely cutting off the player product line at a similar price, and the small tail naturally does not need to consider the factors of the large screen, system, and battery, which not only saves costs, but also reduces the volume, and can also focus as many resources as possible on the sound quality part. Therefore, today's small tail products, their own sound quality has been enough to replace the same price of those traditional DAP, and portability and scalability is better than taking a "small brick" out of the door; and for high-end hifi enthusiasts who pursue more extreme sound quality and have a more adequate budget, there is always a flagship model of more than 10,000 yuan that suits you, and now as long as it is a hifi factory, almost all of them are expensive enough and strong enough to choose from, Sony does not play, and AK and various national bricks play happily. As for the unlimited amount, it doesn't make much sense for those small circle players with a very small base.