Audio Products

(Press: Zhong Houqiong, secretary general of the Audio Engineering Branch of the Chinese Institute of Electronics/Acoustic Society of China, was entrusted by the organizing committee and made a report on the "Double S Evaluation" to the conference. The summary is as follows)

    1. The reason for launching the "recommended double-S evaluation" of audio products

    Audio products are one of the important durable consumer goods for Chinese residents. According to the survey, among the purchase intentions of household appliances in various cities in recent years, audio products, color TVs, air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators are listed as the "Top Six Consumer Appliances". With the popularization of projection TV and DVD, with the improvement of people's cultural quality, audio products will have a larger market.

    The rise of China's Hi-Fi audio market and the development of the audio industry began in the early 1990s and reached its peak in the mid-1990s. Since 1998, the domestic audio market has begun to weaken, and it has declined further in the past two years. Many audio manufacturers have stopped production or changed production, and many specialty stores have also closed or changed operations one after another. It's tough. According to the analysis of relevant persons, the important reasons for this phenomenon are the overheating of the market in the early stage, the disorderly development of the industry, the proliferation of counterfeit and shoddy products, the excessive market competition, and the poor consumption guidance.

    "Weakness" in the audio industry is both a bad thing and a good thing, a crisis and a turning point. On the one hand, a large number of small factories producing low-quality audio products have been eliminated, thus leaving market space for the backbone of medium-sized enterprises that are not in the audio industry. These backbone enterprises have further enhanced their ability to defend against low-quality products through internal rectification and integration of external resources. They strongly hope to standardize the market and compete in an orderly manner; hope that public opinion will correctly guide the audio market and expect the audio market to prosper again. on the other hand. People of insight, academic groups of experts, testing institutions, and social media are all thinking about how to regulate the domestic audio market, correctly and effectively guide consumption, and promote the re-prosperity of the audio market from the perspectives of technology, quality, publicity, and sales. Do your best; how to promote the quality evaluation of domestic audio products to be in line with international standards as soon as possible.

    Against the above background, the Chinese Institute of Electronics/Acoustic Society of China Audio Engineering Branch and the Electronic News Agency jointly launched in August 2000 through discussions and preparations with relevant parties in the audio industry for more than a year, and organized the "Recommended Double S" for audio products. Evaluation" activity.

    2. Overview of "Double S Evaluation"

    "Specialist & Specialization Recommendatory Audition & Test" is the abbreviation of "Recommended Expert Group's Subjective Evaluation of Sound Quality and Objective Testing of Professional Performance", also referred to as "Double-S Evaluation". The organizing committee is a non-comparative market recommendation activity for audio products in accordance with the industry regulations of national standards, aiming to help audio companies optimize product quality and regulate audio market to correctly guide audio consumption. According to the voluntary application of audio companies, the "Double S Evaluation" Organizing Committee organized audio experts to conduct subjective evaluation of the sound quality of their products. On this basis, it will be sent to a national audio professional testing agency for objective index testing. Finally, the evaluation results will be recommended to the market through relevant media.

    3. Features of "Double S Evaluation"

    Authoritative: The initiator and organization unit of "Double S Evaluation" - China Institute of Electronics/Acoustic Society of China Audio Engineering Branch, Ministry of Information Industry Electroacoustic Network, is one of the most authoritative academic organizations in China's electroacoustic field; Electronic Newspaper Office One of the newspapers and magazines sponsored by the company, "Electronic Newspaper" is one of the earliest and largest electronic newspapers in the country, and "Practical Audio-Visual Technology" is also a professional audio-visual magazine that is relatively influential in the country and ranks among the best in its circulation; National Radio TV Quality Testing Center (Beijing) is one of the most authoritative testing institutions in the country. The above guarantees the authority of the "Double S Evaluation" from the organization. In addition, the publicity effectiveness of "E-Newspaper", "Practical Audio-Visual Technology" and other professional and mass media also ensures the wide social influence of the recommendation of its evaluation results.

    Immartiality: The members of the expert group are all well-known electro-acoustic experts in the country, with profound theoretical foundations and rich technical experience, and have a considerable level of subjective evaluation of sound quality, and are recognized by the industry. All members of the expert group are not allowed to engage in the production and sales of audio-visual products. The posting guarantees the fairness of the review.

    Scientificity: Objective testing and subjective evaluation are conducted in strict accordance with relevant national standards, norms, general rules and the "Implementation Regulations" formulated by the Organizing Committee in terms of content, procedures, and methods, which can ensure scientificity.

    Objectivity: The subjective evaluation of the expert group came to a conclusion in strict accordance with the actual situation, and no modification was made after the event; the objective test was completely based on the test data and curve, and the test unit directly gave the test report. The Organizing Committee of the evaluation results will be absolutely truthful.

    4. Confirmation of "Double S Evaluation" Results

    The "Double S Evaluation" result of each product is expressed in star (the highest is five-star), and the evaluation committee will issue a "star confirmation" and "star trophy". The subjective evaluation of the star data expert group (including "subjective listening evaluation", "technical evaluation" and "matching and adaptability evaluation") comprehensive score, and converted with reference to the objective evaluation results. The objective test results are issued by the testing unit with a formal test report.

    5. The process of the first "Double S Evaluation"

    The first "Double S Evaluation" officially applied to participate in the evaluation, including 10 models of speakers, amplifiers and CD players from nine brands including Swans, Hewlett-Packard, Jinlang, Junyue, Tianyi, Xindak, Qinpu, Dudley, and Shanling. The members of the expert group of the first "Double S Evaluation" are: Zhou Xitao, Weng Tailai, Shi Youlin, Hu Bitao, Liu Shulan, Shen Yong, Zhang Wei, Tang Qingshi. In September 2000, the expert group concentrated in Chengdu. In the standard audition room of "Electronic News", in accordance with the operating procedures of subjective evaluation, the ten participating equipments were strictly compared with imported equipment for blind listening, and the subjective listening evaluation effect was obtained. In October 2000, the equipment participating in the evaluation was sent from Chengdu to Beijing, and entrusted the China Radio and Television Quality Inspection Center to test according to the national standards for audio products and issue a test report. In January 2001, the test work was completed.

    6. Results of the first "Double S Evaluation"

    Swan Dolby Diva6.1 speaker won ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (five stars)

    HP M-700 II speaker won ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (five stars)

    Jinlang AC-782 speaker won ★ ★ ★ ★ (four stars)

    Swans Duchy D3.1 speaker won ★ ★ ★ ★ (four stars)

    Grand Hyatt Song Li 90 speaker won ★ ★ ★ ★ (four stars)

    Tianyi AD21/21P pre- and post-amplifiers won ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (five stars)

    Xindak A60 integrated power amplifier won ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (five stars)

    Piano Score A60 type integrated amplifier won ★ ★ ★ ★ (four stars)

    Dudley H-1 type integrated power amplifier won ★ ★ ★ ★ (four stars)

    Shanling DHCD machine won the special recommendation award

    The first "Double S Evaluation" has ended, and the above results will be widely publicized through the media and various channels, and recommended in the market.