Looking at their Literature/Product sheet, the Denon badge is conspicuously missing on the power transformer. So what else did they cut back on? Personally I would not pull the trigger on the 4311 until I see at least one review by either HTM, S&V or HCC. Like ADTG, I am keen on specs and lab measured numbers such as S/N, cross talks, THD etc..
Well if you look closely at the back of all of their new units (either in person or on the denon website pics) you'll notice that now even their highest-end units 'proudly' proclaim their
Made in China status. That was actually the biggest reason I decided to go with the 4310 as it does indeed state on the chassis that it is made in Japan.
Call it bigoted, biased, whatever - if I can avoid Chinese goods (even the great ones from trusted companies) then I will avoid them. I'm far from an "America is #1" kinda guy - but if I can possibly buy any mass-produced
anything from the US, Japan, Germany, even Taiwan and Indonesia - then I will gladly do so.
Not that products from those countries don't have problems... they do - but in my experience, far fewer. Plus it just pisses me off when companies move their production to China (presumedly for cost savings) and
raise the price to the consumer despite
reducing the overall quality of the product - and I say ENOUGH!
I've heard of people having problems with the Denon's even when they were all Japan-fabbed goods... but since now they have joined the ranks of Pioneer and Marantz - and I've had personal experiences with lowered quality products coming from both brands as opposed to 3-5 years ago.
Not saying the new lines are garbage - I'm sure they're still good feature-wise, but I worry about the long-term durability a bit more. On the other hand - metal goods and furniture from China seem to often be of a higher quality that those of a similar price-range sourced locally.
