AFAIK, the switch is made in China, which modifies the Bonn switch, under the Chord cable company, and with a commercial name as English electric.
100 points for managing to via a thread about Switches to The Smith’s. Well done sir!
It was really nothing.
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So are we saying this is a rebadged chinese switch with a name more likely to appeal to the discerning Audiophile,and nearly twice the price of the original? Or have I misunderstood this? Have they changed any components at all? If not then Chord are laughing all the way to the bank with this one. No doubt AudioQuest will release one next then
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Doncaster cables are one company that makes superb cables in the UK. Your house is probably wired with them if you live on the sceptred isle.
And of course, Connectix is a British based manufacturer of copper cabling systems, fibre optic connectivity and racks and enclosures for IT systems used in LANs, Data Centres, fibre metropolitan networks, harsh environment applications, broadcasting, residential, smart home and telecom applications. They are in Braintree.
There are lots of great options if you want to buy locally manufactured products. Up to you if you chose to support local industries.
I know nothing about the Chord Company English Electric switch other than it is made in China. A company could design a switch optimised for audio and have it manufactured in UK; based on experience I would suggest a retail price of around £1,000 for UK manufactured bespoke switch.
Exactly… welcome to the slightly less than transparent world of wholesaling and consumer reselling and repackaging Far Eastern OEM products.
Thanks Chris, good to know, there are always options and sometimes the things we add or remove just make the sound different, rather than improving it. It was interesting to hear the differences that the EE made in my system, but they just weren’t enough for me to justify changing what I already had.
Its not nearly double the price, it appears with a fair degree of certainty its a Thunder Data Co design & manufacture, Thunder Data is the Chinese company that own the Silent Angel brand name & produce the Silent Angel Bonn N8. Its sold in UK for £395 with the stnd PSU, £600 with a LPS
The Chord EE 8Switch is £450, seems like no optional PSU included.
The question is whats the difference ?? does the Chord unit have more features, abilities or sound than the N8, no one knows for sure; maybe someone’s brave enough for a shootout
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Yes, a direct comparison would be very interesting.
In this video Hans Beekhuysen reports that in his main system:
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the Bonn Silent Angel (about £400?) was significantly better than a normal consumer switch
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the SoTM and AQVox switches (costing around £1k?) were a step up from the BSI
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but the Uptone Ether Regen switch (about £700) sounded significantly better again than the SoTM and AQVox switches - he gives details of these evaluations starting from 8:30 mins
(He talks in Euros so my prices are very approx.)
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Here’s his detailed review of the BSA:
Hans descibes the main parts of the Bonn Silent Angel from 2:48 mins:
Ah I thought this was selling for about £800 for some reason. I am sure there will be a teardown at some point given its sold at a higher price. Internet loves a teardown.
Just look up the Nuprime Omnia SW8 - Same as the EE (ie based on the Thunder Data / Bonn etc etc…) Same case and innards, just a different logo and port labelling. EE just add some nice feet and package a Chord C stream cable with the EE version.
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How’s your EtherRegen settling in with the MCRU PSU?
Already burned in since a while. The difference now is bigger than going from a cheap switch to Cisco.
For now I have never heard a component ( ER/MCRU) giving such uplift for 1,5 k euros.
It’s impressive!
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Intrigued in that third picture down there is heat scorching marks and possibly manually applied resoldered components on the left hand side of the circuit board… wonder what that is about? Has it been repaired?
Good spot Simon. I would suspect it’s a 0Ω SM link that’s manually soldered (and not very well by the look of it on this particular board) when the external clock board is used. I have a picture somewhere of the board, with normal PCB mount crystal, and the 4 way header missing from the right hand side of the board which would then mate with the clock board.
Edit - here’s the picture. Makes me wonder if this is just an OEM board or whether a bit more thought has gone into the original design ?
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I’ve never understood why any one congratulates any one for buying any item of HiFi, like its some kind of personal achievement?
Weird!
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I know. Well done, you’ve spent some money. It’s hardly having a child or doing well in exams.
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Some people behave and say, parting with money, is worse than child birth 
Yes, of course. It’s an achievement. 
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