Newsflash: Amazon is a difficult entity to ignore. The in-your-face retailer stocks an unrivalled number of hi-fi, AV and consumer electronics products; it is fiercely competitive on pricing, often undercutting competing retailers; and it offers the convenience and entertainment package few others can match. So it’s imperative that we at What Hi-Fi? keep an eye on Amazon’s catalogue for potential products to review, or good deals to highlight to our readers.
What is almost impossible to ignore during a casual perusal is Amazon’s highest-rated products – which I’m sure are often their best-selling too – such is their priority in search results alongside sponsored listings and deals. So when I typed ‘DAC’ into the retailer’s search bar, I was pleased to see a What Hi-Fi? Award winner, the iFi Zen DAC V2, up near the top. Just above it, though, was a stranger to me: the Fosi Audio Q4, with a 4.4- star customer rating from more than 2000 reviews and a very appealing price tag of £70 / $80, a figure that has fluctuated regularly – to as low as £55 / $67 – since I first spotted it in late June. As with many of the thousands of electronics retailers selling on Amazon, many of them Chinese of course, I hadn’t heard of Fosi Audio before. Was I missing out on a gem that so many had raved about? Was this little Q4 going to be The Next EarFun Air, a pair of budget true wireless earbuds we discovered through Amazon that went on to win a five-star review for their excellent value? I wanted to become acquainted with Fosi, so into my Amazon basket the Q4 went.
