Uniti price hike

It's only money and let's face it most of you spend far more on bits of wire than the uniti price rise 

jon honeyball posted:

Jonn posted:

Nope, 40%

And you know that for certain how?

Wasn't hard but you know that you can't always reveal sources. As a "Press Member" don't you have any connections?

Of course I have connections and I asked them . 

But realistically most specialist HiFi dealers could not survive on a 20% mark up given the cost of rent,rates,staff etc so I'd question your sources.

Jonn posted:

But realistically most specialist HiFi dealers could not survive on a 20% mark up given the cost of rent,rates,staff etc so I'd question your sources.

Thats is a “peanuts” markup of a supermarket around here hifi is min 50%!

The mark up in the rag trade is about 300%

There's some daft theorising and griping going on here if you ask me.

The economic data are clear on the cost trends and Brexit effect for imported goods and fuel costs. And no,the food prices analogy doesn't hold - for the most part the big chains have been absorbing the increases in their margins; you only need to look at their latest results, with total sales up but profits significantly down to verify that, which is aside from the recent phenomenon of reducing pack sizes while maintaining prices.

Naim have never gone OTT on margins or overcharging. One only need consider that the entire classic range had a series of minor upgrades + new-design regulators made available instead of case changes and the release of "new"products - a path many lesser manufacturers would have taken. And dealers were upset about the "low" mark-up for them on handling these upgrades... It's a tough job keeping everyone happy.

So why on earth would Naim now suddenly decide to risk upsetting both the public and their dealers if it wasn't strictly necessary?

Indeed, sure how could Naim do anything wrong?

.sjb

Are you sure the question isn't how could they do anything right? Or perhaps what else could they do to ensure profitability in a context as volatile and uncertain as the UK economy at this juncture, with the increasing likelihood of a damaging Brexit?

Those are fairly significant price rises - difficult to pre-order at older prices without auditioning items which may have been scarce.

I'm very much an impulsive purchaser and will often buy if something's in stock.

When I visited my dealer to look at the Uniti range in August they only had the Atom, which seemed to scratch an itch I'd had for a few years for primarily a streaming device to complement my classic Naim gear in another room.  

I was quite impressed with the Atom but using it with some old Epos ES14's I got the impression it was struggling at lower levels.  My Atom turned out to be faulty with a display issue (?anything else faulty you'd have to ask) and it got RMA'd and I got a dealer refund as by now I was wondering about the Nova or other options to use with older Naim kit.

A couple of weeks ago I A/B'd the Atom and Nova with the ES14's and the Atom while very musical sounding and warm was completely different in presentation to the Nova which had considerably more detail and better soundstage as you'd expect given the price hike and better internal power amp.  The Atom demoed though sounded much more in control of the speakers than the one RMA'd but hard to say to what extent different room characteristics were at play.

On the Nova I was really hearing several things in a new way, particularly piano where extra notes or rhythmic nuances were surprising on stuff I'd listened to for decades on vinyl.  Despite the significantly better detail however, female vocals on the Nova seemed far too forward and 'in your face' which on some material was fatiguing. Certain percussive backings and driving guitar rhythms also seemed too aggressive on the Nova, again fatiguing.  We then at my suggestion tried a different cable to NAC-A5 and suddenly the Nova/ES14 combination started to sing with every music type tried.  I know the ES14's are love 'em/hate 'em type speakers but when you find a synergistic combination they are wonderful (not discounting new speakers either as the Uniti Range has re-kindled my hi-fi interest after many years).

I ended up getting the Nova and am glad I did, particularly given the recent price hike, but I think already at £4,099 or whatever it was (!) I knew the law of diminishing returns was at play, it was just a question of whether or not I was prepared to fork out the extra over the Atom.

Not sure if I'm alone but I never liked NAC-A5 as much as NAC-A4 especially as it was so inflexible.

When I have a chance it'll be interesting to see how the Nova fares with my SBL's which are currently in storage.

Michael_B. posted:

Are you sure the question isn't how could they do anything right? Or perhaps what else could they do to ensure profitability in a context as volatile and uncertain as the UK economy at this juncture, with the increasing likelihood of a damaging Brexit?

 Sorry, this was more a swipe at the need to explain price increases than a pop at you.

.sjb

Sorry from here too, misread you! That's what comes with working on a Sunday....

How can Naim as a supplier ever justify what they charge for their goods to a customer's satisfaction. It is up to the customer to decide if Naim's equipment satisfies their needs and wants, more specifically does Naim's equipment offer VFM. Only a customer can decide this. Naim can't tell us that their kit is great, is what we need and is a reasonable price.

I do agree that Naim should not mislead their customers and potential customers when justifying price increases, but I see no evidence of that. Inevitably there will be a number of reasons why Naim's prices on the new Uniti range have gone up significantly, some of which will be obvious and Naim are prepared to share with us, others not so.

Only you can decide if Naim are being reasonable and that their kit is what you need and the prices (and price rises) are fair.

Naim can charge what they like, end of.

But why not just sell the atom for £2200 from launch for the next few years and stop treating their customers to the carrot and stick approach.

It’s done now so people can either buy or not

Good bye Naim, I've bought your products for 25+ years, but no longer.

That’s a shame but we all have our reasons. I’ve been loyal to the brand since I can remember. Fabulous build quality, service is fabulous and resale values excellent too. Will take a lot to shake me and good to know that I get older that I have equipment that will probably outlast me including a circular spinning thingy from a company North of the boarder!

Crowning piece of Naim service backup was a couple of years ago when Phil spent two hours on a Friday evening sorting my old Unitiserve. Most recently I had a finish-related problem with one of my Sopra 2s. Jason drove all the way from Salisbury with a colleague to  set up a brand new pair for me. That’s why I’m loyal��

Kermit posted:

Good bye Naim, I've bought your products for 25+ years, but no longer.

Kermit, I'm curious.  I recall you loved the sound performance of the Atom but had frustrations with the controlling of it and didn't like the shiny remote, so sold it.   

Does your post on here mean that before the Uniti price rise you were considering buying one again?

As I say, just curious.

Hungryhalibut posted:

Once they get too high and become unaffordable, demand falls and prices drop. 

Does the price of new hifi, non-obsolete or superseded hifi ever go down?

Richard Dane posted:

Kermit posted:

Good bye Naim, I've bought your products for 25+ years, but no longer.

Kermit, I'm curious.  I recall you loved the sound performance of the Atom but had frustrations with the controlling of it and didn't like the shiny remote, so sold it.   

Does your post on here mean that before the Uniti price rise you were considering buying one again?

As I say, just curious.

Not you too Richard!

https://forums.naimaudio.com/topic/the-just-society

.sjb

I did not read all responses here but agree with the sentiment that Naim can charge whatever they like. Whether they will lose customers or not is something that is difficult to predict. Generally there will be less sales with price increases but people will still be buying the stuff. Personally I don't think the increase will affect the sales that much. If the product is good there will always be interest or demand. 

As a Naim user who is at the end of the road with respect to upgrading, I would be inclined to have Naim increase the price in every two years or so. Let Naim be the Rolls Royce of hifi and other users of cheap and cheerful sounding gear pontificate on the way their systems sound next to the Naim.

We will see. The atom is now priced at the previous Uniti level.

It’s a delicate balance between demand and supply and not sure what the trade members have to say about this.

wages are not going up but bills and expenses are.

with strong completion from products like chord mojo and the new streamer Poly the market is changing.

apple is soon releasing a muso QB equivalent that will put even Sonos into bankruptcy. Since Apple has the time to study the muso properly I’ll bet their new product will be quite engaging and rhythmic too. Their phones already play music quite well.

I don’t think many  young people would forgo the latest Phone to buy a 2000 gbp hi fi

tbe real threat to hi fi is the mobile phone and the endless supply of very good headphones

Once RobWatts releases his 40 pulse aray Analog to digital converter and all music is remastered on that device even your small mobile phone will play music very nicely and It will be a shift in the dynamics of the industry.

CD might then finally sound very close to the master tape, making vinyl revival a bit pointless 

hope Naim is prepared for these very real risks

To my ears the weak link in the hi fi chain is the ADC which once gone.... who knows???

Maybe it will be a renewed interest in all things hi-fi so it's not all doom and gloom 

analogmusic posted:industry.

CD might then finally sound very close to the master tape, making vinyl revival a bit pointless 

 

 

 

So many of the new vinyl enthusiasts are making a style choice rather than one based on SQ so wether or not they will pack up their Crossleys is debatable.

But your point about the 40 pulse thingy from Chord is pertinent one as both my niece and nephew listen to music exclusively on their iPhones through Apples own headphones and when dismayed by this I got them Bose Soundlinks last Christmas they were made up and now the shouts of 'turn that rubbish down' echo around their house which is of course how it should be.