Fingers crossed everything continues as now and nothing will go backwards. Of course it won’t go forwards either…
True, but squeezebox was open source software long before logi tech got hold of it.
Is the auralic software open source? If not then they might open it up I suppose
Unfortunately it will only take Tidal, Qobuz etc to make a change, and it might fall apart. Many a moan on the forum about how slow Naim are in rectifying problems made by these streaming companies. Hope i am wrong, nobody likes seeing hard earned money wasted🤞🏽
Because thats rarely how it works. Someone in the company will have rights to various IPs and will no doubt want to spin back up. They may not want to give it away for free.
The major issue here is if a streaming service or whatever that you use on your device changes its APIs or similar, that may be the end of that. Naim an established brand had such an issue with vTuner being a PITA and did something about it, but if similar happens on aurelic moving forward, well, lets hope the owners have the right attitude to all this.
That’s where Go Fund Me could work. Users pay into a fund to buy the rights.
Its a stretch and a hope, presumably the devices are pointed to a specific server etc, but hey worth a go I suppose.
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I would also add that the lack of any communication to their customers and clients stinks and suggests Auralic have recently been run by a bunch of &£#@$.
Indeed, and too add to that, if they are exporting to the UK they are hit with 17.5% VAT, which is probably less than what the US is adding. Apples for apples, or not, as the case may be.
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This is a real shame. Great products that worked well. Recently tried a Vega 2.1 and was really impressed.
The market is very very challenging post covid. Auralic are a reasonably accessible brand, not low end not super high end. Fast becoming clear that this middle ground, especially in new tech like streamers, is slowly getting cleared out.
Maybe it’s like the car market at one point. We’ll all be driving Honda’s was the phrase wasn’t it? Lucky they have turned out to be pretty good!
I have an Auralic G2.2 it works fine. I suspect it will last a good long while. It doesn’t have any moving parts. Hopefully someone will buy its IP and remaining parts. I could see someone like MoFi buying it but we’ll see
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UK VAT is 20%. That is not particularly high: of 35 European countries listed by taxfoundation.org, 7 have lower than UK, 2 the same, the other 25 higher. And in UK at least, VAT is also charged on internally produced goods, so at least it is a level playing field, unlike US tarrifs. I don’t think there are any other UK taxes or duty on import of hifi gear. I think Australian VAT is 10%, but there is additional 5% duty on most imported goods, so 15% total?
However, I don’t pretend to understand the nuances of international trade, especially this year. According to the Auralic website, the G2. 2 and G3 products are designed in the USA, with the ARIES G3 and VEGA G3 being hand-built in AURALiC’s Oregon facility.
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Just because others also do it doesn’t mean it’s not high. 20% is daylight robbery.
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What equivalent taxes does Japan have? (A quick google suggested 10% as a VAT equivalent, plus import duty paid only on imported goods.)
Personally I’d rather have high tax and excellent State-provided essential services, for which indirect taxation is complementary to other taxation - but discussion of this may be considered political so not something to pursue here.
China has VAT at 13% (I don’t know about import duty). So Chinese made goods would effectively cost 7% more in UK due to tax. But of course the cost of the physical process of importing, plus importer profit, etc, likely amounts to very considerably more
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Well, it wasn’t a level playing field, that’s the whole point. If Naim were exporting to the US, there was only local State sales tax added, which averages around 5%. Whereas a US product had 20% tax added to anything sold in the UK. Now that the US is taxing UK goods at a rate the UK had been taxing US goods, people get upset. Maybe you shouldn’t tax yourselves so much? As for Auralic blaming tariffs, they need to understand basic economics.
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We have 10% now and 5% when I bought the Naim duty free in the UK and then paid 5% customs here.
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Let’s keep it on topic please, and away from politics. Thanks.
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I agree that this isn’t a contest about where the highest or lowest tax rates exist and which government is responsible.
Fact is though that the tariffs imposed by the US government on products from outside the US make these items more expensive for customers in the US. And that makes for a decline in US sales or results in a loss for a lot of manufacturers.
Especially the China based companies. Even when Auralic has been putting devices together in the US, when the parts came from China the device got more expensive and harder to sell or only feasible to sell with a loss.
Combined with the fact that the budget streamers were getting better and better that makes the economic times hard for a high end manufacturer.
That’s starting to get nigh on impossible these days though Richard with various events and policies directly affecting the price and availability of hifi, how they are made, where they are made and if you can even get them.
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We will never know the reasons behind Auralic’s decision. Maybe it’s tariffs, maybe it’s poor management, maybe it’s basic incompetence. Rather then demonstrating how little we know about global trade, let’s spare a thought for those whose streamers now face an uncertain future.
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Also the dealers who may have large stocks of Auralic products, with this news probably hard to shift.
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