Does anyone think that the price of Naim stuff nowadays is a bit expensive

On that basis my old CD5 cost me less than £20 per year throughout ownership, and my previous 122x/150x actually paid me a small sum each year to listen to them…

I bought a new car last year - as in new to me. An Audi TT 230bhp quattro from 2001, near perfect condition despite its age, performs excellently and gorgeous too, and a real bargain because of its age but not a popular collectors’ car. Oldest car I’ve ever bought - I normally buy young high mileage and keep until they start costing to keep - usually 10-15 years.

Apologies to OP for being off-topic.

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Once you have one in your own system it will all become abundantly clear…er.

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Still like to know why so expensive… Cyrus separate power supplies are quality items made in the UK so similar overheads to Naim,yet they cost peanuts In comparison

Cyrus prices have not risen as much as Naim over the past few years, they service old kit for very reasonable fixed pricing. I can understand an argument that Naim may claim to generally be in a separate market segment, but where the brands overlap Cyrus power supplies are as good or better for a lot less. Smacks a little like VW group badge engineering. Expensive badge so put a huge mark up on it as the devotees won’t shop anywhere else…
PS I’ll get me coat…

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Just when it was getting interesting…

Rules are rules. Naim have asked that this not be a place for political discussion.

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So quality (goodness) is determined by cost…

Of course it’s not, but to many, it is.

Yes I appreciate the rules, and try to abide by then…

(I have fallen foul of the blue pencil once…)

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Sometimes I even think does Naim want to become a top-end manufacture by increasing price? Even though I admit Naim stuff are really reliable and very good sound quality. And also their customer service is very good. I also heard that Naim control the error of their parts within 0.5%, means there will be a lot of parts being discarded. Then this could be one of the reasons.

I recall when the rrp for the psxr was £325. Also they dropped servicing of some of the older products. Eg III amp and every cd player apart from the current models.

turbo? SWMBO’s is a 2005 model, Flame Red colour, goes like “sh1t off a shovel”. great fun to drive, even if I’m only going as far as B & Q :laughing:

Hi robert_h and @Desmond
My point was directed at the Naim power supply costs. The power supply seems to be either a requirement, or a very desirable addition to the Naim amps. I suspect Naim sell the amps for a certain percentage mark up price, knowing customers are likely to want a power supply which they can achieve an even higher profit margin.This can be standard business practice but I believe compared to companies like Cyrus, Naim power supplies are expensive for what they are. Certainly when compared to Cyrus IMHO.

Cyrus and Naim have some of the best service departments in the business. Cyrus have developed and sold a higher volume and many more models of CD players than Naim which still are thought of very highly. They can and do service almost all of them but cannot “guarantee” to fix the transport mechanisms of older models at they are no longer manufactured. if the problem is something else they fix it. Naim also acknowledge that cd transport mechanisms cannot be repaired once supplies are gone and won’t be able to service cd mechanism failures once their supply is exhausted. Only the Cyrus 3 amps are a problem servicing again due to key components no longer in manufacture by suppliers. Cyrus will service Cyrus 1 and 2 and post Cyrus 3 amps. Re price of PSX-r, I guess £325 in the mid 1980’s with inflation would be a lot more than they currently change for the newer model.
Guess I’ll take my coat off now…!

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Naim equipment, by most standards would be considered expensive. However, what they offer cannot be quantified by dollars alone. What you get is good (no such thing as best) equipment with a clear up-grade path. very little obsolescence in the sense it can be repaired. A chain of equipment that (almost certainly) sounds better as you spend more (that’s not always the case). A company that still cares after the sale is made. A company that seems to always try to improve on what has come before. Expensive?

“the quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten”

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Quite a few people have TT as project car. Lovely car indeed!

People measure value in different ways and have dramatically different views as to what is a fair price for different goods. I have a ND5XS2 and Nait XS2, which while not cheap (particularly in the U.S.) are in my view wonderful values if you compare the price to the daily use and the sheer enjoyment I get from listening to music on this system, as well as likely longevity. I recognize that the value proposition results in incremental returns as you go further up the line, but that’s true of all high end audio.

What I find interesting is that people who wouldn’t hesitate to spend a small fortune on a car or watch will either criticize or find incomprehensible how any could spend a smaller, though not insignificant sum, on audio equipment. I can’t imagine spending more than I did on my Mazda or Apple Watch (2d generation and still going strong); I would rather spend my money on music (live music when there was such a thing, and recorded music and good equipment now).

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Better still, some would haggle for a few dollars while splash out thousands on other things. Don’t want to stretch this discussion any further than it already is, but power cables, signal cables, speaker cables, even plugs, feets, powerboards, etc can be really expensive. By comparison, Naim is a much better buy imho. For a couple of power cables, I can get an Atom even here down under taking into account of the massive price difference compared to its birthplace.

At the end, it is about how determined we are getting what we love. Have you seen the price range of IEMs? Thank God I think most of us are not fanboys but we truely love what our Naim kit does for us. :slight_smile:

Isn’t the price relative to what you expect to pay, I don’t think there’s anyone on this form that can’t afford Naim gear in one form or another (apologies in advance if that’s not correct). To those that can’t afford Naim or are simply not interested it’s always going to be too expensive. It’s the same with watches, cars, houses or whatever.

Think problem is everyone wants everything cheaper, but everyone wants more money. There’s a problem with the maths.

I used a secondhand Cyrus pre xvs for 2 month, I did not have too much impression on that. So I cannot see too much about the difference of Cyrus and Naim. Maybe I can only say that Naim produces very good hi-end products but at the same time, Naim is good at marketing as well. Sometimes I am a bit doubt in my mind that I still need to spend more money for PSU to release the potential of my system. It seems endless. Even though there is a huge step after adding PSUs.

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