Yet at the same time the MUSO and new Uniti ranges offer a big slice of naim…
The NZ agent has a Statement…
The solution to that is clear - find a dealer you like and trust, who has your longer term interests and heart, and work with them, not the ones that don’t d the extra. Mine is great, for example, and is free with support and advice. That way, the poorer ones will lose the Naim channel, and the good ones will be rewarded for their efforts.
Indeed, hence why I suggested improving or innovating the distribution system… it’s hard to be fully objective without seeing a price breakdown, but anecdotally I hear there are sizable margins after it leaves the Naim warehouse…
But then again this is up to Naim to manage as it is a consumer electronics manufacturer.
My point above, we don’t see much true research from Naim, I don’t think it has the resources for it… we do see product optimisation and evolution though, and on their recent streaming products we saw some commissioning with specialist digital manufacturers. I do think this is an area Naim could improve however if it has the budget… but if as Richard says their current commercial model needs addressing, I guess this could be one of the key areas to innovate and develop first.
It’s funny in my professional world, there is an assumption by some that development and innovation is about widgets and things, perhaps that view is prevalent in Naim as well… perhaps it is a British thing, I don’t know, but innovation and development equally applies to commercial and business models as well.
No, no one has to buy a new car…
There is of course the cost of shipping and associated costs to add such as insurance, plus any import duty which can vary considerably between countries (zero to a lot) as well as any local sales tax equivalent to our VAT. Add to that a distributor, and it is easy to see how costs can be significantly higher than in the source country.
In UK it has been the norm for decades for the price of things imported from USA to be the same £ price as the US dollar price, even when the exchange rate was around 1.5-1.6. I haven’t looked at anything in detail recently when exchange rate has been 1.25-1.3.
This one is really a diffcult one to respond to. Naims offerings certainly are expensive in that they only are available to those of us with rather deep wallets. However, compared to other high end offerings I have no clue since I haven´t compared. I have had this hobby since the age of 12-13 and am now almost 50 and even the Nait 5i sounds special to me. It´s just something about Naims sound that appeals and that no other offering has come even remotely close to. Maybe I haven´t been apropriatelly exposed over the years? I tried to get more musically satisfying results by using vintage stuff from the 1970s but eventually stumbled across a Supernait and the rest is, as they say, history
Will Naim see this discussion? I really wish all best for Naim and Naim can produce high quality stuff insistently. But maybe we are too naive to talk about Naim’s commercial policies since we don’t work in Naim and don’t know the actual situation…
Innovation and R&D require a lot of resources - money, time, skills in many different areas, an investment that may or may not pay off. Therefore, they must be core values of the organisation. Otherwise, other performance measurements such as improving “shareholder value”, profit, etc could dominate.
In recent years, cheap-fi has become a buzzword. Significant number of companies have sprouted up “building” IEMs doing little more than buying balanced armatures from Knowles and putting them into little housing. You can buy these armatures in a set complete with crossover network, job done! Where is the incentive to innovate especially when they can cost just $20.
Also with the want it now culture, there is every temptation for quick wins and mvps. Some of my scientist friends from uni have changed careers. I feel sorry for them. I joke at work, to get any design approved, please call it tactical rather than strategic.
This is perhaps why Naim partners with luxury brands. Selling to the top end of town at good margin over at volume to the masses perhaps is a model that could make investing into research and quality viable.
I would go so far to suggest that perhaps things* should cost more than they do, all things considered.
And to be fair, Naim did make Uniti which according to WHF is a bargain for what they do and enabled me to enter into the Naim ecosystem. I wish Naim all the very best.
When you add up its many features and functions—its DAC, amplifier power reserves, Internet radio, streaming capability, and exceptional build quality—and compare it with other offerings costing in the neighborhood of $7000, the Uniti Nova is practically a bargain. Definitely, effusively, highly recommended.
*PS I mean some things, not Naim.
Of course Naim should and will read this discussion, and it is right that we should have it. How else will they know what their current market thinks of their direction?
What Naim do about it we shan’t know until new or changed products are released. My hope is that they hold on to the middle market that I can afford to be in. If they go to high end by pricing me out then I will lose. They may gain if the higher priced market gives them better margins for less product sold, but it is their commercial choice to make.
Not sure there is much more than the Naim name in the lifestyle products. I have separates and a Muso and based on the sound, I would never guess they were from the same house.
I started my HI-FI journey since I was 15 and now I am just 30, my first system is Dynaudio Audience 52+ Melody SP3 tube integrated amp+NAD 521 BEE CD player. Now I am using full Naim except speaker (Focal 1007s). I don’t know where will be my end but I am always curious about the sound quality and taste from different brands and combination and wonder how they will be. Now Naim attracts my heart, but maybe one day I try something else and then I will attracted more.
I started with Naim in the 1980s and I’ve just retired still buying Naim so you might be on the brand for a while longer!
I remember in a interview of Naim, it said some companies OEM Muso in China and also the selling channel is also wider than traditional products. This can make the price much lower and make more people know Naim, and in the future maybe they will be interested at Naim Hi-Fi products.
I agree. The the RRP assumes a certain level of support from an authorised dealer. When that support is not available (overseas), it impacts the value proposition.
When dealers actively try to dissuade you from Naim and just shrug their shoulders and look at you like you deserve what you get, you can’t help but question your decisions.
I didn’t get this feeling from my dealer although I wasn’t used to dealer soldering speaker plug and more. I still have vivid memory of dealers who belittle their customers making them feel crap unless they mortgage their home for a sound system. That was years ago and I am not saying I am that person.
To clarify, I am speaking about experiences outside UK. I never experienced anything like that when I was in the UK…
intriguing idea! I don’t know if Naim wants more exclusivity or volume across all segments. I am still amazed how Apple can charge $2369 (£1,399 in UK) for an iphone (12 pro max). At least gone are the days where people refresh their phone every 9 months. Steve Jobs was a genius.
A few years ago, the sales strategy included incorporating a series of stepping stones up the Naim value product ladder. Naim was very aware that it needed new customers entering the Naim value chain as it’s current customers were aging and frankly starting to die off…
It was so I understand part of the motivation of the MUSO products to provide a more affordable gateway into Naim… make the brand more relevant to new customers, of which a subset would have the curiosity and interest to explore up the Naim product value chain.
However if you put those stepping stones too far apart in terms of price and perceived initial value for money , I suspect you will undermine that atrategy.
I am not sure Steve Jobs was a genius, he was clever yes, but looking back they had many wrong terms. Yes they surfed the crest of the smartphone boom, but that wave is subsiding now… though still there. I am surprised and curious why Apple has not more embraced cloud and automation services market… it’s being eclipsed by Amazon, Google and Microsoft in many of the newer product service markets.