Knowing the retail price on standard Nova, I was surprised learning the Nova PE release price,… heck…would anybody pay that much extra ? - maybe a few did, but I’d feel a bit foolish paying that much more for a Class D.
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yup, seems counter to the classic “there are watts and then there are Naim watts”, paying more for Naim watts is one thing, paying more for more off the shelf modules with a Naim badge. I’m not saying I agree with the logic on my statement, just it illustrates that incorporating new tech that has a commodity play doesn’t necessarily stack up to the old arguements.
I’m not bothered what the tech is, but some of the pricing just seems aspirational and I guess thats what the Nait 50 has shown. It didn’t sell at its original price and yet it does sound fabulous.
If the prices go up far beyond expected due to shipping and parts procurement cost increases (Naim used to jump by 5% ish every April until several years ago and then we saw the really huge jumps) and then the costs of production come down significantly, they get trapped.
- Either they hold prices high and are accused of blameflation.
- Or lower costs and are accused of destroying resale values and devaluing the kit on people’s shelves.
People won’t be happy either way. The same people will often be outraged either way.
Everyone not outraged will be reading tea leaves and inferring no end of meaning from it.
It seems simpler in my feeble mind. You can’t charge what they were charging for a 250. Not in this economic climate. You can barely charge the reduced price. Things have gotten so out of reach for many people and existing owners of Classic and Olive gear have to spend a fortune just to make a sideways move. The penny was bound to drop (no pun intended) at some stage.
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Very sensible summary.
To be clear, I’m irritated rather than outraged. I had the money and chose to spend it at that price - I’m not destitute because of this 
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Why, aren’t you paying for the final performance?
Amplifier class is not the goal, just a means to an end.
There’s no such thing in the PE. I think Steve Sells explained it somewhere in the release thread. A lot of engineering time went into implementing the Purifi technology “the Naim way”.
Hey n-lot, no I get that Naim may have its way as I said I didn’t necessarily hold the point of view of my statement, more it was a comment on what can be held as to Class D and that I don’t actually care about the route its the destination I am interested in (although I am interested in the tech behind something).
I’ve got class a/ class a / b and even an unclassified, with a Technics that is “all digital”. All sound great in their own way.
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As Chord explained at the time. During the pandemic there was a huge increase in electrical component costs (i saw these increased in my IT related business at the time, we even had respected companies like TI, tear up existing client contracts and put component stocks out to e-auction rather than honour the contracts! We, and possibly others, ended up reengineering TI components permanently out of our products, so i am not sure it was really a good long term strategy for TI).
Anyway, these component price increases were passed on to the end customer as increased product prices.
Post pandemic, component supply and prices stabilised. And often meant that end products could also have the prices reduced back down - this is what Chord Electronics did and explained.
The higher price you paid was a consequence of purchasing during the pandemic “panic”.
I don’t think that’s accurate, the price of Qutest had been on the rise even before the pandemic, when the product was flying off the shelves. Nonetheless, I’m aware of the excuse they made public, yet some of us are not that easily persuaded. To my knowledge, they were the only high-end audio company that devalued specifically one product, which clearly points to a sales boosting strategy. Regardless, the outcome remains the same, a betrayal to their existing customer base.
OK to make the point in a way that it’s impossible to misunderstand: if no one buys new there won’t be any second hand gear.
Roger
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But why? When existing customers bought their DAC or whatever they thought it good value: the product was worth more to them than what they paid. Nothing that happens later can change the past, if it was good value then, it still is.
Surely you’re not suggesting that manufacturers of durable goods should never reduce their prices? As a recent N50 purchaser, I certainly hope not.
Roger
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True, that Durango lasted longer than any of my relationships so far 
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All good points, but I still took a hit when I sold.
Totally off-topic, or perhaps not:
With Christmas I bought a new Apple computer, as I do every 10 years. In absolute price this is the third time that I paid almost the same euro amount for a product with the same spot in the line-up. In relative price it means the price is now 50% lower than in 2005.
Hifi feels different, streamers are now cheap but NACA5 is now jewelry.
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It’s not my concern to keep anyone in business. Just as they don’t care about my bank account, I don’t care about theirs. It’s a foolish argument to make to suggest anyone should just pay whatever a manufacturer suggests we should pay just so they don’t go out of business. Let them fail if that’s the case.
.sjb
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Even Naim ? You want to be banished SF?
NACA5 now at 55 euro p/m. There’s that little company in Scotland that sells their K20, the NACA4 imitation, at 10 euro p/m (used to be 7 euro until not so long ago). Must be that Linn uses the LP12 upgrade prices to subsidise the K20 cables 
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Sounds a bit greedy to me.
Class D is the goal to avoid, for me.
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Sorry, it’s 55 euro unterminated, now edited.
Still NACA5 has gone up quite a bit, also relatively. Which IMO is a shame as otherwise people would be more inclined to buy it in the first place, and then at proper recommended 2x5m plus lenghts to boot.
But line with this thread, reducing that price again would also have drawbacks. So perhaps Naim could introduce a budget speaker cable at half that price for these times. An inproved K20, or the N2, something flexy with matching SQ.
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I’m still running a 2015 27 inch iMac, which is as good as the day I got it, though it’s on an older OS now and the Microsoft apps are no longer updated. That doesn’t really impact on the use. A replacement Mini and Studio display is about the same price now as the iMac in 2015.
On the other hand, I’ve just replaced my 2015 128 GB iPad pro that was $2,655 with a 13 inch 500GB iPad Air (vastly better spec, but the M2 chip not the latest M3) for $1,495 - so much better value.
I think Naim are just squeezed with the cost of living crisis and everyone pulling back on discretionary spending. A modest price drop probably won’t shift people from a no-buy to buy decision. On the other hand, the products have longevity much the same way that Apple does, so a purchase to keep long term is going to be excellent value over all. It’s just that people hol doff buying when cash flow is tight.
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