What are Naim doing to our hi fi's used values?

I recently upgraded and hence trawled the internet over several months for kit… one gets a feel for realistic selling prices and an understanding of which products hold their values and which suffer big depreciation. After a post pandemic/component drought period resulting in very strong pricing on much of the Naim used range I think the used Naim market is about to ‘disrupt’. Last year used NDX2’s were very hard to find and held their price extremely well, there is currently an abundance of used NDX2 available, 11 on Ebay and no fewer than 24 on Hi Fi Shark (HFS)… I have never seen 20-odd of any particular Naim product on HFS! Cheapest NDX2 on the HFS is 3500 Eur (a mere £3100!) with one on Ebay with a start price £3600 and no bids. Also the NAC202 had suddenly suffered (seller) or enjoyed (buyer) a significant price reduction when Naim declared it obsolete… With the new Naim products already launched plus others in the pipeline are the days of enjoying mostly solid residuals on our loved Naim equipment over? Are the future proof main stay and easy to sell amps and power sources now becoming obsoleted? Will I soon have a 500 series system for price of lesser classics?

Every time a manufacturer comes out with a new generation, the older generations take a hit in value (Naim included). Which is fine by me, can’t wait to get my hands on a bargain NDX-2 !

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Not sure of your point here, I’d guess any manufacturer introducing a new model set will automatically see some depression of old model prices. Throw in high inflation /mortgage increases and a possible recession and people either need to sell non essential stuff or have less to spend on them, ergo further depression of prices and more available.

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I started my Naim journey in late 2021 so I’ve never really had a chance to see what happens to secondhand prices without the manufacture constraints. I’m hoping the price of “old” classic boxes will head down over the course of the year so I can start my end game system 282/hcdr/250dr. But it’s not like this will be due to a mistake by naim it’s just that discontinued stuff generally is cheaper look at the prices of olive and chrome bumper gear. It all depends on supply vs demand. Naim still holds its price better than a lot of hifi gear since most of it can still be serviced.

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Name me an area of retail manufacture where this does not occur?

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Rolex ?

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Comparing apples with pears. You honestly comparing Naim with Rolex?

The first NDX2’s will be coming up to 5 years old soon and ‘only’ cost £5000 at the time so a depreciation of £1500 to £2000 is probably reasonable. When it’s discontinued it will probably take a further hit.

The NDX2 is also competing against the new NSC222 despite the fact they are different products with the NDX2 being more capable.

I’m amazed at how prices of the amps hold up over time. I paid around £750 for a chrome bumper 250 in the 80’s and that will easily fetch the same price on the used marked today, probably more. Same for Hicaps which cost £350 back then and sell for easily this today. Of course that doesn’t take into account inflation but it’s still pretty remarkable for a 40 year old piece of Hifi.

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Our 2020 mint 250DR sold for £2350 only 6 weeks ago on the bay.

The market is lower than it was by a few hundred pounds, as everyone knew new kit was coming. There were several for sale at same time as ours.

Great time to be a buyer. We might stretch to a better second system than we thought.

We started our naim upgrades when the 272 was discontinued. Paid £1750 for a brand new 272 in late 2020. So we can’t complain about prices dropping now!

Classic range kit will dip in price for a few months due to the glut of second-hand bits on the market, this time next year or sooner they will have risen again.

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Do many people consider that when buying hifi?
Regardless, it’s a case of what’s bad for one person is good for another - in your example those buying secondhand.

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In the case of the NDX2 this may turn out to be the case, although none of us have a crystal ball. Its replacement may arrive in a month, 6 months, a year or more if Naim’s record if anything to go by. It’s going to be a fair bit more expensive, and unlike the last new range of streamers, uses the same streaming board as the current models.
How much of a sound quality upgrade it will be remains to be seen. Some if the cost will be put towards developing the new white styling, and functional changes relating to system automation, network standby, etc.
Add to that the fact that many will be heavily invested in green Classic systems so won’t want a cosmetic mismatch, and I can see the NDX2 remaining in demand for quite some time yet.

Lots of speculation here, of course, but hey, it’s the Naim forum.

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I don’t know if it’s just me, but I don’t buy audio gear because of its future residual value. It’s a plus for it to retain or at least have “good” residual value but definitely not a priority.
I just buy it if I like it, enjoy it for what it is now, and if ever the time comes that I want to sell it for whatever reason, getting cash from it is just icing on the cake.

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Rokex has taken a hit all the used watch market has

Times are changing so what’s your point?:thinking:

Except that hifi with poor residual value is telling you something about itself.

But on the general topic there will be some who prefer the original classic sound and after a brief hit prices will stabilise, not as high as say last year but they won’t fall through the floor either.

So for someone like me who has their original classic for 10-15 years I don’t think there will be an appreciable difference. If I had bought them a year ago I’d probably now have a negative equity sort of feeling which would recede over the years.

.sjb

Although it’s nice if gear holds it’s value well in the wake of new product lines, it shouldn’t be a massive concern. We all know (or should) that 101 things could happen to wipe off the value of gear or inflate it.

I’d go further and suggest that if the collapsing resale value of the gear you own is putting you in a difficult position, then the world is telling you that you may have spent beyond your means in the first place.

When I buy gear, I assume as though it will be worth nothing tomorrow. Thus reducing the equation to simply, can I afford this? And how much pleasure will it bring?

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The problem is not with Naim it’s people who are desperate for money hence the used market is full of gear.

Also desperate sellers are selling at ridiculous prices therefore in some ways devaluing our gear.

Introducing new kit is pretty normal and its impact on the market is no different than usual imo. I got my low hour 272/250DR (both discontinued), and 555 at beneficial prices so I don’t have any real risk afaic esp after I’ve used the kit for several years. And I’m not sure I’ll jump in just yet on the new gear. My system sounds awesome and I have no problem kicking back and watching things play out.

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Where the NDX2 goes is very interesting.

We were relaxed about buying ours in 2022 as the FCC PCB pictures of 222 clearly showed connections for the NP800 streaming board. Therefore we knew that at least some of the new classic range would continue to use this board. Given we use NDX2 as a transport the rest of the device is of no concern to us.

So will the revised NDX300(?) have an all new DAC (to differentiate from 222), or a revised and improved analogue output stage?

I can’t see the value proposition in only reshelling the current NDX2 into the new classic case and simply updating to use new NPX300 PSU connections. Suspect something else has to be updated too.

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