No more Hicaps..

[boegelund]

Oh no- not going under. Just shilling overpriced sh!te, much like other formerly departed brands

Well if few only are buying the new very expensive kit, soon few employees could be left back in Salisbury while Slovakia manufacture the stuff, as above Nac 332 designed in UK, assumely made in Slovakia - who would pay premium for such $$$ preamp not made in UK ?

the magic has usually gone

So true but it seems as their profit are going steady up, could it be those terrible Fock'all speakers creating the business profit ?

 

[colasblue]

You’re Boris and I claim my €5

.sjb

You insult me Sir!

I have few views in common with him but I do accept commercial realities!

 

[colasblue]

I should actually add that in my view there's a huge difference between making a decent profit out of doing something you actually believe in and which other people believe to be worthwhile and ruthlessly exploiting something because you can until it all "ends in tears".

That would be why I was in education in the first place and now I'm not!

And to be absolutely clear, my criticism/synicism is of the wisdom of the 300 series project, rather than the newly commercially focused direction of the firm as a whole.

 

[NickofWimbledon]

@colasblue , I have sympathy with much of that.

I too still have olive boxes, as the picture on the left shows.

I too am disappointed by what looks to me like a broad range designed for a wide range of customer (many hardcore audiophiles) requirements shrinking to a few apparently 'lifestyle' products plus a very short list of eye-wateringly expensive purist products - more form but less function? Surely a once great brand and product range is being destroyed before our very eyes? Boosting E at the expense of PE?

I am even disappointed by green lights turning white, though in my case that may be a sign of age creating nostalgia - like missing the strong, distinct, publicly expressed and easily understandable views of people called (say) Julian, Ivor, Roy, Touraj, Billy, Ken, Conrad, Dick, Alastair, Helmut, Spencer & Doris and so on.

I too did quite well out of the financial services business before I retired, specifically investment management.

On the other hand, I saw lots people believe that their insight and additional wisdom would cross sector boundaries and show up the inadequate grip of people who had been in that sector for years. Rightly or wrongly, Twitter could be thought of as an example of how that usually goes, like various Virgin businesses, Sinclair C5s and so on, plus almost every successful business person who ever decided to buy and control a football team.

I have not examined the financials of any of these companies (I don't even know if Naim's net profits and operating margins are rising or falling in 2023), or worked in the industry at all, and learned long ago that I would need to know quite a lot before I could produce a useful opinion to rival those of people who actually do this stuff for a living - the devil is in the detail and all that.

If you don't need any of that to make great judgements, that is a rare skill indeed. My snap judgements, guesses and prejudices are probably in line with those of most people on this site or the green one, but in my case that is probably all they are.

 

[colasblue]

I don't actually disagree with any of that and I agree Naim has enormous (well at least some) brand value which will ensure the future of the name (naim) at least. I do think that the previous brand loyal "naimees" will lose faith though and go elsewhere in the future.

They really had the opportunity to come up with a new direction here in a big way and they just haven't done so.

The correct way forward was "cheaper and better" and they could actually have done that, but they didn't.

Few established Naim users would have been upset by that since most of us have had excellent value out of the equipment we bought many years ago, but if we have to change it it would be nice to have a Naim option we could (or at least would be prepared to) actually afford! Retirement compromising price tags just aren't on the agenda!

 

[cctaylor]

P.S. The cold snap in SNAPS shares will thaw by next Spring. Get those originals re-wired for dual-rail usage now.

When my 2 bolt down SNAPS were serviced by Witch Hat last year I got them to fit Dragon Newt regulators. I have one feeding a 32 and the other my NAXO (both modified to use twin outputs).

 

[colasblue]

Well my 6-pack currently has an 1982 Naim 42 on the front which I've Quad railed running on a Teddy SC.

If you made that commercially it could easily come in at sub £250 retail.

Enough said!!

 

[NickofWimbledon]

I don't actually disagree with any of that and I agree Naim has enormous (well at least some) brand value which will ensure the future of the name (naim) at least. I do think that the previous brand loyal "naimees" will lose faith though and go elsewhere in the future.

They really had the opportunity to come up with a new direction here in a big way and they just haven't done so.

The correct way forward was "cheaper and better" and they could actually have done that, but they didn't.

Few established Naim users would have been upset by that since most of us have had excellent value out of the equipment we bought many years ago, but if we have to change it it would be nice to have a Naim option we could (or at least would be prepared to) actually afford! Retirement compromising price tags just aren't on the agenda!

That all looks right to me.

Of course, devoted Naimites know what they like and what the next rung (which with Naim could well be another external PS anyway) would be.

In addition, there is a lot of good Naim kit out there, mostly owned by those of us in the not young category.

Furthermore, not much that’s really new and revolutionary has happened in hifi for some years, and a service or two can easily get a life of 30+ years out of a lot of hifi.

Put those bits together and the right upgrade for many of us, if we ever feel the need, will be Naim boxes - from eBay.

Perhaps Naim’s disappointing (to many of us) business strategy just reflects that reality.

 

[Dingbat]

Flatcap, Hicap, Supercap, go and get a Chicken Wrap. (Parodying a Midnight Oil Song)

I don't deny that the number of different power supplies Naim had was ridiculous, but they probably left it a bit late to finally consolidate it all. There is some interoperability between Classic and New Classic, but probably most people will stick with one or the other.

There is a certain merit with the various design choices and architecture of the New Classic, but the pricing seems over the top. The most interesting stuff are the new Power Amps. There they have really advanced, finally working out a way to get a lot more power but with the Naim way of designing power amps. As for the new streaming and preamp boxes, I don't think the sound quality is any much better than what the old Classic was. Some of the claims I see on the Naim forums, especially from Trade members, appear to be marketing spiel designed to promote the product.

If you want to stick to Naim without totally breaking the bank, the value proposition is second hand. I guess a lot of people on the Naim forum might upgrade to New Classic, which means more stuff on the second hand market for the rest of us.

 

[tiggers]

So true but it seems as their profit are going steady up, could it be those terrible Fock'all speakers creating the business profit ?

No, it couldn't as Focal (FOCAL.JMLAB UK LIMITED) are a separate company to Naim (NAIM AUDIO LIMITED) with both owned by the Vervent Audio Group (VERVENT AUDIO GROUP), a fact that can be gleaned in about 30 seconds by anyone with a modicum of intelligence!

 

[boegelund]

Always wondered on old grumpy mens appearance, sitting with their computer furious at the outpourings of other than their own wisdom.

 

[tiggers]

Well you don't have to wonder about the appearance of a sad little man incapable of letting facts get in the way of his baseless conjecture as you have a mirror to answer that question