David, if you read Naim's corporate filings you will see that their current status is about the Uniti products, which are very much design and value based. We have one of them (Qb2) and they really hit the spot. My son is a designer in audio and works with some of the people responsible. In fact the Group Director of Design for all of Focal Naim came from their London-based design agency.Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em seems to be the mantra. Naim have had annual price rises regardless over the years (they had one just recently) and now Linn have announced HUGE rises Jan 1st (a not wonderful tonearm which I remember was around £200 back in the early 90's became several hundred by the late 90's in 'structurally improved' form and it's going to be fifty quid short of £2k as of 2022). These two makes are still cheap in real audiophool high end terms but still massively expensive for what's inside and in my opinion, largely the performance on offer today. They seem to have enough fans out there to keep them alive, so what the heck do I know when they exist to increase prices regularly regardless...
I think it's very sad actually, but that's just me.
Products like the recent Uniti headphone amp are brilliant design, sensibly priced and deservedly successful.
The classic range of Naim products are fiendishly expensive, but many dealers relied on them to pay the rent. I wonder if that is still the case.
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