Why Chi-Fi Matters And Can No longer be Used in a Pejorative Sense

[nikhilblr]

Usually big brands buy parts in huge numbers, including stocks for future repairs. So they have a firm number of stock for each production run at a certain price. When the production run ends, if there is an escalation in part prices, then prices of kit are increased. Though this offsets short price escalations, this leads to higher pricing as the interest rates on all hoarded parts have to be factored into the final pricing. Plus, they will be left with huge inventories if the sales dont match their market research.

However, our local manufacturer's are mostly building on a order basis, with no stock piles of inventories. So they are very exposed to volatility in part prices. Hence, the need to keep revising prices every few days as their suppliers keep updating on the revised part prices. So their prices are lower, which is what we all want eventually, but fluctuating. Hence, they cannot post firm prices on their sites I suppose.

Even large brands like Sonodyne and Norge don't publish prices and this companies don't make custom made goods. So I don't think this can be the reason. On the other hand in other countries even small companies which make custom made audio products publish their prices, prices can always be revised up or down depending on raw material inputs at that time. So I don't think the reason for not publishing prices has anything to do with buying parts in bulk.

 

[nikhilblr]

Reading this, I am wondering if this “stocking up for the future “, (given the high customs duties on imports in India) could be one reason why Indian manufacturers find it a challenge to go big and compete with international brands?

Unlikely. If they wanted to avoid high custom duty they can always manufacture from other low cost countries. Indian manufacturers prefer monopolies that they can have in India. They are unable to complete globally because in that case they would have to innovate and provide good quality instead of the usual substandard service that we normally get from Indian brands. To be fair to the brands, Indian consumers also tend to be brand conscious and don't really care about the quality of sound. I really like norge products and when I recommended them in an audio file WhatsApp group that I am part of, people mocked me because they only consider foreign companies to have good quality products. For the Indian market to develop the mind set up the Indian customer also has to change and the brands also have to be more transparent about things like publishing prices and quality.

 

[Analogous]

Isn’t there a law that requires stating MRP on all retail products?

 

[nikhilblr]

Isn’t there a law that requires stating MRP on all retail products?

I am sure they write the price on the actual package, it's just that they don't quote the prices on the website or anywhere online which means we either have to phone or email them to find out the price

 

[Analogous]

I am sure they write the price on the actual package, it's just that they don't quote the prices on the website or anywhere online which means we either have to phone or email them to find out the price

So it’s printed on the packaging, and they will tell you when you call or on a email, but not put it on their website?
Strange behaviour.

 

[mbhangui]

So it’s printed on the packaging, and they will tell you when you call or on a email, but not put it on their website?
Strange behaviour.

What is printed on the packaging is a horribly inflated price to get past the law.

 

[essrand]

I was going through the coverage of HE Munich 2024. There was a million+ dollar system by Chinese company ESD Acoustics. Very interesting!

Speaker

ESD Acoustic

esdacoustic.store

Chinese are kicking butt, good for them. Let's learn from them and grow ourselves

 

[nikhilblr]

I was going through the coverage of HE Munich 2024. There was a million+ dollar system by Chinese company ESD Acoustics. Very interesting!

Speaker

ESD Acoustic

esdacoustic.store

Chinese are kicking butt, good for them. Let's learn from them and grow ourselves

I went through the website link in your post and to be honest the website looks extremely dodgy and suspicious. They have listed speakers for $800000 + and 1 million dollars Plus which can be purchased online on their website and we can make payments via PayPal. Who in their right mind would by a 1 million dollar product online from China and pay via paypal it just doesn't make sense to me. I am not sure if the price is USD or some other currency, it just says $. Also the e-commerce website itself is extremely sketchy it's just not a website which would sell million dollar products. For example there is a testimonial wich says something about good music and then it says "author name". What that means is that they just used a standard website template that is available and they have not even bothered to make any changes like removing the dummy testimonials from the template. There's no way the speakers can be worth a million USD which is approximately 8 and half crores in Indian rupees.

 

[Analogous]

What is printed on the packaging is a horribly inflated price to get past the law.

The mystery deepens..

 

[keith_correa]

So it’s printed on the packaging, and they will tell you when you call or on a email, but not put it on their website?
Strange behaviour.

There are posts in this very forum where FM's don't reveal a price even when this information is explicitly requested for by other FM's. The stock response is - "DM/PM me" or the question is pointedly ignored.

My take is that this behavior is exhibited because: "Nazar na lag jaye" or because they are afraid that the ED will come down on them after reading their post in HFV.

 

[essrand]

I went through the website link in your post and to be honest the website looks extremely dodgy and suspicious. They have listed speakers for $800000 + and 1 million dollars Plus which can be purchased online on their website and we can make payments via PayPal. Who in their right mind would by a 1 million dollar product online from China and pay via paypal it just doesn't make sense to me. I am not sure if the price is USD or some other currency, it just says $. Also the e-commerce website itself is extremely sketchy it's just not a website which would sell million dollar products. For example there is a testimonial wich says something about good music and then it says "author name". What that means is that they just used a standard website template that is available and they have not even bothered to make any changes like removing the dummy testimonials from the template. There's no way the speakers can be worth a million USD which is approximately 8 and half crores in Indian rupees.

Agreed. Weird website, but they did display it in Munich highend https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/munich-highend-2024.38470/page-48 some say it sucked, others say it was great. But A+ for effort.

 

[Nitin K]

Few years back the statement of "Cheap chinese audio products" may have been true. But as of today, they sure have advanced a lot in that regard with the fact that some of their own local audio products have quite a few international customers.
Also considering the fact that a lot of respectable Audio companies like Nad, Rel, Rythmic, SVS, PSB, Dali, Wharfedale etc have outsourced the manufacturing of most of their models over there while maintaining the quality.
In fact some of the cables like Ugreen and Mediabridge manufactured in China that I am using are very good quality for the price.

 

[Hiten]

Let's learn from them and grow ourselves

For Hard work and dedication yes. But for their type of growth a big NO. The growth came from 'Revolution' which killed around 30 million innocents. (Millions were persecuted directly and others died because of policies)

 

[essrand]

For Hard work and dedication yes. But for their type of growth a big NO. The growth came from 'Revolution' which killed around 30 million innocents. (Millions were persecuted directly and others died because of policies)

Not really. The growth came from the fact that they spend decades solving the basic but hardest problems to solve: sanitation, public health, and public schooling; something we in India still haven't fixed and are going about doing it now, 50 years late. And with an efficient, forward-looking government that looks at problems from a long-term horizon (20-50 years), for e.g its impressive how they are the world beaters in EV and can kick Tesla ass anytime they want. Anyways won't post anymore on this, I am not a China fanboy -- infact am quite disappointed by their policies esp in the Xi era, and would prefer freedom and poverty to authoritarianism and affluence -- but one has to marvel at the economic miracle they have achieved, I do admire it. Too bad they are stuck with Xi Jinpeng who seems to be frittering it away by making enemies out of everyone.