Digital Drive

That's a very good point about price...

73.229.163.4

AbeCollins

In Reply to: RE: A symbiotic relationship posted by 13th Duke of Wymbourne on May 02, 2024 at 14:57:25

Selling fewer excessively expensive products is probably more 'efficient' for the manufacturer vs selling higher volume products with lower margins. I think that's why we often see "value manufacturers" gradually going upscale. It works for some but it's a comedic laugh with others.

Follow Ups:

Remember the MSB Link DAC? - sold for $350 years ago. - sleeper 19:31:10 05/02/24 (1)
The cheapest MSB DAC, the "Discrete", now goes for about $12K. TOL "Select" DAC goes out the door for $115K.
- Yes. Great example. I owned one.... - AbeCollins 21:26:11 05/04/24 (0)
  ...along with the upgraded outboard power supply. I don't remember the details but as I recall the DAC and power supply were built in hefty steel chassis. The pricing was reasonable back then but now their stuff is crazy expensive. Great example of a brand going upmarket and probably successful at it too.
  I think it was Musical Fidelity that I considered to be a 'value brand' way back when. And then they went upmarket but I wasn't very impressed.
  It looks like Bel Canto is playing the same upmarket game with their product line.
  
  Edits: 05/04/24
Dave Hafler talked about this many years ago - Story 16:35:42 05/02/24 (1)
I forgot what interview it was but it's still on the Web somewhere. He didn't like what Hi-Fi was turning into because of this

A company could take a stellar design, put some unique parts in it, charge an astronomical price and only have to sell one of them to equal the amount of another company (like Fosi or...) to make the same profit by them selling 1,000 units.
- The benefit of going upmarket - AbeCollins 21:30:15 05/04/24 (0)
  I suppose the benefits of going upmarket with your product line are many.
  
  - Fewer customers to deal with
  - Fewer parts to order and stock
  - Fewer packaging boxes
  - Less personnel needed in manufacturing
  - Smaller factory space / lower rent
  
  etc. etc.

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