Musical Fidelity does it again

[gz00]

As a new purchaser of the MF V-Link 192 I feel let down by MF as I do not understand why this product is available for $199 in the USA but in the UK the best retail price is £229 ! which is some weird exchange rate.

I recall a few years ago MF reduced the price of it's hardware truly p***ing off those customers who had purchased at the premium price. What is going on MF?

gz00

 

[sogophonio11]

Lintone audio £217-55: Doug brady £219-00. Sure you would have been able to haggle a bit as well!

End of the day, doesnt really matter what MF did(In your opinion) Or didnt do.

It is a fantastic product. In my opinion, worth every penny and then some.

Go enjoy.

 

[gz00]

At current exchange rate $199 = £123 and its a British product.

 

[Singslinger]

Have to admit that it looks inexcusable.

 

[BigH]

Well it is the same for many items like cameras/lenses. Part of the reason is tax, most USA prices don't inc. tax but UK ones do but yes some of the rest of the difference is rip-off, but I guess wages, taxes and cost of living are less there. Just like the new Canon 24-70 II was launched at £2,000 here and $2,300 in USA. Take 20% off UK price and see the difference.

 

[Helmut80]

Interesting. Many possible reasons for this. The US is a potentially bigger market, and it seems a very competitive market when it comes to DACs (much more so than Europe) that might be reasons.

I find the differences in high-end stuff much more noticable. McIntosh products often cost $ price in £ + some more over here, so unless you have a particular love for a US brand, you really cannot compare McIntosh/Pass Labs etc like for like with UK/EU products. While it's the same for non-US products in their market, the difference doesn't seem to be quite as bad (again, the bigger market might explain this).

 

[BigH]

Totally agree about Macs, but pcs over here in UK seem about the same or even cheaper than USA. I looked at a new PC high spec for photo editing and it was about £900, as similar Mac although lower spec because not avilable in UK was over £2,000. Upgrades on Mac were really high like Ram was 8x price of a pc upgrade (£20 v £160). The similar Mac in USA was $2,300.

 

[Helmut80]

I meant McIntosh amps, not Apple Macs

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Pages/Home.aspx#

 

[Ajani]

As others have stated, these prices differences are relatiively common. It is always strange though when a UK company's price advantage is in the US rather than the UK. Though it may well be due to economies of scale and perhaps cheaper labour in the us (or maybe Mexico) that results in the price difference.

As for MF, due to a recent price reduction the M1 PWR AMP now sells for $800 in the US and £800 in the UK.

What I find interesting though is that reviews across the globe (from what I've read anyway) don't seem to notice when a product is 'relatively overpriced' in the country of review. So even when a product costs double what it should cost in a market, I'll still see good reviews of it compared to similar priced items. It shows how subjective HiFi is. I shouldn't be able to double the price of an amp and no one notice that it is overpriced or underperforming compared to the competition. Yet that seems to be the case in HiFi.

 

[dragon76]

Hifi prices around the world are all of the map. Prices in a specific country depends on competitiveness of the local market, policy of local distributors, taxes, etc. Re MF - it is funny that people talk about it as British product. MFs are made in Asia, so British consumers do not get any special pricing for their products, not like with Naim, Rega, etc, which are indeed cheaper in the UK then elsewhere.

One thing that I clearly notice with products made in China (not only in the hifi business) is that manufacturers are able to extract much higher margins and therefore can easier manipulate prices in various markets and under different circumstances.

 

[Ajani]

Hifi prices around the world are all of the map. Prices in a specific country depends on competitiveness of the local market, policy of local distributors, taxes, etc. Re MF - it is funny that people talk about it as British product. MFs are made in Asia, so British consumers do not get any special pricing for their products, not like with Naim, Rega, etc, which are indeed cheaper in the UK then elsewhere.

One thing that I clearly notice with products made in China (not only in the hifi business) is that manufacturers are able to extract much higher margins and therefore can easier manipulate prices in various markets and under different circumstances.

That's a very good point. We tend to refer to MF as British brand despite the fact that the products are not made in the UK, hence there would be no reason for better prices for UK customers.

Prices fluctuate wildly by country for many reasons (as you mentioned), but I still find it amazing that a product can be in one price category in the US and receive rave reviews, be in a much higher category in the UK and still receive rave reviews. Simple example, take the Benchmark DAC1: in the US it just slightly more expensive than the Rega DAC and both receive good reviews and are considered alternatives in the $1K price class. In the UK, the DAC1 sells for about double the Rega DAC and is considered to be a significant upgrade. I would have expected that the relatively high price of the DAC1 in the UK would make it uncompetitive in that market.

 

[Frank Harvey]

As already mentioned, most US prices exclude TAX, and many products we presume to be British made are actually made in places like China, not the UK. It is worth noting that UK made products are more expensive in the US.

 

[ISAC69]

The US market is huge and very competitive prices are usually cheper than in the rest of the world and not only MF does it .

 

[gz00]

The launch price in the US was $299 and only recently cut to $199 but not discounted in the UK. I just find this bizarre. But you don't have to go to the US to get this product cheaper it is readily available from France for 199 euro inclusive of P&P! Makes no sense to me :roll: