Which country has the best hi fi industry in the world

[Arkless Electronics]

I think the British audiophile market is slowly dying due to the obsession with endless recycling of old gear and a refusal to engage in the kind of market that makes audio gear as a veblen on good where a high price is a virtue of it own. We are too tight fisted and too poor

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It's one of the biggest problems yes. It's not exactly a fair playing field for a manufacturer when one is up against not "what are the competition making for a similar price?" but "what can the customer buy second hand for half the price?"

The availability of dirt cheap crap from China is a major problem too. I sometime see eg knock off Quad 405 boards from China where the trade price to me to purchase just the components (non fake, traceable, good quality components that is) is double the cost of the finished and delivered from China article!

As for veblen goods well I find them morally inexcusable personally... but that's another matter entirely!

[jandl100]

I think we have a very skewed and biased view of the audio world here in Britain.

If you dig a little deeper there are great and fascinating products made in eastern Europe, the far east, India, South America .... that we never hear about, let alone get imported into the UK.
We know about what we know about, but there is a hell of a lot of other stuff out there.

[danilo]

Always struck me as so. Could be Myopia? Could be the UK's Tax walls?
Lots of Great and not so great gear out of the UK, no arguement.
However.. Lots of great gear out of the rest of the world too.
Currently Far More by my observations.

An Old cartoon sums it up: " Storm over Channel.. Europe cut off " has some traction

[Macca]

Always struck me as so. Could be Myopia? Could be the UK's Tax walls?
Lots of Great and not so great gear out of the UK, no arguement.
However.. Lots of great gear out of the rest of the world too.
Currently Far More by my observations.

An Old cartoon sums it up: " Storm over Channel.. Europe cut off " has some traction

I think it was 'Fog In Channel, Continent Isolated' and it was supposedly a headline in The Times.

The thing about used gear ruining the market for new equipment suggests to me that the problem is that the new stuff doesn't offer enough, or possibly any, advantage over the old. There's only so many ways to vary voltage over time and I'd guess they have all been done. Incremental improvements in drive unit tech and DACs are perhaps not making enough difference to convince people it is worth exchanging old for new.

[struth]

Its true China makes some crap. They also make some decent stuff. Tis a big country with a huge advantage from costs. Transportation is pretty cheap for most things in bulk anywhere now by boat. Think its about 1% typically.
So if we cannot compete in mass market then we have to cater for the more bespoke one which is much smaller and can be competitive.

[Arkless Electronics]

I think it was 'Fog In Channel, Continent Isolated' and it was supposedly a headline in The Times.

The thing about used gear ruining the market for new equipment suggests to me that the problem is that the new stuff doesn't offer enough, or possibly any, advantage over the old. There's only so many ways to vary voltage over time and I'd guess they have all been done. Incremental improvements in drive unit tech and DACs are perhaps not making enough difference to convince people it is worth exchanging old for new.

No doubt yes. This is mature technology and any improvements are indeed in small increments generally. If people won't buy new though it's going to eventually kill off the UK industry.

[Macca]

No doubt yes. This is mature technology and any improvements are indeed in small increments generally. If people won't buy new though it's going to eventually kill off the UK industry.

We can design and make in the UK and sell abroad. Quality gear that is designed and built in Britain carries huge cachet in the Far East. Yes, it is Veblen goods and I'm with you on the 'moral' side, but it will keep people here in work and help the balance of payments out.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Sugden is still British....Good!

S.

And about 10 minutes down my road!

[Frazeur1]

I think that the initial question is a difficult one to answer. There are so many interesting and really great products coming out of Poland, Germany, Russia, along with all the other goodies in the UK and US and Asian markets.

For me, it is just fun and enjoyable to be able to listen to some of this stuff. Not always easy to track down, but worth the effort. Last summer I was able to get an in-home dem of the Encore 7 Prestige Eggshell 15 wpc integrated amplifier from Poland, a real treat to listen to, and also a neat design. Many more out there to sample from so many countries.

[Spectral Morn]

British contemporary HiFi does nothing much for me, never did. Some vintage gear is interesting.

Most interesting, to me, audio comes from America, Canada, Italy, Germany and Japan.

I see Poland as an up and coming place for interesting world class products.