[smial1966]

I feel your pain. Spread the word and boycott the PM-1 until OPPO introduce fairer worldwide pricing.

Likewise here in Australia the PM-1 is selling for $1,699AUD and the HA-1 for $1,799AUD when the our dollar is at 0.94 USD.

What a ripoff!

 

[.Sup]

Absolutely!

We European buyers understand that we may pay a bit more for American gear because of shipping and import taxes, but directly translating the dollar price into pounds on a 1 to 1 ratio is at best disingenuous and at worst blatant profiteering.

OPPO, all we ask is for a fair European price for the PM-1 and not the sickeningly expensive RRP currently quoted.

Thanks,
Andy.

Equating $ to other currencies is truly disgusting. I see this the only mistake Oppo has done with their recent products but this currency translation has been there before with their other products. I suggest buying overseas and paying the import tax.

 

[HasturTheYellow]

I disagree, as an OPPO representative has contributed to this thread, so they are interested in potential purchasers opinions of their product. Besides which, as potential purchasers we should have a forum for our mass dissatisfaction with a blatantly unfair pricing policy.

 
I am an OPPO Digital, Inc representative. I can only discuss matters which are related to OPPO Digital, Inc, a corporation which only operates in North America. As I have pointed out multiple times in this thread, OPPO Digital, Inc does not handle the distribution in Asia, Australia, Europe and other regions. These are handled by different distribution entities. These entities control the localized price, product distribution and support of OPPO products internationally.
 
So I, nor anyone else at OPPO Digital, Inc, can't force the European distributors to lower the price. You will need to get in contact with the main distribution arm, OPPO-Bluray.co.uk, if you want to see a change in the pricing of OPPO products in the European marketplace.

 

[Ocellia]

Quote..."UK & European Head-Fi members contemplating purchasing the PM-1, DO NOT do so until OPPO have implemented a fair price policy for us, as we should not be blatantly ripped off with the current dollar/pound price parity that penalises us because of where we live.

OPPO, I and many other European audiophiles want to buy the PM-1, but don't take the p*ss and think that you can rip us off with your discriminatory pricing.

Cheers,
Andy."
 
 
 
+1
You're reiterating -strongly!! - the £££s disparity I posted about earlier.(weeks back...)
I certainly won't buy at this price (and I've been a Planar supporter for many years!) and several people have responded to my initial post with concurrent annoyance.
A few are arranging to get USA visitors to buy and bring back, so Oppo won't suffer, but U.K. dealers might?
 
Whoops...I'm elongating the complaints bit-sorry; had jumped back to where I last read, a few days ago!
Certainly appreciate the impressions input!
 
Look out for guys coming into Heathrow with headphones around their neck, aka bringing mine direct fro US! (-:
(I'd never visit USA myself; all those guns and multi-agency surveillance!)

 

[MDR30]

Any pic of a naked driver?

 

[Smarty-pants]

Any pic of a naked driver?

You know proper phrasing can make a world of difference.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

I always confused the Oppo PM-1 with the KEF M500...

Anyone see what I'm seeing?

 

[Claritas]

I also noticed.

 

[gulf1263]

I live in Anchorage, Alaska and spend time in Albuquerque, New Mexico were there are a very limited number of dealers and equipment to have demoed so you folks outside of the US that have access to dealers are pretty lucky.
The problem here in the US is "showrooming" which is where someone goes in and picks the brains of the dealer, gets the item demoed and then buys it online to avoid tax and stiffs the brick and mortar dealer.
High end audio dealers are fading away because of this and fewer and fewer products are available to have demoed.
It will not be to long before there very few highend dealers left and no where to touch and feel the equipment, test it to see if it suits you.
Also your taxes outside the US are much higher, VAT and all those other taxes your countries pile on may be part of the problem.
Oppo dealers in the US don't make much of a profit compared to other brands so in markets outside of the US the prices seem to be high because brick and mortar stores won't carry a brand unless they can make a decent profit and the taxes are probably double what we pay here in the US.
Headphones and speakers in particular are not something I want to buy based on an online or print article...I need to hear it for myself.
The reviews online or in print can help narrow the search but listening is the only way I can really be sure before buying headphones or speakers.
Art

 

[zilch0md]

I hear you Art, but it's my understanding that brick and mortar HiFi and Head-Fi stores have vanished globally, not just here in the States. I think the international distributors are selling mostly through online channels (mail order) - just as happens here. If that's the case, we can't cut them any slack for having the overhead of brick and mortar showrooms.

 

[gulf1263]

Oppo only sold via mail order at first, since brick and mortar dealers are now competing with company direct online sales their profit margins are thin.
Oppo's international direct sales are an unknown to me.
I don't know how much tax other countries add on to what they consider to be luxury items...it could be substantial on Chinese made goods.
Prices posted by members do seem to be overly high.
I know we used to have JAL aircrew buy a lot of high end gear in the 1970's and 1980's in Anchorage on layover because taxes in Japan were so high.
My Audeze LD-XC's were only US $100.00 more than what Oppo wants for their PM-1 top tier phones in Australia...yikes!
Art

 

[UNIFi]

Here in Australia, there is a brick and mortar store in Melbourne that sells them in person as far as I'm aware. Their facebook page has them with the stock - ready to demo, I assume. I've not been there, but my brother has and they have hundreds of headphones out to display. Their price is $1699 AUD and the tax rate in this country is 10% of the price of the product, so take out the $169.90 or and we meet the figure of $1529.10. Adjusting our currency to the USD yeilds AUD $1170 or thereabout. Now I'm not sure if this would really apply seeing as products always get marked down over in the US but surely the Australian store isn't paying $1099 US for each of them? If they are then it makes sense with the tax+duty on $1000+ imports but still the price here is a bit steep for what it is.
 
The LCDX is $2500 here as well. Still not as bad as European prices, but still sucks.

 

[Claritas]

Honestly, it's as if none of these guys ever studied microeconomics.

 

[HasturTheYellow]

I am going to cross post two replies I did in the PM-1 Impression Thread for people who may have missed statements regarding International pricing and International shipping:
 

  I know I am late the party, but I want to make a post here while it is still somewhat on topic with the discussions that occurred over the course of the past weekend. The quick, TLR version of the difference in the pricing of the PM-1, HA-1 and all of our other products in Europe are due to the different distribution methods that OPPO Digital, Inc and our International partners employ. We are single tier (direct to the customer) while they are multi-tier (multiple distribution networks to the retailer).
 

Spoiler: Full Distribution And Price Statement

Here at OPPO Digital, Inc., in addition to designing and developing the products, we sell directly to North American customers and provide support and warranty services from our Mountain View office. Our product pricing is based on this direct sales model which eliminates the cost of multi-tier distribution and retail channels. This is the reason that we can offer these excellent products at the prices that we charge in the US. For in-warranty services, we normally provide the customer with a pre-paid shipping label to send the product to our Mountain View office, and we pay for the cost for shipping the serviced product back to the customer as well. This main-in service arrangement helps reducing the cost of hiring third-party service companies, and enables us to sell products at low prices.
 
For areas outside of the North America, we rely on international distributors such as oppo-bluray.co.uk to sell the products locally and to provide local support. The distributor may in turn rely on a network of local retailers to sell and service the products. The international distributors get the products at a price somewhat lower than the US retail price, but due to our operation efficiency in the US, the distribution price is not as low as traditional consumer electronics brands may offer to their distributors. We announce our MSRP, but do not and cannot decide how much a distributor or reseller may charge for their sales. Overseas retail prices often include the cost of tiered distribution and retail, which is normally higher than our North American direct-sale cost. The prices may also factor in the local warranty and support costs.
 
We hear what our European and Australian customers are saying about the prices, and we are definitely in communication with our international distributors about this. I am not here to defend the international distributors on their pricing, but just want to explain that our North American customers are really enjoying the benefit of our direct sales/service business model.
 
Regarding shipping directly to overseas customers, the cost and logistics of warranty service are huge concerns for us. We used to do that and when a customer encountered a defective unit, we would reimburse the customer the cost of shipping the defective unit to our Mountain View office. With the high international shipping cost, the cost of warranty service pretty much wiped out the little profit we earned from all direct international sales. As a business we found this unsustainable. Beyond that, the customers were often very frustrated due to the long service time caused by custom clearance delays, and they might be charged custom duty/tax again when the repaired products were returned to them. We still ship to customers where there is no local sales/support using our Offline Order Form, but we have to be upfront with the customer about the potential cost and hassle of warranty services.

 

  For all those chomping at the bit for the PM-1 but were hesitant because of the International price discrepancy, we have updated our Offline Order Form to include the PM-1 and HA-1 products. This form will allow you to purchase any of our products direct and have them shipped internationally.
 
As I stated earlier this afternoon, there is a caveat with International orders, and that is with the Limited Warranty that normally protects our products from future defects. If you have a PM-1, HA-1 or other OPPO product shipped to an International destination, or these OPPO products are brought to an International destination, it will be the customer's responsibility to pay for the shipping of the OPPO product to and from our United States office. We will still cover the parts and labor itself as part of the Limited Warranty conditions, but we are not responsible for the freight. This is different from a North American purchase where we cover the freight to and from the customer as part of the Limited Warranty.

 

[Audiolic]

the THD spike at 300hz is insane.. anybody can try to measure thd after cutting the low bass under 30-40.. just to see if the thd is from sub bass distortion or higher in the 80-100-200
 
and the csd decay plot is weird (you can see the ripple on the impulse response too and 30hz square wav by tyll isnt really square..
 
I understand that measurements arent everything but some are important.. like all those 3 and impulse