I live in Canada,( in a part of the country which cannot be bought by anyone), and i was in the obligation to buy a new dac because my old one die...
Guess what with tariffs i opted to order from China instead of buying one from the US...
Add a higher cost to begin with if i take one from the US compared to China, but quality had a price no ?
Yes but i am not on a big audio budget and with the tarifs +postal fees, i decided to order a Chinese one free of postal fees and tariff and i saved few hundred bucks...
Will the US gear would have been better ?
I think so...
But i can do with the Chinese less costlier one, well reviewed under comparison and not too well behind the American one...
Tarifs war in this actual world means war... By the way...i am too old to be enlisted by force...
I did not stumble on one offered new and minimally good at 200 bucks ...
Did they exist at this price in Canada?
We are not all budget open without limit...I was looking for something around 200 bucks like a minimal Geshelli from US ...
By the way this hobby for me was more about learning acoustics than buying the most costlier and the best gear design in the world...
Anyway i am very proud to own two high end gear piece of the past which are my main music system : The Sansui Alpha model and the AKG K340, the only real hybrid headphone...
Then i know what a good sound is and what are the limitations of my system...
I noticed that both the rears in my 5.1 system are failing. They are 25 year old Boston Acoustic bookshelf that I had laboriously mounted to the wall of my mancave two decades ago. I bought a pair of Paradigm speakers that will mount to the drywall back wall like gum on a shoe. My dealer urged me to pull the trigger because he is expecting a tariff increase. Duly ordered and waiting to see if I dodge the increase
"Duly ordered and waiting to see if I dodge the increase"
I had purchased some music from the UK a little over a month ago from a company I have purchased from before. Usually it takes an extra week but still not here. I have a message from eBay stating the package is - like many - being held up in customs.
I purchased an NAD C298 about 2 years ago for $2300 from Crutchfield. Just checked this AM and that same amplifier is $2999. $700 more!
Tariffs are going to give rise to the black market. Cash only deals on the sly.
Good for you! Smart move! To all the Canadians out there; be strong.
Tariffs are here. Gonna get crazy. It is a real issue in the audiophile industry and we need to be able to talk about it without getting censored.
Personally, if you are buying without knowing what the product was worth a month ago, you are uninformed and perhaps ignorant. I don't want to be the person to get a "Great Deal" that "Just went on Sale" that means I spent an extra $700 this month from last. Information is vital. Cost as always is paramount.
In early April I ordered an r-core power supply along with a silver plated DC supply cable and a pure silver USB cable from China. The cables arrived on time as expected. The information on shipping for the power supply was sketchy. I was notified shortly after purchase that it would arrive between April 18-25. There was no further update on tracking so on 4/15 I contacted the seller on Aliexpress. This is what they said:
“Hello,
So sorry.
This power supply has not been sent yet. It will take about 3 more days.
Best Regards”
On 4/18 the tracking information indicated the product had shipped. The order information was not updated and still stated it would arrive between April 18 and 25. April 25 came and went, no power supply, no tracking update. On 4/27 I contacted the seller and asked for an update. This is what they said:
”Hello
Sorry, due to the new US tariff policy, we were unable to send this package.
We currently do not have suitable logistics transportation to the United States, and packages arriving in the United States will incur huge tariffs.
You can apply for a refund.
Sorry again
Thank you for your understanding and support
Best Regards”
There you have it. The heavier power supply probably had to be sent by marine transportation and the timing was such it would land in the U.S. after the tariffs went into full effect. The lighter cables on the other hand probably shipped via air freight and arrived ahead of the tariffs. Imagine how this is now playing across all the components and finished electronics products across the market today. There will be disruptions. Likely very large disruptions.
During covid I started a hobby on assembling my own power cables from parts. That is when I stumbled onto Aliexpress. Covid disruptions of shipping meant very long arrival times for products, up to six weeks or more. This feels very different, and if not resolved the current situation is likely to significantly raise prices or essentially eliminate access for many products in the audio industry.
In the meantime, does anyone know where I can buy a U.S. made 5V r-core external power supply with quality parts for $115 including all sales taxes and shipping? Or for two or three times that much? If you find out, please let me know.
A word to the wise that some members here would like to argue, and then cause this thread to be deleted.
The pattern appears to be a way to censor information that may negatively reflect certain economic decisions that have been made by this administration, which makes it difficult for us to learn how to navigate potential audio purchases.
Here’s an example that just occurred in respect to an espresso grinder priced at $674 (UK company, manufactured in China):
- The De Minimis Tax Exemption was recently ended by Trump on 05.01.25. This tax exemption is a law that Congress passed on a bipartisan basis that allows shipments bound for American businesses and consumers valued under $800 (per person, per day) to enter the U.S. free of duty and taxes.
- The espresso grinder was purchased prior to 05.01.2025, but shipment did not occur until either 05.01 or 05.02.2025.
- American consumer receives a DHL email notification stating that an import duty $1019 is due prior to release to consumer.
- Because of the 145% tariff the $674 espresso grinder is now a $1693 grinder overnight.
It seems some think this tariff war is a poker game with a winner without disruption of the distribution chain, without geopolitical consequences, as a simple game of poker around a table...
@toro3I work for a global manufacturer, we have plants in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea the USA, France, Poland, Germany and Romania. We also source components from the UK, EU and India. We bring components from vendors and our plants globally to assemble engineered products in the USA and Mexico, India, EU.
Our price increase due to tariffs was weighted at 9.8% for all lines and channels. Looks as if many are gouging, or do not know how to amortize these costs across their product lines. We know exactly what our costs are and what the impact of these tariffs were going to have on our COGS. We are a $5B a year mid cap company and a global leader in our industry segments. We raised our quarterly dividend marking 12 years of increases. All this while managing tariffs and costs to remain competitive and profitable.
@mahgisterthe sky is not falling and this will pass. It is not a war, stop being so dramatic.
Build 100% in China you will be spanked with 145% tariffs. Funny none of you complained when the prior administration raised the original Trump tariffs another 25% in 2021/22.
In the meantime, does anyone know where I can buy a U.S. made 5V r-core external power supply with quality parts for $115 including all sales taxes and shipping? Or for two or three times that much? If you find out, please let me know.
of course, instead of arguing with facts, you resort to insults. Thank you for proving my point. You also saved time for yourself by avoiding to learn what happened in the real world, congrats. (Or perhaps you know but you don't care.)
If I read back several of your comments on the subject in the last 4 weeks, you are full of contradictions. The only way to stay consistent, as wiser people figured it out, is to follow the facts.
Can't count the times I've heard people complain about taxes, I don't like them either. In order to avoid this tax my entire philosophy of personal consumption is going through changes, not using disposable income to purchase anything not absolutely necessary. Towards that only one purchase on ebay, perhaps three or four from Amazon since late January, far down from the usual. I have no plans or needs for a single audio purchase, all my big ticket items taken care of. While not exactly a boycott, I've greatly changed my consumption habits, expect this to continue, I'm into downsizing at this point in life. I don't know how many other will take this tack, but I do see this attitude being voiced quite often on social media, consumption habits may be changing en masse, if this happens everyone will be hurt.
You keep believing what you believe @ganoThe fact remains and hell you though COVID came from a wet market. I will leave you to your dystopian view of the world.
@goodlistening64I placed an order last Friday for 8 LP's from the UK (not ebay) and they arrived today no tariff either.
I have had a preamp held up in Canadian customs for 3 weeks now, I truly just think it's because it is Canada and they tax me if I bring 20 pieces of technical literature into their country.
I had purchased some music from the UK a little over a month ago from a company I have purchased from before. Usually it takes an extra week but still not here. I have a message from eBay stating the package is - like many - being held up in customs.
This conversation should be viewed from all sides.
As already pointed out, cheap price is paramount. It would then seem logical that a more benificial solution is NO tariffs. Other countries could stop imposing tariffs altogether. The global consumer would enjoy lower prices without the additional burden of tariffs.
So, in order to negotiate, let's make a fair and level playing field... if you charge me 25% I will charge YOU 25%. You charge 0 then I charge you 0. Sounds fair. By doing this why are we the bad guys? They put tariffs on our exports first.
BTW...These 'reciprocal tariffs' have been imposed on other countries by China for years but no one seems to complain about that but when we put tariffs that's just horrible.
The list of American businesses hurt by tariffs, tax exemptions, subsidies is not good. How many American cars do you see in Japan? None. The American furniture industry was wiped out, many jobs lost. These are big indusrties being lost. Too many to list.
This tariff problem should of been handled LONG ago. It has shifted global competitive prices unfairly for decades.
Doing the same thing as you are, which is what @texasblues1959 has so eloquently encouraged others to do:
Zero worry in 6 months this will all be done and gone. Why I made my purchases while folks were busy running around like chicken little.
So, anybody in this forum that suggests they are looking to buy now are downright fools. Purchasing in the next six months (thank God! Texas blue says 6 months...TOPS!!) Come December we can all buy our dream gear again!
What would you say Texas, you have a way with words that should be censored just for it's intention to attack, what is your advice while we and all others folks who in the business of buying and selling audio gear? Stand back and stand by?
We can talk about tariffs all we want. It won’t matter to most until they are personally impacted. Same with all the chainsaw cuts to government services made with no consideration for the impacts. Now they are trying to hire people back to fill needed jobs. Air traffic is a mess as an example. Stay tuned. My hope is it will all turn out well but considering how it has been done to date (on the whim of those with inflated egos who are not SMEs in the areas affected) I have my doubts. For sure whatever happens will be marketed as the greatest thing ever that nobody has ever seen before. No doubt there.
@goodlisteningIf you were well capitalized and a forward thinking business person you would have laid in stock orders for hi-fi gear to beat the tariffs. We all knew they were coming the moment Trump announced. I did the same thing with Russian Tubes when Russia rolled the tanks into Ukraine.
The secondary market is going to boom and many smart sellers are taking advantage of the tariff’s and the uncertainty it brings to the uneducated consumer.
I for one am not a fan of the tariff’s I understand goal and I resent the additional work it has created managing a portfolio of $250M in products (sales).
The other things few people want to acknowledge are the poor working conditions in some of the other countries that trade with USA (i.e., low wages, long hours, poor benefits, lack of safety controls, and other conditions that would not be tolerated here) as well as less stringent environmental requirements than we have in order to protect waterways, air, solid waste disposal sites, people, and the environment in general. The American consumer has conveniently overlooked these things in order to have the latest and greatest products at low prices.
BTW - There are folks that complained about tariffs here on this site in 2022. I saw four threads that were still available for folks to read when I did a generalized search.
Or course you'd say something like that, being so easily triggered. This company you work for that is so ahead of everyone else, planning for the future, what's its name and what position do you hold in it? Everything you say about it reads like you're cutting and posting from a company perspective.
And, like others have asked, where the hell did Covid come from? You first post on that was incomprehensible. Anyone else notice that texas doesn't offer real counterpoints but just opportunistic moves to rationalize the childish, uniformed impulses of his hero?
In the past couple months I've bought items from China, Japan and Singapore, including two turntables and a pre-amp. No duties, no tariffs, everything arrived on time... For all the talk in this thread, I'd be curious to know how many have actually been affected by the on-going trade negotiations; with the exception of communist China, tariffs (if any) should be a flat 10% for the 90 days since talks began. My hope is that the folks here know more about audio than they do about international trade.
We can easily predict where this all going, present tariff regime unsustainable, alterations only a matter of time. In any case I fully expect there will be less free trade long into the future, memories long and nationalism/protectionism increased. This means less competition which in turn means higher long term prices, in this 'new' economic world consumers will be squeezed meaning less consumption. Add to this so many other constraints on growth such as AI, environment, aging populations, and so many others. Fewer and fewer humans will be productive going into future, AI alone will displace millions, perhaps billions.
Many are advocating running balanced budgets and controlling debt, in order for that to happen humans must be far more self sufficient than at present or planned for into future. With the above constraints I don't see this happening.
@texasblues1959 Is that you Jerry? Back under, what is it now, your 8th or 9th new member name? You always betray yourself when you reference the past. You became rather hard to follow at times after your stint in the hospital and it shows in your posts even now. You'd think after being banned so many times you'd just move on.
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