There’s a similar article on Twittering Machines, which makes it sound like this was a mass email to a large audience and possibly an abrupt exit.
File Under Bad News: Jürgen Reis Has Left MBL
“The transition from MBL Akustikgeräte to MBL International does go differently to what I would like to see or would / can support. It appears that there are different views regarding both the company’s legacy (all my work) and its future direction.
“I remain available to support former importers, dealers, and customers, and I am happy to assist directly. However, I am no longer affiliated with MBL International. I wish nothing but the best for the company, as this has been my life’s work.”
If they do move production to China, I can’t picture price points above ~$10-15k being successful.
There was a good interview on Sound News with Vitus discussing how Chinese manufacturing has evolved (but I can't picture MBL maintaining a luxury perceptive and being made in China):
Hans-Ole Vitus: “I Always Want to Build the Best There Is”
How do you see the pressure from Chinese manufacturers in the broader audio market?
I am very happy that Vitus Audio operates in the higher end of the market. Because in the mass market, the mainstream, affordable price points, you simply cannot compete with China. There is no point trying. And the problem I see is that the Western world has sacrificed quality at so many levels in pursuit of cost savings. We source some of our chassis parts from China, simply because we cannot find the right quality in Europe. And it is not even cheaper for us, the parts are actually slightly more expensive, and then we have to ship them. But right now, that is the only way to get the quality we need for certain components.
Is this a structural problem or something the West brought on itself?
Both. The system there is built completely differently. They pay different wages, have access to resources and state-backed, essentially non-refundable credits, and have entirely different incentive structures. The competition is genuinely not fair. But Europe and the rest of the Western world created this situation themselves. Twenty years ago, everyone wanted to maximize profit margins, so they shipped production overseas. Now those countries have the tools, and sometimes they are the only ones with the tools. I recently asked a European manufacturer about a deep-deburring machine, and they looked at me like I was speaking another language. I go online and find 200 Chinese companies offering the same thing at high quality. In Europe, it is: ‘We have some contraptions, and we grind by hand.’ What are you talking about? We were in one Chinese CNC shop at the Shanghai show, and the quality of their work was staggering. And who gave them that technology? Apple did, among others. They are not stupid people. They are playing a very long game, twenty, thirty, fifty years. We in the West need to do something to stay relevant, but it is genuinely difficult.
Do you see any positive signs?
I actually do, and this is where I think Europe has a competitive edge that is easy to underestimate. I am starting to see real signs that people want to slow down. They want to disconnect from the phone. They want to go back to listening to vinyl, to cassettes, to physical music. They are fed up with screens. And that is exactly our world. The mainstream consumer electronics model, a new product every three to six months, mountains of waste, enormous energy consumption, is the opposite of what high-end audio represents. Our products are built to last a generation. That is fundamentally a better proposition, and I think more people are beginning to recognize that.
What about the entry of more affordable, screen-based audio products from Asia — does that concern you?
Not really, no. Some of those products are actually quite good. The sound quality is not always there yet, but for younger people coming into the hobby, it is an upgrade from what they had before, and it is an upgrade they can afford. That is how people get into this industry. They discover that music reproduction matters, start listening more seriously, and, over time, move up. So it could actually help us by bringing new listeners into the audiophile world. And at our price levels, even with the Alluxity brand, which we have now folded back under the Vitus Audio umbrella as ‘Alluxity by VA,’ with a retail price of below €10,000, we are simply not in the same market as those products. We are never going to be in the €1,000 to €2,000 bracket. I am not worried.
