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Why is pro 2900 balanced $250 more expensive than single-ended?  

post #1 of 8
9/21/10 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 

I would like an explanation from Ultrasone for why there is such a huge price increase. I believe this is an exorbitant amount of money just for another hole, another cable, and another connector. If I do not see a significant price decrease, or else a good explanation for the cost, I WILL be offering to do balancing on the pro 2900 AT COST until I see a satisfactory price decrease or explanation. I will give Ultrasone until October 15th before I begin purchasing all the parts necessary to do balancing on the pro 2900 at far below the current $250 price, and I will do it at only the cost of parts and shipping.

 

Will also send this to Ultrasone by email, but posting it here just in case because Ultrasone seems to ignore a lot of my emails.

post #2 of 8
9/22/10 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 

I await your response. I will be preparing to compete with your $250 balance job with my cost of parts balance job, and if I am not satisfied by Oct 16th, I will purchase all the parts to do balancing at cost. I suggest you make haste if you intend to satisfy one of my demands because any surplus materials I have, I will likely use to do balancing at cost even after one of the demands have been met.

post #3 of 8
9/22/10 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 

I have a new third option that would make me abandon this, and that is if Ultrasone greatly improves the cable spec of the $800 Pro 2900. If Ultrasone wishes to charge $250 for a balance job, they are entering boutique cable territory, and they better have boutique quality cables. The new cable must exceed the specs of $0.50/foot studio cables like Canare L-4E6S.

post #4 of 8
9/24/10 at 6:39am
Thread Starter 

If Ultrasone does not give me a satisfactory reply by the end of September, I will be sending this letter to every Ultrasone distributor online. I will also be calling them to dissuade them from carrying the balanced Pro 2900.

 

 

Quote:
I am writing this with regards to the newly released Ultrasone Pro 2900, balanced version. It is my intent to dissuade you from carrying this particular model of headphones from Ultrasone. Please consider the following reasons.

1. The original unbalanced Pro 2900 can be balanced by aftermarket cable companies who also carry Ultrasone headphones, at below the $250 MSRP price increase of stock balanced Pro 2900 over stock unbalanced Pro 2900. For example, Moon-Audio sells a 2x3-pin xlr balanced Pro 900 with blue dragon cable (4x24 awg 6N OCC copper) at $725, while retaining full manufacturer warranty.

2. A DIY'er can balance an original Pro 2900 at less than $25 in cost of parts and shipping, but lose warranty doing so. It is easy and not time-consuming to balance these headphones.

3. Balanced headphone users are a small percentage of the headphone market, and they are more knowledgeable than average. A good percentage of people who use balanced headphones are aware of the fact that very little cost should be involved in balancing headphones, certainly not costing anywhere near $250.

4. Neither the cable nor connectors used in the balanced Pro 2900 have been described as anything more than stock quality. Many audiophiles who go so far as to use a balanced setup, believe in the importance of high quality cables, and minimal ground points. The stock balanced Pro 2900 uses a detachable cable mechanism which adds one additional connection, and the stock cable is merely ~28 awg and ten feet long, which some audiophiles who believe in cables would consider too thin and too long, far from ideal. Also, Ultrasone connectors are not easily or cheaply obtained, so if people wanted to make their own cables to use with the dual-entry Ultrasone connectors, they likely would have to circumvent the connector mechanism.

5. If Ultrasone does not lower the price of the balanced Pro 2900 in half, or if retailers do not keep their price of the balanced Pro 2900 within $125 of the unbalanced Pro 2900, I will be offering Pro 2900 balancing AT COST. The percentage of audiophiles interested in balanced setups is small, and I intend to take away as much sales of balanced Pro 2900's as is practical for me. The cable I use will be of far higher quality than the stock cable, and I will offer multiple cable types AT COST. I will offer multiple variations of balancing, and include multiple termination cables AT COST. The cost in parts balancing a Pro 2900 using superior quality parts than in the stock balanced Pro 2900, will be less than $20.

You can read more about my protest against Ultrasone exorbitant pricing of the new balanced Pro 2900 in the following links.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/513756/why-is-pro-2900-balanced-250-more-expensive-than-single-ended#post_6945795

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/513899/doing-pro-2900-balancing-at-cost-for-head-fiers-need-startup-advice

I ask you please not to carry the balanced Pro 2900 until the price is made more reasonable, it sets a very bad precedent for headphone manufacturers, and is insulting to customers.
 
post #5 of 8
9/25/10 at 5:33pm
Thread Starter 

Not even a reply from Ultrasone in email or in this thread. Does this mean Ultrasone has no intent whatsoever to fix the price on the balanced Pro 2900? I hope Ultrasone does at least respond and show some interest in avoiding me offering balancing at cost and harassing their retailers to not carry the balanced Pro 2900. If they do not even give a single reply, then this will be my plan:

 

October 1st, email all online Ultrasone distributors with the letter above.

October 16th, purchase all the parts necessary to do Pro 2900 balancing at cost to anyone interested in balanced Pro 2900.

 

Once I have all the parts, I will begin taking requests, establish trust by offering to do all sorts of mods of other Ultrasone models at cost, and after that, offering only balancing of Pro 2900 at cost.

 

If my demands are not met, then I will do whatever seems reasonable to me to take away as many sales of your overpriced balanced Pro 2900 as possible.


Edited by haloxt - 9/25/10 at 5:34pm
post #6 of 8
10/2/10 at 8:35am

I remember that blonde guy from ultrasone stating that the pro900 were manufactured in tiwan but then sent back to germany for the recable that would account for extralabur and shipping cost not to mention parts also the warrenty and perfected technique.  

post #7 of 8
10/2/10 at 3:35pm
Thread Starter 

Well that's mighty inefficient.

 

I have talked with some retailers who said they would be selling the balanced pro 2900 with a price difference less than $125 compared to single-ended pro 2900. If I see the good majority of retailers doing it this way, I may abandon doing this. But still, $250 price increase is ridiculous, even factoring in shipping and customs. If that is really what they do, it would be best for everyone if they just forget about this two-location manufacturing, and if they take a brand new pro 2900 to do the balancing, there is also huge waste in labor cost.

post #8 of 8
10/16/10 at 2:16pm
Thread Starter 

I have been keeping an eye out for retailers to carry it but very few appear to even want to carry the balanced pro 2900. If things keep looking like this with only Ultrasone official website and a few very small retailers visibly selling it at $700-800, I will abandon this. But since I did start this off already I will offer modding for any non-edition full-sized ultrasones at cost of parts and shipping for at least a short period of time. Let me know if you are interested in here or pm and we can discuss what mods you'd like done and cost of parts.


Edited by haloxt - 10/16/10 at 2:19pm
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