Why on earth are certain headphones so damned expensive? and how do you support "reviews"...

It depends, R&D, quality control, and manufacturing processes for the bulk of respected companies around here. Of course, there are some that might skimp a bit on QC and manufacturing because they have a tried and true sound (Grado) that really works, or there is the infamous cable industry, but for the most part my list stands. 

 

Headroom offers very extensive measurements of headphones, but can you tell from a graph what a headphone is going to sound like, or if you're going to like the sound sig? Probably not. Thing is, headphones aren't hard and fast better than others in the eyes of most people, the vast majority of differences are tiny and just related to personal preference of the listener. Sure, if you want a headphone with a strong bass response you can look at the freq. response graph and look for a bass hump, but there is no way to quantify overall performance or 'better.'

 

Welcome Sid, enjoy your stay!

Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry about your wallet.

 

I think logwed has gotten it pretty spot on, so I'll just add that there are raging debates about objectivity vs subjectivity in audio all over the place. Head-Fi leans toward the subjective/personal evaluation side of the argument. Graphs are generally either ignored or challenged around here. And, IIRC, discussion about DBT is forbidden. Evidently it "doesn't solve anything," though I think at least part of the reason is that it bruises too many egos, and it's difficult to impossible to filter out all possible variables, leading to circular arguments.

 

It's difficult to completely objectify audio, and headphone manufacturers rely on this in designing their products. Headphones tend to fall into tiers based on their price bracket, and it's those headphones that manage to offer remarkable performance for their price that usually get recommended a lot around here. Cost-no-object or "statement" headphones are usually made from exotic materials, get the lion's share of R&D, and are poised to compete for the title of "world's best." Like with just about everything else, the delta between a $10 headphone and a $100 one is massive compared to that between a $100 headphone and a $1,000 one. Prestige and bragging rights figure into the price, and you often need very high quality equipment behind such headphones in order to extract that last extra bit of performance that sets them apart from the tiers below.

Marketing - most high end manufacturers don't even have ad budget unless they are established like Senn, AKG, etc...

 

Materials - can be, certain materials may not have been applied before in headphones application, therefore it costs a lot to design and make it for headphone application. And its all trial and error.

 

R & D - it takes time, money and more importantly ideas and imagination to design headphones using materials that have not been used before. The sciences are the same but using different materials is new. And designing something that can be manufactured with consistency that would last is another thing. Imagine designing a product that sounds great with cheap materials but costs a ton to manufacture. Or a product that is cheap to make but only lasts for 1 year, how do you warrant or guarantee such a product?

 

Superfluous Materials - part of R & D. Is wood better than plastic? Wood is heavier than plastic. Wood is less consistent than plastic.

 

Willingness of people to spend more - yes if it sounds good and backed by the manufacturer. And hopefully that manufacturer would be around for awhile.

 

This is a very small market for enthusiasts who have the passion for quality audio.

 

As far as what sounds good, it boils down into individuals taste and preferences. But that is something that you have to develop yourself.  I read reviews and impressions but I take them with a grain of salt because at the end of the day I listen to music not the equipment.

A lot of the cost can be attributed to Research and Development. Just think about the people behind something like the HD800. I bet they had teams of people just to design the aesthetics alone; nevermind the engineers that had to design and test the driver, enclosure, etc.

 

Once that's all finished and it goes to the assembly line it probably doesn't cost a whole lot to manufacture. But they have to get all of their invested money back!

 

P.S. It's really nice to see this sort of thing as a first post from a new member. Welcome to Head-Fi.

The cost of high end equipment mostly goes to research. Most of the established audiophille brands dont do ads outside of geeky forums like this. Although i have to say that manufactoring costs a lot as well, especially the better headphone amps. Material costs are also a concern for cables as the material they use like silver or gold or pure copper are normally pretty expensive.

 

BTW the descriptive words that we use to describe sound are all relative, relative to other experiences with other headphones/IEMs. However, you will find that most of us here have about the same ears so we can relate to those terms. The technical aspects of audio equipment are, really, very easy to discern, for example the imaging, sibillance, neutrality, speed, clarity and so are. The only way to know more of these is just to hear more stuff by going to shops, meets and so on and comparing each of them in terms of the capabilities. Despite the ease of identifying more technical aspects of headphones, the musicality part of it is very debatable since we all like our music heard differently. Nothing wrong with that.

I've found, from experience, after the suggestion of another member, that paying attention to the people who listen to similar types of music as one does is the most helpful.  But to answer your question, graphs can't tell you how much you'll enjoy listening to music using a piece of equipment.  Going by measurements, relative to what headphones I have previously owned that I've liked, the headphones I'm using now I shouldn't like. However, I think they are great.  Likewise, there is a famous audio magazine which people often link to for its anti-hype nature. The owner uses the gear that has the best measurements over all others.  However, this same gear, when I've auditioned it, to me sounds terrible compared to my own gear. This is because, regardless of measurements, or even how well you learn to correlate them to build a technically good system which ticks all the boxes (soundstage, detail, whatever) you can't measure what "enjoyment" truly is. It depends entirely on the person.  Some people like their sound deliberately distorted from dead neutral and, not to mention, everyone's ears have their own unique frequency response just to make it more complex.  With audio gear, a lot of cheap, dead-neutral audio equipment sounds terrible, so a lot of it is made to be slightly coloured and more enjoyable to listen with. 

 

Truly though, the only way to find out what one likes is to try gear. When reading, experience can give one a fair idea what people are talking about when they describe their experiences, but it still doesn't count anywhere near as much as trying it oneself. See the link in my sig for a good write-up on this kind of thing.

supply and demand, nothing more...if some ppl are willing to shell out a few grand on a phone, there'll be ppl to sell it.

 

also, niche markets call for high markups in order to make up for the small demand.

 

If the LCD-2 were manufactured on a large scale, it'd be a lot cheaper...and if the T50RP were made by 2 guys in a basement, it'd cost $500. The machines required to make drivers are terribly expensive.

Pretty much this. Most headphones bought at Head-Fi are made in (relatively) small quantities. The prices are merely a sign of these smaller quantities. It costs more to produce something that you're not making millions of.

supply and demand

You can only know how reliable a reviewer is by 1. reading a bunch of reviews, 2. comparing them to your own experience. When it comes down to it, a review is at best a guide. It's not going to guarantee that your purchase will deliver audio nirvana, or even (seriously) that you'll end up liking it, no matter how many positive reviews a piece of gear gets.

 

After a while, you get a sense of who, more or less, likes what you like and can be relied upon for being as accurate as they can. But there's no substitute for trying stuff out yourself.