20,000 HD800s sold: A new age for head-fi?

Your source is...?

That's an awefull lot if it can be verified as true.

I'm not really sure if you can use the serial number to gauge the number of units sold. I used to support manufacturing where I used to work, the test equipment we used at the factory. Whenever there was a change in the product no matter how slight but significant, we would change the serial number so we can track it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuwhere 

I'm not really sure if you can use the serial number to gauge the number of units sold. I used to support manufacturing where I used to work, the test equipment we used at the factory. Whenever there was a change in the product no matter how slight but significant, we would change the serial number so we can track it.

Along with this, there could be 20,000 HD800s made, but they're not sold in serialized order.  So someone could own the 20,000th one made, but also not be the 20,000th purchaser.

I would not be surprised if they have sold that many units, but I would also not take serial numbers as proof of amount of units sold.  Even though their serials are sequential, they are also done in batches.  ie, the batch from august all start in 12XXX whereas the batch from June all started in 10XXX.  We would have to assume that the 10XXX batch was a full 2 thousand units- not a crazy assumption, but also not a leap I would be willing to make without Sennheiser confirming.

Serial numbers contain a lot of information, from date codes, ECNs, even the assembly line the unit was assembled from. These information help the manufacturer track when, where and who made the product just in case their is a recall, product failure or whatever they want to know.

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Originally Posted by dukeskd 

Or they could be sequential, which I seriously believe they are. There are probably ranges of serial numbers destined for a region, however I own/ed 3 consecutive HD800s all months apart with serial numbers, 14054, next month, 14993, etc .. so its a safe guess to assume they are linearly increasing.

True, they can be. I don't really know how they serialize their headphones. That would be a lot considering their price also. And they've only been selling them for 3 years?

Isn't that assuming all the HD800's with a serial number <20000 have been sold?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nehcrow 

Isn't that assuming all the HD800's with a serial number <20000 have been sold?

Its sold once they leave Senns warehouse. And I doubt Senns would be warehousing a lot of them since they would be inventory. You don't make money on inventoried goods. That would be a lose.

audiophile headphones are still in a minority and just barely breaking into the mainstream.

compare the number of hd 800s to the number of beats by dre sold, or the number of skullcandies.... millions.....and millions.....