20,000 HD800s sold: A new age for head-fi?
Jan 2, 2013 at 5:56 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 53
dukeskd

dukeskd

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I think this is an important event as it demonstrates how audiophile headphones have indeed become "mainstream". 10 years ago, no flagship would be selling in these numbers and at $1.5k per unit but Sennheiser has accomplished just that with ~5000 sales per year (2009-2012). The internet definitely helped in marketing (it is how I started my journey into head-fi), and globalized this corner of the audio market.
 
Congratulations Sennheiser.. now please release a 'stat!
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 4:06 PM Post #6 of 53
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.
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 4:10 PM Post #7 of 53
Quote:
wuwhere said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 4:16 PM Post #8 of 53
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.
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 4:27 PM Post #9 of 53
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.
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 6:27 PM Post #10 of 53
Quote:
wuwhere said:
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.
Click to expand...


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.
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 9:49 PM Post #11 of 53
Quote:
dukeskd said:
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.
Click to expand...

 
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?
 
Jan 2, 2013 at 11:02 PM Post #15 of 53
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.....
 
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