[Akabeth]

I hope I don't get punished for posting this but...

Do you think Bose secretly reads head-fi?

secretly planning slowly advance into the so called 'audiophile' ranks?

It just hit me that.... of all the headphone manufacturers today, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they are the first to make a real 'attempt' to supplant the R10s or Orpheus. Save all the criticism, I can only imagine they have the financial pool and 'public' support to pull this off

I mean a lot of people in this site are asking for a new 'flagship'. Seriously.... no?

Whether they do or not, I'll leave it at that.

 

[Than]

Why would they? They're doing well financially with their marketing. Their priority is clearly aesthetic on the cheap. I doubt they'd put effort into something that wouldn't benefit them in the least, and would go against their business model.

 

[gz76]

I don't think this is likely, as their strategy tends to be to provide items to the wider consumer market en-mass. The high-end is too niche I'd think. Most companies try to recoup their research and development costs by selling in volume, except in some cases where a flagship model is produced to reinforce a companies prowess in a particular area. I think if Bose were to do this, they'd do it with something they'd get a better return on, such as a surround sound system, which is what most consumers are buying at the moment.

 

[sizwej]

interesting thought...but i doubt it.They may have the $$ to do it,but i just dont see them stepping out of their comfort zone and going ultra-high end.Besides,if they did read head-fi, they would know that their reputation amongst audiophiles is not good,therfore even if they did put out a half decent product,it would probably be branded as another snake-oil knock off by the market they would be trying to reach.

 

[ericj]

I think they have a pretty good idea what sort of shiny objects the reptillian mind is drawn to.

 

[GreatDane]

I think the answer has been stated above. Of course if they did make a HP worth $2,000 they'd charge $6,000.

 

[Libertad]

Bose ad reads

These new quiet Comfort 9 headphones eliminate 99% of ambient noise while staying faithful to the recording

price $1,000

Oh yeah BOSE is definitely getting there its only a matter of time

 

[Akathisia]

I'm sure that they marketed their current line of headphones at the bleeding edge of what the market would pay and still sell a ton of them. If we know anything about Bose, it's that they have some serious marketing talent.

 

[nikongod]

I dont think bose bashing based on what they know is valid, they have EXCEPTIONALLY good equipment in house, and are very adept at building high quality EQ units. This is good because you need a good EQ to make their worthless consumer gear sound ok in a sound room with a $200k amp system...

bose has never sold anything at a loss, or even close. The people who care about something like a R10 or similar are not people who care about a bose product. to that end, people who care about a triport dont even start to care about R10 or similar.... If anything building a legitmately good product would hurt their buisness. Someone WOULD buy it because its bose and thats the best, but ask why it sounds nothing like anything else they make.... then the gears would start turning and the consumer would see that the R10 is still a better headphone.

From a marketing angle: its often better to just keep people in the dark.

 

[espire]

Back in the eighties, Bose made some great professional equipment. If they wanted to, I'm sure they could do it again, but as Than said, why would they want to?

 

[ClieOS]

Bose's ads in the Popular Science is doing its wonderful job on promoting their stuff to the public (not to mention all the ads in Hi-Fi magazines and late night TV), I don't really think they need to monitor forum like ours. They seem to know very well what kind of product / image their targeted market want from them.

 

[younglee200]

I don't think Bose will ever do that because that would simply take too much work. Many audiophiles, who'd be the ones purchasing the expensive headphones, seem to dislike Bose for their low money / quality ratio.

 

[Ojsinnerz]

Seeing how they're making so much profit by using their marketing strategy alone, they have absolutely no reasons to do so.

 

[coolchu001]

Bose will not make the next R10, if they were to make a $3-4000 headphone, they simply just have to change the aesthetic design of their triports and call them "quadports" and market them as "the best headphone ever" like crazy and still get boat loads of buyers

 

[BigTony]

BOSE don't make audio gear, they make money. Its a buisness, thats all.

My grandfather spent 50 years building up a furniture buisness, very well know in the North of England. He retiered and my Uncle took over. He closed down all the factories, replaced craftsmen with accountounts, and turned a small family firm in an UK chain worth millions! When they stopped making furniture, they started to make money.
If you want to run a buisness and make money (why else run one?) then marketing is about 90% of the effort, most small start-ups fail because they don't realise this. Don't try and sell what you think the people want , i.e. high end audio gear, sell what they actually buy - cheap audio gear with lotsa dials and buttons, and pseudo technology/science.

BT