[conquerator2]

Of course they'll keep doing it 

 They're careless, money hungry companies. All Most are.
Some just sell good products for cheaper and that's where my wallet goes. For value and price/performance ratio 

-----------------------------------------------
Excited about the EL-8 as my first possible Audeze 

 
 
EDITED: Minor re-folmulation.

 

[mscott58]

  Of course they'll keep doing it 

 They're careless, money hungry companies. All are.
Some just sell good products for cheaper and that's where my wallet goes. For value and price/performance ratio 

-----------------------------------------------
Excited about the EL-8 as my first possible Audeze 

Of course some of the largest investors in those "careless, money hungry companies" are pension funds for teachers, fire-fighters, police, etc. as well as mutual funds who also support the retirements of most people...

 

[grizzlybeast]

^^^50% mark up is pretty normal. Open a business and start having overhead, shipping, packaging, repairs, labor etc and see if you don't atleast double the price it cost you to make it. That being said I am very curious how much t costs to make an lcd3 or this new el8.

 

[Saraguie]

removed by self.

 

[conquerator2]

Spoiler: Few lines about corps...

Stop trying to spin it. You know what I mean... I am not trying to start a discussion here, and it is OT anyway.
Corporations are not family, or friends... All they want is money, for whatever purpose they see fit at their need,

Personal opinion. Spoilered. Please, move on.

 

[GrindedDown]

Honestly i'll be watching closely for reviews of these when they drop. They certainly look pretty awesome and im sure they will sound pretty great. The price also seems pretty reasonable, but we'll see.

In regards to those displeased wih the cabling, i think at this price point and styling the el-8 is aimed at the "mainstream" or budding audiophile audience. This isn't aimed at the group of people that is willing to spend $100-300 on custom silver litz cables or anything like that. that group of audiphiles is probably willin to spend the money on the higher level end game headphones to begin with, so i personally dont see much of a problem with using the cable. Having said that, im very curious to see what the cable actually is loghtning, micro usb, proprietary)...

 

[Focker]

   
The product is only overpriced if people ain't buying it. There's nothing wrong in setting a fat margin as long as there's a buyer. Think Apple. 

 
Exactly. It's relative to the MARKET, and based on the market, Audezes are not overpriced. One could argue that high end headphones in general are overpriced, but the same can't be said for Audeze in isolation. 

 

[funch]

I'm looking forward to reviews of the closed version. I have had LCD-2's (fazor upgraded), have LCD-3's (latest version), and was sorely disappointed by the LCD-XC's.
Been searching for a closed can for a while, so await reviews with baited breath.

 

[reddog]

I'm looking forward to reviews of the closed version. I have had LCD-2's (fazor upgraded), have LCD-3's (latest version), and was sorely disappointed by the LCD-XC's.
Been searching for a closed can for a while, so await reviews with baited breath.

Not to detract from this thread, but have you tried the Alpha Prime's? The Alpha Prime headphones are very very revealing and natural sounding.

 

[Stillhart]

I can't help shake my head at folks who think a $700 headphone is targetted at audiophile noobs or "budding audiophiles".  When I started on my long road to my used $700 LCD-2, I was barely willing to drop $150 on a used pair of Q701's!  Once I did, I didn't think there was any way a $700 headphone could improve the sound enough to be worth the almost 5x as much.  
 
No, this may be an "entry level" Audeze, but it's not an entry level price.  Not even close.

 

[swspiers]

Not to detract from this thread, but have you tried the Alpha Prime's? The Alpha Prime headphones are very very revealing and natural sounding.

True. True.
 
But the volume of the response for these and other Audeze headphones certainly has this Hifiman/Mr.Speakers/Grado fans attention.

 

[Head Injury]

  I can't help shake my head at folks who think a $700 headphone is targetted at audiophile noobs or "budding audiophiles".  When I started on my long road to my used $700 LCD-2, I was barely willing to drop $150 on a used pair of Q701's!  Once I did, I didn't think there was any way a $700 headphone could improve the sound enough to be worth the almost 5x as much.  
 
No, this may be an "entry level" Audeze, but it's not an entry level price.  Not even close.

When I started out, the $300-500 price range was the somewhat permeable foam ceiling. Sure, there were more expensive headphones, but not many still in production. HD650 and K701 was endgame material for a lot of people. People just threw their wads of cash at bigger amps

 
I'm not sure if I should thank the manufacturers for pushing the envelope, or despise them for what they did to the economics of the hobby. I guess I'll mostly thank them because I have the willpower to not buy into the hype (at least not every time

)

 

[GrindingThud]

It's a serious marketing mistake. Audeze states on their current line of headphones that the optimum amp is 1-4W. The new headphone states 200mw - 4W.
This implies to the buyer that the amp is not optimum for most of their line.....and people serious about their LCD2/3/X may not consider this amp thinking it's not optimum.

Well, by planar standards, it's slightly light on power... And I guess I'm surprised given that you can get amps for the same price range or cheaper that deliver 3-4 times more clean, class A power into similar 30-50 ohms load.

 

[GrindedDown]

I can't help shake my head at folks who think a $700 headphone is targetted at audiophile noobs or "budding audiophiles".  When I started on my long road to my used $700 LCD-2, I was barely willing to drop $150 on a used pair of Q701's!  Once I did, I didn't think there was any way a $700 headphone could improve the sound enough to be worth the almost 5x as much.  

No, this may be an "entry level" Audeze, but it's not an entry level price.  Not even close.

Ok i agree tha this isnt an entry level price, but that this is entry level for audeze and entry level for the top of the line so to speak.

I say that because i agree that while $700 is still very expensive for headphones, it is becoming more attainable to the mass market. The landscape of general consumer headphones has changed over the last few years quite a lot and a lot of it is due in part to Beats. Love them or hate them, Beats has done an excellent job at convincing the average consumer to spend several hundred dollars on a pair of headphones. I remember in 2007, if you told your average buddy you spent $300 on headphones, you were insane, elitist, or both. Nowadays it is less of an insane proposition and the proof is simply that i see $300 headphones (mostly beats) a lot nowadays. I mean i go to the gym and there are at least thre or four pair of beats studios in there.

I think that is awesome. Its aweomse that the average consumer is willing to spend money on headphones and it is becoming more accepted. That itself is only awesome because it allows companies like Audeze to release a product like this. It certainly is a big leap in price and quality from beats, but its not longer bat$@t crazy for people. Its exciting that there are more and more products from daps, audio services, and headphones that are starting to bridge the gap between general consumer and audiophile.

Btw, awesome to see a fellow las vegan here on the forums!

 

[Lorspeaker]

these days one can expect v good sound around the 300bucks range...
any premium i m willing to pay is only becos of looks, plus the can being "new" on the mkt, or some new tech innovation...or claims of it being TOTL..hmmm...curiosity.
( great buys : dt150...yamaha mt220...hd600...eg)
 
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that connector on the EL8...doesnt it look flimsy? if u press against it in the wrong direction.. break??
If it is sitting deeper into the cups..better.