Further to my previous post, looks and celebrity appeal sell. It's unfathomable to me and frankly disgusts me sometimes, but it's incontrovertible. Sad as it is, you just can't make people care or notice the difference in things for which they lack the sophistication. And I mean that in the true sense of the word, not the snobbish one: most people simply lack the ear to appreciate hifi, in much the same way somebody could show me a table full of $1000+ baseball cards and I couldn't care less. On the other hand, they do want to own equipment that they believe is classified as hifi, for the bragging rights and appearance.
Take a look at my beyerdynamic DT880. Most people would wonder why I had such an "old," ugly headphone. Sadly, put it on their heads, and then they get it. But by the time most people put an expensive pair of headphones on their head, it says Bose or Monster on the box. Looks are important. The AKG K701 was, paradoxically, a good choice for Quincy-ization because, at least IMHO, it's one of the coolest looking headphones in current production.* Also, AKG takes a calculated risk that most people wouldn't recognize what they were missing with a poorly-amped K701. The idea is that people will buy something that looks studio-serious and cool at the same time, and that other people looking, even without knowing who AKG is, will know that the Q701 is expensive. Unfortunately, I can only see failure ahead, as even properly amped the K701 lacks the bass impact the average consumer associates with "good" sound.
*Full disclosure: I think Grados are awesome looking, so maybe my sense of style doesn't count!
