Question: (It's not Empire Ears specific, but the Legend X happens to be a particularly egregious example of it, and I'm not looking forward to seeing a similar situation with the Valkyrie/Wraith.)
If an audio company has distributor(s) overseas, who sets the prices for the product in that country? Is it the manufacturer? The distributor? Does the manufacturer set the minimum price and the distributor the maximum/actual price?
I understand that the local distributor is on the hook for any warranty issues, import processes, etc. and that they also need to make money off of their services, so it's normal for some/most products to be pricier here. However, I do have some trouble wrapping my head around the fact that the $2300 Legend X, which is $2200 in Japan, $2300 in Canada, and $2600 in Singapore (still within reason, in my opinion), was somehow $3400 at the time of release in Korea. ($3100 now, since KRW fell a bit this past month.)
It wouldn't prevent me from buying an Empire Ears product if I wanted one, but I'd just take a weekend trip to Tokyo to do it (or two, if it was a CIEM). Not only do they have their fancy limited edition versions (White EVR, Red Burl LX, Gold LX), but I'd be coming out on top even if I were to spend the night at the Conrad and grab dinner at Jiro. Never really made sense to me how there could be such a price discrepancy, and I hope the Valkyrie/Wraith don't come in at $2300/$5000 respectively.
Nope, you shouldn't do 3.5mm to 2.5mm/4.4mm.
We do not directly control the pricing set by Dealers in other countries, and many of our international dealers have to factor in shipping, custom service, and import taxes as well.
$3,400 sounds awfully high.. $3,100 as well..
I'm going to be bringing that to attention. Will have to update on this at another time.
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