[ctsooner22]

Oh, bill my account for that pre order Nic. Thanks.

 

[noplsestar]

I wonder where the trend will stop.. when IEMs will cost as much as the Abyss ?

Still, I really trust VE... the VE8 are worth every penny, but the law of diminishing returns... sigh

Alas this trend won’t stop so soon I guess. And I too trust VE but a 5k IEM is absolutely not ok!! One could say that it’s all manufactured in Germany but the InEar ProPhile 8 that some of us praise very highly (I know, not you Daniel is 1k less than the VE8 and probably one of the best fitting (and sounding) UIEMs available, is also made in Germany. So it won’t count. But their next IEM will probably double the price too.

So we must not buy the new VE IEM, even if it sounds great hahahahaha (I know you won’t stick to that rule)

In that regard I wanted to thank EE for their relatively reasonable price management.

 

[jeffhawke]

Speaking of which, I have decided to forego a life in academics to finally pursue my lifelong dream of being a rapper. I will be dropping my album this summer in a few months.

It will retail for $24.95, but I have GREAT news for readers of the thread, as you can pre-order it for JUST $19.95. I trust you will all go ahead and order right away, as this will likely be the hottest album of the summer. Thanks in advance!

Great! When can we expect an Opera album?

 

[Wyville]

Speaking of which, I have decided to forego a life in academics to finally pursue my lifelong dream of being a rapper. I will be dropping my album this summer in a few months.

It will retail for $24.95, but I have GREAT news for readers of the thread, as you can pre-order it for JUST $19.95. I trust you will all go ahead and order right away, as this will likely be the hottest album of the summer. Thanks in advance!

Oh man, what a coincidence! There I was just thinking about establishing the IEM-Tang Clan, with such eminent members as...
Inspectah DAP
Method Amp
EQ-God
Cable Killa
Ol'Dirty Earwax
Ghostface Reviewah

 

[ranfan]

Speaking of which, I have decided to forego a life in academics to finally pursue my lifelong dream of being a rapper. I will be dropping my album this summer in a few months.

It will retail for $24.95, but I have GREAT news for readers of the thread, as you can pre-order it for JUST $19.95. I trust you will all go ahead and order right away, as this will likely be the hottest album of the summer. Thanks in advance!

Best I can offer is 3 chocolate sprinkles.

 

[Wyville]

Best I can offer is 3 chocolate sprinkles.

Hagelslag?! Sold!

 

[proedros]

this thread is cooking

[ insert James Harden - Houston Rockets gif ]

 

[474194]

+1 Pre-order.

[X] Vinyl
[ ] CD

Warning when Suge Knight gets out. He may want a piece of your 'Hot' record label.

 

[Mimouille]

Thanks guys for the input. Just to answer a few topics:

• The Obravo HPA-1 amp was not developed with their current line up in mind as it is 5 years old
• I don't know the output impedance but they say it is meant to drive headphones / earphones from 16 to 600 ohms. I don't remember it affecting my other iems that much but it does have a leaner presentation than the LPG
• I asked the Obravo guy directly and he said it could be the increased treble presence giving the illusion of less bass
• I think Nic could be right, I just didn't think an amp could affect the sig of a source that much

 

[Bosk]

Alas this trend won’t stop so soon I guess. And I too trust VE but a 5k IEM is absolutely not ok!! One could say that it’s all manufactured in Germany but the InEar ProPhile 8 that some of us praise very highly (I know, not you Daniel is 1k less than the VE8 and probably one of the best fitting (and sounding) UIEMs available, is also made in Germany. So it won’t count. But their next IEM will probably double the price too.

So we must not buy the new VE IEM, even if it sounds great hahahahaha (I know you won’t stick to that rule)

In that regard I wanted to thank EE for their relatively reasonable price management.

My understanding is that most balanced armature drivers which are employed in high end IEMs are manufactured by either Knowles or Sonion. Plucking a number out of the air, if they were to cost Vision Ears USD $20 per driver that would equate to a cost of US $520 for each pair of these new 13 driver UIEMs. Add in the cost of 2pin or MMCX connectors, internal wiring and tubing, the outer shell in acrylic or metal, and the 3.5mm or 2.5mm cable and the cost of manufacture could perhaps rise to $600, or say $700 when factoring into account external packaging and included accessories.

I understand that companies have R&D costs to recoup and are forced to charge more for high-end products which will sell in fewer numbers due to economies of scale, but without knowing more about what makes these particular IEMs so special or difficult to manufacture the asking price of US $5000 struggles to pass the 'garden variety greed' sniff test. If Vision Ears went to the trouble and expense of manufacturing their own BA drivers that would make the price easier to comprehend, but again my understanding is most IEM manufacturers merely ask one of the two after-mentioned companies to supply BA drivers which meet their tuning specifications.

With BA IEMs exploding in popularity one would hope increased competition among manufacturers would force prices downward. This seems to be happening in the lower end of the market but when it comes to TOTL models many companies seem to be charging larger and larger amounts thinking that doing so will improve the perception of quality among customers and because they can get away with it.

 

[eldss]

My understanding is that most balanced armature drivers which are employed in high end IEMs are manufactured by either Knowles or Sonion. Plucking a number out of the air, if they were to cost Vision Ears USD $20 per driver that would equate to a cost of US $520 for each pair of these new 13 driver UIEMs. Add in the cost of 2pin or MMCX connectors, internal wiring and tubing, the outer shell in acrylic or metal, and the 3.5mm or 2.5mm cable and the cost of manufacture could perhaps rise to $600, or say $700 when factoring into account external packaging and included accessories.

I understand that companies have R&D costs to recoup and are forced to charge more for high-end products which will sell in fewer numbers due to economies of scale, but without knowing more about what makes these particular IEMs so special or difficult to manufacture the asking price of US $5000 struggles to pass the 'garden variety greed' sniff test. If Vision Ears went to the trouble and expense of manufacturing their own BA drivers that would make the price easier to comprehend, but again my understanding is most IEM manufacturers merely ask one of the two after-mentioned companies to supply BA drivers which meet their tuning specifications.

With BA IEMs exploding in popularity one would hope increased competition among manufacturers would force prices downward. This seems to be happening in the lower end of the market but when it comes to TOTL models many companies seem to be charging larger and larger amounts thinking that doing so will improve the perception of quality among customers and because they can get away with it.

You didn't account for labor costs which being Germany are going to be higher, recoup costs of sending free samples to reviewers/artists, etc + the audiophile tax + the head-fi hype tax.

 

[chaiyuta]

@Bosk : don't forget the exclusive cable from Effect Audio one. I think its price is at least more than 200$.

 

[flinkenick]

To be honest, I find it hard to imagine it will be 'just' a 13 BA charged at this price. Iems as Zeus and A18 were already considering pushing it (not only in terms of drivers but price) at the time of their release, and they sport more drivers.

My guess is the shell will be something super fancy (like FA LAB2?), which would make a lot of sense considering it's a uiem and they're keeping the shell super secret. Whether or not the regular audiophile wants this is a second of course. A next would be the cable, maybe they will do something high-end with Effect Audio like Arthur. It would be really awesome if they actually included some new tech, but I find the chance less likely (unless the 13th driver is one of those tweeters like the CE-5 or something).

 

[Deezel177]

My understanding is that most balanced armature drivers which are employed in high end IEMs are manufactured by either Knowles or Sonion. Plucking a number out of the air, if they were to cost Vision Ears USD $20 per driver that would equate to a cost of US $520 for each pair of these new 13 driver UIEMs. Add in the cost of 2pin or MMCX connectors, internal wiring and tubing, the outer shell in acrylic or metal, and the 3.5mm or 2.5mm cable and the cost of manufacture could perhaps rise to $600, or say $700 when factoring into account external packaging and included accessories.

I understand that companies have R&D costs to recoup and are forced to charge more for high-end products which will sell in fewer numbers due to economies of scale, but without knowing more about what makes these particular IEMs so special or difficult to manufacture the asking price of US $5000 struggles to pass the 'garden variety greed' sniff test. If Vision Ears went to the trouble and expense of manufacturing their own BA drivers that would make the price easier to comprehend, but again my understanding is most IEM manufacturers merely ask one of the two after-mentioned companies to supply BA drivers which meet their tuning specifications.

With BA IEMs exploding in popularity one would hope increased competition among manufacturers would force prices downward. This seems to be happening in the lower end of the market but when it comes to TOTL models many companies seem to be charging larger and larger amounts thinking that doing so will improve the perception of quality among customers and because they can get away with it.

Well, I think we should know better now as consumers to not only take into account material costs. It is an integral part of the equation, but a large sum of money also goes into the crossover (both the design and the labour of soldering all those components together) - especially considering the customisable sound signatures which means more complex crossovers, the so-called revolutionary shell design and faceplate, marketing, etc. VE also develop their own acoustic chambers or horns for their drivers. If you look at the article headflux.de published outlining the production process of the VE6, they have proprietary "scaffolding" which the drivers fire into to achieve the desired sound - almost like UE's TruTone drivers or 64Audio's semi-Tia drivers. They also confirmed to me on Instagram that it's only available in universal form. This suggests to me that the acoustics of the shell play a huge part into the IEM's sound, which is why they can't make a custom variant - much like the similarly-luxurious Tia Fourte. Finally, Vision Ears' dollar-per-driver ratio has always been notoriously high. Their 2-driver model is one of the most expensive ones on the market, like their 3-driver and so on. For reference, if we're counting drivers alone, the Custom Art Harmony 8.2 with its 8 BA drivers costs just over half the VE8.

I'm not making excuses for VE; I hate ultra-high prices just as much as the next guy. What I am saying is $5000 was my first guess as soon as I saw the manufacturer logo and the driver count. If that price is official, I'm not at all surprised.

 

[Mimouille]

We have no really clue how much they will sell it. I highly doubt they will double the price of their current flagship.

On this topic in general, people know I am in the clan of those who think huge price hikes are never justified, and some brands are just greedy and preying on our obsession with having the best stuff.

No I know the VE guys a bit, and I don't see them being like that. I hope I will not be proved wrong. After all 64 Audio used to be a value for money oriented brand, before they became a "we value your money" brand.