[boodi]

Just dont follow the totl hype trends that happens every week or the other : for new just released items..been a time now..

I learned it fast ( and stay 101% away from the iem frenzy )

It is right to guess more value in items with long lasting popularity and appeal

 

[rreynolds]

Manufacturers charge that much, because people are willing to pay that. Same reason dealerships markup in demand vehicles by 25%, some people have more money that sense. Headphones are a long term consumable, similar to a car and share the same trends when looking at the used market. The moment you drive a Jaguar off the lot it drops substantially, same with a new Susvara.

I personally don't think the Susvara is worth $6k, neither does the Abyss AB 1266. The benefit of our hobby is buying and selling used gear. I've seen Susvaras sell for less than $3.5k as well as other flagships for almost 60% off their MSRP. My entire system was built off Hifishark, minus the Burson Soloist.

I think Hifiman is making a good decision by bringing the price gap between the Arya and HE1000 closer. The jump in price didn't really equate to the performance difference between the 2. It also has me wondering if they'll drop the price of the Susvara to $4.5k MSRP? That would almost kill the market for headphones like the Abyss AB 1266, even considering subjective taste. You'd be bonkers to purchase for example a Diana TC over a Susvara if they were to end up being the same price. Again, just my 2 cents.

 

[tradyblix]

The issue is not why HEKse is suddenly so "cheap", but it was that expensive in the first place.

Yes. You are 100 percent right about that. I can't believe that just stating that they were overpriced and manufacturers should charge more reasonable prices (in general) winds so many people here up. Your headphones are going to depreciate and or be replaced with better versions, chasing summit-fi is pointless.

As pointless as lording it over people because you have a Susvara in the HE-1000se thread. Ugh. I had enough of that with Meze elite people in the Empyrean thread last year. Shut up already... we know you think you're better. We don't care. We want to talk about our headphone, not yours.

I personally don't think the Susvara is worth $6k

Nobody does. You know why ? Becuase as we've all heard this morning "Nobody would pay that much for it, it's 4k". Okay then. So much for a long term store of value if you don't even pay what Hifiman asks for it.

And you're right, headphones == cars. For sure.

 

[DarginMahkum]

As pointless as lording it over people because you have a Susvara in the HE-1000se thread. Ugh. I had enough of that with Meze elite people in the Empyrean thread last year. Shut up already... we know you think you're better. We don't care. We want to talk about our headphone, not yours.

I don't have Susvara, I had for a while. I am just trying to decide between Arya Organic vs HEKv2S vs HEKse vs HEKv2.

 

[tradyblix]

I don't have Susvara, I had for a while. I am just trying to decide between Arya Organic vs HEKv2S vs HEKse vs HEKv2.

I didn't mean you. sorry. Susvara had just been in the conversation since prices for HE1000 headphones got brought up. for no reason. because susvara people like to show off.

My advice, you should get HEK Stealth because it's the best price performance. The stealth magnet tech is better. An argument could be made for the original, as the Stealth looks a bit bright, but they're priced the same and I'd go for the tech that Hifiman is putting in everything for a reason.

The HEKSe is more refined and quite different in experience to Arya Stealth and so it might be further from the Arya sound for you. It's also bright, brighter than Arya Stealth was (IMO).

Why pay 1299 for an Arya's technicalities when you can pay 1399 for a HEKv2 of any flavor (other than se) ?

 

[boodi]

Manufacturers charge that much, because people are willing to pay that.

And this is what happens normally when people ( be them 10 or 1000 ) see or feel that price and mean are justified a way or another to them - so that the vendor will act accordingly ( and keep it original or retouch it or discount it etc ) . Susvara seem to have decent base of users and appeal . I see its stable price to set around 4k'ish or soon , dont see it particularly outrageous in its segment of market nowadays

Obviously > if you go in Susvara thread , there's plenty of long time Susvara owners and users that kinda think the same , calling it diminishing returns for one or listening heaven for another , they have different reasons for valuing their item .. I am sure Hifiman accounted for all of them reasons

 

[leylandi]

I don't have Susvara, I had for a while. I am just trying to decide between Arya Organic vs HEKv2S vs HEKse vs HEKv2.

HEKse veya HEK stealth. Altı kurtarmaz

 

[RadekB]

The issue is not why HEKse is suddenly so "cheap", but it was that expensive in the first place.

Yes. You are 100 percent right about that. I can't believe that just stating that they were overpriced and manufacturers should charge more reasonable prices (in general) winds so many people here up. Your headphones are going to depreciate and or be replaced with better versions, chasing summit-fi is pointless.

Well, that's our opinion on whether headphones are overpriced or not and whether we are willing to pay for them or not. But it's the first time I'm hearing of a manufacturer that reached the same conclusion and lowered the price... strange, don't you think?

 

[tradyblix]

Well, that's our opinion on whether headphones are overpriced or not and whether we are willing to pay for them or not. But it's the first time I'm hearing of a manufacturer that reached the same conclusion and lowered the price... strange, don't you think?

Well... I can't argue with you there. It's strange. I would like to know the reason.

I do think Hifiman is a way better choice today because of these price drops tho. I'm not sure I would have been happy with The HEKse at 3500. No sir.

It's detailed and I do like that. But detail's not everything sadly. It gets way overrated in our hobby over relaxing listening and bass. Thankfully I have an Empyrean. Another headphone that people constantly malign becuase "it's not detailled enough". Sometimes you just wanna chill and not hear icepicks. ya know ? They make a fantastic pair in any event.

I always appreciated the guy in the Empyrean thread who has like ALL of these headphones, including Susvara and D8000 Pro, and HEKse and even better dac and amp gear than anyone in here, in fact it's an insane gear collection in his sig, to die for, and he actually is normal and says he still appreciates things about the "lesser" headphones he has. It puts things in persective a lot.

 

[boodi]

Well, that's our opinion on whether headphones are overpriced or not and whether we are willing to pay for them or not. But it's the first time I'm hearing of a manufacturer that reached the same conclusion and lowered the price... strange, don't you think?

I find it normal really..

many brands cut prices after years of sale on item X or Y , for market conditions / updating models / brands competition etc

Isn't it normal ?

 

[tradyblix]

It also has me wondering if they'll drop the price of the Susvara to $4.5k MSRP? That would almost kill the market for headphones like the Abyss AB 1266, even considering subjective taste. You'd be bonkers to purchase for example a Diana TC over a Susvara if they were to end up being the same price. Again, just my 2 cents.

Nobody should consider buying Abyss in this day and age anyway. Those are legacy headphones from a time 10 years ago where they competed with Audeze LCD-2 and HD800. And Grados. I know they upgraded the drivers and tried to make a headphone for women with Diana and then tried to market it back to men again, but yeah... no. Not at those prices. Their headphone is a torture device with an unnatural sound.

 

[Fargeg]

It is interesting that, a company like FiiO can bring out a HP that costs $300 and has a carry case, a cable with a changeable connector (first time for full sized HPs, I think), and a proper tuning which many TOTL HPs that cost 10x the price fail to do. And what is more interesting is that, those HPs with horrible tuning are sold like candies among the audiophiles with deep pockets (HifiMan is one of the best in the market when it comes to tuning open back HPs, but their TOTL closed backs are big fails). I see people buy those things, jump up and down for how good they are, start buying DACs, amps, cables and other stuff to compensate the incompetence of the manufacturer, and then at some point they jump onto the next hype train and sell those accumulated nonsense for peanuts. Just like those fancy DACs that claim to make you "feel" -300 dB, but can get away with a distortion caused by a cheap power supply in a $10K+ device, which those fancy audiophile ears fail to hear.

When there is a TOTL hype every week, it is just normal that things lose such amount of value. It is just a bubbled up market in which many are incompetent and riding on the price hike wave. The issue is not why HEKse is suddenly so "cheap", but it was that expensive in the first place. Again, I think HifiMan is one of the best brands in the HP market. I wouldn't lay fingers on many other brands that are so hyped. There are cable companies that sell cables for several thousands and claim to have made some research and came up with such a brilliant idea that can improve the transmission in some magical way - as if they have chemists, physicists, electrical engineers among them that publish papers and gather patents in those fields every time they release a "product". Even their claims are conflicting...

So, it is just normal that products in such a hype driven market lose value and you have such sudden changes in prices.

This is just Hifiman tanking their own used market through aggressive sales and churning out endless new variants as usual. Adorama was well-known for putting the HE6se on sale for something like 60% off on the regular. If Sennheiser did the same thing and released subtle revisions of the HD800S every couple of years that sounded about as good, you'd be able to get that headphone much cheaper as well. The HEX V2 was an actual underperformer, and the way the secondhand prices genuinely nosedived relative to Hifiman's own pricing reflected that accordingly

Also, the problem with headphones like FiiO's is that they inevitably get compared to the 6XX or Sundara before dying in obscurity. Tuning isn't enough to carry a headphone when those two (and K371 for the Harman-heads) already exist

 

[tradyblix]

They did release the 8xx for drop but people didn't like the tuning. I would buy an HD800S again if it was like, 700 bucks.

I'm not sure Hifiman is tanking their own market tho... they're selling Arya's like hotcakes atm and they're a really good value IMO. Just a pleasant, neutral, all around headphone. By far the best bang for buck headphone I bought in recent memory. And yes, sadly I can't sell it for what I paid for it anymore either.

 

[Faitoq]

@boodi @tradyblix - Thanks to both of you for sharing. I really, really appreciate it

Cheers!

 

[boodi]

welcome