[SunshineReggae]

I don't think they are expensive, when put in context, for instance I use my DT880 day in day out, hours and hours. God I donno how many hours I have been using them. I spend 300 bucks on them? I dunno, something like that, but divided by amount of hours used that price is nothing, is a joke.
 
Yeah there are headphone that cost 1500 bucks. I dunno if that is justified, you can decide for yourself if that is worth the money. But I think typical good headphones below 300 bucks are always good value.

 

[Svatopluk]

At least with thousand dollar plus headphones a slight performance increase is usually involved. The same can not be said with expensive shoes, wristwatches and cowboy boots.

 

[Packdemon]

bump

 

[whorology]

In my opinion, the marketing is aimed to create the perception that the ultra high-end headphones are going to give you an exponentially better experience.  
 
The problem is that there are many subjective variables and that an individual may truly enjoy HD800's 5 times as much as the HD600's, but it may not be totally based on quantifiable factors, and one of those factors may even be  their investment in the product.  With that said, for that individual it may be worth it.  
 
For some, they realize that the small difference does not justify the price, to each their own I guess. 

 

[zazex]

  I just want to know from a practical (consumer) standpoint (as an example) what I'm paying for when I buy US$500 headphone vs US$300. Essentially what will that US$200 difference buy me, or any difference (not just 200) for that matter?

Also note that aside from that example (this is not an example) I'm also looking for a headset suitable for gaming/music/movies. My current price range is anything from US$80-300, but I'm not sure what more (features/quality) I'd get out of spending the extra buck. Right know I'm looking at the Audio Technica ATH-AG1 (or ATH-A50x w/modmic) vs Sennheiser G4ME ZERO (also want to know how the G4ME ZERO is different from the previous PC 350 and PC 350 SE models as I'd much rather save money buying one of those if they are the basically the same thing) both being run on a Asus Xonar U7 amp (up to 150 ohms), and I'd also like to know how those would differ from a simple US$80 HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset w/modmic.

 
So, and correct me if I'm wrong,
you're not so interested in "Is the general high price of headphones justified",
you're really interested in "value added" > what you "get" in a headphone
if you spend/invest a bit more...?
 
Very different question.

 

[pp312]

Don't know if anyone's made this point yet, but it's one thing to take a proprietary driver and plonk it in a plastic housing and whack a circle of damping material around it and quite another to spend weeks, months or years refining a specific design--that is, taking a good driver and making sure that it's so housed and damped as to perform to its ultimate potential. There are endless permutations. Change one thing and you might have to change several other things to compensate, and you need to change those things because golden ears are going to be listening out for the slightest failing and posting on sites like Head-Fi, and the merest hint of criticism from a respected audiophile guru can impact a manufacturer's bottom line like a hand grenade in a chicken coop. In that sense, yes, high prices are justified, but it's also up to the consumer to seek out those headphones where the research has actually paid of, because often it doesn't.   

 

[money4me247]

The actual material costs and manufacturing costs of headphones are probably dirt cheap. Generally, in the retail market, it is expected that there is at least a 50% mark-up from manufacturing costs. This is generally true across all fields. To figure out how much it costs to make a pair of headphones, simply find the cheapest pair of over-ear headphones and divide the price by two.
 
Other discrepancies in pricing differences you see in headphones will be caused by R&D costs and advertising dollars.
 
Finally, the mark-up that companies place on their products depends on their target audience. If you are targeting the general consumer, $300 would be considered luxurious. If you are targeting the audiophile hobbyist, you can go up to $1000+. The price of products is simply the highest price point that they can get the largest profits. Headphones can be priced very high for extremely high profit margins off less purchases or headphone priced cheaper with profits generated by a large amount of people buying them. Other times, headphone companies get lucky and are able to sell 'expensive' high-profit-margin headphones to a large segment of the population (aka beats) via strong advertising.
 
the pricing of headphones (and any other material goods) does not actually correlate with actual manufacturing costs, but rather the public's perceived value of them. 

 

[Packdemon]

   
So, and correct me if I'm wrong,
you're not so interested in "Is the general high price of headphones justified",
you're really interested in "value added" > what you "get" in a headphone
if you spend/invest a bit more...?
 
Very different question.

Yes

 

[eljr]

 It's not as simple as cost of materials, not by a long shot. Not by a long long long shot. 

I can tell you, for example, if you buy a sneaker from a major brand, the cost of the shoe itself can be less than $10 but it may need to sell for over $100 at retail to enjoy a standard margin at both wholesale and retail.

 

[eljr]

   
 
the pricing of headphones (and any other material goods) does not actually correlate with actual manufacturing costs, but rather the public's perceived value of them. 

 
 
Not really. 

 

[Shaffer]

Typically, the cost of manufacturing vs MSRP is a 1:4-5 ratio, depending. With cans that feature tightly matched drivers, there can be a fairly high rejection rate in addition to the man hours necessary to perform the testing. That, alone, drives the cost higher. As for dealer cost of 25% of retail cited earlier in the thread, I've personally only seen that on cable accommodation/demo pricing. Typically, one is dealing with ~40% margin, give or take 5 points. On cables, as well. I'm not talking about box stores.

 

[ubs28]

They are absolutely worth it when the Sennheiser HD800 makes short work of speakers costing $10k+. 

 

[Shaffer]

They are absolutely worth it when the Sennheiser HD800 makes short work of speakers costing $10k+. 

$10K is understating it, assuming the rest of the gear and source material is up to par.

 

[Sefelt103]

In design they are pretty simple. 

The design of a headphone is a complex science and I would say this is where the main value (in acoustic design) and hence price comes from. The answer to your question is both no and yes. High end high priced headphones can be considered to be a rip-off. If you try to find out the unit costs of headphones on the internet, like other unit costs you find very little data on manufacturing costs. For headphones the price might be 10X the unit cost. The price of headphones has shot up in recent years. The price you see relates to the status the headphone achieves, the wealth of the locale, what people are prepared to pay, fashion, perceived value and other factors. Prices are lower due to reduced demand once people own headphones and the saturation of the market due to so many manunfacturers of headphones. Another obvious element relating to headphones of modular design is their longevity which goes against their initial cost and saves buying new headphones. Headphones generally do last a long time which is a justification for high prices. Overall there are many factors that appear in relation to headphone price, I believe these devices are overpriced relative to their real worth and that although there is competition manufacturers tend not to significantly undercut each other. You find out what a new headphone is really worth when you put it on ebay after you've run it in.

 

[dannybgoode]

I think the wristwatch analogy is a poor one.  Sure there are manufacturers out there that can charge a brand premium but the work that goes in to the very serious watches (Baume Mercier, Breguet, Panerai etc) is extraordinary.  The gears are, in some cases, hand cut to nanometer precision, the cases machined for hour upon hour, the dials hand engraved etc - all of which takes the utmost skill.  Do they perform better than a £5 Casio?  I have a cheap Casio that no longer works.  My 1970's Omega Chronomaster (when Omega were up there and not Swatch owned) still keeps time beautifully and still looks the part too.
 
As to the OP - I remember reading an article on loudspeakers a few years ago and the bill of parts was very low indeed, a few £££.  Something like £15 for a £200 pair and I would imagine the sums are not that different for headphones.  But, and its a biggie, as others have said the cost of the parts is only a tiny fraction of the overall cost of a product.
 
Personally I am happy to pay £400-500 for something that gives me such enjoyment and if I get round to listening to the real big hitters if I think they sound good enough I would be happy to pay the entry fee...