[nicholars]

Quote:

 
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd equate denial of baseless accusations of price fixing with believing with fairies...
 
Good luck with that.

 
What? I was just agreeing with you and then telling you about what I saw the other day.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

 
Yeah, you did.
And I said it is possible to both dislike the headphone's sound signature, and also not think they are overpriced.
Simply saying you dislike the sound signature does NOT means they are overpriced.
 
You are quite insufferable.

 
You are quite delusional...or cannot read or comprehend. Or both.

 

[Eisenhower]

Quote:

You are quite delusional...or cannot read or comprehend. Or both.

 
Part of reading comprehension involves detection of implications, which you quite clearly made.
Only an idiot would not understand the implications they are making...

 

[formula1]

Guys, i think this discussion is going out of hands. Try to take it easy. 
 
Btw, i auditioned the HD800 on the past weeks and i was really surprised. If i find a good deal, i will buying them for sure. 

 

[pp312]

Interesting discussion, but I think it's more or less a given that the price of headphones, especially flagships, is set by other factors than actually material costs. Like all products it's determined by what the market will bear, but also the manufacturer's need to recoup his costs from when the phone was being developed--the months/years of R & D. I've no doubt Sennheiser could halve its price and still make a profit, but as long as sales are brisk it's extremely unlikely to do so--not surprisingly.
 

 

[formula1]

Quote:

but also the manufacturer's need to recoup his costs from when the phone was being developed--the months/years of R & D. I've no doubt Sennheiser could halve its price and still make a profit, but as long as sales are brisk it's extremely unlikely to do so--not surprisingly.
 

 
Yeah, i've heard that R&D process take long time and can be expensive. All the prototypes, and also further improvements after the headphone has been released. 

 

[Beagle]

I also base my opinion of overpricing on the fact that when the HD800 was introduced, it listed for $1295 in the US and $1795 in Canada, despite the fact that our currencies were pretty much at par. And if you wanted to order one from the US, you were out of luck. No shipping of Sennheiser products to Canada. And I am sure it was the same thing for other countries like Australia.  If that is not gouging or greed, I do not know what is.

 

[meyner]

Perhaps it has something to do with logistics or contracting of some sort relating to licenses?
 
Even if it is not headphones because usa is such a large market there are cases where companies are able to sell things cheaper in the us than even the country where the product is from since they know lots will sell. 
 
Also it may have to do with government taxation policies, red tape, and importation measure. Part of the reason why some brands of european hard liquor actually sells cheaper in the US than in europe itself is cause of taxation measures. (although it is a product some what unrelated to headphones there may be a correlation)
 
I have not been to europe but i find general electronics to be noticeably cheaper in US compared to asia (japan, korea), brazil. Mostly due to red tape laws, protectionism, and import duties. I remember my American friend went to canada for a year to do chemistry research at Mc Gills University in quebec and he would always complain about how things are expensive there cause of taxes
 
I may be completely wrong but these are just some things that come to mind. 

 

[nicholars]

Quote:

 
Yeah, i've heard that R&D process take long time and can be expensive. All the prototypes, and also further improvements after the headphone has been released. 

 
I have no doubt at all that the R&D takes a long time and Sennheiser do a lot of research into materials and acoustics and all that but I still think they could sell the HD800 at a lot less and still make a profit. I expect that the top companies all agree to keep the prices high on the flagships instead of fighting for the best price. It is better all round that way, except for customers obviously. The only exception to this seems to be hifiman who sell high end products at reasonable prices.

 

[Eisenhower]

Quote:

I also base my opinion of overpricing on the fact that when the HD800 was introduced, it listed for $1295 in the US and $1795 in Canada, despite the fact that our currencies were pretty much at par. And if you wanted to order one from the US, you were out of luck. No shipping of Sennheiser products to Canada. And I am sure it was the same thing for other countries like Australia.  If that is not gouging or greed, I do not know what is.

 
 
It is part of Sennheiser's conspiracy to screw over non-Americans by forcing all those governments to implement value added taxes...

 

[sinnottj]

It's probably been said before many times, but I think a big factor is the popularity of Beats and their re-alignment of what the general public considers a reasonable price to pay for a pair of headphones. 5 years ago I doubt the average non-audiophile would ever have considered paying £200+ for a pair of headphones; now it's common-place.
 
The knock-on effect has been a general rise in the price of a lot of headphones. When I first started to look at 'serious' headphones a couple of years ago, a pair of HD650s could be had for around £250, these days it's more like £330. (check out the trend on this Amazon price tracker: http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Sennheiser-HD-650-Reference-Headphone/product/B00018MSNI?context=browse) The UK RRP of the higher end Grados has gone up a fair whack in the last year or so, too.
 
I think this has allowed manufacturers to price their flagship models as high as they do: they're luxury items and so they can command a luxury price compared to the consumer- or pro-grade models.
 
I'm sure they make a very healthy profit on a set of HD800s, but 'overpriced' is subjective, especially when considering luxury goods.

 

[nicholars]

I was looking at some beats in the shop the other day MAN THEY ARE BAD for the money, they look so cheap and crappy build quality and materials, really bad, I don't know WHY you would want to own those headphones, other than as a fashion statement (although they look **** anyway in my opinion)

 

[sinnottj]

Quote:

I was looking at some beats in the shop the other day MAN THEY ARE BAD for the money, they look so cheap and crappy build quality and materials, really bad, I don't know WHY you would want to own those headphones, other than as a fashion statement (although they look **** anyway in my opinion)

It's all subjective isn't it; my wife bursts out laughing whenever she sees me wearing any of my bigger headphones, and to be fair, they do look pretty ridiculous

 

[nicholars]

Quote:

It's all subjective isn't it; my wife bursts out laughing whenever she sees me wearing any of my bigger headphones, and to be fair, they do look pretty ridiculous

 
But nothing to do with the looks, the plastic and built quality on the pair I saw, just horrible, not sure which of the Beats they were, but they were not good.

 

[dleblanc343]

Quote:

I also base my opinion of overpricing on the fact that when the HD800 was introduced, it listed for $1295 in the US and $1795 in Canada, despite the fact that our currencies were pretty much at par. And if you wanted to order one from the US, you were out of luck. No shipping of Sennheiser products to Canada. And I am sure it was the same thing for other countries like Australia.  If that is not gouging or greed, I do not know what is.

Hey man, that's not Sennheiser's fault! That's us canadians fault for being from... Canada.