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Originally Posted by electropop /img/forum/go_quote.gif
No they are not overpriced. The equipement you need to drive them with to their full potential on the other hand, are.
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No.
Amplifiers are one of the lower margin products in audio. The problem is that hardly anyone knows what it costs to build a quality one.
The fastest way towards finding a clue is visiting the Electra-Print website. You can find schematics and price lists for their transformers. Yes, mostly speaker amps, but you still need power transformers, output transformers, et al. for headphone amps. Please note this is just the price of the iron. If you want to figure the rest, go to Michael Percy's website and download the catalog. You can use that to calculate the rest of the parts.
Throw in at least $100 more for a case and another $100 for jacks, wire, connectors, etc. Don't forget labor and tools, either. And if you're a business, you also get to pay payroll taxes, business taxes, a place to build them, insurance, utilities, and much else.
Now, tell me, how much would you have to charge for that amp just to keep the lights on and from going chapter 11? Go work through the numbers and see how they turn out.
In comparison to headphones, amp margins are slim. Most sources have a pretty healthy margin and cables have the fattest - obese, even - margins of all. Anecdotally, you can see this by how many people are manufacturing each product. The reason there's such a glut of cable pushers is that they are immensely profitable. Draw your own conclusions.
As for the HD-800, can we dispense with the whiny self-entitlement already? This is a luxury product. It is not quite in the same realm as food, clothing or shelter. No one needs one to get by. The HD-800 is for people who want one.
If you don't think it meets your needs, fine. Don't buy one. Just leave out the hand-wringing, mewling, whining, crying, and puling about how (sniff)
unfair (whimper) it isn't quite right. You are not entitled to have Sennheiser or any other company personally make a product specific to your needs. Get over it.