[rfan8312]

Interesting money4me247. Would you say that Schiit audio is also pricing their products that way? Meaning, pricing them according to what they think the consumer will be willimg to pay?

I ask because after reading the book Schiit Happened, great book, I get the feeling that those guys are not just trying to see how much they can get away with when pricing their products. They use the direct sale method when you purchase from them i believe they are their own distributor.

 

[prot]

Interesting money4me247. Would you say that Schiit audio is also pricing their products that way? Meaning, pricing them according to what they think the consumer will be willimg to pay?

I ask because after reading the book Schiit Happened, great book, I get the feeling that those guys are not just trying to see how much they can get away with when pricing their products. They use the direct sale method when you purchase from them i believe they are their own distributor.

That "willing to pay" thing is a very basic principle of commerce. It's not even related to capitalism/market, traders from antiquity used it too. And *everyone* uses it!

But some are surely abusing it. And most hifi companies are into that abusers group. Most people would be quite surprised and probably downright angry if they knew the true manufacturing costs of those expensive devices.

 

[doctorjazz]

How does the LCD4 compare to HE1000? I already have the LCD3, HE1000 and SR009 so I am not sure whether I should upgrade from LCD3 to LCD4.

Of course you should!!!!

 

[conquerator2]

How does the LCD4 compare to HE1000? I already have the LCD3, HE1000 and SR009 so I am not sure whether I should upgrade from LCD3 to LCD4.

The consensus is quite mixed. Best to wait a bit more

 

[Saad Abdul Aziz]

   
I'm using an Yggdrasil/Ragnarok stack, along with a Pulse X Infinity and a DiDiT DAC212.

AM GETTING the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok stack too how is it for the HE1000?

 

[MattTCG]

  AM GETTING the Yggdrasil/Ragnarok stack too how is it for the HE1000?

 
That would make an exceptional setup for the he1000. I heard it at a meet recently and was very impressed. 

 

[Tony1110]

The consensus is quite mixed. Best to wait a bit more

If there is a consensus then it can't be mixed

 

[immtbiker]

That "willing to pay" thing is a very basic principle of commerce. It's not even related to capitalism/market, traders from antiquity used it too. And *everyone* uses it!

But some are surely abusing it. And most hifi companies are into that abusers group. Most people would be quite surprised and probably downright angry if they knew the true manufacturing costs of those expensive devices.

I have heard from industry insiders that they sell more units if they position their products at a higher price point. 
 
The mentality is, if they charge a lower price, then people will think that it's not as good. So basically, it's the consumer's fault. If we didn't pay it, manufacturers would never charge it. So how do we stop the vicious cycle? Consumers would have to put the brakes on for a long while (supply and demand), before manus would be forced to lower the insane prices.
 
10 years ago, these same products would have never fetched these insane prices. Does anyone think that Audeze would have set the $4000 price on the LCD4, if the HE1000 wasn't $3000? I think not. We are fueling this trend.

 

[musicman59]

 
I have heard from industry insiders that they sell more units if they position their products at a higher price point. 
 
The mentality is, if they charge a lower price, then people will think that it's not as good. So basically, it's the consumer's fault. If we didn't pay it, manufacturers would never charge it. So how do we stop the vicious cycle? Consumers would have to put the brakes on for a long while (supply and demand), before manus would be forced to lower the insane prices.
 
10 years ago, these same products would have never fetched these insane prices. Does anyone thing that Audeze would have set the $4000 price on the LCD4, if the HE1000 wasn't $3000? I think not. We are fueling this trend.

I agree 100% with you. This same physiological effect applies also to other markets.

 

[doctorjazz]

I have heard this too, the high price makes it desirable to consumers, things like the thick face plates on gear have similar effects, perceived quality and higher prices.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

 
I have heard from industry insiders that they sell more units if they position their products at a higher price point. 
 
The mentality is, if they charge a lower price, then people will think that it's not as good. So basically, it's the consumer's fault. If we didn't pay it, manufacturers would never charge it. So how do we stop the vicious cycle? Consumers would have to put the brakes on for a long while (supply and demand), before manus would be forced to lower the insane prices.
 
10 years ago, these same products would have never fetched these insane prices. Does anyone thing that Audeze would have set the $4000 price on the LCD4, if the HE1000 wasn't $3000? I think not. We are fueling this trend.

Pricing an item higher to provoke a panache for a product (alliteration, anyone?) is the same theory used by the Pet Rock designers, who boxed an ordinary river stone into a house-like container, gave it a name, and sold it at (for it) an exorbitant price.
 
I am valiantly trying to extend that tradition here on head-fi.org with my overpriced headphone accessories:
 

1. The Automated Headphone Auditioner (AHA), a foam wig stand, holder, and longhaired wig, parts cost of $35, sold for $4,500 (discounted to $3,499 for head-fiers... surely better than an HE1000!)
2. The Grado Headphone Insert, which is a pair of black checkers painted with a logo and stuffed into the holes of Grado headphones to make them closed ... parts cost of $1, selling for $99.95;
3. The Audiophile Headphone Pillow, a repurposed airline travel neck support pillow to allow you to lie on your side with headphones, placing the lower earcup into the hole in the pillow (parts cost of $16; sold for $2999.99).

 
I also have, still in the development laboratory but soon to be revealed, the Earcup Q-Tip Integrated System (to scratch your ears when your headphones are still on) and the Head Mounted Front And Side Mirror, so you can see yourself from the side and revel in just how handsome those Beats headphones make you look.  Also soon to be sold at astonishing prices!
 
I am pleased to say that my efforts so far seem to be successful, in that my production capacity isn't even able to keep up with the number of orders that I have received.

 

[m8o]

If value and performance isn't there, an "emporer has no cloths" concensus would evolve after a bit of time. Generally speaking. Not meaning to apply that here.

The way I look at it is we're not only paying for premium sound quality with this item, but also a revolutionary cutting edge diaphragm material that has not yet matured so is lacking any cost reduction from manufacturing efficiencies. But we see that evolving right now, with the trickle down HE X.

 

[saidentary]

I have heard this too, the high price makes it desirable to consumers, things like the thick face plates on gear have similar effects, perceived quality and higher prices.

This is part of the reason I'm not at all disappointed that the MicroZOTL 2 doesn't have such a heavy case.  Several people have complained about the case, but if that allows a lower price without sacrificing safety or reliability of the internal electronics, then I prefer it to a heavier case or heavier face plate. 

 

[immtbiker]

My ex-wife and I would be walking down the supermarket aisles, and she would point at the new, fancy shampoo bottle and say, "ooh…that looks good!".
 
"No sweetie", I responded…"The packaging looks good. You have no idea what quality that the inners/innards might offer the consumer." 
 
To which she would reply, "But it's $7! It must be really good!". 
 
 

 
I rest my case.

 

[prot]

I have heard from industry insiders that they sell more units if they position their products at a higher price point. 

The mentality is, if they charge a lower price, then people will think that it's not as good. So basically, it's the consumer's fault. If we didn't pay it, manufacturers would never charge it. So how do we stop the vicious cycle? Consumers would have to put the brakes on for a long while (supply and demand), before manus would be forced to lower the insane prices.

10 years ago, these same products would have never fetched these insane prices. Does anyone think that Audeze would have set the $4000 price on the LCD4, if the HE1000 wasn't $3000? I think not. We are fueling this trend.

In a market system it's *always* the consumer's fault. A market system only works if the consumer if very well informed and acts quite rational and in his own interest. And that's why market systems are pretty much same as utopian as communism&co.
But that's way too much philosophy for a HP forum