Market speculation is fun, but I think those that think prices are inflated on head-fi one must realize head-fi IS THE MARKET! Most people DO NOT CARE about headphones AT ALL.
Are they big? Do they have MEGA BASS!!!!
Do they have a label reading Sony or Bose! Then they MUST be good, otherwise...the cans are the suck.
Should R10's, HE90's, Qualias, PS-1's, GS-1000's, K-1000's etc cost what they do? Certainly the HE90's...given the R&D and the fact that Sennheiser threw money into the project with little to no intent to continue in the electrostat market, needed to recover some costs. They certainly raised the price significantly enough to really get people salivating that they owned the "best headphone system" in the world.
What about Sony? Renowned for pricing something astronomically to induce feelings of exclusivitiy. The R10's though are built with some rare materials, but are they worth 4k MSRP? Qualias...same thing, 2.5?
Grados? 1k for GS-1000's? $1400 for PS-1's?
I think from the MSRP standpoint, folks have to realize this hobby is a subniche of an already pretty small niche market. Considering most people in the world don't know the difference between dynamics and electrostatic speakers, I doubt they would care much if they owned one or the other.
So, when we take a small enough company (and the smallest headphone company) and throw in their wares into the mix, we will undeniably have a very different pricing mechanism than for other phones in this market or a larger market.
When Vertigo-1 first introduced Headwize to the HP-1000's everyone was mystified. Could these old Grados be on par or better than the RS-1's? At that time they could be had for $100-300, sometimes NIB! When folks started comparing and feeling they could be as good, or were better as flavours entered the mix, people started to hunt them down. Vka began the market war by searching boatloads out and selling them here. Some really disliked the practice but let's be honest, a good number, if not the majority of HP-1000's available to members on this board or owned by them, passed through his hands. He hunted them down, he did the leg work and he made out handsomely.
This raised the price of the HP-1000's to between 450-600 for a time, settling in the 500 range for HP-1's and 450 for HP-2's (circa 2002). They stayed in this range when the likes of kelly, grinch and carlo were talking up the merits of the Melos paired with them and heralded it as a system that could compete with everything but the Big O, and even then, some prefered the HP-1000/Melos Maestrobated to this. Once again...prices started to climb and they kept climbing because of the mystery behind them. No one was certain the number, but 500-1000 kept circulating until folks started to declare that it was actually 500-1000 EACH model. This temporarily halted the market and HP-1000's would linger on the FS forums as the PS-1's were on the horizon and folks started to dump these HP-1000's to gather up the necessary cash for the new unit.
Then, at the first NY meet, hosted at Grado Labs, John revealed that in fact it was more like 1000 units total and that he had pretty well built them all so he would know. Well...wouldn't you know it..prices started to climb again until the rumors of the PS-1 turned into factual data and they were released. Now, people wanted these Germany-only headphones and Sugano-san a Parisian Head-fier finally got to either listen or buy them from Germany after reading a report in a German Hi-fi magazine. The hype machine had started and the market was crashing for the HP-1000's. Well...that is, until some folks chimed in that the PS-1's, though great, were still not in the
uber awesomeness range as the Joe phones. People once again started buying the HP-1000's up. This accelerated when a fully restored HP-1 went for a then astonishing $1400. The HP-1000 market catapulted into the stratosphere as people declared them to be on par with the PS-1's which were selling for $1400 new. With the information that as long as the PS-1's were in demand, Grado would make them, folks didn't feel an urgency to run out and buy them. So instead, HP-1000's were eaten as soon as they hit the FS Forum. Ebay was smoking hot as was Audiogon. Yet this would not last...as some news from Todd the Vinyl Junkie shocked Head-fi...the 2 PS-1's he received a month was coming to an end, not that the deal itself between he and the distributor had terminated but rather...PS-1's were going out of production. The last few units Todd had in stock sold very quickly and the last 4 or so he had coming to him were bought up before they arrived. Now the news that only 180 or so units of this Grado would ever be made started the market machine going mad and people started to listen with better gear at meets and comparing directly to the HP-1000's. Oh no! The PS-1's sounded
better!!! to many people and these reports forced the PS-1's pricing to at least stay at the MSRP and also creep higher and higher.
Would ANY of this happen in a demographic that did not care about headphones? No of course not. But this is a demographic that cares and guess what? Most if not ALL of the rare headphones EXIST within the hands of these members or lurkers. That means any other demographic is meaningless to this discussion. Just because this gear is used does not mean it does not hold value. We have 20000+ members and a whole lot more lurkers. There are 180 PS-1's TOTAL worldwide and maybe 24 in the hands of Head-fiers, maybe 50. Economics works its magic and voila! the high prices! Now, add fuel to this raging fire and throw in the fact that,in the case of the HP-1000's, although 1000 overall were made, they were made 15 years ago, parts are scarce and Joe doesn't repair them really, nor does John. This means that they don't fall under warranty and when they are gone they are gone. Ouch! Thankfully they are built to withstand a direct hit from a nuke...but still!
If we consider RS-1 pricing...and how the used prices have been rising, it seems that likely...more folks from overseas are reading this board and are willing to pay higher used prices instead of the really high new prices in their own countries. Pretty easy explanation. If the new prices in the international regions fall, I would wager that the RS-1 used prices will fall back to the 400 range (the price I paid for mine in 2001). 5000 RS-1's are sold a year give or take. There is no shortage of these in the world. I doubt that they will ever reach astronomically high pricing unless they are first gens with the box.
As for the GS-1000's, these are production phones, have been out less than a year and are only now gaining momentum worldwide through the dealer network. If these phones were cut off under 1000 units sold, I bet that they too would climb very very high as they offer up a very distinct Grado sound that although not for everyone, is enjoyed by a good margin of folks who may have overlooked Grado in the past.
The L3000's, rarer than the R10's, may in fact surpass them in the long-term based just on the number of units available worldwide. However, it doesn't seem that these phones are as highly regarded as the R10's nor the HP-1's or PS-1's. By that I mean, those that own them are not as vocal about owning them. This may change as the units change hands if ever, but the hype machine helps keep prices high.
I don't like paying really high prices for things, and I really REALLY want a pair of HP-1000's again at some point, but I won't pay more than 600 for a pair. In time they will reach that price again and I'll be okay paying the cash. Yet, if I were a person that felt they were THE phone for me..and I had the cash, why would I not pay 1500? I mean...think of it like this...a well looked after headphone could last 50 years, is 50 years of listening to the sound one loves worth the price of entry? I would think so. If one listens even just 1 hour a day...each day...that equates to over 18000 hours of joy at about $.08/hr. Pretty sweet
