[jellybones]

What's going on with it? $1500? That seems a bit ridiculous to me. What am I missing?

 

[Duggeh]

Its the new high end FOTM, an opinion that has built out of their reputation for combining the newer RS-1 sound with the HP1000 sound, a transitional headphone that has the best of both. I have no idea where such notions started, however it is the inevitable way of any less attainable headphone which is worked up in its qualities by those few who have one, and widely read and are verbal about their love for it.

It happened most notably with the K1000, but has also happened with the old Stax Lambdas. The HP1000 has built over a longer time but still jumped up to where it is more quickly than its initial rise.

The Qualia and PS-1 are far more inflated because they are an order of magnitude rarer than the others, as well as having the fabulous sound reported.

Precide make around 2400 headphones per year. I wonder how many are AMTs, and if that too might one day go the way of the K1000.

It should also be realised that the head-fi FS forum rate for these type of headphones is far from the mean selling price.

 

[vcoheda]

crazy.

these things were going for about 650 a few months ago. no idea why the spike. i'm starting to wonder if my regular RS1s (w/ button) have gone up as well or will at some point.

 

[daveDerek]

yeah, i've heard of some crazy prices for these, like close to 3x what they were until recently. i mean some have gone for way more than the far superior hp1000s.

 

[krmathis]

Supply/Demand.
A lot of people seek these phones, while very few sell them. Aka -> Higher prices.

 

[LawnGnome]

I definitely would not pay the asking prices.

It is an artificial high right now. Once people move on to the next new thing, the value will drop back down.

 

[jellybones]

It just seems like there are so many other options with that amount of money to play with.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jellybones /img/forum/go_quote.gif It just seems like there are so many other options with that amount of money to play with.

I totally agree!
Imo the vintage RS1 with wooden box are overpriced. So much nice gear to spend this amount of money on...

 

[jellybones]

If they sound like $1500 dollars..that's one thing. I haven't heard one, so I'm not saying it's not justified. Maybe it is. Maybe after I listen to one I'd take it off and say "I'll give you $1500 out of my wallet right now for these." I can't say for sure.

 

[Uncle Erik]

It seemed like there used to be a slight premium for the brown leather band and the wooden box. I passed on a couple pairs to go for a (then) recently manufactured RS-1 with low hours.

The recent price spike probably has a lot to do with the coating of unobtanium they acquired over the years. A lot of gear seems to develop that. There was a Moth Si2A3 on Audiogon that I missed after making an offer within 10 minutes of listing. I was second in line. I turned around and dropped that on a Zana since if those go out of production, it will also become unobtanium.

I think the smart route is to buy any high-end piece of gear before it gets discontinued. The unobtanium mystique creeps up on it only then.

 

[milkpowder]

RS-1 or Omega 2? This one is a no brainer

FOTM, no doubt.

As long as Grado keep making increasingly controversial and poor sounding headphones, those of you with non-vintage RS-1s will reap in the profits in 10 years

I keed, I keed!!

 

[recstar24]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif The recent price spike probably has a lot to do with the coating of unobtanium they acquired over the years. A lot of gear seems to develop that. There was a Moth Si2A3 on Audiogon that I missed after making an offer within 10 minutes of listing. I was second in line. I turned around and dropped that on a Zana since if those go out of production, it will also become unobtanium.

Sorry for the OT but I am totally with you on that statement. I had the moth s2a3 but sold it for financial reasons at the time. I am very close to deciding on biting the Zana as it is the finest amp I have listened to and you are correct it is close to no longer being in production. Good decision on your part IMHO because the Zana is superior to the moth for headphone duties.