[Music Alchemist]

  The MSRP was originally $1399.95

 
I saw that number in a review or three. I wonder what made the price jump up and then be enforced.

 

[eugenius]

The price has changed in Romania twice. Even the HD600 is way more expensive now (we used to get a very good price on it). I know two guys who now want HD600's - one offered me 200 euro for my old balanced pair - we used to pay 230 euro for one - now it's 400 euro. Progress.

 

[pumbaa32]

  The price has changed in Romania twice. Even the HD600 is way more expensive now (we used to get a very good price on it). I know two guys who now want HD600's - one offered me 200 euro for my old balanced pair - we used to pay 230 euro for one - now it's 400 euro. Progress.

 
It's true that prices for the HD600/650s have changed to the ''bad'' side. They used to be found brand new at 230/280 euros respectively and I think they are currently too overpriced at 400 mark.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  The price has changed in Romania twice. Even the HD600 is way more expensive now (we used to get a very good price on it). I know two guys who now want HD600's - one offered me 200 euro for my old balanced pair - we used to pay 230 euro for one - now it's 400 euro. Progress.

 
I know a guy in New Zealand who told me the HD 600 costs ~$550 there. It's ~$300 at the lowest in the USA.

 

[LFC_SL]

It did in Germany.

Price change or adjustment to reflect currency markets

 

[eugenius]

I wasn't aware of the romanian leu losing over 40% of it's value. Think before you drink.

 

[BournePerfect]

   
I saw that number in a review or three. I wonder what made the price jump up and then be enforced.

 
They probably realized the T1 couldn't hold a candle.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  They probably realized the T1 couldn't hold a candle.

 
But the T1 can be had for under $1,000. What does it have to do with this?

 

[BournePerfect]

Are you for real??
 
The T1 has been out for years now-same as the HD800. The T1 MSRP'd around the same price, i.e. $1300. Doesn't matter what it's value is today-though it's depreciation versus the HD800's may well serve as an eye opener.
 
The HD800 is clearly technically superior, has much better build quality, and infinitely higher quality control (ie research T1 drivers sometime).
 
So what I was getting at, in a roundabout way I guess, is that the Senn's flagship was clearly a level ahead of their nearest competitor at the time-so why not jack up the price a lil bit. Pure speculation on my part, but it makes sense.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Are you for real??
 
The T1 has been out for years now-same as the HD800. The T1 MSRP'd around the same price, i.e. $1300. Doesn't matter what it's value is today-though it's depreciation versus the HD800's may well serve as an eye opener.
 
The HD800 is clearly technically superior, has much better build quality, and infinitely higher quality control (ie research T1 drivers sometime).
 
So what I was getting at, in a roundabout way I guess, is that the Senn's flagship was clearly a level ahead of their nearest competitor at the time-so why not jack up the price a lil bit. Pure speculation on my part, but it makes sense.

 
Ah, okay. Yeah, that does make sense, in a way. Premium appeal and all. And with marketing (my industry), raising the price can actually increase sales!
 
I will probably get the HD 800 and not worry too much about the successor until enough impressions are published.

 

[Andykong]

Assume Senn has kept a close eye to the current market competitors and customer acceptance (i.e., how much they are willing to pay for), will it be natural to assume that the HD800 successor will priced between LCD3 (US$1945) and TH900 (US$2300), and lean towards the TH900 side?

 

[Music Alchemist]

Assume Senn has kept a close eye to the current market competitors and customer acceptance (i.e., how much they are willing to pay for), will it be natural to assume that the HD800 successor will priced between LCD3 (US$1945) and TH900 (US$2300), and lean towards the TH900 side?

 
The Fostex TH-900 sells for as low as $1,400 new. Not sure where you got the $2,300 from.
 
If I had to guess, I would say the HD 800 successor will be anywhere between $1,600 and $2,500.

 

[eugenius]

Fostex stuff has absurd prices globally. Example the HP-A8: Japan 560 euro, UK 1400 pounds = 1764 euro. I've never seen a product sell for over 3 times in a different market.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Fostex stuff has absurd prices globally. Example the HP-A8: Japan 560 euro, UK 1400 pounds = 1764 euro. I've never seen a product sell for over 3 times in a different market.

 
If all else fails, importing from the country with the lowest price is an option.

 

[Andykong]

OK, more news to heat up the topic.

The scene is Macworld | iWorld Asia 2014, co-organized by the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau and International Data Group (IDG), opened at the China National Convention Center on August 21
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/macworld--iworld-asia-2014-opens-272501891.html

This is the first time Sennheiser hosted a booth in Macworld


I tried to google "Macworld | iWorld Asia 2014 Sennheiser", but couldn't find any significant coverage in English, there are quite a number of Chinese coverage thought, these two are just two random examples:

http://www.cfan.com.cn/2014/0822/110185.shtml
http://www.leiphone.com/news/201408/XPu8qxon0ELAxVRJ.html

The heart of these coverage goes to the recent partnership with Jean Michel Jarre (Jarre Technologies), but among the coverage the following is particularly interesting:

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/318/318937.htm

The Title of the article, when translation into English, is "The ultra expensive headphone at 200,000 (RMB), The story of Sennheiser Orpheus will continue".



The section I highlighted will translate as follow:

In addition, ZOL (the media) have received news from Marketing Office of Sennheiser China, stating that Sennheise will release the second generation of Orpheus, their ultra expensive top-of-the-line headphone, in near future. Sennheiser has not stopped their Orpheus series, and Orpheus II might launch in next year, the final schedule will be decided by headquarter in Germany, as there are still some rigorous test to be completed.

The original Orpheus was priced at 200,000 RMB, (~US$32,500), it is indeed a battleplane in headphone industry. Each Orpheus headphone was hand-made and only 300 sets were produced, unfortunately the original designer of Orpheus has passed away already.

In short, we can gathered two piece of information in this coverage:
(1) Sennheiser China is expecting, and setting the path for the Orpheus II for 2015
(2) The original Orpheus was $200K RMB (~US$32,500), this is a lot higher then the US price mentioned earlier on. Base on this historical price, if the Orpheus II is marked as RMB $250K (~US$40,600) to $300K (~US$48,700), the increment will be 25% to 50% "only".

I have hypothesized that the launch of Orpheus II will be a milestone event for 70th anniversary of Sennheiser in 2015, looks like this is a highly possible outcome based on the latest update.

Again, we are still long way from FACT, so the title remain unchanged, this is nothing but RUMOR at this stage.