[devilboy]

^^ And?

Sooooo?

Lol! Both of you asked exactly what we all were thinking.
My God. We're like crackheads who've been told there's a newer, better crack about to hit the streets.

 

[raband]

  What also surprises me, is the number of times I read a review on here about HP's or IEMs that states they are punching way above their price bracket. I do feel that such a state is now the new normal and that we're actually seeing the beginnings of the point where quality is more commoditised, and accessible to those with slimmer wallets.

 
 
This - perfect.
 
When a $x00 products are legitimately mixing it up with the $x000 items then it points towards the $x000 products being towards the end of their reign.
 
Once it hits a tipping point then the $x00 products will start being seen as honest options for decent output.

 

[raypin]

I think the pricing of this incremental upgrade from sennheiser will say more about the competition than anything else. If sennheiser had to compete with other dynamic headphones in this price bracket for the title of best dynamic headphone in the world then we would most likely see the current HD800 price cut and the HD800S coming in around $1500 /£1000.
Unfortunately nothing is even close to knocking the HD800 off its perch so sennheiser don't need to cut its price and can charge more for the HD800s.

mmm......yeah, I'd be very comfortable with 1500 bucks, perhaps 299.00 for the balanced cable so around 1799.00 would be a fair price for me for an old headphone that's been updated/refreshed. Anything more that and I'd probably pass......and just wait for a proper successor to the 800.

 

[BirdManOfCT]

I wonder if there will be an HDVA600 in black.

 

[raband]

  mmm......yeah, I'd be very comfortable with 1500 bucks, 

 
 
If they bring it in at a price under what the current HD800 is then I'd be pretty impressed. (unless I bought a HD800 in the last couple of months)
 
If they bought it in at the same price (but with the extra cable) then I don't think there'd be any legitimate complaints.

 

[raband]

  I wonder if there will be an HDVA600 in black.

 
I think it's only the DAC stage they're refreshing at this time - thus the neglect of the 600?

 

[Shembot]

Sennheiser could stage a coup and lower the price of both the HD800 and the HD800S from the current $1599. I imagine they'd sell about a zillion of them and perhaps make more money than pricing it stratospherically as others have done.

 

[raband]

I reckon they'd sell even more if they priced them at $299 via a massdrop deal

 

[Contrails]

 Sennheiser could stage a coup and lower the price of both the HD800 and the HD800S from the current $1599. I imagine they'd sell about a zillion of them and perhaps make more money than pricing it stratospherically as others have done

 
My thoughts exactly! 

 

[BirdManOfCT]

   
I think it's only the DAC stage they're refreshing at this time - thus the neglect of the 600?

Good point. I doubt that that thread will go as viral as this one, but should be interesting.

 

[LFC_SL]

I think it's only the DAC stage they're refreshing at this time - thus the neglect of the 600?

That would be good as the Sennheiser dac / amp is smooth but prefer the HD800 on better dac / amps with more slam

 

[munce31]

  Sennheiser could stage a coup and lower the price of both the HD800 and the HD800S from the current $1599. I imagine they'd sell about a zillion of them and perhaps make more money than pricing it stratospherically as others have done.

Here here!!
 
Guaranteed sale with me, that is for sure. 

 

[prot]

As someone who works in both product marketing and marketing in general, I think your observations are spot on. From a pure 'value proposition' point of view, to outsell a crowded market, you have to offer something that no one else is able to offer - what we call a compelling event. As such things are rare, price becomes the next battleground.

I agree we're probably getting into the end game of your stage 2 above, which will mean a few will continue to offer silly priced goods, and most will drop back in order to sustain some level of sufficient sales to recoup investment costs.

What also surprises me, is the number of times I read a review on here about HP's or IEMs that states they are punching way above their price bracket. I do feel that such a state is now the new normal and that we're actually seeing the beginnings of the point where quality is more commoditised, and accessible to those with slimmer wallets.

Thx for the confirmation. I'm no marketing specialist, just a bit of a history buff. That stuff happens since forever .. and quite depressingly, it works exactly the same since forever.

In terms of noone-else-has-it features I think only the new dsp based hp-s from akg & shure are worth mentioning. I would say that's the future.

As for the "punches above its price" reviews, that's an old and meaningless cliche .. nowadays more meaningless than ever. I mean, if we take the $4k lcd4 or $3k he1k as references, pretty much anything from ipod buds to stax009 falls into that category. Punches-above-its-price is pretty much the same as saying "it's a HP". Same for portable DAPs/DACs if we take ak380/hugo as references.

Luckily, the so called midfi space is really good today and one can put together a totl-sounding system for less than $1000 (hp + dac/dac)

 

[KT66]

Still waiting for the flagship closed Sennheiser headphone promised to me in January,
 
I have some HD600s. I just never get the chance to use them, I'd like some HD800s but
I can't justify them, at home I listen to speakers, one day I'd love to do a proper survey on where
and when people use different types of headphones.
 
Hoping to see lots of used HD800s on the market to tempt me!
 
I prefer the black look, but would look even better if all black.

 

[phonomat]

Lol! Both of you asked exactly what we all were thinking.
My God. We're like crackheads who've been told there's a newer, better crack about to hit the streets.

Quite, but the really mean part is that you get to know it months before the cook has completed his first batch ...