[Rob80b]

 
 
 

When you think about it…. For $200.... one wonders if Massdrop or anyone profited making these… when you take in the material cost, man power on all levels, packaging, printed manuals, actual shipping costs from Ireland, re-boxing and shipping costs from New Jersey….don’t forget shipping was included for US orders….
Sennheiser must have thrown in the phones….. for free advertising…

 

[LepakVT]

  When you think about it…. For $200.... one wonders if Massdrop or anyone profited making these… when you take in the material cost, man power on all levels, packaging, printed manuals, actual shipping costs from Ireland, re-boxing and shipping costs from New Jersey….don’t forget shipping was included for US orders….
Sennheiser must have thrown in the phones….. for free advertising…

 
 
High-volume manufacturing does wonders for lowering costs. You'd be surprised. Sennheiser and MassDrop aren't operating charities 

 

[wood1030]

When you think about it…. For $200.... one wonders if Massdrop or anyone profited making these… when you take in the material cost, man power on all levels, packaging, printed manuals, actual shipping costs from Ireland, re-boxing and shipping costs from New Jersey….don’t forget shipping was included for US orders….
Sennheiser must have thrown in the phones….. for free advertising…
[/quote]

Ooooooor....the HP industry has been massively over-charging us for our toys for years but we blindly pay for our audio bliss and pray for big discounts we can get them. I'd prefer to believe the former . Lol

 

[mattlach]

  Please STOP quoting photos.

 
Yeah, I'm used to other forums that automatically truncate quoted posts so they don't take over the entire screen.
 
The head-fi forums seem a little bit behind the times, especially with their odd html-based editors and non-standard bb-code.

 

[lugnut]

When you think about it…. For $200.... one wonders if Massdrop or anyone profited making these… when you take in the material cost, man power on all levels, packaging, printed manuals, actual shipping costs from Ireland, re-boxing and shipping costs from New Jersey….don’t forget shipping was included for US orders….
Sennheiser must have thrown in the phones….. for free advertising…

Ooooooor....the HP industry has been massively over-charging us for our toys for years but we blindly pay for our audio bliss and pray for big discounts we can get them. I'd prefer to believe the former . Lol[/quote]

Does anyone believe that after 10 or 15 years of making these in vast quantity, that it really cost any where near 
$200 to make ? Come on people, they are not going to give them away because they are generous !

 

[mattlach]

  When you think about it…. For $200.... one wonders if Massdrop or anyone profited making these… when you take in the material cost, man power on all levels, packaging, printed manuals, actual shipping costs from Ireland, re-boxing and shipping costs from New Jersey….don’t forget shipping was included for US orders….
Sennheiser must have thrown in the phones….. for free advertising…

 
Well, I don't have a set of them yet (hopefully tomorrow) but when I take apart my beyerdynamic DT770 Pro's there aren't any parts in there that would seem like they are particularly expensive, and the assembly - including soldering the wires to the transducers - seems like it would be fairly quick.
 
I feel like even for high end headphones - unless you get the gold encrusted unicorn rare luxury wood $1000 sets, we are not really paying much for parts and assembly, but rather mostly paying for the R&D that went in to them and the brand name.
 
The HD650's have been on the market for 13 years now, and undoubtedly sold countless numbers.  At this point the R&D must be more than paid off many times over, so selling these is almost pure profit, with only tiny parts and labor costs, which is probably why they can do this.
 
Note that most Massdrop headphone deals - while for great sounding cans - are for "former flagships" and slightly older designs, and for these the cost structures are going to look a lot different than for something newer.

 

[lugnut]

"If a good tube amp sounds SS, then why bother" ? 
 
Because for me even tube amps that have a solid state sound, still does and has qualitys that a solid state does not ! Just that simple.

 

[wgb113]

There's a 50-70% mark up on headphones...hence varying levels between MSRP/Street Price/Negotiated Prices.

 

[JWolf]

  "If a good tube amp sounds SS, then why bother" ? 
 
Because for me even tube amps that have a solid state sound, still does and has qualitys that a solid state does not ! Just that simple.

 
It should not be about tube vs SS. It should be how well does the amp give you the sound of the source without coloration. The more coloration (other than tone controls or bass boost), the worse the amp is.

 

[goldendarko]

Anyone else still awaiting shipping notices?

 

[Rob80b]

Anyone else still awaiting shipping notices?

Yep....

.....but I'm not in a hurry... ..I've got my 800S...

 

[jwbrent]

There's a 50-70% mark up on headphones...hence varying levels between MSRP/Street Price/Negotiated Prices.

Typically, specialty audio dealers work with a 40% profit margin at full retail.

Manufacturers work with the margins you claim, but that's no different than many other different consumer products. Each step of the supply chain takes its share.

I wouldn't be surprised if Massdrop works with at most a 20% margin. So, $199 HD6XXs probably cost them around $160. They make up for the short margin with high volume.

 

[wood1030]

Quick story that just happened to me in regards to FedEx Smartpost.
 
On Black Friday I ordered a pair of Jaybird Freedom F5 BT headphones from Walmart (for $99). My original delivery date from FedEx was supposed to be Wednesday, 12/7 but FedEx never updated their tracking info to indicate progress on the package. 12/7 came and went and I still had no delivery so I called Walmart the next day, 12/8, to tell them that I didn't get my package and the guy on the phone said, "it must have gotten lost in transit". Ok. I asked "can I just go to my local Walmart and pick one up at the store?" 
The guy said that he could give me a refund for the price I paid but he couldn't guarantee that I'd get the BF price for them. Then he offered to cancel the first order and ship out another set. I told him, no problem.
 
Well, Low and behold, on Saturday, 12/10, the original order was waiting at my door (delivered by USPS) when I got home and the FedEx tracking info was finally updated as 'delivered', but there were no updates between the time it was shipped and the time it reached my door. Of course I was happy to receive them but what about the other 'NEW' order. I checked my order status w/ Walmart for tracking info (on my phone) and could see that the other package was still in route to be delivered. I assumed that it would be cancelled after my first order got delivered, so I waited a few days, checking everyday to see if the new package was still on course...yup, it was. A couple days later (yesterday) I had a second pair of Jaybirds at my door. So now, I have 2 pair of Jaybirds (for the price of one @ $99). 
 
I have to admit, I've gone through a brief crisis of morality as to whether I should return the second pair or not...I've gotten over it

 and needless to say, someone (besides me) is going to get the gift of wireless music for Christmas. 
 

 

 

[jwbrent]

So, I'm not going to do some silly video, but I thought some might want to see these:

Arrival today in Indianapolis:


It sure is snug packaging:


Box


Inside Box


Open


Underneath


One Side (the color is really subtle)


The Other



Haven't tried them yet…

Congrats on your purchase!

I'm on the fence about these ... I'm sure there will be another drop, but what I really hope to see are HD8XXs.

 

[Tomasz2D]

Anyone else still awaiting shipping notices?

Me. Order status "Group buy successful".