[TheMiddleSky]

Dealer cost is typically around 50% MSRP for consumer audio, or so I've been told by various people.

50% margin is ridiculously high for most headphone/earphone/amplifier/dac brands out there. I've been in retail industry of portable audio for 7 years.

For few brand 50% is possible if you the main distributor, which is should never sell direct to customer. Stay in B2B only.

So how come sometime there is a crazy deal out there? Well, simply put, the store could be don't want to sell that brand ot item anymore, either they need to clean stock or to sell their demos. But these kind of prices shouldn't become reference point for market in general.

 

[BassicScience]

50% margin is ridiculously high for most headphone/earphone/amplifier/dac brands out there. I've been in retail industry of portable audio for 7 years.

For few brand 50% is possible if you the main distributor, which is should never sell direct to customer. Stay in B2B only.

So how come sometime there is a crazy deal out there? Well, simply put, the store could be don't want to sell that brand ot item anymore, either they need to clean stock or to sell their demos. But these kind of prices shouldn't become reference point for market in general.

Thanks for your perspective. I was talking about the kind of products reviewed in Stereophile, not mass market stuff like Best Buy carries. Given that, I don't think I was that far off. I'm sure there is some variation depending on the brand.

 

[eee1111]

Glad this topic popped up because I have a he1000v2 and wanted to get rid of it. So essentially instead of spending 1000 for a he1000se which I don’t want it’s 2500 for susvara. Sweet deal.

 

[tfenton02]

yes that's exactly what I did !

 

[eee1111]

does the susvara come with a XLR?

 

[BassicScience]

does the susvara come with a XLR?

Yes, as well as a 1/4" jack terminated cable. Both are roughly 3m. Most people upgrade them.

 

[smodtactical]

I thought I would share my experience with the HiFiMan upgrade program from their website. It was like living on a razor's edge and quite often throughout the process I questioned whether it was legit and sweated it out until my Susvara's arrived a few days ago (phew). I'm posting this to share with other who may question whether it's legit. Here it goes (sorry for the long post))

- On their Website Store I inquired about the upgrade program from a HE1000 V2, to HE1000 SE. $1000. Not bad.
- Upon correspondence I inquired about upgrading V2 to Susvara. That was $2,500, I was amazed.
- I approved the upgrade and received the final quote with shipping. All good!
- Next day I received another email stating the shipping costs were off, and it went up $50. No big deal.
- I paid with paypal, but it wasn't from HiFiMan but an individual with a Chinese name, and....
- Instead of the price I had to change the order quantity from 1 to 2,566 which then calculated the price, LOL
- I was nervous at this point, who is this person?
- I then looked at the address on Good Earth for the warehouse in NY, it was an old bungalow with a run down toyota in the driveway
- I did some research and read this is legit so I threw caution into the wind and paid the invoice
- Shipped my headphones to this bungalow with a toyota and prayed!
- Sure enough, a little over a week later I got a confirmation email and it stated I would get another email when the item ships
- So, I received an email indicating the Sundara is shipping, Wait, what? Sundara? I quickly responded, didn't get a response so I called the phone number on the website, No answer, tried a few times.
- Finally. someone picked up, "hello" (no HiFiMan). In the background it sounded like a family was eating breakfast. It must be the bungalow with the toyota, LOL. The woman, in broken english, indicated she would look into it and call me back
- I did not receive a call back but the following day I received an email indicating it was a typo and they are shipping the Susvara
- I received the tracking number and 3 days later UPS delivered the Susvara. Interestingly, no signature was required. Can you imaging having a $6,000 UPS box sitting on your front door.

It was just a wonky, fun experience so I thought I would share. It did work, however.

The Susvara is everything you read, truly epic. I now need find a more powerful amp, currently using iFI iCAN.

Love that story. How do you like it vs vo and vc? Have you heard tc?

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Thanks for your perspective. I was talking about the kind of products reviewed in Stereophile, not mass market stuff like Best Buy carries. Given that, I don't think I was that far off. I'm sure there is some variation depending on the brand.

Ah sorry for not mention more detail, back when I worked in portable audio retail, some of them are boutique brands like Audeze, ZMF JH Audio, 64 Audio, Hifiman, etc. Of course there are some more "mass market" stuff like Sennheiser, ATH, Beyerdynamic and Sony.

For mass market stuff actually margin could be really small for dealer (at certain types), like 10% or sometimes less.

 

[tfenton02]

Just picked up the Bakoon 13r to power the Susvara. It takes it to a completely new level. OMG. Opens the soundstage and goes much deeper. If you can even imagine that!

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Just picked up the Bakoon 13r to power the Susvara. It takes it to a completely new level. OMG. Opens the soundstage and goes much deeper. If you can even imagine that!

Impressive headphone set up you have.

 

[smodtactical]

Just picked up the Bakoon 13r to power the Susvara. It takes it to a completely new level. OMG. Opens the soundstage and goes much deeper. If you can even imagine that!

You are comparing to the ican ?

 

[tfenton02]

You are comparing to the ican ?

Yes, goes much deeper. But I’m finding iCAN useful for iems and a few other headphones so I’m going to run both. The Bakoon is also powering KEF LS50 Meta.

 

[normie610]

Just picked up the Bakoon 13r to power the Susvara. It takes it to a completely new level. OMG. Opens the soundstage and goes much deeper. If you can even imagine that!

Congrats! Enjoy the Bakoon, it is indeed a sublime pairing with Susvara.