[Audio Guy]

The Srh1840 is still the open flagship of Shure. Last time I checked it still weighs in at 800+ msrp. So I don't really know why you're calling it anything lesser.
I personally prefer the srh1840's sound signature to the hd700s, and I believe it retains 90-95 percent of what the technical proficiency of the hd800, while being considerably cheaper and considerably less source dependent. 
Diminishing returns anyone? 
Price doesn't equate sonic quality, nor does it correlate to the marketing term "flagship". 
So yeah, you can chase your dream of a "best" headphone, while I can enjoy my array of cans, depending on my mood, and laugh as your wallet gets emptied

I am terribly sorry if any of my comments offended you or your choice in any way. I have never heard SHR-1840 and wasn't intending to make a comment about them. It wasn't meant as an offensive comment at all, but rather more a comment on my history of buying mid-fi or lower upper level phones and being in a position of wanting better. I, like many here, have literally spent thousands of dollars buying bang for the buck hp. I have no idea how many phones and iems I have, but I'd give almost all of them up for a LCD-3 or HD 800 and a pair of AKG K3003... And I can guarantee I spent far more than the MSRP of all 3 on nice bang for the buck great deals.

I wish there was a place to compare them, but alas, I have never heard most of the HPs I'd like to buy,. It's just that I have grown very tired of hearing about how this or that phone is so fantastic "for the price". I want to hear fantastic at any price.. I only have one set of ears to listen with.

 

[Easylistening]

I believe I remember an insider telling me that high end stereo headphones are high markup items.  Is it 75%?  Or is the gross margin 75%?
 
Let us look at the computations:
If you mark-up from cost by 300%, meaning the sales price is 400% of cost, you end up with a gross margin percentage of 75%.
Another way of looking at that is if you reduce that sales price by the gross margin percentage, you end up with the amount of your cost.
 
The final seller of a headphone selling at $1,300 would have to have a total cost of $325 to have a gross margin percentage of 75%, a gross profit of $975.
 
That would be a 300% markup from $325.   $325 + (3 * $325) = $1,300.00  The seller could reduce the price by 75% ($975 of $1300) and break-even.
 
 
A simple example is to take an item that costs $100 and give it a 50% markup to $150.  Your gross margin percentage is 33 1/3%, your gross profit is $50.
 
Note that this is simple math here, and the markup percentage is always greater than the gross margin percentage if the markup is greater than zero.  Be aware that you do have to do that math,  as a 50% markup does NOT have twice the gross margin percentage of a 25% markup. We are talking about percentages, not dollars.
 
That is just one example of a good, real world use of math.  (Students, learn math!)  There are complexities in business finance I am glossing over; but, the examples above are an attempt to explain the concepts of markup percentage and gross margin percentage. There are also ways to reward high volume sellers, such as by providing lower costs and incentives.
 
So does the manufacturer, wholesaler, and dealer each make a gross margin of 75% on the sale of headphones?  You simply have to have the data to see what the true numbers are for all parties.  Remember that there are multiple transactions there in the sales channel.
 
I do not know if that was of any interest.

 

[TekeRugburn]

  I believe I remember an insider telling me that high end stereo headphones are high markup items.  Is it 75%?
 
Let us look at the computations though:
If you mark-up from cost by 300%, meaning the sales price is 400% of cost, you end up with a gross margin percentage of 75%.
Another way of looking at that is if you reduce that sales price by the gross margin percentage, you end up with the amount of your cost.
 
The final seller of a headphone selling at $1,300 would have to have a total cost of $325 to have a gross margin percentage of 75%, a gross profit of $975.
 
That would be a 300% markup from $325.   $325 + (3 * $325) = $1,300.00  The seller could reduce the price by 75% ($975 of $1300) and break-even.
 
 
A simple example is to take an item that costs $100 and give it a 50% markup to $150.  Your gross margin percentage is 33 1/3%, your gross profit is $50.
 
Note that this is simple math here, and the markup percentage is always greater than the gross margin percentage if the markup is greater than zero.  Be aware that you do have to do that math,  as a 50% markup does NOT have twice the gross margin percentage of a 25% markup. We are talking about percentages, not dollars.
 
That is just one example of a good, real world use of math.  (Students, learn math!)  There are complexities in business finance I am glossing over; but, the examples above are an attempt to explain the concepts of markup percentage and gross margin percent. There are also ways to reward high volume sellers, such as by providing lower costs and incentives.
 
So does the manufacturer, wholesaler, and dealer each make a gross margin of 75% on the sale of headphones?  You simply have to have the data to see what the true numbers are for all parties.  Remember that there are multiple transactions there in the sales channel.
 
I do not know if that was of any interest.

 
...................... 

 

[alpha421]

  There are complexities in business finance I am glossing over
 

This pretty much sums it up once you add the "business operations" which is another ball game.  There's target customer perception, Business 101, and then the real world applications that never aligns or correlates with each other. 
 
Now, let's get back on the topic of deals. 

 

[money4me247]

  ^I'm curious of what your source is that comes up with a 75% profit margin.  

rule of thumb: the cost of a non-service product is usually ~25% of the MSRP. Retailers usually get at least a 25-50% margin. Additional supply chain introduces additional price inflation. So assuming that Amazon gets direct from Sennheiser, you can assume they make ~50% off each sale & sennheiser makes ~50% (which would be 25% off MSRP) wholeselling to Amazon.
 
source: basic economics -> some lecture I heard in college =P
 
I would actually assume the profit margins are even HIGHER than 75% since this is a luxury item (which gets even more price inflation than average consumer goods). As hard as it is to believe, that's the world we live in hahaha.

 

[alpha421]

 
Now, let's get back on the topic of deals. 

 

[sardar17]

  rule of thumb: the cost of a non-service product is usually ~25% of the MSRP. Retailers usually get at least a 25-50% margin. Additional supply chain introduces additional price inflation. So assuming that Amazon gets direct from Sennheiser, you can assume they make ~50% off each sale & sennheiser makes ~50% (which would be 25% off MSRP) wholeselling to Amazon.
 
source: basic economics -> some lecture I heard in college =P
 
I would actually assume the profit margins are even HIGHER than 75% since this is a luxury item (which gets even more price inflation than average consumer goods). As hard as it is to believe, that's the world we live in hahaha.

definitely.otherwise they wouldn't dare give a  1 or 2 or some even 3 year warranties!!
 
hell monster is giving lifetime warranty,although i think they probably recycle the stuff sent back to claim the warranty,who knows

 

[shim]

Proaudiostar eBay store is selling DT990 Pro New Open Box for $140 shipped... Good deal?

 

[devhen]

  Proaudiostar eBay store is selling DT990 Pro New Open Box for $140 shipped... Good deal?

 
Amazing value for the money but Amazon has had them (brand new) for $150 for a few weeks so its not a significant discount.

 

[Hi-Finthen]

  Proaudiostar eBay store is selling DT990 Pro New Open Box for $140 shipped... Good deal?

Yes I would say, presupposing having a good DAC as the treble otherwise can be overwhelming with 990s ; I enjoy my 990s ! 

 

[Easylistening]

Amazon has a price of $182.98 on the Munitio PRO40 High-Performance Headphones, Black 48% off.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Munitio+PRO40+High-Performance+Headphones%2C+Black

Silver and gold models are slightly higher.

Has anyone here tried this brand, specifically, this model?

 

[doctorjazz]

http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/12-days-soundcheck-james-mcbride-standing-need-prayer/
 
3 more days of free live downloads from Soundcheck…gospel today, Praise The Lord!!!

 

[tomb]

  I believe I remember an insider telling me that high end stereo headphones are high markup items.  Is it 75%?  Or is the gross margin 75%?
 
Let us look at the computations:
If you mark-up from cost by 300%, meaning the sales price is 400% of cost, you end up with a gross margin percentage of 75%.
Another way of looking at that is if you reduce that sales price by the gross margin percentage, you end up with the amount of your cost.
 
The final seller of a headphone selling at $1,300 would have to have a total cost of $325 to have a gross margin percentage of 75%, a gross profit of $975.
 
That would be a 300% markup from $325.   $325 + (3 * $325) = $1,300.00  The seller could reduce the price by 75% ($975 of $1300) and break-even.
 
 
A simple example is to take an item that costs $100 and give it a 50% markup to $150.  Your gross margin percentage is 33 1/3%, your gross profit is $50.
 
Note that this is simple math here, and the markup percentage is always greater than the gross margin percentage if the markup is greater than zero.  Be aware that you do have to do that math,  as a 50% markup does NOT have twice the gross margin percentage of a 25% markup. We are talking about percentages, not dollars.
 
That is just one example of a good, real world use of math.  (Students, learn math!)  There are complexities in business finance I am glossing over; but, the examples above are an attempt to explain the concepts of markup percentage and gross margin percentage. There are also ways to reward high volume sellers, such as by providing lower costs and incentives.
 
So does the manufacturer, wholesaler, and dealer each make a gross margin of 75% on the sale of headphones?  You simply have to have the data to see what the true numbers are for all parties.  Remember that there are multiple transactions there in the sales channel.
 
I do not know if that was of any interest.

 
 

 

  ^I'm curious of what your source is that comes up with a 75% profit margin.  

rule of thumb: the cost of a non-service product is usually ~25% of the MSRP. Retailers usually get at least a 25-50% margin. Additional supply chain introduces additional price inflation. So assuming that Amazon gets direct from Sennheiser, you can assume they make ~50% off each sale & sennheiser makes ~50% (which would be 25% off MSRP) wholeselling to Amazon.
 
source: basic economics -> some lecture I heard in college =P
 
I would actually assume the profit margins are even HIGHER than 75% since this is a luxury item (which gets even more price inflation than average consumer goods). As hard as it is to believe, that's the world we live in hahaha.

First, I agree with the statements to get on with the deals.
 
Second, I can't let this go by without commenting, because there is so much that the typical consumer never sees.  In essence, all of this conjecture is about one thing: the material/labor cost of manufacturing the specific product vs. the selling price.  Yes, the material cost of a product might be as little as 25% of the selling price (MSRP).  The problem is, there is so much that goes into that equation, it would boggle the mind of most consumers.
 
One of the biggest expenses that almost no one understands unless they've started a business - is the float in capital.  You have to buy raw materials at huge volumes to guarantee low pricing.  Then you sell at a competitive price, and hope that you can recoup enough funds to order more raw material.  Just a simple equation without any middle men means that if you sell at 2X your material price, you sell 1X of the product before you need to order 1X of the raw material to make more of the product.  Right there, if the pricing was only 1/3 over the material/labor cost of making the product, you will run out of stock before you can make a profit and still have enough reserve to order 1X more for the next batch.
 
Add in any other distribution costs or VAR's or taxes, and you've already gone out of business with trying to order enough raw material for the 2nd batch.
 
I'm not sure if I explained that well enough for you guys to understand, but suffice to say that there are huge costs involved if someone is expecting to stay in business and keep making product.  On a one-batch-only-for-all-eternity kind of deal - then yeah, you can figure costs, look at selling price compared to those costs and say, "This is the profit."  Other than that, it gets very complex and markups are needed to simply keep the lights on for more than just one turn of the switch.

 

 

[tomb]

double-post - some sort of hiccup on Head-Fi ...

 

 

[money4me247]

  Second, I can't let this go by without commenting, because there is so much that the typical consumer never sees.  In essence, all of this conjecture is about one thing: the material/labor cost of manufacturing the specific product vs. the selling price.  Yes, the material cost of a product might be as little as 25% of the selling price (MSRP).  The problem is, there is so much that goes into that equation, it would boggle the mind of most consumers.
 
One of the biggest expenses that almost no one understands unless they've started a business - is the float in capital.  You have to buy raw materials at huge volumes to guarantee low pricing.  Then you sell at a competitive price, and hope that you can recoup enough funds to order more raw material.  Just a simple equation without any middle men means that if you sell at 2X your material price, you sell 1X of the product before you need to order 1X of the raw material to make more of the product.  Right there, if the pricing was only 1/3 over the material/labor cost of making the product, you will run out of stock before you can make a profit and still have enough reserve to order 1X more for the next batch.
 
Add in any other distribution costs or VAR's or taxes, and you've already gone out of business with trying to order enough raw material for the 2nd batch.
 
I'm not sure if I explained that well enough for you guys to understand, but suffice to say that there are huge costs involved if someone is expecting to stay in business and keep making product.  On a one-batch-only-for-all-eternity kind of deal - then yeah, you can figure costs, look at selling price compared to those costs and say, "This is the profit."  Other than that, it gets very complex and markups are needed to simply keep the lights on for more than just one turn of the switch.

 

Sennheiser - Founded: June 1, 1945. lol pretty sure, they figured out the nitty-gritty details of running a business & staying afloat in the last 50+ years. and yes, there are other expenses that companies need to cover... still, end of the day, businesses are looking for maximize profits.
 
to farther enlighten you guys that think this business is struggling to keep the lights on, in 2012, their total revenue was ~$770 MILLION usd w/ more than one-third being from headphones.