mark, Biggie, et al,
Obviously there have not been comparative reviews between the E7's, and the other TOTL cans I mentioned. There has been barely one review for them, and that is by a notable retailer & Head-Fi sponsor.
What I meant by my post, was that given their pricepoint, there is little incentive
for most to venture there, compared to the known quantities by Sony, Grado, and Stax. The same is even somewhat still true for Audio-Technica L3000's, although since they are quite a bit less expensive, there have been a handful of buyers that we know of here on Head-Fi (although still almost no reviews
).
We know that perception plays a big part in the value of a retail product. Even more so for flagship, or limited-edition products. Marketing departments know they can increase the perceived value of a product simply by pricing them at a high level. The thing is, amongst those who are looking for performance as well as elitism need some confidence that their dollars will be reasonably well-spent compared to buying other like products. I could not afford to have more than one $3000 headphone, so it had better be good. Given Utrasone's limited distribution of the E7's, and lack of ownership here on Head-Fi, (dare I say it?) the worlds leading Internet board devoted to Headphone listeners, there is no proof of that performance level. And if they aren't up that level, I could not afford to lose their resale value.
I said "for most" before, because unless I have unlimited funds, I would be hard pressed to plunk down my hard earned cash for an unknown quantity. I know what R10's sound like because I have the good fortune of having local friends who own them. Granted they took the chance on a premium product, prior to the plethora of accolades now so common here. The same is true for the o2's. But early R10 adopters did so when they were the only game in town. Now the E7's come into the market a bit late, and with no creds. Utrasone needs to provide some incentive for people to venture there, instead of looking at known products at the same price point. I merely suggested that if the Utrasones were set at even a slightly lower pricepoint, there would be a better chance at market penetration.
I'd be very interested to read comparative reviews, and even more interested in hearing a pair. If Jan wants to send me an eval pair, I promise to review them
.
