[Gandasaputra]

   
You have no idea of what you'll be buying in 2-3 years, in this field. New earphones are coming out at breakneck speed, right now, and the trend only seems to accelerate

What I meant is "If"  2-3 years later and 10 drivers universal or 5 Ba + dynamic hybrid IEM were released, I'll get discontinued IEMs like W60 (or shure SE846) and enjoy the IEMs without paying full retail price. This is only my prediction 

 Right now I have dozens of IEMs and loving 'em, yet no one has broken in the past 2 years. 
 
I'm not like those people that get freaked out and keep up with the current technology. Better spend my money smart. 

 

[xaddictionx]

What I meant is "If"  2-3 years later and 10 drivers universal or 5 Ba + dynamic hybrid IEM were released, I'll get discontinued IEMs like W60 (or shure SE846) and enjoy the IEMs without paying full retail price. This is only my prediction   Right now I have dozens of IEMs and loving 'em, yet no one has broken in the past 2 years. 

I'm not like those people that get freaked out and keep up with the current technology. Better spend my money smart. 

Ya. Makes no point that even with the latest technology implemented but it's not your preferred sound signature. Would be meaningless. Not to even mention the cutting edge technology or price.

 

[Sinocelt]

  What I meant is "If"  2-3 years later and 10 drivers universal or 5 Ba + dynamic hybrid IEM were released, I'll get discontinued IEMs like W60 (or shure SE846) and enjoy the IEMs without paying full retail price. This is only my prediction 

 Right now I have dozens of IEMs and loving 'em, yet no one has broken in the past 2 years. 
 
I'm not like those people that get freaked out and keep up with the current technology. Better spend my money smart. 

 
My remark still stands. In two or three years, who knows what will be available, or at what price.

 

[Mimouille]

Dang.  $1,000USD "TOTL" universal IEMs abound.  The market has clearly gone a bit bonkers, IMO.  Still, here I sit, weighing my options, knowing full well I'll pony-up the $1,000-$1,300 for said "TOTL" universal IEM.  SMH.  How far I've come in this crazy hobby over the past few years.

My illness is more severe than yours as I am now wondering at how many 1k+ TOTL iems I should stop...

 

[Sinocelt]

My illness is more severe than yours as I am now wondering at how many 1k+ TOTL iems I should stop...

 
1000. Seems logical.

 

[Mimouille]

1000. Seems logical.

Great...a couple more to go then.

 

[magicianky]

I was at CES with work this week and had some me-time yesterday morning. I was at the Westone booth for about 30 minutes to chat with the sales reps and listen to the singer they had playing into the W40 and UM30's they had set up for auditioning. I jokingly asked if there was a W50 or W60 floating around to listen to, and over walks the VP with both available. I only got about 5 minutes with each pair, so I don't have too much I can really say. But I can tell you that the W50 was much darker than I was expecting. The W60 was something special though. We've had the K3003 and 846 in my store for a while now so I'm used to those, but without some real side-by-side comparison I can't pass much judgement.

 

[feverfive]

  I was at CES with work this week and had some me-time yesterday morning. I was at the Westone booth for about 30 minutes to chat with the sales reps and listen to the singer they had playing into the W40 and UM30's they had set up for auditioning. I jokingly asked if there was a W50 or W60 floating around to listen to, and over walks the VP with both available. I only got about 5 minutes with each pair, so I don't have too much I can really say. But I can tell you that the W50 was much darker than I was expecting. The W60 was something special though. We've had the K3003 and 846 in my store for a while now so I'm used to those, but without some real side-by-side comparison I can't pass much judgement.

 
Cool that you got a quick listen at least.    I was getting ready to pull the trigger on buying the SE846, but now I'm going to wait until the W60 is available as I've always appreciated Westone.

 

[magicianky]

Heh, yesterday morning was the highlight of my week there. Got to listen to both of the those, the IE800, HD700, HD800, and SR-009 for the first time. Man it was hard to leave. lol

 

[Deviltooth]

   
Price is prestige. Once one big company had produced a $1000 IEM, others had to follow or suffer a loss in standing. However stupid that may be.

Doubtless true but I'm hoping that the large number of competing high end IEMs results in greater competition that drives some prices down.

 

[feverfive]

 

   
Price is prestige. Once one big company had produced a $1000 IEM, others had to follow or suffer a loss in standing. However stupid that may be.

Doubtless true but I'm hoping that the large number of competing high end IEMs results in greater competition that drives some prices down.

We keep paying these prices though, so I'm not seeing the incentive to offer low prices, as much as I'd like to see it.  I buy with cash--albeit via debit card through PayPal, and I'd hate to see how much bad debt is rung-up by users on these forums.

 

[Spyro]

The prices of the new offerings are completely justified.
 
-  Most universals are in that $1,200 range with very low re-saleability.
-  If universals can eclipse the sound of these top-end customs at less price AND have 70-80% resaleable value (versus 30-40% that customs offer) it is a MUCH higher and better value.
-  IMHO what is creeping most people out about all this is the increasing costs of universals and and not realizing that the universal market is "matching" SQ of custom market (yet at a lower price) so they need to understand to maybe just stay away from that price range...much like they stayed away from customs because it was simply out of their budget.
 
No need to overthink this whole process!   IEM SQ technology has advanced well these past 5 years and there is EXCELLECT sound quality for everyone within everyones budget....

 

[Sinocelt]

  We keep paying these prices though, so I'm not seeing the incentive to offer low prices, as much as I'd like to see it.

 
Right. Competition will not draw down the price of the flagships, which are meant to exude prestige. Prestige is linked to money. I remember taking free classes with a Karate champion (a national representative of the U.S. in international competitions) and being dismayed that so few people showed up, and so irregularly. Paid classes at the same place, with a much lesser sensei, never had that problem: People had paid and so they kept showing up. Another example is when France tried to make buses entirely free: Those buses suffered from degradation at such an accelerated rate (people treated them like ****) that they had to cancel the experiment. Another example is the fact that you'll never see a cheap line of Hermes or LV bag: Those brands cannot afford the loss in prestige.
 
All that to say that there's a kind of respect tied to money. So there's an incentive to price flagships high, whatever their R&D and construction costs really are. This said, it's also true that we get much better quality now on the low end of the price scale than we used to get just a few years ago.
 

  -  If universals can eclipse the sound of these top-end customs at less price AND have 70-80% resaleable value (versus 30-40% that customs offer) it is a MUCH higher and better value.

 
CIEMs are a lot more costly to craft (in man hours) than IEMs. So when an IEM is priced the same, the company gets more profit. You're justifying the price of high-end IEMs by what people are ready to spend, and that's fine; but based on the relative costs for the companies, the higher price of CIEMs is justified.

 

[Deviltooth]

Value is difficult to judge.  I'd need to see a complete list of expenses for development, materials, man hours etc... before I'd consider the price of $1000 IEMs justified.  At the moment I regard C/IEMs as extreme luxury items akin to jewelry.  People justify purchasing diamond rings every day but the truth is diamonds aren't rare and only a powerful cartel creates the illusion they are.  When you try to resell jewelry you quickly learn how little actual value it has.
 
I've bought several expensive IEMs (4 customs) so obviously I'm willing to pay the price but justification is extremely difficult.  Especially when you compare the price of speakers, computers, tablets and even smartphones.  I think C/IEMs are a lot like high end automobiles; manufacturers make more money in the luxury segment than they do at the entry level.
 
Any time now I believe we'll have a multi-balanced armature model that follows the pattern of Motorola's Moto-G.  The Moto-G has redefined value in the smartphone segment offering specifications that previously cost twice the dollars to attain.  Now every manufacturer will have to rethink their pricing in light of a changed market.

 

[vantagesc]

  I was at CES with work this week and had some me-time yesterday morning. I was at the Westone booth for about 30 minutes to chat with the sales reps and listen to the singer they had playing into the W40 and UM30's they had set up for auditioning. I jokingly asked if there was a W50 or W60 floating around to listen to, and over walks the VP with both available. I only got about 5 minutes with each pair, so I don't have too much I can really say. But I can tell you that the W50 was much darker than I was expecting. The W60 was something special though. We've had the K3003 and 846 in my store for a while now so I'm used to those, but without some real side-by-side comparison I can't pass much judgement.

 
Without side by side, it's difficult, but anything else you can offer re comparison with the SE846, particularly in terms of bass and treble extension?  I just bought the SE846 and am not sure whether to return them in favor of waiting for these W60s.