[dcpoor]

Oh, I misread, I thought he meant $300 total for an entire setup. I agree with getting pretty close with $300-400 per component.

 

[buffalowings]

it's easy to make okay sounding headphones, try making great or awesome sounding headphones, sometimes I think it's the little bits of black magic added here and there that forces the prices so high, yesterday, when I was talking to my local audio dealer, I asked him, "what's with all the hate of sonys?" and he replies, "because they're a big company, they don't sit down and try and understand what people really want, they just whip together a headphone in five minutes" R&D is not exactly cheap these days, their is a reason why grado has remained standing for the last 15 years, love them or hate them, they're here to stay, if phones were that easy to make, they would have been knocked down the podium so long ago

 

[Spyro]

Quote:

Its a niche market.
 
You only have a handful of consumers for the high end stuff so you can't exactly mass produce them and reap economies of scale to bring down the costs. At the same time those consumers are more than willing to splurge big bucks for them.
 

 

 
That's it and I bet Shure, Westone, etc sell way fewer high end offerings than most of us think.  I would guess in the first year it may only be a few hundred units in total for products like SE535 or SM3.

 

[rawrster]

I don't think high end offering is where the money is at. It's the lower offerings imo

I rarely see a SE530 on my commute but if I see a Shure earphone on my commute 99% of the time it is a Shure SE115 or SE110. I'm not sure which it is but it definitely is one of those. At least out of all of the earphones that are not buds of some kind Shure is the one I see the most by far.

 

[skyflux]

Thanks for the replies guys , really helped cleared things up for me.
But thinking about it , if the production cost of a higher end earphone is like 1/10 of the selling price.. Woah think about the profits they are making!!

 

[buffalowings]

black magic aint cheap...u know how many humps a camel has? ONE! you know how many we need...4 for every pair of headphones

 

[kensuguro]

You also have to remember that originally, IEMs were created for on stage monitoring, and continue to become the standard in stage monitoring.  Then the question becomes, "why is industrial grade equipment so expensive?"  
 
Though I believe the line has blurred between pro grade IEM and consumer grade, I believe the pro grade ones are still being made with particular durability, consistency, accuracy, and ease of service of pro gear.  The demand isn't high so manufacture costs go up.  It's same with production grade video gear, editing gear, studio gear, etc.  It probably wouldn't be such a huge wall if the audio signal itself was different (so pro grade IEMs wouldn't work with consumer electronics) but they just so happen to work, and so pro grade products fall within the peripheral vision of consumers, and create the "why so expensive?" question.
 
In terms of consumer equipment, audiophile gear is audiophile gear.  They may not be built to the specs of a studio context, or a performing context, but they are built for enjoying music..  not at merely at a casual level, but utilizing the precision and consistency seen in pro gear for rigorous "enjoying" of music. (at least for the high end stuff)  I believe many times audiophile equipment actually exceeds the requirement of studio/performing gear in terms of precision (maybe not consistency, durability, and ease of service) because the budget structure is different.  Pro gear gets a very realistic bang for the buck check, whereas with audiophile gear people pay for the luxury of exceeding expectations.  That's not a requirement for pro gear.
 
Even if you look at PC peripherals, special gear rated for production grade is usually more expensive than consumer grade.  (workstation class graphic cards come to mind)  A lot of times this means you get on site support, a quick swap to a backup unit if it fails mid project, technicians fine tuning settings for you, etc.  Avid editing systems are made with a Mac at its core, but it's hooked up to a bunch of special gear that end up costing an arm and a leg. (I used to operate a Media Composer back in the day)
 
In general though, with anything requiring heavy R&D, design, and craft, you do pay a high premium above material cost to keep the brand going, and keeping the product line going.  Does a Louis Vuitton Speedy bag really cost $600 to manufacture?  Not really.  But part of the revenue from popular items can help subsidize costs of employing an awesome design team, producing eye popping runway shows, and as an overall effect, keep the industry going.  I believe the same is true for premium electronics like audio and visuals.

 

[Permagrin]

It wasn't til a few years ago when I learned that pretty much all consumer products are marked up by 1000s of percent of what it actually costs. I don't really care all that much though as I never really had a money fixation like a lot of people do but there are ways to get products for closer to the actual cost if you do.

 

[jaibautista]

I think another important consideration is how buyers of audio goods feel before and after they swap their money for audio exotica. Again, this comes back to how much people value goods with respect to the benefit (utility) they're going to get from buying those goods. In some cases, consumers may in fact feel that they got a bargain for spending for a pair of earphones costing US$500 when their personal valuation of such is above that price point, say US$700. Having seen that many people still buy JH Audio customs despite their steep asking prices, there really is a justification as to how high makers of audio goods charge us consumers.

 

[GiantCowOfDeath]

You could ask this question of any hobby. There are a number of things at work:
 
Lack of mass production. And they need a higher margin to make up for the low volume.
Perceived value (more expensive must be better!)
Hobbyists aren't typically as interested in bang for your back so much as getting the best they can. Companies can charge more in this situation knowing customers will find a way to justify spending the extra money. It's a different kind of market than throwing your product on the shelf and competing based on price and flashy packaging.
 
And then of course there's the fact that IEMs were originally aimed at musicians and all of that equipment is expensive.

 

[skyflux]

Hmm it's starting to become clear to be , why IEMs are so expensive.
I guess this applies to many of those luxurious brands out there in the market.
But I still don't understand why hardware synths or guitar amplifiers must be that expensive!! Surely those stuffs are more sought after by the general public..

 

[kensuguro]

well, you'd be surprised at how much R&D goes into synths, and the craftsmanship required for an amp.  
 
Of course, the same economic gradient works for these things as well.  Low end synths probably have higher markup compared to high end synths, and the high volume sales of the lower end models help keep R&D going and new models coming.  The markup on low end amps are probably even greater.  Hardware synths are closer to home electronics though, as in they are produced at a specific cost on a production line and sold at a set margin.  With amps.. if you get high end, it becomes an art..  particular craftsmen would custom build components, making one of a kind built to order amps, etc..  there is no limit to how high end amps can get.  You don't see that with hardware digital synths. (though you see it a bit with custom tuned electric pianos)
 
I think this is a larger scale question that can be answered in the realm of market and economics.