[John Willett]

Quote:

The rule of thumb for an audio company to succeed financially is that there is a 1:5 ratio between parts cost and retail price.

 
 
The ratio is about right, but not to "parts cost".
 
It's more like a 1:5 ratio between manufacturing cost and retail price - so that includes all the overheads and labour costs in making the product ans well as the raw parts cost.  The raw parts cost can be quite low when compared to this.
 
The manufacturing cost is:-
Cost of parts
Cost of labour
Cost of building and upkeep
Business Tax and insurance
Power costs (gas and electricity)
 
IE: everything it costs to to actually make the product before you make any profit.
 
THEN
 
You have to add a profit margin
 
You have to add a Distributor margin
 
You have to add a dealer margin.
 
The Dealer margin alone will be 30 - 40% of the retail price for a consumer product (sometimes more - but less for a pro product).

 
 

 

[ozz]

I feel head amp mfg.'s are safe right now until someone at Denon or Pioneer for instance decides they want to get into the act then the fact they have deep pockets and the ability to place their product in BB's will affect the industry as it did home Hi-Fi years ago the niche great sounding gear started to die off because it could not compete at that price point.

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Quote:

Because there are a lot of suckers of course, many of which actually believe the tired old platitude of "you gets whats you pays for". Too bad when blind tested the difference between just about all gear of all price ranges (save cans and speakers) is little to none; I've heard it myself time and again (volume matched and all) with many others who couldn't pick $2000 amps over $200.
 
Buy used and or build your own if you can. Even then you are getting ripped off, but then, what's a few hundred anyway? Not much these days.

There used to be an old saying in the hobby that I believe applies here....
 
"Those whose systems don't resolve, can't discern."

 

[Willakan]

There's another old audiophile saying that goes thus:
 
 "People who dismiss any attempt at suggesting there might not be a difference between pieces of equipment as the person in question being deaf or their gear not being sufficiently expensive should not be allowed to talk."

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

There's another old audiophile saying that goes thus:
 
 "People who dismiss any attempt at suggesting there might not be a difference between pieces of equipment as the person in question being deaf or their gear not being sufficiently expensive should not be allowed to talk."

 

[ballcall2]

I believe that manufacturers know that some people are willing to pay a lot of money. The problem is that in most cases there is actually no differences in blind tests and even if there are they are marginal and don't worth the big price. For example the cable myth had been proven many times that it is a lie, and that there is not a measurable differences between quality cable and an audiophile cable, and still people keep spending thousands of dollars on cables, because they want to believe that there are differences, they want to think that they have some kind of special hearing that they can tell the differences between two cables even though they aren't any. Cable makers continue to sell audiophile cables because it is a successful business. What I can't understand is people who aware to the fact that blind tests and measurements prove that there are no differences between cables, but they still buying them. I mean they really have nothing to do with their money but to spend in on useless audiopile 'crap'? Buy more music, or donate it for poor people.
What I am disgusted  by is the magazine stereophile who keeps releasing reviews on those audiophile cables and praising their donation, even though this magazine has a ultra expensive measurement equipment that can easily prove that there are almost no differences between cables or more of this audiophile 'crap'.

 

[fabio-fi]

I think they are expensive because of the high quality parts the manufacturers use. 

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Quote:

There's another old audiophile saying that goes thus:
 
 "People who dismiss any attempt at suggesting there might not be a difference between pieces of equipment as the person in question being deaf or their gear not being sufficiently expensive should not be allowed to talk."

Too many nights being sent to your room without dessert?

 

[Willakan]

Case in point.

 

[ballcall2]

Quote:

I think they are expensive because of the high quality parts the manufacturers use. 

High quality parts that contribute nothing to the sound, and sometimes actually measure worse that non audiophile parts (expensive tubes). People need to understand- the quality of Dacs and amps can be measured  and they don't have to be very expensive in order to measure well. Headphones and speakers are another story.

 

[estreeter]

If there is a single person in this thread who won't admit that they would like to hear the output of the ~$80K dCS Scarlatti stack, then I question why you ever bought anything beyond iBuds. Even if its 10K worth of electronics wrapped in 40K of tinsel, and 30K is pure profit for the links in the chain, I'd still like to hear it. Diminishing returns kicks in early in this hobby, no question, but gravity has never stopped men dreaming of flight.
 
Would I buy a 5K headphone amp ? Not on my current income, but if I had that kind of money 'free' I'd contemplate all kinds of things and still come in way under that 80K mark.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

If there is a single person in this thread who won't admit that they would like to hear the output of the ~$80K dCS Scarlatti stack, then I question why you ever bought anything beyond iBuds. Even if its 10K worth of electronics wrapped in 40K of tinsel, and 30K is pure profit for the links in the chain, I'd still like to hear it. Diminishing returns kicks in early in this hobby, no question, but gravity has never stopped men dreaming of flight.

I don't want to hear it 

 

[dorino]

When I see these threads and people are spending thousands of dollars on amps, I feel terrible for having to force myself to spend a few hundred.

 

[ballcall2]

 
Quote:

If there is a single person in this thread who won't admit that they would like to hear the output of the ~$80K dCS Scarlatti stack, then I question why you ever bought anything beyond iBuds. Even if its 10K worth of electronics wrapped in 40K of tinsel, and 30K is pure profit for the links in the chain, I'd still like to hear it. Diminishing returns kicks in early in this hobby, no question, but gravity has never stopped men dreaming of flight.
 
Would I buy a 5K headphone amp ? Not on my current income, but if I had that kind of money 'free' I'd contemplate all kinds of things and still come in way under that 80K mark.

 
 I know that there are probably no audible difference between this dCS Scarlatti and Benchmark dac-1, so why would I buy it? If someone buy this product he his: a) A millionaire with too much money b)Audiophool that has no understanding of what actually effects what he will eventually hear- I am sure that he will also buy with this a 2000$ power cord...
 
I would rather put this money on: more quality recordings, better speakers/headphones, improve my room acoustics...

 

[Eric_C]

Quote:

I don't want to hear it 

Me neither. What's wrong with wanting good sound, but not wanting to check out sound that costs that much?