Why are headphones getting more expensive?
Apr 15, 2012 at 1:43 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 44

renergy

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If it's what thing I'm learning from reading old posts, for sale threads, pricing reports, etc, on this page, it's that many high end headphones are increasing in price as time goes on. What is going on here? Across the board, headphones from Sennheisers to Beyerdynamics are more expensive today than they were 2-3 years ago. DT 990's? More expensive. HD 600's? More Expensive. These are just a couple of many examples I have found. What's the deal with this? I mean, the freaking 990's are almost 10 years old now. How in god's name is the price going up on them? Has there just been a complete and total lack of advancement in headphone technology in the last 5-10 years?
 
Apr 15, 2012 at 2:04 AM Post #2 of 44
Prices on headphones are lowest in Sept. Oct. Nov.
So I'm guessing past posts about lower prices are from that three month period.
 
Apr 15, 2012 at 2:25 AM Post #7 of 44
Stagnation of the market during the GFC depressing prices, companies riding out products and controlling their supply so as to not oversaturate the market, the very nature of the market itself as high end headphones are niche in nature, inflation, etc, etc, etc.
 
Apr 15, 2012 at 2:30 AM Post #9 of 44
Sennheiser has gotten "more expensive" because they've gone to an enforced MAP (the prices you see today for HD 600s and HD 650s is what SRP has been for years and years and years). Like Grado. Beyerdynamic prices normally dance all over the place. Like Denon. Based on the market.
 
As far as the overall trend towards more models at the $400+ mark, that's a bit more recent trend. And you can thank market researchers and more directly, Beats, for that one. Basically market research from a few years ago started showing that headphones as a market/segment were not only profitable, they were showing growth even during the recession. Even the super expensive models ($350+). So of course more people want into that. There's profits. (And I don't count Bose in here, because Bose has had a $150 and $300 offering since the proverbial beginning of time and it didn't seem to do anything either way years ago; usually they were just regarded as a bad value and written off relative to cheaper offerings). 
 
It also gets screwy when you have Beats products (which have dominated market share) and you want to position your product as an "audiophile" offering, and not compete with them. That sees an upward trend too (pricing is part of marketing). Beats is also unique because they've changed headphones from being an A/V accessory into a fashion item - like shoes or jewelry. End result is you get models like the Beyerdynamic T70, a "mid-range" headphone with an SRP of $669. Even five years ago it would've been laughed off the market. But today, they let it get "discounted" to $399 or $499 and it sells. That's what happens when "bad" headphones are $299. 
 
Inflation is only a small piece of the puzzle though - we aren't seeing huge inflation. And the prices of other durable goods haven't skyrocketed as a result. This is simply market exploitation - it's a new segment that happens to be returning huge profits, and consumers don't really seem to have an issue with a $400 headphone even if it performs as well as something that would've cost $30 or $50 or $80 as little as ten years ago. For example, does anyone remember the Sennheiser HD 485?
 
Of course, this isn't universal. Some manufacturers have absolutely resisted this upward trend. Examples include Koss, Bose, Grado, and Ultrasone. Sony changes models too often to really make a case for, but they haven't danced too far out of the $50-$250 range in a while (they always have "one" over that, but not their entire product line - this week it's the Z1000). 
 
 
 
 
Apr 15, 2012 at 2:48 AM Post #11 of 44
It's the lack of competition, close substitutes and innovation. The market is relatively small too and the companies just decided to increase revenue while sacrificing units sold. 
 
Apr 15, 2012 at 2:57 AM Post #12 of 44


Quote:
It's the lack of competition, close substitutes and innovation. The market is relatively small too and the companies just decided to increase revenue while sacrificing units sold. 



Yea, just look at the damn IE800, that thing will probably revitalize the market with new innovations eh?
rolleyes.gif

 
Apr 15, 2012 at 4:16 AM Post #14 of 44
I think "audiophile" has been so twisted and bastardized by marketing recently, it's just a meaningless nonsense word now (if everything is epic nothing is epic kind of argument). Since they turned HD into a nonsense term, they picked audiophile next. 
 
Quote:
Because more people are exposed to headphone audiophilia in recent few years, and with more demand comes the ease to jack up the price and not get (much) complaints.



 
 

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