Why are IEMs expensive?

[144004]

Dude, seriously. If you keep ignoring the economics of it you'll never get a satisfactory answer.
 
Taking Westone as an example, and just their UM line: the UM1 uses less parts, and is less complex than the UM2 and UM3X yes? So we can see why it would be priced lower.
But if one customer buys UM1, is that same customer going to buy a UM2 as well? And if that person does, will he/she buy a UM3X too?
 
There's a lot of people who will just buy 1 earphone--from any company--and stop there. This makes it a shrinking customer base for the producers of higher-end IEMs like Westone, Etymotic, etc. To encourage our expenditure, they can't just rely on making a better product, they have to market it too. That adds to cost.
 
It's also assuming too much to say that companies should just lower their prices to get more sales. If a company does that, it's a gamble that bets on predicting enough additional customers buy the product to more than offset the reduction in price (which is a reduction in per unit profit). On top of this, all the competitors will start considering lowering their prices too, which may eventually lead to a price war. At some point in a given price war, prices are going to get awfully close to cost--where do you expect companies to go from there? If they want to drop the price further, they'd have to start using cheaper materials and/or cut corners in processes, which means we get lower quality products. But hey, if you're cool with that, go ahead and wish for it.

 

[iXpertMan]

Ok. So the high-end IEMs are expensive because less people buy them. But again the low-end IEMs are also overpriced, then can be made cheaper by at least a 1/4, after all lots of people buy them at a low price point.

 

[144004]

Substitutes, man. Who will buy the cheap IEMs? Not the folks who buy the cheap earbuds. And not the ones who use the free earbuds that come with every phone and MP3 player these days. And not the ones who want big headphones because they have bigger, louder designs, are more bang for buck than IEMs at low price points, and are pretty comfy (again, unlike some of the cheaper IEMs).
 
Once again, IEM companies are competing for a small group of customers.

 

[goodvibes]

And if nobody makes money, than nobody bothers. Grab some granola, head to the hills and make a drum out of a lemming pelt and tree trunk.
 
I noticed that your avatar has an Apple logo. They sure get a lot for making a whole bunch of the same thing over and over with the same bits you can buy for less than 1/2 the price elsewhere. Whats the parts cost of software? I'm OK with it but how could you possibly be?

 

[Hagan]

@ iXpertMan
Push all the techincal aside , to me if you think it worth your money?? then buy it but if you have a set of ears that you can not tell bettween the fire cracker and the shotgun went off next to you ears then why waste the money??.
Base on your thought then why the hearing aid cost thousand of doll? when all there is to just put a amp in your ear???? it is look and sound easy to make untill you try to make it.
You think China would give up this opotuninty to get the consummers?? They don't know how yet, once they steal the tech of how they will flush the market with cheap IEM.
 
Bottom line is , if it's worth your money go for it because happyness = priceless

 

[Migou67]

Giz Explains: Why You Can’t Get Decent Earphones for Less Than $100

 
"Michael Johns, headphones manager for Shure—known for earbuds with MSRP ranging from $100 to $500 but rarely double digits—told me that most of the really cheap ($20) headphones on the market are basically rebranded crap from no-name factories, and that when you buy those with suggested retail pricing between $50 and $100, you're mostly paying for style, not sound. The top-tier brands, of which there are many, tend to design and engineer their own headphones. The expense of that is, unfortunately, passed on to you."
 
http://gizmodo.com/5371253/giz-explains-why-you-cant-get-decent-earphones-for-less-than-100
 
 

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

And if nobody makes money, than nobody bothers. Grab some granola, head to the hills and make a drum out of a lemming pelt and tree trunk.
 
I noticed that your avatar has an Apple logo. They sure get a lot for making a whole bunch of the same thing over and over with the same bits you can buy for less than 1/2 the price elsewhere. Whats the parts cost of software? I'm OK with it but how could you possibly be?

Apple is completely overpriced and I agree (when you talk hardware), but take a look at an ordinary PC with Windows, now take a look (or better try-out) a Mac with Mac OS, now tell me difference and which one you find more pleasurable.
 
But when I see IEMs, the sound quality isn't improved by far more, everyone says it a bit, a bit more, a bit better (barely noticeable). Not a really big better, yet the price is a lot bigger. Therefore the value is too high for something to be a bit better.
 
Returning to the Apple case, a MAC is a lot better!
 

 

[some1]

What you have to learn about this whole audophile game is that its subjective, and the more you spend, the more the law of diminshing return kicks in.
 
How much different does a $7 IEM sound to one that costs $1k?   Well a lot and then not a lot, its subjective, thats not to say that there won't be very obvious differences, but it depends who listens to them.  You have to learn to listen out for those differences, you can train yourself to hear the difference between a mp3 and a flac file for example, but to do that you will need headphones or speakers or IEM that have the ability to resolve enough detail for you to hear it, after that, it will take concentration.
 
Of coarse there is a difference betwwen the cheap and cheerful and the expenisve IEMs, there is a difference between the supermarkets cheapest toilet paper and the most expenisve luxury brand right, they both do the same job, but you certainly would know the difference upon using it.

 

[iXpertMan]

Quote:

What you have to learn about this whole audophile game is that its subjective, and the more you spend, the more the law of diminshing return kicks in.
 
How much different does a $7 IEM sound to one that costs $1k?   Well a lot and then not a lot, its subjective, thats not to say that there won't be very obvious differences, but it depends who listens to them.  You have to learn to listen out for those differences, you can train yourself to hear the difference between a mp3 and a flac file for example, but to do that you will need headphones or speakers or IEM that have the ability to resolve enough detail for you to hear it, after that, it will take concentration.

 
Any advice on listening? (how to)
 
 

 

[some1]

Quote:

 
Any advice on listening? (how to)
 
 

Yeh, choose a piece of music you connect with, enjoy and know, and listen to it more intently than you normally would, listen to individual instruments or voices.  Acoustic music is a good choice
 
 

 

[randomZash]

Quote:

 
 
1) -
2) Sound Quality has somewhat to do with bitrate and if you read the forum people agree that using a lossless format is better (obviously the recording counts too).
3) The whole idea of sound reproduction is to achieve the FLAT FREQUENCY CURVE, so not necessarily the sound quality, but how natural and even it sounds is affected.
 
 
I agree the the Monster's are overpriced, but so are others like: Shure, Westone...etc. The W1 for example costs 100 EURO, the W2 which has the same everything plus an extra driver and crossover costs twice as much, why is that so? The testing and work amount was already included in the W1 price tag, the extra driver costs 20 euro and the crossover well another 20 euro, so 150 euro would be a fair deal, but no they add an extra 50 euro (for WHAT?)
 
 

 
ROFLMFAO.
 
For real homeboy? Seriously?

 
 

 

[spkrs01]

It's all relative!
 
IEMs are the best bang for the buck as a medium of listening to music. 
 
With a good IEM you are getting 75-80% of the sound quality compared to a great home system for 0.001% of the price. 
 
That is bargain if there ever was one!!!

 

[iXpertMan]

What's wrong now?
All sound reproduction devices are created in order to reproduce natural sound-artificially, therefore having a flat frequency curve.

 

[iXpertMan]

 
What's wrong now?
All sound reproduction devices are created in order to reproduce natural sound-artificially, therefore having a flat frequency curve.

 
Quote:

It's all relative!
 
IEMs are the best bang for the buck as a medium of listening to music. 
 
With a good IEM you are getting 75-80% of the sound quality compared to a great home system for 0.001% of the price. 
 
That is bargain if there ever was one!!!

 
What about in a comparison to a Full-sized headphone? For 200 Euro I can buy a hell of a great headphone with astonishing bass, rather than some tiny squeaker.
 
 

 

[rangerid]

Quote:

Apple is completely overpriced and I agree (when you talk hardware), but take a look at an ordinary PC with Windows, now take a look (or better try-out) a Mac with Mac OS, now tell me difference and which one you find more pleasurable.
 
But when I see IEMs, the sound quality isn't improved by far more, everyone says it a bit, a bit more, a bit better (barely noticeable). Not a really big better, yet the price is a lot bigger. Therefore the value is too high for something to be a bit better.
 
Returning to the Apple case, a MAC is a lot better!
 

Are you serious.... Since you have said that you have never heard high end IEMs I don't see how you can make this comment. This simply isn't true and the differences are even bigger as you move into Customs and most people who own customs agree that it was worth every dollar. 
 
If you don't think it's worth the money, don't buy it. Simple as that. A number of valid points have already been pointed out in this thread. Nobody is going to force you to buy $400 headphones and there are lower priced IEMs that perform very well for their price that you can look into.