[nsx_23]

Its just that we're all gathered here.

 

[mvw2]

I'm curious how strong the "hearing what you're missing" concept would promote interest. Yes, I agree just having headphones there, packaged, would probably not be all that great. I think the bigger draw may be the listening experience. For example, you give a guy a good $100 earphone to try with their I-pod and have him listen to a few songs. Then tell him to try his old phones again. From the listening experience, how eager would the person be to purchase the item after a direct comparison?

I kind of look at car audio as a simile. A LOT of people will go to Best Buy or wherever, drop retail money on car audio products they've barely heard. If a guy's willing to drop $500 or more on essentially crap, why can't a guy quite readily drop $50 or $100 on a new set of headphones?

I agree, the culture isn't quite there. It sort of needs representatives. However, if these stores do pop up, the employees become the ambassadors to the public. Once people start talking, we can build a line of communication with the public and get that information across. Along with the listening experience, it might be kind of hard for it not to work.

The online sales is one aspect. I am unfamiliar with the relative pricing of head fi. I could see a lot of people demoing hardware and then purchasing online. Then again, it depends on how well the companies control sales and the range between list/retail and online pricing. Sometimes people just don't care or don't know. A LOT of people seem plenty eager spending retail on car fi despite online pricing being 50% retail.

I don't know. I think actually knowing what you're missing will promote sales. Once you've had something better, it is may times tough to go back to something less.

 

[SiriuslyCold]

A colleague of mine was quite impressed with my CrossRoads IEMs - and they are very affordable but he said his iPod sounds poor compared to even my mobile phone audio. (of course it is, he has 128k MP3s)

"Hearing what you're missing" is great but if all they have are crappy 128k MP3s and those are best served by stock earbuds that came with whatever player they bought. And they can't be bothered to go and re-rip their audio...

I suspect a lot of people are like my colleague and the market for good 'phones is narrowed down considerably.

 

[dallan]

We have several headphone stores and dealers here but i have yet to find one that has a headphone that i am interested in. They may carry the brands and mid level stuff but not the higher end. Ultrasone but no Edition 9, Electrostatic but only bottom or midrange. The only brand that has a headphone over say 300. is the Grados but those dealers don't stock the GX1000s, which would be what i would be curious to hear.

So like Uncle Erik says thank God for the meets. That's where i decided on my current expenditure or i would have gone wrong on my choice, i got totally turned around when auditioning.

 

[forsberg]

Here in Hong Kong there are a few headphone stores. And most of them have many rigs set up for you to test. You can bring your own music + gear to try before you buy.

I tried the Westone 3s for about 30 minutes before buying.

Going to the extreme, there's even a store/club called Mingo, and it's like real life head-fi. People just go in there and chill, listening to different equipment, and chat with each other about headphones.

 

[Nocturnal310]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingkevo25 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can't imagine a retail store selling only headphones surviving long. How much sales per day would a headphone store need to stay afloat? Even a shop in a city such as San Francisco would only sell maybe a dozen hi-end cans on a good day, which minus dealercost wouldn't turn much of a profit. Small businesses need regulars. I think all the money in the headphone market is passed online.... buyers can purchase from sellers regardless of distance, and sellers don't have to worry about rent ($1000s per month), maintenance, etc.

U havent heard of Jaben and Stereo Electronics in singapore then.

they specialise in Selling Headphones, headphone amps and other personal audio equipment around it.

and they are doing a great business.

Edit: Oh.. someone already mentioned that.


Quote:

Originally Posted by tseryan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Believe it or not, but there are really few people on this planet willing to pay over $100 for a pair of earphones or headphones.

I agree...when i got my HD205.,..my friend didnt understand how i spent so much on them...and when i told him about my HD600..he was like.. 'dude , you could have gotten Bose for that much money'...but then i explained to him how Bose doesnt really sound that good and its mainly advertising.

 

[krmathis]

Too small of a market!

I would love to see dedicated headphone store(s) around here, but don't think there are enough market/customers to make it runnable.

 

[aragornmustdie]

jaben is actually overpriced IMO

actually i feel that here in the SE Asia exists a much bigger need for personal or portable audio. in singapore, MRT and bus trips often takes very long and tiring that people prefer to plug their ears. also, i think people here are also more ignorant in the sense that they dont care what others will say when their put up their attention-grabbing rigs. and that, coupled with some other factors- hectic, busy, and workaholic atmosphere... everything force people to just get the hell with others and just immerse themselves in their own music. hence, the popularity of IEMs here. and i think those things i mentioned would ring true to other developing countries... with high density population.

 

[krmathis]

^ But at least you have a store to audition "every" 'phone.
Instead of most of us who have no option of buying blind, then resell if its not of your taste.

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif For the same reason there are no rubber band stores or screwdriver stores. If you want rubber bands, go to Office Depot where you'll find all sorts of other things. If you want screw drivers, go to Home Depot.

I was going to say the same thing. It would be like setting up a store that only sells SACD players... too specialized.