It could be that Planars, in general, cost more to make then non-planars .
It could be that as the non-planar headphones have been around so long, their cost to manufacturer has come way down.
Name brand headphone companies (makers) may not see the current market of the consumers even caring about "Planar" type headphones.
And no name (non-established) companies in China may be willing to take more risk and making the product as cheap as possible and not have to worry about ruining a name brand image, if the product has a slightly more then average (or acceptable) failure rate.
That's my two cents.
You’re trying to make a very large generalization about technology, which is just too broad. It’s like saying that Muay Thai is simply a better form of fighting than Dutch kickboxing. It doesn’t work that way. Both are effective forms of fighting and anyone can become a great fighter utilizing either discipline.
You can’t make a broad generalization that Dutch Kickboxing is superior to Muay Thai, as if any person who studies the Dutch style would always defeat anyone who practices Muay Thai. There are plenty of Muay Thai masters who would thump all but the very elite Dutch kickboxers and visa versa. It’s the individual skill of the fighter that is more important than the style he was taught.
Likewise, there are plenty of crappy headphones that use planar tech that would be far inferior to a multitude of dynamic headphones. And the same can be said in reverse. It’s how well the technology is implemented for a particular model that matters the most.
The bottom line is that your generalized statement is simply wrong no matter which way you frame it. All planars are not better than all dynamics and all dynamics are not better than all planars. It’s not that simple.
Somebody was bored. Planars are generally large, heavy and hard to drive. So it really depends on what your definition is of better, but it certainly isn't in every way. I've owned 3 planars, and sold them all. I just prefer dynamic drivers, but I'm certainly not going to say they are better in every way.
Most planars can be almost perfectly flat from 10hz to 1000hz, then most of these are even more messed up than some dynamics from 1000hz to 10,000hz. And they're up against dynamics who while not perfectly flat are still acceptable from 50hz to 1000hz, and maybe at worst some treble peak. Or in other cases others deliberately go with the Harman compensation curve and have a dynamic that doesn't roll off far below 1000hz is even if it has a wide plateau on the low end to compensate for not having the soundwaves hitting the entire body as speakers would.
Most planars have markedly lower sensitivity compared to many dynamic drivers, especially when planars first started getting popular. Before something like the HE400S you're better off getting even an OTL amp and for under $300 you can already put more than enough power into a 96dB/1mW 300ohm headphone at the time the Asgard wasn't out yet or was prohibitively expensive to acquire unless you're in or have a US address (or have relatives willing to forward it to you, like how if I'm not yet visiting, I have family who carry my online shopping stuff in their luggage, since i do the same when I'm the one flying).
And speaking of speakers...if planars and electrostats etc are better in every way...why isn't everybody using them? Some are too expensive, you need a powerful amp, the flat response down measured at 1m doesn't stay that way if you sit over 2m away as would be the whole point in a large speaker since just piling on acoustic dampeners isn't going to totally solve acoustic issues arising from oversized speakers in a tiny room and having that open diaphragms' soundwaves going the other direction be audible to and then bounce off the walls hence why some Levinsons have a subwoofer on the bottom, the cheaper cost of Magnepans is killed by shipping them outside of the US, no after sales support everywhere so good luck getting that thing repaired even in the US where you have to ship the whole thing back unlike how your local dealer or audio repair guy at worst can dismantle drivers and ship them out to be repaired by the manufacturer...
It's like asking why, if Teslas have even better torque than a Chevy turbodiesel without sacrificing the equivalent of high rpm power for cornering so you don't end up eating Ferrari dust that wide sweeper before the main straight, people are still buying Audi RSx or BMW Mx. The easiest rational reason? Good luck on your road trip outside of California. Even if you had the model with the solar panel, what are you gonna do if you don't make it to the hotel that has a charger? Park in the middle of the Mojave and hope you don't pass out and get bitten by a rattlesnake or eaten by a cougar before it's charged? And even if your destination has a charging station, surprise, guess what I found in Death Valley a few years ago: Teslas lining up like Mustangs and Camaros (and every car, for that matter) in 1973 because people who were friends with people who started a war tried to salvage the situation by pressuring the UN to try to resolve the conflict. OK maybe not that bad, but come on. Three Teslas waiting to charge on one station is practically going to feel as long as a gas line when that oil embargo happened.
I mean, aircraft carriers are also better, but real life isn't a video game where you can just spam the enemy with Protoss carriers. Even during the days of the Ship of the Line some ships would be equipped with shorter range, harder hitting guns, and they're not always the biggest ships either.
1. Planars arent better in every way.
- Planars are generally heavier due to larger magnets.
- They usually require more power to amp properly.
- They're generally more combersome due to size for portability or longer listening sessions (some are light, eg: Hifiman reference line).
- Planars don't give as much detail as a DD and usually have a smoother/darker tone (comparing Audeze/Hifiman to Focal/Beyer/Senn).
2. Everyone has their own preference and this hobby is 100% subjective.
3. I like having variety depending on music, i'll admit Planars are great for certain types of music, and meh for others.
While planars do 'measure' better (particularly in bass extension, distortion etc), I find that tonally I far prefer dynamic drivers - they just present a more natural sound to me.
for me at least it's simple: weight.
on occasion I spend several hours with headphone on, and while I really like how some of the Audeze headphones sound, I'd rather have no music than spend hours carrying those on my head.
also they tend to be expensive, which is obviously relevant to anybody on a budget. so maybe OP's question should be: why aren't all rich people with the neck of a bison, using planar?
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