[Jtom94]

Why has Sony not produced anything similar or close to the MDR-R10? They've must have done tons of research and development to create such a remarkable product and from their perspective it does not make much sense to only make a limited number of headphones and store away the knowledge. Why do all the work, have all that knowledge and do nothing with it? I understand if they don't produce an exact replica but why not use the same driver architecture to uplift or elevate the Sony headphones lineup as a whole?

 

[swbf2cheater]

Sony is a massive company that produces an astronomical amount of gear, headphones being near the bottom of what they would care about most...they especially wouldn't care for a ridiculously expensive set of headphones that hardly anyone owns.  Just my two cents on what their view on audiophile headphone production could be
 
 

 

[tomb]

 
Quote:

Why has Sony not produced anything similar or close to the MDR-R10?

Maybe they think they have ... it's just that nothing has produced another cult following ... yet.

 

[Gwarmi]

I think the answer may lie in the 'Qualia' range which was most likely an experiment to test
the 'high end audiophillia' waters..
 
The board room at some stage must of realised it was costing a lot of time and money
for little turn over of stock. The margin was probably smaller than you imagine which is
common with any high end goods.
 
In the end it makes sense to make lots of mid range gear.
 
Look at Sennheiser, same thing ~ if they're waiting on HD650 and HD800 profits to
solely keep the headphone division afloat then a lot of people in Ireland and Germany
would soon be looking at being unemployed.

 

[wind016]

Plus the engineer of the R10 left Sony.

 

[sphinxvc]

Never mind..

 

[Graphicism]

They have... Sony SA5000; it's like an open R10 without the reverberation issues of closed phones.

 

[The Mourning]

hello jtom94,

Realistically speaking, the only reason why the mdr-r10s or the qualias are priced the way they are is determined by the limited exclusivity of owning one and simply because Sony needed a high-priced headphone in the extremes to compete with similar priced headphones from competitors like Sennheiser and Audio-Technica. These headphones are amazing and all but the technology behind them are far short of revolutionary. Many people suspect the drivers from the 010s were used in the sa5ks, tuned and different in their housings no doubt. But essentially there is nothing to the "magic" but how much you attribute to them. Just my two cents.

 

[Ishcabible]

And to go along with what's been said, the tooling is worn out iirc and Sony definitely wouldn't spend money on replacing it. They may already have the initial research in regards to making a replica of the R10, but not the motive.

 

[Xymordos]

Sony is a large corporation that focuses on profit. Extremely expensive headphones receive very little sales and thus little revenue for the company. Sony have to suffer large sums of R&D money on top of this. The only benefit they get from making a TOTL headphone is their reputation, which they're already very well known in all fields. So Sony have no reason to do this.

 

[NinjaSquirt]

Yes they made an excellent product, yes they probably have more research and development staff than most other headphones companies but how did they get there? Certainly not by selling a $4,000 products to (how many people actually own an MDR-10? Maybe 500? IDK, but I assume it's very little) with maybe a $2,000 profit margin. They got there by selling countless mid range/lackluster products with a $2 margin.

 

[Hifianddrumming]

 There are much cheaper and easier solutions these days. Where before you had to pay massive amounts of money to get the same kind of quality you get from the LCD-2, that can now be had for much cheaper.

 

[Arleus]

I always thought it would be an advantage to have a true flagship headphone. Not many people will buy it of course, and you won't make much money compared to the amount you get selling millions of low-end IEMs. But, it at least proves that you can do it, that if you really want to, you can make something world class. That always tantalises a buyer with the prospect that his/her mid-fi cans use some of the technology and lessons learned from the £2000 behemoth. Surely it's a marketing advantage? 

 

[kiteki]

 
There's a new Sony MDR-R10 now, it's called the Fostex TH900, they've spent years developing it and the drivers are made in the same technique as the R10 (bacteria cultures in a lab).
 
The housing of the TH900 is wood (zelkova serrata I think) and the magnetic flux density is the highest of any headphone, surpassing Tesla T1/T5p.
 
On top of that, it's finished with a Japanese lacquer made from poison ivy, called Urushi, found on quality products.
 
It really is the new R10, all I can imagine is missing is possibly angled drivers and aerodynamically shaped wood, and of course a Sony rep delivering it to you in a limosuine.
 
 
Sony pioneered the bio-cellulose technology and followed up on it in the cheap E888 earphone amongst others (which sounds very good and natural).
 
Now they have moved on to LCP (Liquid crystal polymer) drivers, which are used on the Z1000, MDR-7520 and EX1000.
 
More recently, Sony's entire development team for portable audio have been focusing on creating balanced armature drivers, which are due for release in Japan in two days (November 10th, 2011).
 
 

 

[astroid]

The Sony R10 is one of those products where they invested heavily, had the best guys , had a clear purpose and everything came together perfectly and BAM , you have a near faultless example of a product.
This doesnt happen very often , why?
 
It is too expensive , really that simple. People doubt that Sony made a loss on these cans (as claimed by Sony) , i dont doubt it. Sony have done it before , with the Qualia and prior to that an internal project called "spirit concepts".
 
I would love to see them do a new run of R10's , i have no doubt they could, i also have no doubt they wont.