[db597]

Every few years you need to sell a loss making flagship to keep the brand alive. e.g. the Bugatti Veyron - they lost $5M for every car they sold.

The headphones are the same. But of course the company doesn't want to sell (lose) more than it has to. A limited production run every once in 10 years is enough.

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seacard /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am not so sure that Mike (Mulveling) is necessarily waiting for higher prices. I really think he is trying to make up him mind completely on whether he wants to sell it and who to sell it to. The great thing about headfi is that people often take less money to sell to established members

agreed, from VERY recent experience myself

The R10 I heard when in production and did not want it, eventually traded, now I want a BNIB NOS pair, such is life

 

[averydonovan]

As Hirsch mentioned, the R10 was unprofitable for Sony, even at the high prices they were sold for. I think we are quite past the era of Sony statement products since they put way too many irons in the fire a few years back and are now having to recover from all too many missteps.

 

[ast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seacard /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am not so sure that Mike (Mulveling) is necessarily waiting for higher prices. I really think he is trying to make up him mind completely on whether he wants to sell it and who to sell it to. The great thing about headfi is that people often take less money to sell to established members

I have no negative feeling bout Mike and his position at all. What I'm saying is that R10 seems have gone into collectible antique status and the price is driven ONLY by the demand/market instead of value. I would do the same thing as Mike since he is not selling a piece of electronic hardware, but rather a collectible. He didn't drive up the price, but the market did. I just envy him

If fact if he were not to release the fund tied up with the R10, I'd recommend him hold on to it, the price will go up even further. Case in study -- Jason mentioned R10 on Japanese market was around 210k-250k but today one is gone for 290k on Yahoo Japan (and I missed it!)