[Hamuraii]

You get what you pay for.

 

[Max Choiral]

The price here appears to be justified. Although, I do agree, I'd love to see Yamaha come out with a pair of <$1000 audiophile headphones.

More like the price is inline with the current state of the market. It would be a totally different story with YH-5000 if it was developed in the period of very few headphone flagships (think of HD800 and Beyer's T1).

You get what you pay for.

Noope, not with audio.

 

[Hamuraii]

Hand assembled by few artisan/engineers in a small factory building in Japan.

 

[voja]

Latest news: YH-5000SE will be available for pre-order starting December 9th, with the deliveries set to be around the end of December.

Source: Yamaha Audio JP

 

[Death_Block]

You get what you pay for.

Yeah true, but it's driving the prices up in every better sounding headphone. It's the whole console world, sell for a loss, but sell many. Sell for a small margin, but sell more, it promises customer loyalty. If I was a company, I'd want a customer over 20 years, not a point of sale. But you do you. Talk to Senn, producing benchmark products at a good price

 

[Tano]

Trust me, there is much more thought behind this than an average consumer can wrap their heads around. If you invest this amount of money into a product that has such a small target audience, you want to make it count. Not only will the YH-5000 represent Yamaha as a company, but it will also earn people's respect. It's not as though they went half ass with it and made a whole bunch of marketing bs claims and nonsense and said, "You know what, why not make it $5000?". The price here appears to be justified. Although, I do agree, I'd love to see Yamaha come out with a pair of <$1000 audiophile headphones.

The focus of the YH-5000 is engineering. It is clearly projected to be a success.


A very strong and valid point. That's the generational gap, and it's quite wide..


A very reasonable and valid point! I don't know, I just have a very strong feeling that Yamaha invested a lot into the YH-5000. There is no part that doesn't suggest Yamaha used a lot of resources, especially financially.

I really want this headphones to be a win and destroy the competition, and I have 0 doubts that Yamaha put all in. However, I think that part of the technology used was already done by them (D8000 included) and they could have made them a bit cheaper, but we all know how capitalism works...

 

[voja]

Hand assembled by few artisan/engineers in a small factory building in Japan.

Exactly.

As is usually case with such products, people will doubt its value and will try to bring it down.

More like the price is inline with the current state of the market. It would be a totally different story with YH-5000 if it was developed in the period of very few headphone flagships (think of HD800 and Beyer's T1).

Ok, but how many current flagships are just taking advantage of the market, i.e. the consumers? How many of them actually invested enough resources to back up that cost? Truthfully, not a lot. Most of them are just milking people and their wallets, and using marketing to brainwash them into believing that the cost has been jutified. I am not the person to comment about their sound, because I haven't listened to the market's most costly flagships, but I have more than enough reason to doubt their core value.

How many of the companies in this price bracket have the resources to afford experts working several years (hell, even months), using industrial-grade equipment, and affording all the R&D?

Yamaha is a different story. It has a reputation, and to think that it would put its reputation on the line is funny. When Yamaha does something at this scale, you best believe it's doing it right. Don't forget, these headphones come from the Yamaha Corporation—it's not going to put its shareholders at stake.

I don't usually do this, but I give Yamaha the benefit of the doubt for this one. Those who know, know what Yamaha was back in the 70s. Yamaha making a return after such a long time, it's putting everything on the line. The pressure is on, and they definitely knew that when they were thinking of making an official return. There are expectations that are to be met, and the Japanese don't take such things lightly. Stereotypical, but Yamaha for sure holds that sort of mindset close to its heart.

 

[Max Choiral]

Ok, but how many current flagships are just taking advantage of the market, i.e. the consumers? How many of them actually invested enough resources to back up that cost? Truthfully, not a lot. Most of them are just milking people and their wallets, and using marketing to brainwash them into believing that the cost has been jutified. I am not the person to comment about their sound, because I haven't listened to the market's most costly flagships, but I have more than enough reason to doubt their core value.

How many of the companies in this price bracket have the resources to afford experts working several years (hell, even months), using industrial-grade equipment, and affording all the R&D?

Yamaha is a different story. It has a reputation, and to think that it would put its reputation on the line is funny. When Yamaha does something at this scale, you best believe it's doing it right. Don't forget, these headphones come from the Yamaha Corporation—it's not going to put its shareholders at stake.

I don't usually do this, but I give Yamaha the benefit of the doubt for this one. Those who know, know what Yamaha was back in the 70s. Yamaha making a return after such a long time, it's putting everything on the line. The pressure is on, and they definitely knew that when they were thinking of making an official return. There are expectations that are to be met, and the Japanese don't take such things lightly. Stereotypical, but Yamaha for sure holds that sort of mindset close to its heart.

I totally understand your desire to believe in Yamaha.
Let me give you a somewhat relevant example. A significant part of pro audio market belongs to Yamaha. Despite that they did a lackluster job on their "professional" headphones line, for example MT220. It just sounds meh and I can't really see it as a strong competitor on the market. Could they do better? Definitely. But they just don't care, I guess. Why? Because they have made a big name for themselves a long time ago, just like Sony.

 

[voja]

I totally understand your desire to believe in Yamaha.
Let me give you a somewhat relevant example. A significant part of pro audio market belongs to Yamaha. Despite that they did a lackluster job on their "professional" headphones line, for example MT220. It just sounds meh and I can't really see it as a strong competitor on the market. Could they do better? Definitely. But they just don't care, I guess. Why? Because they have made a big name for themselves a long time ago, just like Sony.

You made a fair point.

However, I'd really like to believe that the team behind the YH-5000(SE) and for their future audiophile headphones (should there be more on the way) was not behind "those" releases. This is a headphone, if you understand what I mean. The recent headphones (e.g. YH-7000A) from Yamaha did feel like the commercial-like releases. For example, the MT220, I doubt much R&D went into them. The approach here seems to be completely different. This is Yamaha's "WE ARE BACK" — I hope

As said, we will see.

 

[Death_Block]

I believe in Yamaha, I think they are a fantastic company, their motorcycles are some of the best, extremely well priced. There is no reason they can't carry that on and 'match' tolt headphone prices. They can and will do it a better price than niche headphone brands. They have targeted the audiophile at the donkey prices it's brought. It's a shame. Ps Yamaha, you have the reputation, don't exploit it. But it goes to sales, they do it because you sick poos will pay mountain amounts for the best.

 

[XERO1]

I don't usually do this, but I give Yamaha the benefit of the doubt for this one.

This is something I no longer do.

I used to, but I've been disappointed way more times than I care to count by high-dollar TOTL flagships that either sound like crap or have some stupid deal-breaking design flaw (or both).

It's all marketing fluff BS until I hear it with my own ears. Only then can I discover if the headphone actually lives up to the hype (and they rarely do).

 

[voja]

But it goes to sales, they do it because you sick poos will pay mountain amounts for the best.

This is my favorite part . It's cute.


Matching energy.

 

[Max Choiral]

@voja I wholeheartedly support your enthusiasm on Yamaha future release of YH-5000.
However, you should remember that Pioneer which I consider also a big name in audio history, has undeniably failed to capture target audience with their release of Master 1 headphones.
Not to put your hopes down, but to stay more grounded. It might be a fail, it might be a success. Like you said, we will wait and see.

I believe in Yamaha, I think they are a fantastic company, their motorcycles are some of the best, extremely well priced. There is no reason they can't carry that on and 'match' tolt headphone prices.

You know Marshall makes really good guitar amps

 

[Max Choiral]

del

 

[Death_Block]

@voja I wholeheartedly support your enthusiasm on Yamaha future release of YH-5000.
However, you should remember that Pioneer which I consider also a big name in audio history, has undeniably failed to capture target audience with their release of Master 1 headphones.
Not to put your hopes down, but to stay more grounded. It might be a fail, it might be a success. Like you said, we will wait and see.


You know Marshall makes really good guitar amps

They used too. They also make , (well the don't make) but stick their water soluble sticker on candy earphones