List the headphones you think should be cheaper than they are and maybe even what price you think they should be
HarmonicDyne Helios. I’m joking… anyway, probably the prices on the k702 and K712 still seen priced at like $300+ despite being able to find them just fine within like $100-$200 range same thing with the K612. Seems to be common with this brand
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The k712 I’ve always thought was over priced but that’s cause they are the Europeans have it good they have it pretty much properly priced
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I’m gonna say the top of the line headphones. their great and everything but 4000$ is just way too much. The LCD 4, Utopia, Empyrean, 1000SE and others should be about 1900$ if not cheaper. i really dont think it costs that much to manufacture even taking in research and development. I think the prices are horrible inflated
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I would love to try the empyrean but theres no way in hell I am going to pay that much just for a headphone. Really wish meze would put out a good planar at a better budget. Agreed though I don’t think they really cost that much to manufacture and it’s more flagship hype than anything
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K-702 is 130€, K-712 is 230€ (can be found for 200€)
When there is CNC machining in the process, it gets stupid expensive fast. That is because A) CNC machines are expensive B) The people who know how to operate them are expensive
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And what most people don’t realize is you pay for tolerances, machining something to 0.1mm is a lot cheaper than machining it to 0.001mm.
But I would tend to agree they are likely expensive to make, but with large markups, because they are intended to be status symbols, technical show cases and there is no expectation That they sell a lot of them.
The only measure of should be cheaper is does it sell as well as expected, It’s a free market. The market decides the value. New vs Used prices are generally a good indicator of what people think.
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I’ll just post this here. ~20 hours to mill 1 Empyrean skeleton from a solid block of aluminum.
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I have no doubts that it’s expensive… just hard to fathom it being several thousands for a single cnc process still would love to try the empyrean
- Sennheiser HD 660s
With the 58X being so close to the sound of the 660s, Sennheiser would need to take $150-200 off of the $500 MSRP in order to compete with their own headphone.
- Stax
Stax earspeakers don’t cost $400 or $700 or $1400. They cost $250-300 for just a lower end/vintage energiser + the cost of earspeakers. Smh
- Tin P1
Now with a ton of competition in the $100-150 range the P1 are going to have a hard time being the go to iem to pick up at $150+ new. Starfields and Legacy 3 especially.
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What headphones should be cheaper?
“All of them!”
A direct quote from my wallet.
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Not happening for this reason:
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Looks like they make stuff in Ireland and Romania now. Still not China though right? Ireland has some of the higher standard or living in the eu iirc, so that makes sense.
Isn’t the answer to this question, just every headphone not made by Koss?
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As a CNC machinist, all I can say is, this.
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For a lot of these I think the cost is about running a business, not manufacture/parts/research. People gotta eat, and they gotta pay other people.
That said, Audeze should drop it’s whole line by like $200. They would dominate price tiers if they did. The 2c at $600, just monsters. The X at a flat grand would be much more enticing. Peoples necks might get stronger and they could sell more 
Every headphone on drop is either a complete steal, or a complete ripoff. I’ll let you work out which is which.
Schiit ought to charge more, for everything they make honestly. I don’t know how they do it.
Focal should charge like $800 for the Clear. It’s great, but it’s twice what it should actually cost. I went open box and don’t regret it. They seem to have some manufacturing issues that get some attention as well, kind of not great at the $1600 price, but at $800 it’s less astounding.
At least it’s not Made in China
hmm. interesting. Yeah i always suspected that about the clear. sometimes you can find it on sale for 1400$ but with the Arya at 1600$ i dont think it can compete. and the Elex is 600$ so yeah maybe 800-900$ might be a better price for it
I think that sounds more respectable in pricing and also puts it dead on competing against the aeon 2 which is arguably just as good.