Sennheiser really needs better ears though for a lot of their budget or generally closed back offerings cause geez with a company as much clout as them you would think they have better gear in those fronts
Take what I say with a massive grain of salt. I worked in the hydro electric industry for a while and now work at a production side of a geochem lab. Never really worked in audio. But I have seen how cheap certain audio components are made and depending on where they are made how cheap a product can be made for especially with robots. I extrapolated that knowledge on a estimate on the production vs sales it could be lower than my estimates or higher.
Also just for the robot thing most components will be machine made also designed with very minimal losses so components are basically almost mostly just material very little labour costs per unit. But where a lot of costs come from is assembly depending on how your shit is assembled that’s a huge factor on price look at a Chifi iem or headphone made in china most likely a robot thus can be cheap vs HD 800s hand assembled pre burned in made by gentle detail oriented German ladies
Yeah robots would make it cheaper but then you have to pay for the operators, and repair costs, and the oil, electricity to run them, and the litigation from the Union’s of angry workers who were replaced by them and then you have $1,000 headphone when the materials cost a hundred bucks
Not saying that’s the only factor as there is stuff like the HD 800 is more detailed than most tuned by a legend and also by Sennheiser
Exactly and we keep coming up with more reasons why headphones have such a high price point when most of the time material costs are in the 10s or even ones
Also it’s cheaper to pay a couple of guys $15-$30 an hour to operate a few robot and electrcity can be really cheap and occassional maintainance costs than an assembly line
lol I’m starting to think the only good headphone company is the garage headphone company and the individuals who decide to make their own headphones and sell them over the web. But will they succumb to the temptation of selling their headphones for a 1000 bucks? Because all the big companies out there have already created an inflated market.
Well if they can produce a product that’s cheap to make but built well as well as sounds the price then then that’s up to competition to compete and lower it
Here’s my take, FWIW: Sennheiser had one big hit on the tuning side of things (HD 580 followed by 600 and 650). They then tried to improve on that, but have instead made it worse ever since. This well-received HD 600 series was based on a properly modified diffuse field curve. They got that right as far down as the mid-bass but didn’t have the techniques or technology to achieve a flat sub-bass from an open-back dynamic driver.
Receiving criticism for that, they elevated the entire bass in subsequent models. This brought up the subs, but the elevation also extended well into the mids causing them to be recessed after the elevation ended. They’ve been struggling with this dilemma ever since. Focal showed how to get a major step closer by using an m-dome design etc, but Focal presumably have this wrapped up in patents.
Trouble is, this is all based on an old-school Central European idea that quality in headphones involves accuracy of tuning. Lots of other companies have shown that accuracy is pretty much irrelevant to the vast majority of consumers and have made some serious bucks doing so. When the old-school brass in Sennheiser retire then maybe Sennheiser will finally get smart and follow the lead of the competition.
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but their german brother Beyerdynamic seems to get it I don’t know how Senn doesn’t
I would love to see their take on the Harman curve even though Im starting to kinda get harman fatigue
I dont like Sennhieser. I didnt even like the 600 and 650. i sent them back lol. But they are probably the best known audio companies out there. People define headphones by referencing their headphones lol
More like the Hermann curve? lol
They love tubes though 
sennheiser is the gateway drug for a reason it was mine. tried my buddies 598 then with that same buddie’s help got me a k240
lol meant a headphone tuned with the harman target response in mind probably already exists and Im ignorant
Yep and its made by Harman, lol: AKG K361 and K371. See Metal571 and Oluv reviews if curious.
Supporting my contention that accurate tuning is irrelevant, lol.
They got their brand recognition by inventing and marketing the open-back headphone. Then they were early to market with a diffuse-field-tuning based headphone when everyone else was doing free field. Then they made a splash with the Orpheus. Then they made a splash with the ultra-wide HD-800. After that … well, inertia is a powerful force.
aware of the akg offerrings I just want to see it from sennheiser
Gotcha. Suspect there are some egos in the way of that one. And even if there weren’t don’t think they have the in-house know-how to do it. Bet a lot of companies including Sennheiser have been busy taking the 371 apart and trying to see how it works. Even so, doing it closed-back is a whole different challenge than doing it open-back. Suspect even the engineers at AKG are still scratching their heads on that one.