Tame that 8K and you’ve got yourself a buyer 
Edit: Honestly, I found most vocal fatigue (if the treble is fine) to occur around the 1.5K region. Maybe you can mess around and experiment what works the best 
Also, if you were to estimate, how much do you think a BA normally cost in a ~$500 iem? I know it varies depending on the quality, but how much would you estimate the BAs in the Studio 4s (for example) cost softears?
(coupler peak, false alarm)
But 10k+ is no joke.
Since the Studio 4 doesnt mention ANYTHING about their BAs, you can assume it is bellsing drivers (or LS/E-Audio at most) and not Sonion, Knowles nor the Softears/Moondrop BAs (I mean, if they used them they would have marketed them right?).
So take for example E-audio drivers. you can buy a 4 BA setup (all in one kit) for around 30 usd/pair
or if you want separate ones then.
Total: 28 usd/pair
So around 30 usd for (a pair, for both L and R units) 4 BAs.
And this is NOT taking into consideration the batch discount that chifi companies gets for buying in massive batches. Depending on how much they buy, i would guess its between 20-50% off.
As for the shell, I do not know for sure, but I assume they use the same 3d printing OEM as Moondrop does for their Blessing 2 lineup which is HeyGears. They charge around 5 usd/pair for their shells (yes, I know since i have contacted and asked about my own earbud shells) but they do have a high minimum order quantity.
Cable, well, the Studio 4 cable looks like it would be sold for around 10 usd on aliexpress, so it is probably at most 5 usd for them to buy. (very likely a lot cheaper since they get batch discount.)
Packaging, I am not sure tbh. But its not more than 10 usd for each of the Studio 4´s sold.
So total 50 usd (without taking batch discount into consideration)
Then lets assume (this is not a given btw) that they throw away bad batches and stuff like that.
Maybe you can assume (high overestimation) the production price for one is just around 40 usd for it.
Now do it for the $6000 “The driver is made from unicorn dick coated with pixie dust” IEMs
Well, if you mean this.
Then I honestly dont even know HOW they got THAT bad of a tuning…
Even my DIY iems that literally I just soldered the driver and glued into the shell looks better…
Although maybe this is close 
That…is fucking terrible! Why would you do that to us?!?
I simply meant theorize on the markup of what you’re really paying for when you buy a $300-4000-6000 IEM.
God, that IEM is nightmare fuel!
Yeah well, unless they are actually developing a (real) custom driver from scratch with an OEM or/and filling it with TONS of BAs, Planars, (real) ESTs. The production price estimation wont be much different from what i mentioned above for the Studio 4.
Dam they’re making a killing if that’s true LOL
But I’m not sure if they’re using cheaper BAs since the Studio 4s sound really good, especially in the bass, and much better than some of the sonion/knowles in other sets. My guess is that they’re just secretive bastards 
I think the IEM market is extremely high margin as - let us be honest - those are kind of luxury products in the end.
But let’s not remove the mythical research and development cost out of the equation which involves the very high paid labour. And here I am thinking mainly about some more sophisticated designs than single DD or GK10 where all drivers were put on top of each other or some sets placed in not the most budget category where you would cut down on most of those below.
Electronic designers (crossovers), acoustic engineers (hopefully), CAD designers (both for the shell and faceplate), tuners (let’s hope at least 
), process engineers, QA specialists etc all need to get paid. Then paying for prototype batches, testing, operational costs, marketing material preparations, packaging design and so on and so on. And the sales volume would be low no matter what unless you pay extra heavy bucks for collab.
And then marketing samples, shillers etc 
Most likely you end up with initial cost in thousands of dollars per one type and IMO closer to 10k than 2k.
Not everyone is such one man army as you Riku
Its all about tuning in the end. At least from what I have seen, if they dont market the BA brand (nor any specific model names), it is Bellsing or LS/E-Audio.
Yeah I know lol. But production price at least should be damn low.
Waifu R&D doesn’t pay for itself, after all
Its free if its AI generated 
But the true Waifu aficionado doesn’t want 3D-printed Waifu. They want their Waifu handcrafted from start-to-finish.
And that costs money!
Little Baby Buds!
that looks like a great fit!
Indeed it is.
Riku wishes that’s what she said 
That is material only. You are forgetting R&D, manufacturing, manpower, utilities, etc.
But still, they are making money…otherwise they would not do it.
That is exactly what VIVID asked about.
