shipsupt Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Perhaps Sennheiser is simply offering another alternative at a different price point without lowering the MSRP of their flagship. There are still a lot of ears that prefer the HD-800 sound to Audeze or HiFiMan and Sennheiser is undoubtedly still selling plenty of 800's. Leverage your existing technology to build a cheaper to produce headphone with some of the same characteristics as your big dog. Roll out the 700 not to capture those that are already going to lean towards those other house sounds, but to offer a $1k option to someone that subscribes to your sound but struggles to drop the cash for it. There is likely a group that wants the top of the line Senny sound but struggles to get past the other offerings selling some $500 less than the 800. Spock logic might tell you to pony up the extra bucks and get the 800, but I'm guessing there are consumers who will jump at the chance to get part of the way there and save some rubles. In other words, definitely not a headphone created to be better than what's already out there, but one that bridges a gap and gets certain buyers to make the plunge because the pricing is simply closer to the comfort zone for a discretionary purchase. Maybe I'm just saying what's already been said...
purrin Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) I think Senn sucks not because of the way its headphones sound, generally speaking, but because of the strategic decisions it has made recently. It's odd to me that Senn seeded some forums with proto 700s, but apparently didn't listen to the requests from same about what would be a nice complement to the 800. The odd thing about Senn seeding HF with samples is that they announced the headphone at CES "as-is" without first considering feedback. I mean WTF? Heck, the sample HD700s are just being sent back as of this very moment! As I mentioned in HF, I've always felt Senn was kind of arrogant. Not necessarily a bad trait as it was excusable in the past because they made good shit. It's obvious Senn was hoping to get a hype-machine going by strategically selecting certain members to have them. They just didn't think it would somewhat back-fire. Edited January 12, 2012 by purrin
Wmcmanus Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Ha. I'll try to get around to it ... after I get samples in my hot little hands. About half the Marley cans sounded pretty good. The designers are two guys from Klipsch. Speaks well of them that they bailed Klipsch. They knew who I was instantly and thanks me for the Exodus review and said it was spot on. they've completely redesigned the headband. They new it was a problem, but they've been pushed to get new skus out the door. As I criticized other cans, they mostly nodded their heads and would tell me they were aware, and what was going on with that can. Product development at that level is a pretty hardball game. I like them. The Soul booth had the hottest chicks, pix on IF soon. The guy doing the Sony BA demo saw my card and went, "Dude! I love your site!" That was nice. The cans were okay. Got better for the price as you went up the ladder. Samples soon. Got to talk to the Chief Design Officer and CEO of Fanny Wang, and the California Headphone company. They run both brands. The TOTL California Headphone Company can has TUBES in it!!! It was a prototype and out of juice, but their mid price headphone sounded pretty good. The guys at Comply are a bunch of geek chemists who get their rocks off developing foam. They were fun. I don't think the Polk guys get it. I'm out. Did you happen to see Mikhail?
morphsci Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 he wouldn't, as Mikhail is invisible. But Tyll has Wobble Goggles.
morphsci Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) how about AKGs $1300 canalphones? I love the Harman/AKG site .... "The world’s smallest three-way headphones, AKG® K 3003s deliver the astonishing accuracy, dynamics and realism of our flagship K 701 studio headphones." At over three times the price. Edited January 12, 2012 by morphsci
Tyll Hertsens Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 then there is a chance he could spot Mikhail. how about AKGs $1300 canalphones? Mikhail says hi ... It was mumbled under his breath with a downward head and a shuffle away. I did listen to the AKG canalphones ... funny, they did sound a bit like the K701. Thrilling, isn't it?
philodox Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) Me, too. Very happy with my pair coming off a GS-X. Sound great and feel great to me. For the "Sennheiser sucks" folks, I'm wondering which cans of theirs they tried? And in what kind of listening environment and equipment? I've heard pretty much every headphone released by Sennheiser prior to the HD800 with all sorts of equipment both at my home and at meets, and while I love the HE90 and HE60, most of the others are not my cup of tea. That said, they are very comfortable, and as such I've recommended their headphones to friends in the past who are looking for TV/computer headphones for movies and video games. I'm definately not a fan of their new styling, but I'll give the HD700 and HD800 an honest listen when I get the opportunity. Hey buddy where have you been?? Still using the k340? Didn't have access to the forums at work for a while and have been crazy busy for the last two years. How have you been? Where are you living now? I'm still using the K340 as my main headphone, but picked up a pair of K271's for the subway and recently got a pair of Symphones Magnums that I'm slowly falling in love with. EDIT: AKG is making $1300 canalphones now? Oh, the humanity! Edited January 12, 2012 by philodox
Wmcmanus Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 EDIT: AKG is making $1300 canalphones now? Yes, for the anal canal.
Wmcmanus Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 why would he see Mikhail? Emoticon omitted.
philodox Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Yes, for the anal canal. Ah, a headphone subwoofer... an interesting idea.
CD44hi Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Yes, for the anal canal. Nicely done, Santa. LOL!
bhjazz Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Thanks Tyll, for doing the leg work at CES, so we don't have to. I agree. Thanks, Tyll. We live vicariously through your CES humor. You're spot on as always! Maybe I'm confused, but why would they have $1K and $1.5K complimentary phones? Who does this? In psychology there is a word for it, but in general restaurants do this quite often. Take a look at the wine list next time you are out. The wine they *want* you to buy is always in the middle of the list. Most people will say, "wow, $16 bucks for a glass? Oy!" and also "geez, $6 for a glass of wine. I bet it sucks" then buy the $10 one in the middle. I'd bet that Sennheiser is trying to sell more of their $1K model by having it be the one-down-from-the-top model.
blessingx Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Tyll, x3 on all the hard work. Any chance you gave the RS 220 a second listen? Curious if it lives up to the decently cautious hype.
catscratch Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 Also, there are so many $1k+ headphones floating around now (and apparently finding some success) that I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't a perception in the market that if a headphone isn't priced at $1k it's not that high-end... and if that factored into Senn's decision to price it this way. Also I have to wonder if they intentionally didn't make it as good as it could be to make sure that it didn't sound better than the HD800 (in which case they should be called Porsche). Anyway, that's enough idle speculation from me. Looking forward to more impressions from the show.
Eric5676 Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 I think Senn sucks not because of the way its headphones sound, generally speaking, but because of the strategic decisions it has made recently. It's odd to me that Senn seeded some forums with proto 700s, but apparently didn't listen to the requests from same about what would be a nice complement to the 800. I don't disagree with that. As for what I've heard extensively: <snip> Equipment: all kinds of amps, all kinds of DACs, and my johnson. Got you.
Synchro Belt Drive Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 About the new HD25, apparently it is a further developed version of the old one with more versatile drivers and according to an old college of mine it sounds the business. I tend to believe him given he is a Techno/Deep House DJ on the rise in Amsterdam and he found it suitable enough to produce his own work with... [Alexander Valentijn]
tkam Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 Tyll, anything to report on the Shure SRH1840s?
The Monkey Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 Dr. Dre wants to push Noel Lee off his Segway. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/beats-electronics-is-breaking-up-with-monster-01122012.html?campaign_id=rss_null
Grahame Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Posted January 13, 2012 ^ Who am I supposed to not care less about?
The Monkey Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 I think it's pretty amazing that Beats is a $600 million company (at least). I had no idea it was that valuable.
Augsburger Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 What is the "Beats Technology" the author is mentioning? Bass hump and treble muffling?
khaos974 Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 Its [beats] products captured 53 percent of the $1 billion annual headphone market last year I had no idea they were so successful!
justin Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 What is the "Beats Technology" the author is mentioning? Bass hump and treble muffling? a logo
The Monkey Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 I had no idea they were so successful! I found that part of the article confusing. It's not clear, to me at least, that the 53% of $1B belonged to Beats. It could also be that 53% belonged to Monster, of which Beats is certainly a significant amount. Whatever, they takin' it to the bank, son.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now