When I saw the price point, that popped into my mind as well.
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AirPods Max Begin Shipping to Customers Ahead of December 15 Launch
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As some on that is five figures into audio I am looking forward to getting mine in a couple of days.
Ahead of schedule.
Original shipping shows the 21st, actual tracking shows the 17th or sooner.
Original shipping shows the 21st, actual tracking shows the 17th or sooner.
here’s how I consider the price... sure the $550 was a price shock. But a couple nights before the AirPods came out a thought occurred to me that if Beats Studio is $350 and the AirPods version is going to be far superior, Apple is going to charge for that premium. I had guessed it was going to be around $500 but it still hit my gut a bit when I actually saw the price. I thought for about 10 minutes that no one would buy these and I should wait for others to jump and wait and see if they are really worth it.
but then I recall I’ve paid $300+ for the 512SSD upgrade for an iPhone Lol. Shoot I’ve paid $1500 essentially for iPhones multiple times. I don’t think people were as outraged for that kind of upsell when it probably costs Apple next to nothing in marginal cost for the 512 chip.
save the outrage for those $400 Mac Pro wheels or the $130 duo charger. These AirPods look to be incredible and potentially a very good value if you compare them to say, a Dolby Atmos home installation.
if you use headphones all the time you shouldn’t let a $200 premium itself stop you from the purchase. Can’t afford it? That’s understandable. A premium Apple product sold for a premium price? Not so much.
but then I recall I’ve paid $300+ for the 512SSD upgrade for an iPhone Lol. Shoot I’ve paid $1500 essentially for iPhones multiple times. I don’t think people were as outraged for that kind of upsell when it probably costs Apple next to nothing in marginal cost for the 512 chip.
save the outrage for those $400 Mac Pro wheels or the $130 duo charger. These AirPods look to be incredible and potentially a very good value if you compare them to say, a Dolby Atmos home installation.
if you use headphones all the time you shouldn’t let a $200 premium itself stop you from the purchase. Can’t afford it? That’s understandable. A premium Apple product sold for a premium price? Not so much.
Companies artificially limiting supplies is a very ver bad move in many ways. Most people need a product now, so if something is out of stock artificially, they lose a sale. I don't know why so many people bring up this argument that companies artificially limit their supplies. If I needed a new pair of headphones now, I would get Sony not wait. However, I still have my Sennheiser wireless headphones so I don't mind waiting with the added benefit that once reviews are out I can cancel my order if the reviews are bad enough.
As Linus from LTT says, its absolutely ridiculous to be a fanboy of any brand. If I go in to an Apple store, and they are out of stock (even artificially), I will get a product from a different company. MORE people are like this than are willing to wait. People like my parents, grandparents, siblings and more do not buy in to the artificial hype. They get a different product at the time they need something.
This is why I am either getting an AMD or NVIDIA graphics card. Whichever is in stock first I will get. I don't care who its from. I need a new graphics card and it would be very poor of me to get an RTX 20 series card when the 30 series or AMD cards are far better at more than half the price.
It also sounds and measure like crap :this bad boys go for close to $5000
Sennheiser — Headphones, Microphones, Wireless Systems
For over 75 years, our products come with a built-in mission: to stay true to the sound and soul the music was given by its artist.en-us.sennheiser.com
Headphones v1.3.1 - Graph Tool
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Eh, Sony isn't too much boxy, I think, and offered colorful option from very beginning on each their IEM and full ear headphones lineup.
Sorry what is TWS? I am really having a hard time lately reading posts and discussions when acronyms are thrown out everywhere
“Industrial Design,” so headphones with metal? Also, I am almost certain that these do not cost $450 to make but that doesn’t change my opinion. Even if the price is due to the “cost to make them,” wouldn’t you consider your market and what your competition is doing? Maybe I am wrong and Apple didn’t even consider what Bose, Sony and others are doing. It’s a hard sell, even to fanboys, when your market leaders in this segment are half your price. (Bose and a Sony flagship NC headphones are around 250-275$ on sale)
Again, I am sure this are great headphones, just not twice as good as everyone else.
Apple does not sell anything for a 20% margin. They make sure they charge about double their cost.
Apple doesnt do staged embargos for products, either you cannot talk about it or you can, its the Youtubers milking it, they do a first look then a review then 2-3 follow up pieces touching on whatever highlight or contentious topic that comes up, and serious publications wait to publish a veredict after using it for more than 30 minutes...
They all have talked about sound quality on one way or another, they just have not gone deep with it...
Exactly. And I don’t know about other folks here but I’m living with headphones a LOT these pandemic lockdown days. If these are as good as I hope and give me some peace and sound good then the few hundred bucks they cost above Sony or Bose will soon be in the rear view. And if they’re not? Well that’s what the return for refund window is for.
For the most part, a rough guide for pricing when you are producing something is 300%.
100% to cover the cost of the thing.
100% to cover the cost of labor/shipping/business.
100% to put in the bank to be able to repeat the process.
A straight reseller is typically around 200% sometimes 250% because they don't have to produce the item but they still have overhead.
There are many that beat the Sony's and are cheaper than APM.
No they are not. They are cheap and have best noise cancelling. But there are many that sound better than the Sony's.
I may be in the minority but that is one of the reasons I love Apple products. They take what the others like Bose, Sony and others are doing and say "how can we make it better?", not how can we make it better at the same price. They spent 4 years on the development of these things. That takes a lot of money. As another person said here on a different forum post, Apple probably spent more on research and development on these than Sony spent on their entire headset business the last 4 years. With Apple's size, they can do that.
Spacial audio, 9 microphones, H1 chip, adaptive EQ, gyroscope, accelerometer.... these are what set these apart before the first time even hearing them on my head.
If you’re sure you’re going to return them then don’t buy them.
Truly wireless.Sorry what is TWS? I am really having a hard time lately reading posts and discussions when acronyms are thrown out everywhere
Wouldn't that be just TW? What does the S mean? I have never heard of this acronym or abbreviation before.
The iPhone max should be $200. I’m not impressed that they fit an iPhone mini in a TI-84.
Yes, i hope we will have some rules about this...because it can escalade easy with these.....just let the obvious ones and thats it
I mean, this is probably their strategy right? If you know you are going to sell all of your stock regardless, why would you price it at 399$? Once stock becomes widely available like 6-12 months down the road they will eventually probably be sold around the pricepoint you suggested. I don't think they are trying to compete with Sony or Bose either, more like B&O/B&W and they will probably have the tech to beat them both.
Somebody only looking at "the performance" (whatever that means in a basically subjective area) was never the target audience for these.