Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. Let’s consider: We can buy Insignia Wireless Bluetooth Headphones for $59.99 at Amazon; Bose SoundLink around-ear wireless headphones for $279.95 at Amazon; and Beats Studio Wireless Over-Ear Headphones for $379.95 at Amazon. So, what headphones could possibly be worth $50,000?
Enter Orpheus headphones from Sennheiser. As reported by Bloomberg:
“Sennheiser showed off the new Orpheus headphones on November 10, 2015 in New York and Bloomberg Pursuits’ Stephen Pulvirent got a first look. There are over 6,000 individual components, including everything from the tiniest transistors to the all-natural white Carrera marble housing in each pair. Materials such as gold and platinum-plated ceramic are used throughout for maximum conductivity and performance, but all those bells and whistles don’t come cheap. The Orpheus will set you back $50,000.”
Take a look at the YouTube video from Bloomberg. Are YOU in? (LOL)
These new headphones do look awesome and the quality looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before for this type of product. However, $50,000 is far too expensive to sell a product like headphones. I feel like the only consumers they can really market to are very wealthy people, more likely in the music industry, who may find these headphones to actually be worth that money.
This is a very interesting product. My initial thought was “how in the world could they charge $50,000 for a pair of headphones?” However, the Orpheus is much more than that. As mentioned in the video, it is basically a complete speaker system, with marble casing and built in tubes. As a guitar player, I can confirm that tube amplifiers do not come cheap. So, while the price does seem insane, I can certainly understand why it is on the higher end of the price range.
Although the enhanced quality may be there, this isn’t what drives of the price of this purchase. The status that comes with these headphones is what the marketer is really trying to sell. No quality of head phones, no matter how advanced they are, are worth $50,000. The branding associated with this is what makes this product so expensive.
While the Orpheus is overall aesthetically pleasing, I do not think that it would be worth spending that much money on a pair of headphones. It would have to do a lot more than just play music to cost that much.
The headphone looks cool and also the price looks cooler. It has a great function, but I am sure it does not worth $50K. Or saying it in another way, it is not for people like us. Indeed, according to the income data released last week, it equals to a med-class annual salary. It has its unique market, and other than that, I think there is a branding strategy in it. From time to time, those brand makes some waves in the market so too gain or regain consumers’ attention. In a conclusion, I believe it has more strategic means than “being a product”.
The Orpheus headphones definitely look stylish but i dont find them to be worth 50,000 dollars. I think that they are also not convenient as you can only use them when hooked up to the entire setup. This really limits where they can be used.
Personally I am always intrigued by sound quality and pushing the limits when it comes to technology. I actually know of this brand. Quite some time ago, I remember they came out with their first pair of headphones I believe. They were also extremely pricey, however there had to have been some consumer interest otherwise they would not have continued to develop another product. The Orpheus headphones are truly a work of art to me. Although I think $50,000 is very pricey, I am not surprised that they mark the headphones so high up. There is not a single pair of headphones that can even come close to replicating the sound that comes out of these. They are one of a kind and the best of the best. Should a car cost almost $10 million dollars. Thats more than a house! Yet people still buy cars that are millions of dollars. Ya these headphones cost more than my tuition at Hofstra, however for some people these headphones have changed the way the listen to sound. So although they’re pricey I could find ways to defend it. I believe a more suitable price would be in the $1,000-$10,000. Even that is very high, however you must understand that these aren’t designed for the everyday music listener. They are targeting a very specific market.
I find it interesting that so many people are adverse to the $50k price tag on these headphones, its important to keep in mind that these headphone are not designed for typical consumers. While no matter how much wealth I personally accumulated I would likely not spend 50k on headphones it is important to understand that I am not a professional musician. To me these headphones seem to be positioned for music professionals who are typically very highly paid and care about very rich and accurate sound representations. If the headphone do intact provide a new level of audio quality it makes sense that many highly successful musicians who listen to music as part of there job would likely benefit from this sort of product.
Even though the headphones have a very attractive design and probably sound better than any other headphones in the market, they are not worth $50,000. But perhaps this price is what makes the headphones so unique, they not only provide good sound and looks, but also status. I don’t find the price irrational, i just think that if a price doesn’t make any sense to me, must mean that the product wasn’t priced thinking about me, therefore I am not their target market.
I don’t believe that $50,000 headphones are at all feasible for selling to the public. It has such a small demand, that I feel that it is not worth the design and product cost for the company to create. At the same time, there will be people with a lot of money that will buy these for status and to show off. When companies start adding cosmetics like marble to headphones and that is what boosts the price, they loose sight of the most important part, sound quality. In the end I don’t believe that the overall sound quality will be worth the $50,000 and that is what is truly important from headphones.
I personally think that the price is insane. $50,000 is a whole lot of money just for headphones. You could do so many things with $50,000. For the average person I do not think at all this is a good buy, but for someone who is very wealthy and can spend money like water. Then I think it could potentially be a good buy. When the tubes rose and the case opened, it looked extremely cool and if the quality of the headphones is as good as they say, it seems amazing. But not $50,000 amazing
Although it may be a very convincing product, I personally am not a head phones type of girl ad would be not 50,000 dollars for it. It is a very convincing products how you can still listen to everything that is happening around them in the room. The music probably sounds great and maybe be worth it so someone who has 50,000 dollars to blow but too me I would not spend 50,000 dollars for something like this.
personally, i would not spend that much on headphones. There are some people who who would and have unnecessarily spent that much on things like headphones or other things like shoes, some of which are never used. They are selling them because they know there is someone who will spend that much.
$50,000 for a pair of headphones isn’t feasible for the average Joe or Jane. There are so many better things you could do with $50k.The headphones are bulky looking, they may be made with great products but its not ever going to be worth $50,000. The headphones probably have a great sound quality but a lot of people besides the 1% cannot just dish out $50,000 like its nothing.