Originally Posted by
Saracen999
That's certainly true, and any company that rests on it's laurels and considers itself unassailable is begging for a kicking. It's also hard to think of better examples to illustrate that simple fact than the tech world - look at what Microsoft did to IBM.
However .... that's not to say that those big headphone companies don't have a whopping great advantage - brand recognition.
I don't doubt that those keen enough to go to audio shows, like yourself (and me) can find up-and-coming companies producing extremely high quality gear and, mainly due to lack of brand recognition, can't charge what a Sony, Sennheiser, Bose, Grado, B&W, etc, would, even among 'cogniscenti', let alone the mass market that wouldn't know an audio show if it bit them in the butt.
The other end of the market is that there is also a lot of cheap crap coming out of China. This is not a dig at China. A lot of the top-end product is made there, too. But to different standards.
It's a bit like telling the difference between a real gun and a 'replica' that is actually a BB or air pistol - a firearms expert can tell in moments, if they get a close-up look, but 99.9% of people couldn't, and wouldn't know what to look for. So it is with headphones and esecially earphones. It's hard to tell those that look good but either sound crap or fall apart if you look at them wrong, from the high-quality-unknown-brand variety.
So yeah, the market includes :-
- high quality, high price, known brands
- high quality, aggressively priced unknown brands, and
- cheap crap best avoided unless you knowingly picked cheap crap.
The advantage the first group has, and they price accordingly, is that everybody either knows who they are, or can easily find out. More tricky is separating the second from the third group.
And, of course, some members of the second group, over time, migrate to the top group. I'd argue that that group includes Cambridge Audio. It seems to me they have very impressive kit, and while not 'cheap', exactly, are certainly much less expensive than market leaders and very competitively priced. I'm hovering on the edge of a set of earphones, and they'll probaly be CA.
Part of the problem is the psychology of buyers. Different people make their choice for different reasons. Some, for instance, buy 'distinctive' brands because they want to be seen with them. Apple products, ragardless of how good they are or aren't, could be seen to fit into that category. Others buyers (including me) tend to avoid those 'fashionable' products, largely because they're 'fashionable. Some buyers (me, again) carefully research before buying, other splash out impulsively.
But despite my 'research', I do tend to be inherently risk-averse. I need a lot of convincing to buy a cheaper, 'unknown' product over even a much more expensive brand product, because peace of mind can be worth even a significant price premium. Besides, bitter experience tells me that while cheaper products can be a bargain, if you pick correctly, it is also often the case that "buy right, buy once. Buy cheap, buy often".