Mr. Speakers AEON

How do you know he reduced his profit margin? More than likely he reduced his costs.

 

Interesting. there ae two Ether C headphones on HF from reputable sellers for $950 that are not selling. I wonder if this is the Aeon potentially cannibalizing the used Ether C market, at least until more direct comparison reviews come out.

 

You're probably right. Also once the hype machine has lost steam people slowly realize that just because it's priced at $1699 doesn't mean it has to sound good.

Obviously Carbon fibre and Nitinol are great but have nothing to do with SQ

I've hear the Cs and C Flows and thought they were harsh and near unpleasant to listen to.

The Ethers were hyped to heaven and in 1 year there was one in the UK on eBay for weeks at $700 and it did not sell in the end. The market catches on in the end. Just look at EL8 and Nighthawk resale values. You're lucky if you get half what you paid even less than a year after ownership.

 

@Rthomas The Ether C actually retails for $1499, not $1699. You are thinking of the Ether C Flow.

While many people, especially here, don't like the Ether C, many really like it (me included). The issue is if the Aeon is good enough to displace the Ether C. In this "hobby" that has a well established diminishing return as more money is spent, if the Ether C (or the flow) will be worth the extra money to get a smidgen more detail and resolution.

 

Yes, he reduced costs, but also his profit margin.
Just take a look at Ethers and Aeon, and the materials employed. Headband, pads, carbon fiber...looks like Aeon is made to almost the same standard as the Ethers.

You have to be blind to not notice that.

 

Yes, he reduced costs too, but by a very thin margin.
Just take a look at the Ethers and the Aeon, the headband and pads material, carbon fiber...looks like the Aeon is made to almost the same standard of quality as the Ethers.

C'mon, you have to be blind to not notice that.

 

It's clear as a bell that he wants to build a great reputation with this headphone, even if it cannibalizes the Ethers.

2 years later:
New Mrspeakers uber headphone at 2000$, people reactions:
"Oh, knowing how good the Aeon is at 700$, this has to be awesome, oh, and looks like a bargain compared to all the other +4000$ flagships."

Without something like the Aeon, reaction would be: "oh no, another 2000$ headphone."

It's not that hard to see.

 

So blind, blind and then not hard to see?

(I am kinda diggin' your handle though...)

 

To be honest, and this is quite a brutal POV, I know, to be worth the asking price, the Aeon will need to sound substantially better than the Ether C/flows. They didn't sound great, but because people like the brand and paid a lot for them, it took them a long time to admit that even to themselves.

 

Your comment is very hard to understand. I'm not sure why the Aeon would need to sound better than the Ether C to justify a lower price. I have no idea what you re saying in your second sentence.

@9suns You have no idea what MrSpeakers is paying for components, packaging, marketing, shipping. You can't just look at a headphone and determine it's costs. You might as well be blind. I believe the DUM cable was hand made The DUMMER cable might be mass produced. The pivot arm connecting the headband to the cup on the AEON is significantly less complicated, and appears to be plastic, possible 3D printed in house. I have no idea how much the carbon fibre costs inside the cup, but there is less of it int he Aeon. The driver itself is 2/3 the size, and I don't know how much that saves. He hasn't announced if it will come with a case, but the cost of the case is probably in the $20-$30 range, so there is a savings there.

He may also be expecting higher volume sales, so he may have bulk ordered parts which translate to additional savings.

Bottomline, there is no way to know what his manufacturing, marketing, labor, facility, shipping, or R&D costs are, so there is no way to make a blanket statement about any significant reduction in margin. In fact, he has stated many times that he pricing based on cost, not margin. He's a good guy, so I'm going to take him at his word.

 

Good point about pre-ordering the components. Dan did say over on HF that he expects all 250 of the pre-orders of the AEONs to ship on the same day. Cheers

 

The "Good Guy" comment had to do with taking Dan at his word that he prices his product according to cost and reasonable return, not based on what the market will bear.

 

new review

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0317/MrSpeakers_AEON_Stereo_Headphones_Review.htm

 

Very curious to see how these stack up next to the PM-3 in terms of tonality/technical ability. In spite of the PM-3's rolled off treble I've found them to be excellent in terms of timbre, and while they're a bit middle-of-the road technically they have decent staging and and a satisfying low end.

I did own both the open and closed Ethers, and subsequently sold them as I thought their performance couldn't justify their price, even used. Heck, in retrospect I don't think I would pay $699 for either of those new, though the build quality and comfort were great. However if the Aeon can best the PM-3 in either timbre or technical ability I may be able to justify the doubling of price (diminishing returns are a real bitch) in spite of the weird looking design. In a perfect world doubling price would mean a superior headphone in ALL aspects, but we know how seldom that turns out to be true.

I respect Dan and he strikes me as a hardworking and genuine guy. I wish hims lots of success with the Aeon but unfortunately given my experience with his more expensive 'phones I won't be preordering the Aeon unless I see some very compelling arguments to the contrary. Really glad to see him shaking up the $500-$1000 market though.

[edited for context/typo]

 

I must admit that I was one of the beta testers that helped sculpt the PM3's final production sound, so they gave me a free PM3 to keep. I could have sold it off, but I let my brother keep it with the stipulation that I could borrow it when I needed. I find its tuning to be neutral enough that it's definitely a reference type of headphone to compare with for reviews.

I pre-ordered the Aeon myself, and it will be compared directly with the PM-3. Both have very good tonal signatures looking at their graphs. I would like to see slightly better driver matching in the Aeon, but I'm sure production models won't have the issues.


PM-3



Aeon Pre-Production

 

Dunno if i'm just blind but I can't seem to find measurements from Mrspeakers. Anyone have a link?

 

I had Ether C's. Listened to pre-production Aeon at CanJam and immediately sold the Ethers and ordered Aeons. Partly because I know the value of Ether C's would drop and partly because I liked the sound of the Aeons more. (Bottom end in particular).

Having said that, I do absolutely love my HE1000v2's but find them less suited to rock than Jazz/Blues/Classical/vocal and that's where the Aeon's come in.

 

The Aeon vs. ZMF recent closed offering should be a cool comparison once more are in the wild. The price gap isn't too much that its apples to oranges.

 

I agree. I hope the Aeon turns into the new Mad Dog, a generally liked and recommended closed back headphone.