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Comment by permo-w | Hacker News Reader

to be fair, $550 for a pair of headphones is a lot, but it's not even close to top of the range

It was definitely in the upper range of prices for over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones, not like this even matters, because people just _did not_ pay $500+ for headphones before the Maxes dropped.

>people just did not pay $500+ for headphones before the Maxes dropped

are you sure? why do you think this?

I think they’re saying that apple is selling $500 headphones to people who would otherwise not buy $500 headphones

Just wanted to piggyback on this. I was just commenting today to my coworker on the number of people I see walking around Manhattan/Brooklyn with AirPods Maxes on. I swear I see at least a pair or two every other minute while walking down the street.

Most of these people, like you said, we’re likely not blowing $500+ on headphones before Apple made that concept mainstream.

Sure they were, or at least close.

Beats: $400 out the door. Bose Quiet Comfort, whichever is the most recent: similar. Sony also sells ~$350-ish noise cancelling headphones.

Going from $350 to $550 is roughly the normal apple premium.

This is $3k.

Honestly, nah. I don’t think the majority of these people were blowing 400 or 350 or whatever on alternatives beforehand.

Granted, this is 100% anecdotal, but I’m seeing way more people rocking AirPods Max around the city every day than I remember ever seeing rocking over the ear headphones, let alone expensive ones.

I see airpods more often, but sure, apple did discover a huge market here (and not so kindly pushed people towards it by the removal of jack ports). But I don’t fault them, the airpod pros are really cool and the comfort of noise cancellation especially on public transport is a godsend and it makes sense that many people actually cough together the price for that.

this is $3k, but then how much are other premium VR headsets?

They're also selling much worse headphones than what an audiophile would buy for $500+, but trendier.

some people obviously did pay $500+ for headphones. We don’t know how many sets has Apple actually sold…

> $550 for a pair of headphones is a lot, but it's not even close to top of the range

It's top of the range for typical consumers. The people who wear Apple's $550 headphones aren't people who are buying Sennheiser HD800s'. Before, people would've spent $200 or up to $300 on the Bose ones. Apple got them to spend an extra $200-250.

I'm surprised by how often I see these headphones. They were basically nonexistent in the Bay Area but I see them often enough in NYC.

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