News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on HD 555 to HD 595 mod (or: how Sennheiser cripples cheaper headphones). Parent comment

Re:HD 555 to HD 595 mod (or: how Sennheiser cripples cheaper... by jbri on Sunday February 13, 2011 @06:28PM (#2214449)
It's all about what's called the consumer surplus. If someone is willing to pay $350 for a pair of headphones, but they only paid $200 because you didn't have a $350 offering, you just lost $150.

The trick is to effectively capture that surplus without pissing off your customers or making them feel they're being ripped off.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:HD 555 to HD 595 mod (or: how Sennheiser cripples cheaper... by AndyJPartridge on Sunday February 13, 2011 @06:38PM (#2214487)
What I was thinking, put another way, is that they are taking a risk with these two price-points doing this and getting caught out.

There is no need when they have headphones much cheaper, and MUCH more expensive than these two.

I do agree with your reasoning if the above wasn't so.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:HD 555 to HD 595 mod (or: how Sennheiser cripples cheaper... by lukeschlather on Sunday February 13, 2011 @08:56PM (#2214912)
Are they really getting caught? Near as I can tell, there are no penalties for this sort of behavior, and for every person who is willing to rip open a $150 pair of headphones to get them working like the $350 pair, there's someone who has no idea how headphones work, but is still willing to pay top dollar for the best they can get. And odds are these people won't even be aware of this blog post.
[ Parent | on HN ]