Well, if the comment wanted to make some insightful points about Apple’s speculative ability to compete with the incumbents in the market, it should have done that. It didn’t, though, and that’s why I responded to it with the words I did. If it had been more explicitly speculative and less vaguely negative, I probably would have ignored it completely, because I don’t think that’s a very interesting discussion. Most of the points I’ve heard so far are fairly obvious, and the proof will be in the product pudding.

Since we’re talking about it now, though ... Apple has a decent record building products that meet a reasonable quality bar, even in markets they’re relatively new to. So I think there is a good chance these will end up being regarded as pretty good headphones, worth the asking price for a certain class of consumer. There is also some chance that they will be regarded as overpriced Beats by Dre trash, though I think that window is closing as more positive impressions come in. Outcomes in between those extremes are, obviously, also possible.

Apple’s hardware design and engineering are first rate, and the things they build with speakers in them don’t sound half bad. Personally, I’d be surprised if these weren’t competitive on features alone, and I’ve paid up to around $1000 for (wired) headphones.