Typical studio grade cans need studio grade equipment to drive them. No surprise if decently sounding headphones that already ship with tailored DAC, amplifier, ANC cost more than decent headphones for which you need to buy all that (and lug around if you travel).

Yet, with that taken into account, today the latest DT 1770 Pro still cost over 20% more than the latest AirPods Max.

Considering Apple markets Max for audio work, they compete on the same turf. This makes Apple’s offer unusually cost effective, not the other way around. I think this can be attributed to their fragility and inferior sound quality relative to DT 1770 Pro (at the end of a decent signal chain).

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embedding-shape 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> Yet, with that taken into account, today the latest DT 1770 Pro still cost over 20% more than the latest AirPods Max.

Not sure where you're looking, but seems I paid 535 EUR for my beyerdynamics (and that's what Amazon sells them for right now too), meanwhile these Apple headphones cost 579 EUR, so seems it's opposite really, studio-grade headphones being cheaper than the consumer-grade hardware Apple sells.

> Considering Apple markets Max for audio work

They might be marketed like that, because it influences what wealthy consumers chose to buy, but AFAIK, no one is sitting with AirPods Max in their studios for work, at least from what I've been able to tell.

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goblin89 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> Not sure where you're looking

Both products in US on the site of respective manufacturer. Maybe you bought the older model (which by the way has higher impedance, so dedicated amplifier is a must, take it into account when you calculate the price).

> no one is sitting with AirPods Max in their studios for work

People absolutely use them for serious work. They are much more of a personal product though, and there are other factors that would make an average studio disinclined to invest in them, like fragility and cost of repair and a whole bunch of unnecessary for a studio features.

Of course, when the studio already has all the rest of the hardware, soundproofed room, etc., it could actually be cheaper to buy cans that do not in fact include ANC, DAC, Dolby, amplifier, etc., and maybe even enjoy a bump in audio quality while at that. For someone who does not have that, it is often simply not a practical choice.

	▲	nomel 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It would be interesting to see the cost breakdown of the BOM for the two headphones. I wouldn't be surprised if Beyerdynamic has similar, if not more, margin.