Ever
since the Apple purchase of Beats
Electronics for some US$3.2 billion dollars as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Apple
officially confirms Beats Audio Purchase - US$3.2 Billion as Apple gears up for
Subscription Streaming and improved Headphones”, an undue level of focus
has been placed on Premium Quality Headphones similar to the US$449 high-end
Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones and US$99 Beats by Dr. Dre. Earbuds.
Despite
the fact that the purchase of Beats
Electronics was an attempt to get at their Beats Audio Streaming platform
that has an amazing rate of conversions of 70% conversion from Free Subscribers
to Paid Subscribers as described in “Beats
Music turns 7 out of 10 free-trial users to paying ones?”, published March
20, 2014 11:22 AM PDT by Joan E. Solsman, CNET
News, the debate has decidedly
been focused on Quality headphones.
Especially
as HD Audio as a Musical movement is suddenly
getting support, first with the Neil
Young’s Kickstarter Pono Music Player Project coming in October 2014 that
can play FLAC other HD Audio formats as I’d reported in my blog article entitled “Neil
Young’s Righteous PonoMusic and US$200 PonoPlayer Kickstarter - The Hills are
alive with the Sound of FLAC Music despite HD Music being a new phenomenon with
new packaging”.
Now
here comes the Sony
Walkman NWXZ-ZX1, which is very popular in Japan and Asia as is widely
being viewed as a comeback kid for the Sony Walkman in the US of A by December
2014 as I’d predicted in my blog
article entitled “US$700
Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 – Trend towards HD Audio in Asia and Japan will make it
sell in the US of A”.
But
what’s the point of HD audio if you don’t have HD Headphones that can
effectively reproduce this sound? Beats Audio isn’t the only maker of High-End
Headphones. Neither are they the best.
Premium HD Audio
Headphones – NPD Group’s Retail and Tracking Service Says Beats are tops
No
surprise there. NPD Group has some very positive news to report on the Overall
Headphones Industry as stated in “Fueled
by new fitness segment, total headphone market grew by 11 percent in 2013”,
published March 3, 2014, NPD. Please note
here that the Premium HD Audio Headphones segment of that Industry is defined
by NPD as headphones fetching a price of US$100 or more. The Figures are
impressive:
1.
Sales of Premium HD Audio Headphones has
doubled in the last three (3) years
2.
20% is the projected growth for Premium
HD Audio Headphones in the Global Audio market by 2020
3.
5% is the current Global Audio market
will be Premium HD Audio Headphones
Last
year’s wasn’t too shabby either! NPD Group’s Retail and Tracking Service says
the Premium Headphone market grew in leaps and bounds in 2013:
1.
$2.3 billion made by the Total Headphone
Industry overall
2.
21% growth in Premium HD Audio
Headphones from 2012 to US$1 billion
3.
27% of the Total Headphone Industry belongs
to Beats Electronics
4.
57% of the Premium HD Audio Headphones market
belongs to Beats Electronics
5.
43% of the Premium HD Audio Headphones market
belongs to Bose, Sony, Skullcandy and JVC
On
that basis, the Top 5 Premium HD Audio Headphone makers are:
2.
Bose
3.
Sony
4.
Skullcandy
5.
JVC
Why
is the Premium HD Audio Headphone so lopsided, despite Beats being made of
plastic and sporting a mostly Bass sound? Aside from their hand curated Beats
Audio Streaming service, it may also have something to do with their
advertising style, which like Apple, is focused on flash and Celebrity poppin’.
Scope
out this Ad above as an example and it should become very clear; if celebrities
are rockin’ your stuff, they’ll sell, plastic or no plastic!
Master & Dynamic
MH40 Headphones – HD Audio just got Stylish Headphones support sans the Celebrities
Enter
the company Master & Dynamic, a rising star in the high end headphone
business as declared in “The
Anti-Beats By Dre: Master & Dynamic's High Quality, Design- centric
Headphones”, published 7/24/2014 @ 8:25PM by Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes. Master & Dynamic is banking on
the idea that there an upscale market for HD Audio Headphones that looks sexy
without having to be hyped by celebrities and delivers the quality HD Audio
that everyone expects.
I
think they're onto something that's gonna be very big in the future. The HD
Audio Music player hardware is falling into place as Americans are slowly
rediscovering High Definition Music. Thus they’ll be a need for stylish over
the ear Headphones that can faithfully reproduce the quality sound as if you’re
in the studio, hearing every raspy breath of the artiste as he sings and every
note of the instruments as they play.
CEO
of Master & Dynamic Jonathan
Levine and his ambitious challenge to the Premium HD Audio Headphone Industry.
Thus,
he decided upon getting his MBA to make the trek to Wall Street, only to find
his niche as an entrepreneur. Then he made his first hit product; LED Lights
for dummies, greatly simplifying the Ikea-esque concept down to a mature science
that the ordinary man could master with a few hand tools. A divorce propelled
him toward High End Audio Headphone Design once more with his children as the
guinea pigs. Soon a Swedish designed hobbled along, as at that point, Master and Dynamic got its start.
The
Swede's touch is in all of the Master
and Dynamic line of MH40 headphones; NO plastic in sight with detachable lambskin
ear pads, stainless steel components, forged aluminum body. The thoughtful
addition of a mute button makes them the kinds of stylish Hi-Fi Audio
Headphones you can rock even in the quietest of places.
At
US$400, they're a little cheaper than the US$449 high-end Beats by Dr. Dre
Headphones, with buyers having the option to go for a low cost yet still high quality MH30's and even
earbuds.
CEO
of Master & Dynamic Jonathan Levine
is a self-financed headphone maker whose headphones are made the old fashioned
way - by hand. Founder Jonathan Levine, the person, isn't too eager to become a
mass producer, possibly worried about his niche produce becoming another
has-been that'll be handed down to someone else younger brother. Rather, he's
holding his own in a rare niche; hand-crafted stylish all metal HD Audio
Headphones that deliver killer sound.
Like
his LED Lights, he’s hoping to shine a light on a section of the Premium HD Audio
Headphone Industry that’s being ignored; quality Hand-crafted products that
elevate HD Audio from the next hot trend to a nouveau artform.
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