This page will show you how to turn a $199.95 (Canadian – retail) pair of Sennheiser HD 555 headphones into a pair of Sennheiser HD 595‘s that cost $349.95. And all you need is a screwdriver.
Instead of designing a completely new product to fit a certain price range, large scale manufacturing dictates that it is often cheaper to simply “cripple” an existing high-end product. This way the manufacturer can use existing molds, parts, assembly lines and training, etc. In electronic products, firmware is usually crippled to omit/hide certain features. For example, digital camera companies reserve functions (like RAW output, exposure and white balance bracketing, long exposures, etc.) for their higher priced cameras, even though their cheapest camera has the same capabilities (See the CHDK project for more info).
Instead of designing a completely new product to fit a certain price range, large scale manufacturing dictates that it is often cheaper to simply “cripple” an existing high-end product. This way the manufacturer can use existing molds, parts, assembly lines and training, etc. In electronic products, firmware is usually crippled to omit/hide certain features. For example, digital camera companies reserve functions (like RAW output, exposure and white balance bracketing, long exposures, etc.) for their higher priced cameras, even though their cheapest camera has the same capabilities (See the CHDK project for more info).
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