[p1esk]

Many people here spent a lot more than $300 on headphones long before AirPods appeared.

[mc3301]

Those were hobbyists, audiophiles, professionals, artists (recording, performing, etc.).

They are talking about a much larger group of people.

[klausa]

I think OP meant noise-cancelling headphones, which were fairly ubiquitous in tech circles in open offices; before Apple launched AirPods.

[uberex]

Airpods Inc. would be very high up SP500 as a standalone business.

[holistio]

I had a really nice Sennheiser before that, too. But now you hop on the subway and everybody sports one.