Custom-made earphones, tailored to the tastes of audio fans unrelenting in their pursuit of sound quality, are enjoying brisk sales in Japan despite their eye-popping prices, industry sources say.

The custom-made products, shaped to users’ ears for acoustic seal, appeal to those appreciating scarcity value as buyers can order parts, details and color patterns to personalize their products.

U.S. maker Westone Laboratories Inc. has sparked the boom in Japan.

Major electronics retailer Bic Camera Inc. sells Westone custom-made models at prices ranging from less than ¥100,000 to over ¥220,000.

“Many male customers in their late 20s to their 50s give the particular names of top-priced products to buy them,” said an official at Bic Camera’s outlet in the Yurakucho business district in central Tokyo.

Japanese custom-made earphone-maker Canal Works Corp. sells their products at between ¥60,000 to over ¥210,000. Its major appeal is that its products are made in Japan, officials say.

The company, based in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, offers a variety of products, such as earphones particularly good at reproducing the sounds of brass instruments in classical music and electronic sounds of anime songs.

The popularity of custom-made earphones also reflects the spread of high-resolution digital audio data that provide higher-quality sound than compact discs.