The ringing shift is very strange. Have you ever seen another HP or speaker do that?

Also, how do you think the price is broken down? Are we paying for JPS labs R&D or the actual manufacturing costs.  I hate the idea of paying for R&D, though that is probably the economist in me. Seems like that is the business model for small/boutique companies.

That's like my kids' pediatrician saying his new jaundice yellow level skin detector / measurement gizmo cost $7000. I was thinking "boy, I'm sure I'm gonna pay for that". And I was right. He started mumbling stuff like jaundice causing mental retardation, causing my wife to get hysterical (this behavior is a totally understandable mother / child thing). The implication here of course is our baby needed additional specialized treatment = more money for him.

I wasn't too worried because many Asian babies have jaundice when they are born - just two days under the sun and some pooping takes care of it. But I sure wanted to kick that doc's ass right then and there on the spot. Actually, it's not that bad. JPS isn't making my wife so hysterical to the point where I have to buy it.

That kind of thing really bugs me. You are right n3rdling. Purchasing the means of manufacture shouldn't increase the price of the product when it can be done third party.  I am sure that it happens all the time, but don't try to use that to justify the price.  Does that mean the price goes down once the cost of the new machinery has been paid off?  If so sign me up for a pair in 6 months.

Price on most non-uber rare things generally depreciates over time as the market becomes saturated and demand begins to decrease. Since price is one of the incentives that can cause product to move off the shelves, sure, it's likely that pricing on the Abyss will go down eventually. I doubt it will be a very substantial step down though, high-end headphones that aren't poorly designed seem to hold their value quite well.

Good to hear that the Abyss sounds good and that the product isn't a sham. I'd definitely like an opportunity to hear them, but I don't know if it'll ever be something I'd like to own just because they're really, really aesthetically unpleasing to my eyes.

Ok, I must be taking crazy pills or something.

I thought the whole point of the Abyss being "a sham" is the fact that it costs five [expletive deleted] thousand dollars.

Now I am reading that "hey, its strengths and weaknesses put it on par with other $1-2k headphones, so you know, you should check em out"

Did I miss the bus?

Well it's also being matched up against another $5K set of cans (009s), so it's not too outrageous of a comparison.