Maybe *I'm* missing something, but what are "we" supposed to do?

First off I know of two people who purchased these, and one of them is me. I seriously doubt many head-fiers are going to be buying these anyway, and most of the sales are going to be outside of any social circles to which you or I belong.

Secondly, what should Tyll and Purrin say? I haven't seen either one condoning the price tag. Both expressed reservations about it, clearly. But then both also gave their honest opinion as to how these sound. Do you think they should say these sound awful because of the price tag? Do you think they should say it's a scam because of the price? Does that make the SR-009 a scam? What about the Orpheus?

Honestly, the folks who have been most vocally opposed to the Abyss seem to be distorting the situation a bit. I keep seeing comments about these being hyped on head-fi, for instance. What hype? So far the only "hype" has been a thread in which people have bitched to high heaven about the price, how ugly they look, how they're going to sound horrible, and how the world is going to come to an end and we'll all have the mark of the beast branded on our foreheads (a trademark sign, in JPS tradition). Supposedly newcomers are going to be duped into buying an Abyss because of all the gushing praise that has been lavished on them. Well, at this point if a newcomer did a search on head-fi I think they'd go running in the opposite direction.

Rationalization of exorbitant prices is nothing new in this hobby. Yet the rebuttals of these rebuttals are nothing new either: people will rationalize in the opposite direction. I've seen far more "anti-hype" for these headphones in the last few months: people wanting to play industry crusader or the victim card, Stax fans feeling threatened that their beloved ego-object will be dethroned, and so on. I'm already seeing the same folks on head-fi picking apart Tyll's statements and trying to spin his comments in the most negative light possible.

TL;DR version: My point is, I don't see any runaway hype for these anytime soon. The Abyss is going to have a tepid response *at best,* even with people like Tyll praising it. I honestly don't see the Abyss causing any industry waves.

I think we've established that it's exorbitantly priced.

That wasn't the issue being discussed. The issue being discussed was why "we" were "allowing" such prices.

Edit: I love the head-fi arithmetic people come up with looking at measurements without any concrete experience. Like statements about how it might be on par with this or that equalized headphone costing X amount. Or comments about this or that measurement being the end of it without having actually heard the results.

I also love when people start talking about prices but don't factor the costs of upstream gear. Yeah, you can get an SR-009 for less. But you're going to need an amp that costs a few thousand on top of that. Meanwhile I've driven the Abyss quite nicely out of a $500 second-hand power amp.

You mean some people are not against such prices?
I'd like to meet them and ask them how many jet planes they own and whether I can have a ride.
It's a manufacturer's prerogative to set the price. Whether anyone will buy it is another question.
It's not even looking sleek enough to be a sculpture.

Really hardcore audiophiles could get a very good speaker setup including room treatment and amplification for this amount of money. (Whether they'd recognize those speakers is another matter entirely - there's about just as much junk on that market, if not more.)
Heck, even Fostex TH900 is bordering the territory of high fidelity speakers.

No, I'm pretty sure most people are against the price of the Abyss. That's my point. Some folks are acting like the Abyss is garnering all this hype and people are condoning the price. This hasn't been my observation so far. That's why comments asking why folks are allowing such prices seem kind of weird to me. Just because Purrin and Tyll praise the Abyss doesn't mean they support the economy behind it.

Edit: Just to clarify further, my point is it seems like folks are already going to be "protesting" the Abyss' price so to speak in that most head-fiers---even those who buy ridiculously priced gear---are probably not going to be buying one. The people who are are probably the type of people who would buy it regardless of what gets said about it or not, and that sort of niche will always exist. I genuinely think though that in the case of the Abyss where there's a good product behind the price tag, one can discuss the product itself apart from price considerations and still be responsible, provided the price is mentioned as a caveat.

And no, you can't have a ride on one of my jets. They're all currently being refitted with gold interior paneling.