I really like the original HE-400 with the white drivers prior to it being returned and made brighter. I'm really curious as to how the HE-400i differs sonically from the current version.

Lighter = win. Seriously, the new Audez'e models are even heavier than before, so it's nice that Fang is at least trying to make things more ergonomic.

That being said, those new headbands.... yeeesh. They remind me of the plastic headband on the first KingSound e-stat headphone. The black gimbals are totally mismatched against the wood. They look like they'd be prone to breaking rather easily.

Also seriously Fang, ditch those connectors already and adopt mini XLRs!

From this angle it looks a little less awful:


But the fact that the headband has corners and has that random slit in the middle is a more than a little bit of a turn off.

EDIT: Ah, beaten to the link.

...that was the first thing I thought as well. I like the idea of a suspended leather headband, but they look like they have a lot of clamping pressure. The metal headband looks pretty thin as well.

As far as looks go I already know I don't look cool so I am fine with the design as long as it works. If I wanted a cool looking pair of headphones for my hipster Apartment Therapy pictorial I would get LCD-3s. I hate the look of the HD800 as well, but I don't care because I like the sound.

We'll just have to wait for Anax (and any other pirate attending CES)'s real demo impressions with regards to the sound and ergonomics of these.