I liked the bakoon, too. Not for 1800, but it was surprising. As you noticed, I started with MJ and thought you were nuts . Thankfully I switched tracks.

Interesting, I wonder how low Massdrop can get the Bakoon to go. They were able to get the CMA800R down to $999 from $1500, though it seems it's not all it's cracked up to be on HF. What was not to like about the CMA800R?

Just didn't like it. I gave the Questyle CMA800R some decent head time purposely because I wanted to give it a second chance. I heard it initially at the OC meet a few months ago with the accompanying Questyle DAC, and I thought the combo sucked then. I was hesitant to say much because I didn't know if it was the DAC or the amp or both. Some dude on HF said it was the DAC, but I was suspicious. Since I hadn't heard the units isolated from each other, I just didn't want to say anything.

This time around, the Massdrop guys switched the DAC around to the X-Sabre which I know to be pretty decent if not good. At least it's a known quantity where I know the X-Sabre's strengths and weaknesses. With the X-Sabre feeding the Questyle CMA800R, I still thought that amp sucked. The CMA800R just sounded dull and not interesting. I think some people on HF called it laid-back and a good match for bright 'phones or something like that. But during the entire time listening to the CM800R, I was like thinking to myself "Godammit, this meet sucks, so much gear here sucks (or at least is mediocre), is there going to be anything good?"

That is until I heard the Bakoon, and I was like, "hey, this is pretty darn good and a great match with the HD800 as well". 

Supposedly the Bakoon HPA-1 will go on sale on Massdrop on July 23, 2014, although I am not exactly sure of the date. I would be interested in how much Massdrop can lower the price on it.

So, wait, the PM-2 sounds different than the PM-1 even with the same pads? I thought they were supposed to be identical in all ways except the plastic and pleather materials on the PM-2 vs. metal and leather.

Good to hear that the new pads really help. I didn't examine the PM-1 pads enough to tell what might be different based on your pics. I liked the PM-1 a good bit when I had it but wouldn't buy it due to its known downsides. I may have to consider the PM-2. Would love to get my hands on a pair.

I'm curious how it compares to the HE-500 with the new pre-production pads, as that helps relax them a bit.

I thought the bakoon was okay.  Good news was that it didn't sound that far off from what I remember of their $4K+ unit from The SHOW.  Bad news is it still seemed a bit on the unrefined and grainy side to me.  I also thought the HD800 actually suffered in current mode versus voltage.  Imaging congested and microdynamics+resolution got blunted although the sound warmed up and became more aggressive and punchy.  Switching to voltage everything just opened up and breathed more naturally.  I'd probably only use current mode with planars unless further listening proves otherwise.

PM1 and PM2 is the same driver.  Any deviations are aesthetic and/or acoustic.

The PS Audio DSD did offer an overly polite and laid back sound.  Pretty much what I was expecting once it warmed up.  it gave that over smoothed, fake and plasticky turboclock timbre one might notice from aggressive oversampling.  IT's clear why most impressions hinted that it was a 'different' sort of sound.  I think it's easy to be impressed with it initially because it fixes many of the major complaints that PWD owners might have.  However, it compromises some of the better aspects of the PWD mk1>2 units. 

A few folks mentioned that they thought the Chord Hugo sounded better than the PSA DSD.  I have to wholeheartedly disagree.  Playing CD Redbook on my listen w/ my HD800s, the Hugo was clearly lower fi and rougher.  I'd consider anything more than $400 for the device a total rip-off tbh and only that much because it handles DSD tracks far better than Redbook.

The Geek Outs sounded good.  Preliminary listens with the UERM suggested to my ears the 100 and 450 were cleaner, clearer and more neutral sounding than the 1000.

The new Violectric 281? is the best Violectric amp I've heard so far from them.  They tend toward warmth with solid macrodynamics but flat presentation with compressed or missing micro dynamics and resolution.  The new amp is much improved and I liked it better than the Bakoon on current mode personally.  Voltage mode would require a side by side A/B.