Has anyone here had a chance to listen to the production version?

Heard it out of Concero HP, thought it was defeated by Audio Technica M70x

On the one hand, that's too bad. I'm interested in this can. On the other hand, I can save the money. Saving money isn't bad.

I think I need to clarify things a bit.

I heard the production unit in a rather private setting about two months ago (so count my failing memory) - in a local hifi shop with the owner, a rep from Audioquest, and another guest. Kind of like an informal Nighthawk Canada debut listening session. Their original setting was JRiver - some sort of Audioquest USB filtering device prototype (just the chip, without even a casing. The rep said it's inspired by Schiit Wyrd), Dragonfly 2.0. I was not famaliar with the setting so I switched to Concero HP with materials that I'm familiar with.

Very comfortable! Dark and warm. Made me think this is the kind of sound sig that caters to the general population than say it's aiming to be neutral. It's colored but without distinctive characteristics. Fairly good soundstage depth but maybe lacking height. Kind of OK clarity. No comments on plankton since the rep was hyping about cables allllllll the time. I also recall the rep said the cable of NH was constructed with the same geometry of one of Audioquest's higher end cable that the cable of NH was ~200 CAD (given the NH retails for 700 CAD).

I think I need to clarify things a bit.

I heard the production unit in a rather private setting about two months ago (so count my failing memory) - in a local hifi shop with the owner, a rep from Audioquest, and another guest. Kind of like an informal Nighthawk Canada debut listening session. Their original setting was JRiver - some sort of Audioquest USB filtering device prototype (just the chip, without even a casing. The rep said it's inspired by Schiit Wyrd), Dragonfly 2.0. I was not famaliar with the setting so I switched to Concero HP with materials that I'm familiar with.

Very comfortable! Dark and warm. Made me think this is the kind of sound sig that caters to the general population than say it's aiming to be neutral. It's colored but without distinctive characteristics. Fairly good soundstage depth but maybe lacking height. Kind of OK clarity. No comments on plankton since the rep was hyping about cables allllllll the time. I also recall the rep said the cable of NH was constructed with the same geometry of one of Audioquest's higher end cable that the cable of NH was ~200 CAD (given the NH retails for 700 CAD).

Thanks for the follow-up. I've been looking for a general, all-purpose, casual listening headphone that I can use at my computer, on the couch or in bed with my iPhone, etc. The comfort and sensitivity looked right. If the sound isn't there, however, especially if it's lacking in clarity, then the headphone will probably frustrate me. The lack of clarity is what killed the Z7 for me. The comfort was certainly there, build quality too. But the sometimes muffled, veiled sound practically compelled me to cut the crap and do some serious listening on other headphones. That defeats the purpose of a headphone that supposed to fill the gaps between serious listening sessions. I think that because the Z7 was almost there as a decently serious headphone, it was ill-suited for casual listening. Its flaws were made more obvious by what it did well.

rumor has it that audioquest is planning to release different pads that are supposed to make these less dark (lets more tremble thru).  will test again then because as i said these are confortable and pretty.