I am fine with it. There are some genres that work well with it. My next step is likely the variations

The vocals lack body for me. Bass is also not satisfying. But for the price I am very happy

Where is the crowdfunding link?

I've heard neither, but apparently the 600 are pretty good. For me it's just annoying to see them insanely cheap in US while I have to pay the full price here in Europe despite these being German

Something is off about the timbre and soundstage. Sounds grainy and plastic

Not surprised given the hype. Making them a limited edition at first is a good way to generate attention, I think they never intended it to be limited anyway

Yes, I agree these are not particularly revolutionary. Different driver types do not guarantee a better sound, just different qualities.

The Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System in my opinion is very clever. Although I am not qualified to explain it in detail, eliminating standing waves will certainly reduce interference and allow for a FR more compliant with the Harman Target. If you are not willing to EQ, this seems to be the solution to a near perfect frequency response. In fact, the legendary Axel Grell (he designed the HD600 HD800) had high praise for it.

In my opinion, we have hit a plateau in terms of improving subjective sound quality. There is nothing new that guarantees better sound.

If we want progress we must put research into what we perceive as good sound and try to find physical metrics that are correlated and fine tune the headphones. Personally I don't think the FR and THD tell the whole story, and neither do the manufacturers. I think what's going on right now is that people know what to do to make headphones sound nicer without understanding precisely how it works. If you took a pair of Hifiman Susvara and AKG K361 and measured them, you wouldn't be able to tell one sounds so much better than the other.

Right now, I'll probably get some new IEMs first since these days I mostly listen from my phone. I am looking at Thieaudio Oracle Mk2 (Thieaudio is a relatively new Chinese brand that makes excellent IEMs) , Dunu SA6 Ultra, Moondrop Variations etc.

As far as headphones go, in the short term I won't be able to afford a flagship, so I will be looking at some interesting mid tier options. I want to get an HD650 just to hear its famous mids. The Ollo S5X look interesting to me. Avantone Planar could be good. Definitely want a pair of Verum Audio One Mk2 when production in Ukraine can continue. Interested in Moondrop Venus as well, it will be their first planar.

I am most likely going to get a pair of Hifiman HE1000V2 due to the price cuts (they are about 2000 right now). I am interested in demoing the ZMF Atrium, Caldera, Dan Clark Expanse, Audeze LCD5, Warwick Bravura etc.

Most Sennheiser IEMs are not loved on this sub

From what I've heard, it seems IEMs are easier to design than open back headphones. That's why once the general tuning (neutral + sub bass boost) was figured out, Chinese companies were able to jump onboard with low manufacturing costs and flood the market with excellent budget options.

Thieaudio, Moondrop, Harmonicdyne, Sivga have all made attempts at open backs, but none of them seem to be able to challenge the status quo of Hifiman and Sennheiser yet.

I skipped the line and started at Aria because I thought the Aria was cheap enough for a first venture into IEMs. The thing about me is once I've got something nice I rarely go back to listen to the old gear, so the Tin and the Chu would just be a waste of money for me

What would compel me to upgrade is that fact that I don't currently own a pair of flagship headphones and I do intend on owning one at some point

I'd argue there are numerous breakthroughs. We now have ribbon drivers, AMT drivers, Dan Clark's metamaterial tuning system, high quality planars available are reasonable prices etc.