Its really amazing to me to see RAAL jump into the headphone fray....there are sooooo many headphones out there now it makes your headspin. If he is really going to do this he is taking a risk for sure IMO.
That said I being a headphone addict would indeed like to see what he comes up with.
Today there are several models above and well above the $1000 mark, with many, many more below the $1000 mark.
I would bet 90% of heahphone owners buy at or below the $1000 mark...and then some.
Looking over all the information on all these cans for years has a lot of parallels to speakers, with each manufacturer touting
their goodness and how the next model is better or different than another.
Many folks with headphones make the analysis that you dont need to spend $50,000 on headphones to have a great experience
but those $50K cans sure do sound good...
I compared cans to speakers many times, but the speakers always win out "to me" in overall presentation and all the rest. While some headphones do a really good job of reproducing music accurately.
Many vendors come in and offer a new headphone, like Oppo, and then after awhile just dissappear...
If Jim comes up with a headphone I would be the first one in line to try them!!
But I hope he just stays focused on what he is doing now, with offerring some of the best loudspeakers in the world!
Alex