I think regardless of what we do there will be a big discussion about the sound, as there's no one-size-fits-all product for anybody. After we evaluated a slew of drivers (note, drivers, not headphones), we found the biocellulose Foster drivers to be amongst the best in a number of areas.
I definitely agree with some of the above comments - V-shaped, boomy headphones exist that use this exact same driver. Now, that being said, that isn't a very good indication of the driver's performance, but the headphone as a whole. Change venting, filter paper, ear pad material, and all the sudden that changes sound in a huge way.
As far as raw speaker performance, the free-edge design, the biocellulose diaphragm, and the beefy construction make it a superb driver.
Now, for product updates - I know we've been dragging our feet here a little bit, but that's because we're right in between prototype phase and kicking off tooling. We've spent the last month working on mechanical implementation (essentially ensuring that we have 35mm of headband sliding, beefing up the pin that holds the earcup yoke to the headband, adding a bit more cushion to the underside of the top of the headband, and designing plugs, yokes, cables, and accessories). At the end of this month we're en route to Japan to sit down with all the engineers involved and firm up the details before we kick off several hundred thousand dollars worth of tooling to create the pieces and parts that make this thing.
Our acoustical engineer has spent the better part of the month sampling various baffles and driver recesses. I think he's very close to a workable design that we're all happy with. Additionally we've finalized the magnetic attachment mechanism and earpad construction (with metal plate).
It may sound like all these steps are a bit minor, but I'd like to let everyone know that each piece is no small task. When you work on an entry-level headphone all these pieces are often considered an afterthought, but when we're talking about a flagship line like this, absolutely every piece goes under scrutiny. The baffle plate, the yoke, the headband mechanism, the headband padding, the earpad alignment posts, the baffle screws, the venting holes and locations, even the grill that protects the driver have all been worked over, sampled, assembled, and pieced together to work great. As we speak we're growing prototypes of the custom 1/4 adapter and 3.5mm plug housing underneath to validate that the press-mount 1/4 adapter works and fits exactly how we want it to.
We've also finished a first pass of the headphone stand and initial packaging concept. I'll be sharing all this stuff in March once we have confirmation that it's affordable and manufacturable. I'd rather not post a bunch of pictures of things we aren't 100% certain we can build/afford, but rather deliver the goods once we're comfortable that this is what you'll be getting in the box.