Headphones shipped and arrived pretty quick. Packed well and as described. Thanks!

My new Pallas with a transparent sleeve: Here's it along side the Magnus:

Mine came in today, but I'm on holidays so haven't had a chance to try it out.

Great summary which I completely agree with. I'm in the same boat, ordered the S3 right before the Maxwell was announced. Disappointed with the S3, placed an order for the Maxwell and am waiting on delivery of that.

Audeze had the LCD-2C on sale for $449 during their recent annual and black friday sale. Not sure if that's within your price point. Sadly, unlike HiFiMAN, the Audeze LCD range is all built in the U.S. and probably can't get much lower than that to compete with HiFiMAN in terms of pricing. Plus...

Give it up already, the Maxwell is not fit for your use case. Time to move on and find something else that is.

I've put in an order! Hopefully size of the ear opening on the pads is large enough for my abnormally large dumbo ears. I plan to use these at the gym, replacing or alternating with an Euclid and Edifier STAX S3. Any options for leather ear pads? Mainly for easier cleaning and longevity. Thanks.

affinity cables sells adapters (eBay) from SMC to 2.5mm. Otherwise you can get 2.5mm/3.5mm jack parts (AliExpress )and swap and solder them yourself.

Oh, so you can't shout/yell at a "Leeroy Jenkins" nor be the person performing a LJ? Damn.

Is it possible to get a mix Ares + Cadmus 8W?

Are the ear pads same or similar to the MM-500? That is in terms of sizing, round with diameter external and the ear openings same, open-cell foam used, as well as leather-free? Trying to grasp fitting and comfort.

Audeze Maxwell?

Oh missed it, Audeze answered it here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-maxwell.966017/#post-17285410 @vsg28, Sir Guy, any plans to get these in for review? :)

Yes, I believe it's the date it's going to be announced and not pricing.

hah at least it's not $13122,022 (13 12 2022).