Great review without the mumbo jumbo that some reviewers seem to be afflicted with. Succinct and to the point. Like it. Please review more gear for those of us who like it short and to the point. Thanks for your efforts. Cheers. 

I've wanted these badly. £1200? And those cons? Never in a million years do I care how great they sound. Because for 1200 smackerooneys they damn well better be working in ten years+; with those cons I highly doubt it.
£600 and I'm ordering a pair now, without a seconds hesitation. But quite simply at £1200 they are taking the proverbial.
Shame.

@MaceHane2 I honestly think they will be here in ten years. The creaks don't feel like they're going to end in the headband shattering or something - it's moreso an annoyance than a concern. I'm a cheapass, so I was in the same boat as you on this. Keep an eye out for a used pair that you can potentially inspect in person.

Thanks for your response, and thoughts. I have no problem paying for quality (when I can afford it, which is very rarely and after saving for a long time) I have paid for Apple quality more than a few times over the last decade; But yes, for these you are probably right that they WILL last well (as I treat things with care and respect) and so perhaps it comes down more to the 'annoyance' factor. I can look at other headphones at over the £1000 mark that I would like to own (but not enough to REALLY want, and thus save for) and typically they look like they are built to a standard that also looks as though they have been built to that level of investment as well as sounding hopefully wonderful. 
With these I just feel that that lightness and solidity and the concomitant pride in ownership has been sacrificed so that profit has been targeted as a foremost consideration. Don't get me wrong, I have recently acquired my first HifiMan headphones and I absolutely adore them - the HE400s. But I feel they are are priced absolutely fairly, and in fact I found the sound quality to be amazing for that price, and also do not at all find the build quality disappointing bearing in mind the cost.
But in a few recent youtube interviews, seeing Fang, when questioned about the likely price of certain high end 'phones yet to be released; hearing him saying that they would assess what it seemed that people would pay, that left me uneasy. I felt they decided to set these higher end 'phones at a price they believed they 'could get', NOT at a price that would simply reflect the 'phones 'true worth', whatever that might mean to whomsoever is reading this comment. And although I realise that more time and R&D has likely gone into the process of designing these high-end cans, the increasing rate at which they release new products seems to me to indicate that this factor is not possibly a crucial one.
So, I look at, and read about certain aspects of the HE1000, and feel that they could, and maybe, should have been released around the price of the $2000-ish flagships, and definitely feel that the edition X 'feels' to me, from so many reviews (yours included) that it simply does not feel like a $1800 headphone.
Like Tyll says in his review, its a fabulous headphone (a 'conflicted' one also, in that it is ostensibly a portable, yet is super-large and open?!) but it simply does not justify that price tag in its construction, feel of solidity & durability, and in the materials used.
Look at the Oppo PM-1 (and even the PM-2); I've not heard it, but read some excellent reports (if the sound signature suits) but boy does it look (and apparently feel) the part.
As I said, circa 5/6 hundred pounds ($1000 tops) and I'd buy these in a heartbeat but £1200 is a very serious price and with all the above said, I cannot justify it. I feel they are pricing their top-end models too highly bearing in mind the construction quality. I could never afford the HE1000's, but that's okay as I've read...

@MaceHane2 
 
Right, this is why these cans are definitely controversial. But I will say this - check out Phase One camera systems. For 20-30k, they're some of the best imaging devices in the world.
 
But they feel (and are) much much less durable (feeling, and in practice) than the higher end Canon cameras you can buy at your local electronics store.
 
I own a Phase, and it's quite the investment. It's also worth it (to me).
 
It's sort of the way I treat these headphones. Build to me is a breakdown of 4-5 major categories to me. These headphones totally won me over in 90% of them, with the caveat of build. Since they're not leaving my apartment, that's fine. There's just nothing else in the market that ticks off the boxes like the HEX.
 
To be fair - I think asian consumers we're definitely in mind here. Some folks just have a lot of money over there, and there's such a big cell phone culture that we just don't have in the USA. (i'm not sure how Europe is on this, my international asian friends will attest to this.)
 
So you're probably right on the pricing thing, and it is frustrating to me too. But, again, it's a worthwhile investment for me in that t's just so aligned with my tastes
 
Sometimes the experience is worth the frustrations in the process, that's unfortunately just something we have to deal with as headphone enthusiasts until something else comes along that just does it right. Hifiman and Audeze, while great, may or may not have the best track records in this particular regard (build). Until then, Sennheiser and AKG will definitely make the most money in the space.
 
Again, YMMV, but I'm not regretting my decision.
 
And I'd love to give a listen to the HEK, haven't had the chance yet!
 
(edited for typos and rewording

Thanks for your thoughts; some insights there that are indeed very true. I think really that when one does have 'enough' expendable income to truthfully afford so-called luxury items, then that is the time that certain factors become more important than they otherwise would be. If I save, for a pretty good period of time, I can justify enough a purchase of headphones around the £500+ area. Above that, no; it becomes something else entirely. So yes, bearing in mind what you say about the experience of owning and using the Edition X, and it being worth it for you as it is a very enjoyable experience, and, they would not leave your home, thereby kinda nullifying the build 'issue'.
If I did have enough money to be able to afford these, after much thinking upon some of your points, I did realise that yes, I would buy them and likely the build etc, though frustrating given the cost, would not stop me enjoying the experience enough to warrant the purpose.
I've gone 'round the hills more than a little there trying to basically agree with you!
I do have to add that part of my wanting them was because I love the look of them, far more than the wood & metal look of the HEK.
Damn!

edit:  ...does NOT have enough ...... (on second sentence)