It's in my interest to answer questions that I can answer or that I think it is productive to answer. Not every question fits that, and no offense should be taken.
I got into this discussion because I felt it was suggested AEON's bass was designed to move people to ETHER C Flow, which not only was never considered but is directly opposed to how we design product. We do not design products to drive people up market, though it might be more profitable if we did. Instead, we push our technology down market in an effort to put out killer products at lower price points, as you clearly appreciate. Many companies may work as you suggest, though there are some, like Schiit, who have been something of a role model to us, and have done exceptionally well indeed. The point is only that our intention is literally the opposite of what you seemed to suggest, and I wanted to be really clear about our development strategy as it is a major philosophical underpinning of the business, and one I hope our customers appreciate.
Our business model and our approach to voicing are tightly coupled. I do not voice by "lows, mids and highs," I used to but now I find that far too limiting. I voice to create an experience, which to me is the totality of everything about the fit and function of the product. I try to maximize the quality of each product, regardless of price, and I never deliberately handicap a product. The tradeoffs vary for open and closed, large and small drivers, etc, so the voicing will have much in common, but also obvious differences. Some headphones will have bigger or lesser soundstage, more or less bass, more lively or slightly stepped back highs, but these factors are in many ways tied together. Since there is no single perfect voicing when you account for multiple variables, tuning makes sense because it allows owners to fine-tune within limits, to get the best balance of attributes for them. As a result, there are more than a few people who prefer the sound of an open or closed AEON to an open or closed ETHER, without consideration of price. Considering price, ETHER costs 2x more to make, so it costs 2x more to buy, but of course it is not 2x the experience (diminishing returns always come into play). My view is if you prefer ETHER and can afford it, great! If you prefer AEON and can afford ETHER, still great! And if you prefer ETHER but can't afford it AEON offers a fantastic value and a huge part of the performance. This is how I design products.
For most people the cost differential between AEON and ETHER is so high that it's a different product category altogether; most people in the market for an $800 headphone wouldn't consider another $1000, regardless of sonics or other attributes, it's a budget limit. Had upselling been our strategy it would have failed as jumping up over 2x in price only works for people for whom cost isn't a consideration, which is a much smaller part of the market. It should surprise no-one that when we spend more on parts, the sound quality will improve. Because we use so much common technology we expected AEON would cannibalize some ETHER sales but if that let us put 3x more headphones at 1/2 the price in more people's hands, that was OK. Bluntly, we would rather eat our own lunch than let someone else do it. In fact AEON initially slowed ETHER sales, but ETHER came roaring back to life in January and we've had a hard time keeping them in stock. I suppose it was just the channel clearing out inventory.
With respect to tuning kits, this is an evolving process. Sometimes our ideas work (AEON pads), sometimes they failed (Alpha tuning dots). Since Alpha tuning was a flop I didn't have it on my mind with ETHER, but It popped up again with ETHER 1.1 foam update. That foam was already part of the preliminary tuning in ETHER flow while it was in development, so I didn't think about tuning as a product feature. When AEON launched, I revisited tuning and followed my instincts to try the ETHER 1.1 approach as a test to offer a simple way to pick one of 2 voicings, which I hoped would expand the available market. Turned out people used both and many had preferences for one, so we expanded the options further with AEON open. That worked even better, so we expanded the choices for both with an enhanced kit that's really cheap and hopefully fun for those so inclined. Our approach evolves because I listen to what works, or doesn't, for people.
I myself use the tuning kits every day, I find AEON open works great for me for jazz or classical with no damping, for rock with black felt or 1 notch white, and for Electronica (or bright systems), 1 or 2 notch white. One headphone, three experiences. Work for everyone? Nope, but a lot of people like it and that is exactly the point, and I hope its especially useful for those for whom an $800 headphone is a major commitment where having multiple voicings can be used in place of investing in multiple headphones, allowing purchase of one better headphone, or better supporting gear. I consider tuning to now be a successful experiment and we'll continue to evolve it as a product feature where it makes sense. We even did it with VOCE.
