Pardon me while I recover from the fap of honesty. I can't recall seeing anyone other than an adulation-weary rock star reference the fruits of their toil with such amusing brutality.
My inner basset hound doesn't know which morsel to abscond with, the tantalizing reference to Thiel or the sweeping dismissal of American sound vs. British (a comparison people often make in recording studios, usually arguing in favor of the British sound while continuing to use American gear). It's a point I could adjust to without years of counseling if Fang didn't seem to be dismissing the sound of the newest model of headphones brought out by his own company.
Yes, there's a difference between personal preference and professional craftsmanship, and we know not to worry about the latter: HiFiMan puts out some of the best kit available at hand-me-my-glass-eye prices, and if Fang decides to confect $400 magnetic planar headphones with an American sound, he's going to do it perfectly, for the love of raja-grade copper. It's just funny to hear someone representing a niche audio company not claim to spoon, bathe and exchange personal fluids with the headphones he happens to be offering to the world at this moment.
First-impression comparisons to other headphones might be incestuous and slightly vague so far, but those HE-400s are still sounding better by the paragraph.