[Focker]

  I spoke with a guy at Oppo last week.  He said that the HPs are finished being tuned and are going into production soon.  He estimated a couple of months until they were available.  He also said that the price has not been determined.

 
So basically they're at the same point they were when this thread first started? 

 

[Nimzerz]

I guess so....smh

 

[zilch0md]

 
Depends on what percentage of customers are Head-Fi members.  Outside of headphones, Oppo is pretty huge in the home theater community.  I predict that Oppo will have more customers buying planars for the first time from that side of the hobby, rather than the existing customer base here at Head-Fi.
 
Many people have under-estimated Oppo since the late 90's when their DVD' players hit the market, and now they are a pretty big player.  They have far more respect than they are getting from this thread at the moment.

 
Here's some more conjecture - not meant to annoy those seeking facts...
 
I agree - OPPO will likely choose to protect that reputation, by releasing something worthy.  IF the PM-1 gets rave reviews, even the most disgruntled among us will want to hear it, and could end up buying it, despite its release being slow by some definition.

 

[Maxx134]

Yes I would buy it if it was competitive in price to the he560,
BUT it would have to be better(!) Somehow, or its a "no-go"..

 

[Ocellia]

As a long time (40+ years!!) Isodynamic user, this makes me realise how good the original Wharfedale designer guys were! Must be harder than expected to get a mylar diaphragm to work well!
These DO look interesting for their reputed lightness on the head, plus they MIGHT be cheaper than Audez'e?
 
Still enjoying my 1972 Isodynamics though!

 

[Audiolic]

i prefer they do it right..
 
the engineer is the one that did the rhadia neo drivers... surely they will kickass.. if they are light, confortable and affordable..
 
pre-order at 900 dollars would be what they should thrive for to create a hype...

 

[nick v]

This is the response I got from them when I asked how much juice was required to drive them adequately. I also asked for an update on proposed shipping:
 

Nick,
 
The PM-1s are designed to be driven by all devices, even the headphone outputs of a cell phone. So a dedicated headphone amplifier will have absolutely no difficulties driving the PM-1. We hope to have the PM-1 and HA-1 devices released any time between now and the end of April.

Best Regards,
 
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.

 

[dyang]

This is the response I got from them when I asked how much juice was required to drive them adequately. I also asked for an update on proposed shipping:

He didn't sound too confident, my bet is middle of this year if even.

We shall see......

 

[DefQon]

I'm guessing late May or early June and possibly sometime around July or August.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Or September, probably October, maybe November. Yeah... December it is.

 

[DoctaCosmos]

lol i'd like to know how you guys came up with those times when you have absolutely no involvement with the company. I mean i can see how companies tend to be a little late on release dates with headphones but i also know it's oppo.
While this is their first headphone, they don't need our backing.  If they're good they'll catch on but i have a feeling after reading that they are made to work with headphones and looking at the design, these are going to be a headphone that won't be limited marketing like most hi-fi cans are.  I could see these being sold at BestBuy.  

 

[mrscotchguy]

This is the response I got from them when I asked how much juice was required to drive them adequately. I also asked for an update on proposed shipping:

How long ago did you ask this?

 

[ssrock64]

  lol i'd like to know how you guys came up with those times when you have absolutely no involvement with the company. I mean i can see how companies tend to be a little late on release dates with headphones but i also know it's oppo.

It's been Oppo the whole time, and they're not shown themselves to be good about sticking to deadlines with this release. Nobody is claiming to know how Oppo works internally, but we've all seen how bad they were at sticking to their initial end-of-2013 release date. How should we believe them now when they say they're optimistic about April? This is more than a little late now.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I was obviously joking with my post, and I do hope Oppo releases sooner than later, if only because I believe the PM-1 is gonna be awesome, and should release soon to pit it directly against the 560.

 

[ssrock64]

I still believe it's going to be a stellar headphone, don't get me wrong. And for the most part, Oppo is a very reputable and responsive company. You can tell they're making an effort, since they keep responding to our emails and sending out re-tuned prototypes for evaluation on occasion. However, they've bungled their whole release trajectory on this, and that might turn off customers who aren't very familiar with the company.