[vid]

  From the detail page at OppoDigital.com, the PM-1 should have a decent field from two banks of neodymium magnets.  The multilayer diaphragm/armature with its spiral conductor(s) could very well drive the price to on or around $1000.00; multilayer printed-circuit sheets are quite expensive to produce and, until recently, the reject rate was a bit highish.

 
You're speculating on some very ambiguous information. Note that, based on one's interpretation, the diaphragm has either one layer ("a very thin polymer film"), one or two layers ("[t]he double-sided diaphragm"; any single-layer diaphragm is double-sided by necessity), and in a convoluted way seven layers ("[t]he double-sided diaphragm has 7 layers of extremely thin materials").
 
I think the truth is found in the sentence, "The diaphragm has a spiraling pattern of flat conductors etched on both sides of a very thin polymer film." Whether having a twin voice coil makes it more expensive to produce I don't know; but as some wonder how people expect it to be cheap, I think it's equally valid to wonder why people so readily interpret the ambiguous information in a way that it would not be cheap.

 

[remilio]

That dac/amp isn't gonna be cheaper than 1500$, for me it's obvious. And I don't think that Oppo will release the product priced that way to power own 300$ headphones...

 

[vid]

$300 is quite a bit for an ortho, especially if the goal is value for money as it's speculated in the first post.

 

[Kabeer]

  From the detail page at OppoDigital.com, the PM-1 should have a decent field from two banks of neodymium magnets.  The multilayer diaphragm/armature with its spiral conductor(s) could very well drive the price to on or around $1000.00; multilayer printed-circuit sheets are quite expensive to produce and, until recently, the reject rate was a bit highish.

The Vintage Yamaha drivers with their multi-polarised magnets, corrugated diaphragms etc were actually more of a complex manufacturing headache. Yet they went for normal prices.
 
The current Fostex T50rp uses a multilayer diaphragm, and FEM designed magnet and conductor system, yet retails under $150.
 
The only reason/s the price would be high on this is: to compensate for initial r&d if they arent confident of a large market. Or they are jumping on the high end price bandwagon of recent orthos. 
If planar magnetic manufacturs didnt stop producing orthos as part of their standard lineup, we would all have audiophile quality headphones in the current Fostex RP price range (as it was in the 70s/80s).

 

[Beagle]

That's how I see it. After all the marketing lingo and images, the sub-$1000 talk just went out the window.

This now looks pretty pricey. My interest just disappeared.

 
This thread is almost like a silent auction on something that does not yet exist. I only assume that it was started to generate potential interest in something in the pipeline. We can speculate until we are blue in the face but I'm willing to bet that the long build-up will eventually lead to an initial very positive review and subsequent empty wallets because price will no longer be an object 

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

I'm relatively new, is that how things work around here?

This thread is almost like a silent auction on something that does not yet exist. I only assume that it was started to generate potential interest in something in the pipeline. We can speculate until we are blue in the face but I'm willing to bet that the long build-up will eventually lead to an initial very positive review and subsequent empty wallets because price will no longer be an object 

 

[ssrock64]

I think we may have all just been thrown off by the design: usually we don't see high-end consumer-style design in a TOTL product, so we didn't expect this to be more than a few hundred dollars.

 

[Anathallo]

   
This thread is almost like a silent auction on something that does not yet exist. I only assume that it was started to generate potential interest in something in the pipeline. We can speculate until we are blue in the face but I'm willing to bet that the long build-up will eventually lead to an initial very positive review and subsequent empty wallets because price will no longer be an object 

 
This whole forum has become a cesspool of misinformation and speculation with practically no real news or technical discussion to be found.
 
So time consuming to dig through all the garbage to find any worthwhile information on upcoming products.

 

[jude]

 
This whole forum has become a cesspool of misinformation and speculation with practically no real news or technical discussion to be found.
 
So time consuming to dig through all the garbage to find any worthwhile information on upcoming products.

 
Oh, Anathallo, lighten up, man--people are just having fun speculating. Absent information about what looks like a cool new product, people speculate on forums. And there's so little information about the headphone--even the pricing information is currently not known. Oppo making an all-new planar magnetic driver for their upcoming headphone is big news in the segment, so people are going to talk about it.
 
I also participate in photography forums, and speculation about new cameras and lenses happens on those kinds of forums, too (and car forums, and watch forums, etc.).
 

  That dac/amp isn't gonna be cheaper than 1500$, for me it's obvious. And I don't think that Oppo will release the product priced that way to power own 300$ headphones...

 
I still do not know what the expected retail price of the OPPO PM-1 is going to be, so I'm speculating, too; but remilio's post (above) is about what I'm thinking.
 
Also, a pre-production prototype of the PM-1 just arrived at my office yesterday, and the build quality (which you can see in the photos below) is very nice for a prototype. The prototype's build quality--as well as my very early first impressions of its sound--suggests to me that the OPPO PM-1 is aiming to play in the premium market. (I still do not have any pricing information for the PM-1, so I can still only guess.)
 
More impressions are going to have to wait until after the Tokyo Headphone Festival, because I simply won't have any time before I leave.
 
(Clicking on any of the photos below will show a larger version; from there, clicking on "Original" button will show the image full size.)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The entire photoset can be seen by clicking on the following link: OPPO PM-1 photos

 

[wolfetan44]

Wow, it looks better than I previously thought

 

[AnakChan]

   
Oh, Anathallo, lighten up, man--people are just having fun speculating. Absent information about what looks like a cool new product, people speculate on forums. And there's so little information about the headphone--even the pricing information is currently not known. Oppo making an all-new planar magnetic driver for their upcoming headphone is big news in the segment, so people are going to talk about it.
 
I also participate in photography forums, and speculation about new cameras and lenses happens on those kinds of forums, too (and car forums, and watch forums, etc.).
 
 
I still do not know what the expected retail price of the OPPO PM-1 is going to be, so I'm speculating, too; but remilio's post (above) is about what I'm thinking.
 
Also, a pre-production prototype of the PM-1 just arrived at my office yesterday, and the build quality (which you can see in the photos below) is very nice for a prototype. The prototype's build quality--as well as my very early first impressions of its sound--suggests to me that the OPPO PM-1 is aiming to play in the premium market. (I still do not have any pricing information for the PM-1, so I can still only guess.)
 
More impressions are going to have to wait until after the Tokyo Headphone Festival, because I simply won't have any time before I leave.
 
(Clicking on any of the photos below will show a larger version; from there, clicking on "Original" button will show the image full size.)

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The entire photoset can be seen by clicking on the following link: OPPO PM-1 photos

 
You won't get any objections from the Tokyo Head-Fi members should you decide (and if you're allowed to!) bring the PM-1 along . And if you need to know the synergy of the PM-1 with the Oppo BDP-105, just let me know and I'd be happy to bring that along and leave it in your hotel room .

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah, that screams luxury. Speculating that it costs over $1000 sounds more like logic, than baseless assumption.

The dac/amp SCREAMS high end.

 

[wolfetan44]

Yeah, that screams luxury. Speculating that it costs over $1000 sounds more like logic, than baseless assumption.

The dac/amp SCREAMS high end.

Imagine Oppo 105 > HA-1 > PM-1

 

[remilio]

Jude
 
Headphones look gorgeous indeed. As I can see from the photos, the cables is detachable, can you comment on the plugs it uses? Are these mono minijacks?

 

[brunk]

Just realized from Jude's photo album of the PM-1 that it does indeed have a detachable cable. Nice.