Alright, I bailed on the thread earlier. It seems to be at least a little more polite, so I'll weigh back in. Chris Marten's brief impressions were linked above, and I'll link them again
HERE.
CAVEAT: I was one of the Beta testers. I had a great time participating in the test, I felt that I truly did participate - Oppo did give real credence to our input. That said, we were a beta test group. We listened, we criticized, we lauded, we bickered good-naturedly. Oppo designed, redesigned, tweaked, brought in Igor Levitsky (I hope I didn't slaughter his last name) to do the real heavy lifting in tuning. Many Oppo staff and Igor participated and were truly interested in our input. It was a really cool experience. I am predisposed to like these headphones for that reason - I helped just a little in creating them. Oh, and Oppo gave each of the beta testers one of the first released retail package PM-1's. This was completely unexpected and gracious. Oppo really did right by the beta test, and the beta testers. As I said, I am predisposed to view the PM-1's with rose colored glasses. Take my comments below with a grain of salt. Or not. Those that have read my other gear comments know that I can be enthusiastic (fanboy) but I do try to be realistic, honest and at least reasonably objective in subjective comments.
Away we go!
Chris's impressions are pretty dead on save for the LCD3 comments. Reminiscent absolutely. I just find the PM-1 the easier, less fatiguing, more realistic and more pleasant listen. This from a guy who wasn't all that excited about the LCD2.2, but seriously considered parting with a kidney for the LCD3 (I had the pleasure of living with another head-fief's pair for about 3 or 4 days).
The LCD3 transports me to a smokey 1930's speakeasy - men in silk suits, beautiful women, cigars, illicit booze, great jazz band and that stuff going on in the back room. A stunning headphone.
The PM-1 on the other hand, welcomes me home, takes my shoes off, sets me in a chair, invites a few friends over, hands us each a cigar and a sippin' whiskey or cognac and introduces the great band that materialized in the living room. Easy, but wonderful. Yup, I like them a lot.
OK, that pretty much covers the emotional aspect of the PM-1's. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, that may be all that really actually matters.
For the gear heads out there (guilty) I'll do what I can here.
Yes - Extremely efficient. They sound better out of an amp and a good source. They sound really freakin' good out of an iPhone 5S though. Really good.
They are feather weight for a planer, and pretty dang light anyway.
They are quite comfortable. They may be the most comfortable planer I've worn - mostly because they are light.
The bass is good, accurate, articulate and deep when needed. It is not a bass tilted can though.
The mids are lush and accurate.
The highs are detailed, again articulate, airy (barely) and smooth.
If you are looking for a boosted, euphonic bass or mid bass, the PM-1 might not be the right headphone. If you are looking for a bright sparkle up top, the PM-1 might not be the right headphone. If you are inclined to EQ for either trait - the PM-1 might be the right headphone (conjecture - haven't QE'd it).
If you are looking for what I and others described, a pretty natural, lovely, easy headphone, you might be with me - the PM-1 is my new favorite open headphone.
Oh, build quality is excellent, the box and stuff is beautiful and helps with the whole cachet of "Statement Product."
I think NDA's are still in place with the PM-2, but I very strongly believe that the statements that they will be the PM-1 with lower cost to produce parts, pleather pads, but very essentially identical sound are accurate.
OK, since this thread has teetered on the brink a few times, please, enjoy my comments, take them for what they are worth and leave it at that. If you've heard them and vehemently disagree, blame it on different tastes, or the information in in my disclaimer. If you haven't heard them….