Thank you for that. A very reasoned response. I hadn't really thought of it from the POV of an elderly enthusiast. I am 62.This suggestion sounds quite reasonable, and without knowing you, I feel quite safe assuming that you mean well. I also have to say, however, that in making such a suggestion, you seem to be taking a lot for granted, beginning with the assumption that all buyers and backers are on the same biological clock, and therefore, equally blessed with the luxury to wait indefinitely for the A16, however lengthy its production delay might turn out to be...
But just how much does such an assumption stand up to scrutiny? It is safe to assume that the group of current backers and buyers of the A-16 include people who belong to various age brackets... From this viewpoint alone, one should expect the patience threshold of a 30 year-old backer/buyer, say, with a lot of disposable cash on hand to explore alternative toys, to be completely different from that of a 75 year-old retiree backer/buyer and audio enthusiast, for whom the A-16 is a keenly awaited item on a bucket list, and for whom the hope of ever seeing the A-16 alive continues to fade and diminish with each passing week or month of additional delay... Now do you realize in what cruelly ironic ways your statement that "This is not life or death for anyone" might resonate with such a hypothetical bucketlister?
That is just one example, albeit one which some might take to be too dramatic or extreme... Still biological clocks and mortality are not the only reasons why patience and tolerance thresholds might differ in such a context, for different backers or buyers.
For one thing, this field of binaural 3d audio technology seems to be evolving rapidly, with new products emerging in the field all the time... A new piece of 3D object-based audio technology could well emerge at any time that can do what the A-16 can at a fraction of the price, all before the first A-16 eventually ships... In such a scenario, the A-16 could become obsolete, not to mention depreciate considerably in value, even before it ships.... to the utter chagrin of many backers and buyers...
Then there is the possibility to which others have already alluded, i.e. the possibility of the project running out of cash, and folding up before its completion, like the Ossic did. This is a possibility I do not like to contemplate, as I am as keen as most backers and buyers are on getting my hands on an A-16 in the near future... However, it is a possibility I cannot entirely rule out, unfortunately, as the number of A-16 production delays continue to add up, and postpone its eventual release into the ever-receding future... I will not even go into the possibility of unforeseen increased freight/customs/duties costs related to the current political climate of Brexit and insipid tariff/trade wars...
With all that said, you could say that there are known risks that each supporter of this project must willingly opt to assume, and I wouldn't disagree with you, provided you recognize that everything in this debate should be considered within certain reasonable limits, including our estimation of acceptable risks, and degrees of delay...
I am not trying to be rude to you, or suggest that your demand for more patience is unreasonable, or that backers and buyers should go out into the streets and vandalize properties in angry protest... I am just trying to show you some of the legitimate limitations of the assumptions behind your suggestion, and why it might not be necessarily appropriate from the viewpoint of every backer or buyer...
I would think that at the end of my life the A16 will not be a huge concern for me. Perhaps that is different for a true enthusiast. I still say no one will die as a result of any of this, although sadly they may do before it ships!
Your point about obsolescence is valid but that is the price we pay for living in fast moving technological times.
My post was an expression of mild exasperatation at people getting so angry about things that are beyond our control.
Anyway. Thanks again for your friendly post.