The communication with Smyth Research has been atrocious, but did you realize, or simply forget that from the time the A8 was announced (with it's various setbacks) until its initial launch that it took five years? I mean, a lot of the things they keep saying they are intending to do, or the expected shipping dates have often been a load of bunk, but they actually still have another three years before their behavior could be considered abnormal by their own standards. We know the units are built, we know certification was finished, we know some of the outstanding bugs that they were trying to pin down were squashed, and yes, it does seem rather stupid to have everything ready to go except the boxes that you knew you were going to need, but remember this time they are also shipping two variations, not just one shape for all, so the packing materials likely will need to be more specialized than they previously were and they also likely don't want to spend money on more materials than they actually need in the end.
Also, you previously mentioned the A8 sold for $3K. It sold for just over $3600 when it came with the Stax units, and even after the HDMI version was released, and knocking off a few hundred by getting it without the headphones, it was roughly the same cost. The current price of the A16 is not extreme in comparison, and given inflation isn't unreasonable. It's too much for me to order a second one for now though, and I didn't expect the price to jump so high up from the preorder cost, but I ended up buying a good secondhand A8 for $1,400 as a backup unit. And I'm not sure if you've had the opportunity to actually hear either the A8 or A16 with even an adequate PRIR, but if not, all the hype you hear about it isn't just justified, it's actually understated.
My used A8 came in the original box, and flew four thousand miles. The original had some pretty good protection, especially with the A8 itself. It was basically suspended with gaps all around it to the edge of the cardboard box. I don't know exactly how high it could be dropped from before the impact would be enough to shake a component loose, but I imagine over six feet.